Kentucky native Austin Rawlings mustered into Company L, 1st Missouri Cavalry in 1861, as a corporal; he was promoted to first sergeant and assigned to Company B on May 6, 1862, promoted to second lieutenant on February 16, 1865, and to first lieutenant on April 18, 1865, all with Company B.

The 1st Missouri Cavalry was organized on July 20, 1861, and mustered in on September 12, 1861, at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. While he was with Company L, Rawlings saw service at the Battle of Pea Ridge; after transferring to Company B, he fought at Prairie Grove, in the capture of Little Rock, in General Frederick Steele’s Camden Expedition, and in actions in Arkansas against General Joseph Shelby, north of the Arkansas River.

Rawlings and the regiment were mustered out of service on September 1, 1865, at Little Rock, Arkansas. He died on November 15, 1923, either in the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or in Farm City, Illinois.

Carte-de-Visite by Gem Photograph Gallery, Little Rock, Ark.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 11734