William F. Smith
Cadet USMA, 7/1/1841. Bvt 2d Lieut. Top. Engs. USA, 7/1/1845. 2d Lieut. 7/14/149. 1st Lieut. 3/3/1853. Capt. 7/1/1859. Maj. Engineers 3/3/1863. Col. 3d Vt. 7/16/1861. B.G. Vols. 3/13/1861. M.G. Vols. 7/4/1862 (appointment as M.G. Vols. expired 3/4/1863). M.G. Vols. 3/9/1864. Resgd. from vol. service 11/4/1865. Bvt Lieut.-Col. 6/28/1862, for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of White Oak Swamp, Va. Bvt. Col. 9/17/1862, for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Antietam, Md. Bvt. B.G. 3/13/1865, for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Chattanooga, Tenn., and M.G. 3/13/1865, for gallant and meritorious service in the field during the war. Resgd. 3/21/1867. Maj. Engineers 2/27/1889. Retired 3/1/1889, Act of Congress 2/27/1889.
Commissioned Colonel Third Regiment Vermont Infantry Volunteers April 27, 1861; mustered into United States service July 16, 1861; appointed Brigadier-General United States Volunteers August 13, 1861; appointed Major-General United States Volunteers July 4, 1862; resigned March 21, 1867.
Born February 17, 1824, Saint Albans, Vermont, General Smith graduated with high honor from the United States Military Academy in 1845, and was appointed a lieutenant of topographical engineers. He received many brevets in the regular service for distinguished gallantry and meritorious services, the record of which may be found in the list of Vermonters serving in the regular army.
For several years after his graduation, he was engaged in military surveys of the Mexican boundary, and in locating a ship canal across the State of Florida. In September, 1855, he was appointed assistant professor of mathematics at the Military Academy, from which position he was relieved in June, 1865, on account of ill health, and assigned to duty in the Engineer Department of the Light House establishment. At the breaking out of the war he was on duty in Washington as Engineer Secretary of the Light House board. In the spring of 1861 he was ordered to New York, and employed for a short time in mustering volunteers. He was then ordered to Fortress Monroe, where he served under Gen. B. G. Butler.
Soon after the attack on Fort Sumter General Smith, then a captain, informed Governor Fairbanks of his willingness to accept the command of a regiment from his native State, and after repeated refusals, the consent of the War Department was at last obtained by the assistance of General Scott, who took a particular interest in the Vermont troops, and particularly requested that Captain Smith be detailed to command the Third Vermont, retaining at the same time his commission in the regular army. His commission, which was dated back to April 27, was received in the latter part of July, and he at once proceeded to Washington and took command of his regiment. He was soon appointed Brigadier-General, and persuaded General McClellan, with whom he was well acquainted, to have the Vermont troops brigaded together and the command given to him. By this arrangement the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth regiments were formed into a brigade, the first in the army composed exclusively of troops from a single State, which made for itself a reputation second to none in the whole history of the war. General Smith having been assigned to the command of a division, the brigade was given to Brigadier-General W. T. H. Brooks, another distinguished soldier of Vermont lineage, his father having been a native of Montpelier.
In the organization of the Army of the Potomac, in March, 1862, General Smith's Division, which included the "Vermont Brigade," became the Second Division, Fourth Corps, and was considered one of the best in the entire army. He commanded the division during the Peninsula, Antietam and Second Bull Run campaigns, and until the re-organization of the army under Burnside, when he was assigned to the command of the Sixth Corps, with which he participated in the battle of Fredericksburg. At the second re-organization, under General Hooker, he was relieved from duty with the Army of the Potomac, and ordered to his home.
At the opening of the Gettysburg campaign he volunteered for duty under General Couch, and served with the militia of Pennsylvania and New York; the troops under his command being engaged at Carlisle, Pa., and Hagerstown, Md. In September, 1863, he was ordered to the Army of the Cumberland, then at Chattanooga, and was assigned to duty as its chief engineer, in which capacity he planned and carried out the attack at Brown's Ferry, on the Tennessee River, by which the river and "short road" was gained, and the army saved from destruction. In April, 1864, General Smith was assigned to the Eighteenth Corps, and participated in the campaign on the south side of the James River. He was subsequently sent with his corps to reinforce the army of the Potomac, and participated in the engagements of June 1st and 3d, at Cold Harbor. Returning to the south side of the James, on the 15th of June they assaulted the lines before Petersburg, carrying the enemy's outer work and capturing sixteen guns and several hundred prisoners.
On the 3d of July General Smith was placed in command of the Army of the James. A few days later he obtained leave of absence on account of ill health, and on the 19th was relieved from duty in the field. He was subsequently sent to New Orleans by President Lincoln, to examine into the administration of affairs in the Department of the Gulf. On his return north he resigned his commission in the volunteers, and on March 21, 1867, tendered his resignation as Major of Engineers in the regular army, having been in active service for twenty-two years.
Source: 1892 Revised Roster, pp. 681, 747.
Additional Resources:
Smith, William F. with staff; stereograph
Benedict Index
Smith, William Farrar (Gen.), i 90-94, 96, 98, 103, 105, 130-132, 134, 136, 140-141, 160-162, 183, 186, 211, 214, 235-237, 240-241, 244-245, 248, 250-254, 256, 259-261, 265-266, 268-276, 280, 282-284, 289, 291-293, 295, 303-305, 307-309, 312, 326-328, 333, 335-336, 343, 349-351, 459-460, 463-465, 470-471; ii 412, 414, 788
Bibliography
Smith, William F. "An Historical Sketch of the Military Operations Around Chattanooga, Tennessee, September 22 to November 27, 1864," Papers of the Military History Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 8, 1910. pp. 149-246.
Smith, William F. "Butler's Attack on Drewry's Bluff," Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. Ed. Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel. New York: The Century Co., 1888. 4:206-212.
Smith, William F. "Comments on 'General Grant's Reasons for Relieving General William F. Smith,' " Century, 33 (November, 1886--April, 1887):134-135.
Smith, William F. "Franklin's 'Left Grand Division,' " Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. Ed. Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel. New York: The Century Co., 1888. 3:128-138.
Smith, William F. "General George H. Thomas at Chattanooga," Century, 32 (May-October, 1886); 465-466.
Smith, William F. "General W. F. Smith at Petersburg," Century, 54 (May-October, 1897):636-638.
Smith, William F. "General W. F. Smith in Reply to General Grant," Century, 32 (May-October, 1886):153.
Smith, William F. "Memoirs." Typescript. Vermont Historical Society
Smith, William F. "The Battle of Chickamauga," Galaxy, 20(1875):641-645
Smith, William F. "The Military Situation in Northern Virginia From the 1st to the 14th of November, 1862," Papers of the Military History Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 3, 1903, pp. 104-121.
Smith, William F. "The Movement Against Petersburg: June, 1864," Papers of the Military History Society of Massachusetts. Vol. 5, 1906. pp. 75-115.
Smith, William F. "The Story of the Suppressed Despatch." Vermont Historical Society.
Smith, William F. "Was Chattanooga Fought as Planned?" Century, 31 (November, 1885-April, 1886):147-148.
Smith, William F. Autobiography of Major General William F. Smith, 1861-1864. [Ed. by Herbert M. Schiller]. Dayton, OH: Morningside, 1990. 164 p.
Smith, William F. Autobiography.
Smith, William F. Correspondence. University of Vermont Special Collections Library.
Smith, William F. From Chattanooga to Petersburgh: a Contribution to the History of the War, and a Personal Vindication. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1893.
Smith, William F. The Re-Opening of the Tennessee River near Chattanooga, October, 1863, as Related by Major General George H. Thomas and the Official Record.. Wilmington: Press of Mercantile Printing Co., 1895.
Smith, William F. The Relief of the Army of the Cumberland and the Opening of the Short Line of Communication between Chattanooga, Tenn., and Bridgeport, Ala. in October, 1863. Wilmington: C. F. Thomas & Co., 1891.
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