A skilled engineer and inventor; he was instrumental in providing the Confederacy with much-needed gunpowder throughout the American Civil War.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1842 as third out of a class of 56; being commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers.

He participated in the Mexican–American War, fighting at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey and Chapultepec.

George Rains became a major in the Ordnance Department and was tasked to procure, and prospect for, gunpowder ingredients and to initiate the production.

Inspired by, and learning from, British material, his methods and inventions provided for comparably safe and efficient production.

[3][4] Shortly before the war ended he additionally received command of the ordnance depots and arsenals in the lower Confederacy.

[5] After the war Rains stayed in Augusta and chose an academic life; he lectured as professor of chemistry at the Medical College of Georgia.