William Farrar Smith | |
|---|---|
 William Farrar "Baldy" Smith | |
| Born | (1824-02-17)February 17, 1824 |
| Died | February 28, 1903(1903-02-28) (aged 79) |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance |  United States (Union) |
| Branch | United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1845–1867 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Commands | VI Corps IX Corps XVIII Corps |
| Battles / wars | |
| Signature | .png) |
William Farrar Smith (February 17, 1824 – February 28, 1903), known as "Baldy" Smith, was aUniongeneral in theAmerican Civil War, notable for attracting the extremes of glory and blame. He was praised for his gallantry in theSeven Days Battles and theBattle of Antietam, but was demoted for professional and political reasons after the disastrous defeat at theBattle of Fredericksburg. As chief engineer of theArmy of the Cumberland, he achieved recognition by restoring a supply line that saved that army from starvation and surrender, known as the "Cracker Line", that helped Union troops to success in theChattanooga campaign in the autumn of 1863. Leading the first operation against Petersburg, Smith's caution, possibly illness-related, may have cost the Union a prime opportunity for a quick end to the war. He was relieved of command shortly thereafter.[1]
Smith, known to his friends as "Baldy", was born atSt. Albans, Vermont, the son of Ashbel and Sarah Butler Smith,[2] and a cousin ofJ. Gregory Smith (governor of Vermont, 1863–1865).[3] He was educated locally in Vermont until he attended theUnited States Military Academy atWest Point in 1841, and graduated four years later standing fourth of 41 cadets. Smith was appointed abrevetsecond lieutenant on July 1, 1845, and was assigned to the Topographical Engineers Corps. He was promoted to second lieutenant on July 14, 1849, and promoted tofirst lieutenant on March 3, 1853.[3]
During his service in the Corps, Smith conducted surveys of theGreat Lakes, the states ofTexas,Arizona, andFlorida, as well as much ofMexico. While serving in Florida, Smith was stricken with the infectious diseasemalaria. Although he would recover at the time, the illness affected his physical health for the rest of his life. In 1856 Smith began his involvement in the lighthouse service, which was headquartered inDetroit, Michigan, and eventually rose to become the Engineer Secretary of the Lighthouse Board.
Smith was also twice assistant professor ofmathematics at West Point (1846–48 and 1855–56). He was promoted tocaptain on July 1, 1859.[3]
Smith was commissioned the colonel of the Third Vermont on July 23, 1861, but dated from April 27, making him the ranking officer of Vermont troops. On August 13, 1861, he was appointed abrigadier general in the Union Army after helping organize the1st Vermont Brigade. He was appointed abrevetlieutenant colonel in theregular army for his gallantry at theBattle of White Oak Swamp in theSeven Days Battles. On July 4, 1862, he received promotion to the rank ofmajor general in the Union Army. Smith led his division with conspicuous valor during theBattle of Antietam, and was again brevetted in the regular army. When his corps commander, Maj. Gen.William B. Franklin, was reassigned to a superior command, Smith was placed at the head of theVI Corps of theArmy of the Potomac, which he led at the disastrousBattle of Fredericksburg.[4]
The recriminations that followed Fredericksburg led to a famous general order in which army commander Maj. Gen.Ambrose Burnside proposed to dismiss several of the senior officers of the army.PresidentAbraham Lincoln prevented this order from taking effect and relieved Burnside of his command instead. Smith was one of the affected officers, but it is to his credit that he did not leave the Army. However, his indiscretion in communicating to Lincoln directly about Burnside's shortcomings, compounded by the fact that Smith was a close friend of out-of-favor Maj. Gen.George B. McClellan, resulted in his losing both his corps command and his rank; the Senate failed to confirm his nomination to major general, which expired on March 4, 1863. Reverting to the rank of brigadier general, he commanded a division-sized force ofmilitia within theDepartment of the Susquehanna inPennsylvania during the critical days of theGettysburg campaign, repelling Maj. Gen.J.E.B. Stuart at askirmish in Carlisle. Smith's green troops then participated in the unsuccessful pursuit ofGen.Robert E. Lee back to thePotomac River. He followed this in division command inWest Virginia.
On October 3, 1863, Smith was assigned to duty as chief engineer of theArmy of the Cumberland (and a couple of weeks later, theMilitary Division of the Mississippi). As such he conducted the engineer operations and launched theBattle of Brown's Ferry, which opened the "Cracker Line" to provide supplies and reinforcements to the besieged troops inChattanooga. Of this action theHouse Committee on Military Affairs reported in 1865 that "as a subordinate, General WF Smith had saved the Army of the Cumberland from capture, and afterwards directed it to victory." Smith was then renominated for the rank of major general of volunteers.Ulysses S. Grant, who was much impressed with Smith's work, insisted strongly that the nomination should be confirmed, which was accordingly done by the Senate on March 9, 1864. 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 said what the grounds were, while Smith, contributing to a major series of war memoirs,[5] maintained that they were purely of a personal character.[4]
For theOverland Campaign of 1864, Smith was assigned by Grant to command theXVIII Corps in Maj. Gen.Benjamin Butler'sArmy of the James, which he led in theBattle of Cold Harbor and the first operations againstPetersburg.[4] Smith's corps and a division ofblack troops (underEdward W. Hinks) were ordered to take the city. Remembering the debacle at Cold Harbor, Smith performed exhaustive reconnaissance. Determining that the section of the defensive line was manned primarily by artillery, he ordered an attack. The attack was successful in capturing several Confederate batteries and over a mile of entrenchments. However, by the time this was accomplished, Smith determined that darkness prevented him from effectively moving further. Both the time it took to prepare for the attack and suspending the attack at night has led some historians to see the outcome of the battle as a missed opportunity to shorten the war by nearly a year. But the fault may also lay with General Grant who failed to communicate with Smith, Major General George Gordon Meade and Major General Winfield Scott Hancock the full picture of the battle's true objective and provide the time to develop an effective operational plan. Smith's personal and professional differences with Generals Butler and Meade led General Grant to relieve Smith from command of the XVIII Corps on July 19, 1864. Smith spent the remainder of the war serving on military commissions, including one that discovered significant corruption in the Department of the Gulf.[1]
Smith resigned from the volunteer service in 1865, and from the U.S. Army in 1867. From 1864 to 1873 he was president of the International Telegraph Company, and from 1875 to 1881 served on the board of police commissioners ofNew York City, becoming its president in 1877. After 1881 he was engaged in civil engineering work inPennsylvania.[4] He died atPhiladelphia in 1903 and is buried inArlington National Cemetery.[6] HisAutobiography of Major General William F. Smith, 1861–1864 was published posthumously in 1990.[7]
 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(June 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Smith, William Farrar".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 271.
Media related toWilliam Farrar Smith at Wikimedia Commons
