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WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH (1824—1903)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 271 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH (1824—1903)  ,
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American general, was born at St Albans,
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Vermont, on the 17th of
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February 1824, and graduated from West Point in '845, being assigned to the engineer branch of the army . He was twice assistant professor of mathematics at West Point (1846—1848 and 1855—1856) . During the first
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campaign of the
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Civil War he was employed on the staff, in August 1861 became brigadier-general of
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volunteers, and was breveted
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lieutenant-colonel U.S.A. for his gallantry at the
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action of White Oak Swamp . In
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July '862 he received promotion to the rank of major-general U.S.V . Smith led his division with conspicuous valour at
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Antietam, and was again breveted in the
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regular army . On the assignment of General Franklin to a
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superior command Smith was placed at the
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bead of the VI. corps of the Army of the
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Potomac, which he led at the disastrous
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battle of Fredericksburg (q.v.) . The recriminations which followed led to the famous general order in which several of the senior
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officers of the army were dismissed and suspended by General Burnside . Smith was one of these, but it is to his credit that he did not leave the army, and as a brigadier-general he commanded troops in Pennsylvania during the critical days of the
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Gettysburg campaign . Later in '863 he was assigned to duty as chief engineer of the Army of the Cumberland . As such he conducted the engineer operations which reopened the " cracker-
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line " from
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Chattanooga (q.v.) to the
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base of supplies . Of this action the House Committee on military affairs reported in 1865 that " as a subordinate, General W . F .

Smith had saved the Army of the Cumberland from

capture, and afterwards directed it to victory." Smith was now again nominated for the rank of major-general U.S.V., and Grant, who was much impressed with Smith's
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work, insisted strongly that the nomination should be confirmed, which was accordingly done by the Senate in March '864 . Grant, according to his own statement, " was not long in finding out that the objections to Smith's promotion were well grounded," but he never stated the grounds of his complaint, and Smith, in the " Battles and Leaders" series, maintained that they were purely of a
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personal character . Forthe Virginian campaign of '864 Smith was specially assigned by Grant to command the XVIII. corps, Army of the James, and he took
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part in the battle of Cold Harbor and the first operations against
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Petersburg, after which, while absent on leave, he was suddenly deprived of his command by Grant . He resigned from the volunteers in 1865, and from the U.S. army in '867 . From '864 to 1873 he was president of the International Telegraph
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Company, and in '875—1881 served on the board of police commissioners of New York, becoming president of this in 1877 . After 1881 he was engaged in civil
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engineering work . He died at
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Philadelphia on the 28th of February 1903 .

End of Article: WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH (1824—1903)
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