Gustavus Woodson Smith

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Gustavus Woodson Smith (born January 1, 1822 in Georgetown , Kentucky , †  June 4, 1896 in New York City , New York ) was an American officer , major general in the Confederate Army and briefly Secretary of War of the Confederate States .

Origin and career

Gustavus Smith was the son of Byrd and Sarah Hatcher (Woodson) Smith. He graduated eighth in a class of 45 graduates from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1842 . Smith was a member of the Democratic Party and married Lucretia Bassett on October 3, 1844. The marriage remained childless.

Military and civil careers

Smith was promoted to lieutenant in the US Army Engineer Corps on January 1, 1845 . During the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) he took part as a pioneer officer in the battles of Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco and Chapultepecteil and was promoted three times. From 1849 to 1854 he was a lecturer in engineering at the military academy. He then moved to New Orleans , Louisiana in 1854 to take part in the campaign of John A. Quitman (former governor of Mississippi ) against the buccaneers in Cuba. In 1856 Smith relocated to New York City and was chief engineer at Trenton Ironworks until 1858. He was then from 1858 to 1861 road construction commissioner for the city of New York.

Secession period

In September 1861, two months after the first Battle of Bull Run , Smith volunteered for the Confederate Army . On September 19, 1861, he was promoted to major general. Smith commanded the right wing and reserves of the Northern Virginia Army during the Peninsula Campaign (March - July 1862) . When Commander-in-Chief Joseph E. Johnston was wounded on the first day of the Battle of Seven Pines (May 31, 1862 - June 1, 1862) , Smith had to take over command of the army for the general. Because of the burden of that responsibility, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was promptly removed from command and replaced by General Robert E. Lee . From November 17 to 20, 1862 he was acting Minister of War. Smith, who was in feud with President Jefferson Davis , has now been transferred to Charleston , South Carolina , where he served under General PGT Beauregard . On February 17, 1863 he resigned from the army because he was annoyed that officers with fewer years of service were preferred to him for promotions. He then worked as an inspector at the Etowah Mining & Manufacturing Company in Georgia . From June 1864 until the end of the war, he was the commander of that state's militia and participated in various skirmishes in Georgia, in which he led his troops effectively and efficiently. He surrendered in Macon , Georgia in April 1865 and was soon released from custody by the Union Forces.

post war period

Smith was director of an ironworks in Chattanooga , Tennessee from 1866 to 1870 and chief of insurance in Kentucky from 1870 to 1875. In 1876 he returned to New York City and published several books there, including Confederate War Papers (1884) and The Battle of Seven Pines (1891). He died there on June 4, 1896 and was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London , Connecticut .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shelby Foote, The Civil War Vol. 1, pp. 401f
  2. ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War Vol. 1, p. 401
  3. ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War Vol. 3, p. 791
  4. ↑ Shelby Foote, The Civil War Vol. 3, pp. 652f
predecessor Office successor
George Wythe Randolph Minister of War the Confederate
17.- November 20, 1862 		James Alexander Seddon
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Gustavus Woodson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American officer, Confederate War Secretary in the Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Georgetown , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 1896
Place of death New York City