Green Berry Raum

Green Berry Raum (December 3, 1829 – December 18, 1909) was a lawyer, author, and U.S. Representative from Illinois, as well as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served prominently in the Western Theater, seeing action in several major campaigns while leading first an infantry regiment and then a brigade. In later years he presided over the Internal Revenue Service for seven years, served as United States Commissioner of Pensions, and became a prolific author of historical and political non-fiction, particularly on Illinois history and Republican politics.

Raum was born in Golconda, Pope County, Illinois, on December 3, 1829. He attended the common schools of his native state and subsequently studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1853 and began the practice of law in Golconda, where he practiced from 1853 to 1856. In 1856 he moved to Kansas, then a focal point of national conflict over slavery, and continued the practice of law there for two years. After this period on the frontier, he returned to Illinois and settled in Harrisburg, where he resumed his legal career and established himself in public life on the eve of the Civil War.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Raum enlisted in the Union Army in September 1861 as the major of the 56th Illinois Infantry. He was promoted to colonel of the regiment in 1862. Serving in the Western Theater, he and his regiment operated under Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans during the 1862 Siege of Corinth, Mississippi. In that engagement he ordered and personally led a charge that broke the Confederate left and captured an artillery battery, a feat that enhanced his military reputation. In 1863 he took part in the operations of the army of Ulysses S. Grant that invested and forced the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, a decisive Union victory on the Mississippi River. Later that year he commanded the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XVII Corps during the Chattanooga Campaign and was wounded at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in November 1863.

During the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, Raum’s brigade was assigned the critical task of holding the Union line of communication from Dalton to Acworth and from Kingston to Rome, Georgia, safeguarding the rail and supply routes that underpinned Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s advance. He was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers on September 19, 1864, in recognition of his service. In October 1864 he reinforced the Union position at Resaca, Georgia, and successfully held it against the forces of Confederate General John B. Hood. Raum was promoted to the full rank of brigadier general of volunteers on February 15, 1865, and served through the end of hostilities, leading the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, XV Corps during the Carolinas Campaign in early 1865. He resigned his commission on May 6, 1865, and returned to Illinois.

After the war, Raum resumed civilian pursuits and quickly became involved in railroad development and politics. In 1866 he obtained a charter for the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad Company, played a key role in securing its construction, and became its first president, contributing to the postwar economic development of southern Illinois and the broader region. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to the Fortieth Congress as a Representative from Illinois, serving from March 4, 1867, to March 3, 1869. His term in Congress coincided with the early years of Reconstruction, a significant period in American history, during which he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Illinois constituents. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1868 to the Forty-first Congress.

Raum’s federal service continued in important executive-branch posts. He was appointed United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue and served from 1876 to 1883, presiding over the Internal Revenue Service for seven years and overseeing the collection of federal taxes during a period of industrial growth and complex fiscal policy. In 1880 he served as acting chairman of the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, reflecting his prominence within the party. Later, as United States Commissioner of Pensions from 1889 to 1893, he was responsible for overseeing the acceptance or rejection of pension applications for thousands of Civil War veterans and their dependents, administering a rapidly expanding and often controversial pension system that was central to postwar social policy.

In addition to his legal and governmental work, Raum was an active writer and public lecturer, producing a substantial body of historical and political literature. His publications included The Existing Conflict between Republican Government and Southern Oligarchy (1884; reprinted, New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969); “Finance and Labor and the Great Danger of the Hour”: Speech Delivered by Hon. Green B. Raum, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, at Peoria, Illinois, October 12, 1878 (Washington, D.C.: National Republican Publishing Co., 1878); History of Illinois Republicanism (Chicago: Rollins Publishing Company, 1900); “National Development”: Speech of Hon. Green B. Raum, Delivered in the House of Representatives, July 13, 1868 (Washington: Chronicle Print, 1868); and Twenty Years of Republican Rule (Washington, D.C.: National Republican Print, 1882). These works reflected his long engagement with Republican Party ideology, Reconstruction, economic policy, and the political history of Illinois.

In his later years, Raum engaged in the practice of law in Chicago, Illinois, maintaining his professional activities well into old age. He died in Chicago on December 18, 1909. Raum was married to Maria Field (1831–1915), who survived him by several years. Both are buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, where his military and public service are commemorated.