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Generals J.E. Johnston and G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of Manassas, July 1861
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As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Gustavus Woodson Smith was an American civil and military engineer and Confederate soldier.
Background
He was born in March 1822 in Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky, United States, the son of Byrd and Sarah Hatcher (Woodson) Smith. His grandfather, John Smith, had emigrated to Kentucky from Virginia with Daniel Boone. On the maternal side he was a descendant of John Woodson who came to America before 1679.
Education
He entered the United States Military Academy from Virginia and was graduated in 1842 as a second lieutenant, Corps of Engineers.
Career
He was assigned to duty at New London, Connecticut, where he served two years as an assistant engineer on the construction of fortifications, and was then ordered to West Point as an instructor in civil and military engineering.
Upon the outbreak of the Mexican War, he was detailed to assist Capt. Alexander J. Swift to recruit and train the sole company of engineers in the army. Shortly after reaching Mexico, Captain Swift was invalided and the command devolved upon Smith. The engineer-soldiers were employed in converting the infamous mule paths of northern Mexico into passable roads until March 1847, when they joined Scott's expedition at Vera Cruz.
Upon the conclusion of peace he returned to West Point as assistant professor of engineering. He resigned on December 18, 1854, to join, it is said, the Cuban filibustering expedition of John Anthony Quitman. This expedition proved still-born, and Smith accepted a treasury department appointment to supervise the repairs to the mint and the construction of the marine hospital in New Orleans. A year later he became associated with the engineering firm of Cooper and Hewitt in New York City, and served them as chief engineer of the Trenton Iron Works.
He was appointed street commissioner for New York City in 1858, served until 1861, and soon achieved prominence in the councils of the Democratic party.
In the late summer of 1861, having been stricken with paralysis in April, he set out for Hot Springs, upon the advice of his physician. At Lexington, he learned that his arrest as a disloyal person had been ordered from Washington. This determined him to join the Confederacy, and he proceeded at once to Richmond, where he was appointed, September 19, 1861, a major-general in the provisional army. He commanded one wing of the Army of the Potomac until the conclusion of the Peninsular Campaign. After General Johnston was wounded during the battle of Seven Pines on May 31, 1862, he commanded as senior officer until General Lee's arrival on June 1.
On June 2, he suffered another attack of paralysis. His relief by Lee caused the renewal of a quarrel with President Davis, which had originated over the appointment of his aide-de-camp the previous year. In August 1862 he was placed in command of the sector from the right of Lee's theatre of operations on the Rappahannock to the Cape Fear River, with headquarters in Richmond. He acted as secretary of war from November 17 to November 20. In consequence of the promotion of six officers over his head and presidential interference with details of his command, he resigned on February 17, 1863.
He served a short time as a volunteer aide to Beauregard in Charleston, and then became superintendent of the Etowah Mining and Manufacturing Company in north Georgia. In June 1864, he accepted an appointment as major-general to command the 1th Division, Georgia Militia, which was attached to the Army of Tennessee. After the fall of Atlanta, his division was employed in observation of Sherman's army, falling back before it during the famous march to the sea.
On December 30, 1864, he was assigned a sector in the defenses of the department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. He surrendered to the Wilson raiders at Macon, Georgia, in April 1865. After the war, he gave testimony on January 30, 1867, before the Congressional committee investigating the affairs of Southern railroads. He was employed as general manager of the Southwestern Iron Company at Chattanooga, from 1866 until 1870, when he was appointed as the first insurance commissioner of Kentucky. He held this office for five years, and then moved to New York City, where he resided until his death in 1896.