HEROES OF THE GREAT CONFLICT; LIFE AND SERVICES OF WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH,
MAJOR GENERAL, UNITED STATES VOLUNTEER IN THE CIVIL WAR
A Sketch by
JAMES HARRISON WILSON, MAJOR GENERAL, U.S.V.
The John M. Rogers Press
Wilmington, Del.
1904
[Illustration]
William Farrar Smith, the subject of this sketch, graduated at West
Point in 1845, fourth in a class of forty-one members. He died at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of February, 1903 in his
seventy-ninth year.
The publication of the Rebellion Records puts within the reach of every
student the official reports of the various campaigns and battles of
the Great Conflict, but something more is needed. They deal but
slightly with men's motives, and still less with their personal
peculiarities. They give only here and there any idea whatever of the
origin of the plans of campaigns or battles and rarely any adequate
description of the topography of the theatre of war, or of the
difficulties to be overcome. They describe but superficially the
organization, equipment, armament and supply of the troops, and leave
their trials, hardships and extraordinary virtues largely to the
imagination. They are entirely silent as to the qualities and
idiosyncrasies of the leaders. Neither romance nor personal adventure
finds any place within their pages, and fine writing is entirely
foreign to their purpose. They are for the most part dry and
unemotional in style, and are put together so far as possible
chronologically in the order of their importance without the slightest
reference to literary effect. While nothing is more untrustworthy
generally than personal recollections of events which took place over a
third of a century ago, those which are supported by letters and
diaries are of inestimable value in construing and reconciling the
official reports. But this is not all. The daily journals and other
contemporaneous publications are quite important and cannot be safely
left out of account. All must be taken into consideration before the
final distribution of praise and blame is made, or the last word is
written in reference to events or to the great actors who controlled or
took part in them.
In the list of the most notable men of the day the name of Major
General WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH must be recorded. He belonged at the
outbreak of the Civil War, to that distinguished group of which Lee on
the Southern side and McClellan on the Northern, were the center.
Joseph E. Johnston and William B. Franklin were his most intimate
friends, and I but recall what was then the popular belief when I state
that they were widely regarded as the best educated and the most
brilliant officers in the service. They were in middle life, in the
full enjoyment of their powers, and it was the confident opinion of
those who knew them best, that they were sure to become conspicuous
leaders in the impending conflict. Great things were expected of them,
and in this the world was not disappointed. They all reached high rank
and great distinction, but only one of the group was fortunate enough
to enroll himself amongst the world's great commanders. Johnston rose
to the leadership of an independent army but failed to win a great
victory or to secure the entire approval of his superiors. Franklin was
without doubt a corps commander of sound judgment and unshakable
courage, but he also failed to achieve the success that was expected of
him, and to secure the support and confidence that his high character
fully entitled him to look for from his Government. Smith who was not
inferior to the ablest of his friends and contemporaries, in the art
and science of war, had a career of great usefulness, in which he
rendered services of extraordinary value and brilliancy but which ended
in disappointment and unhappiness.
He was however not only a conspicuous officer connected with important
events throughout his life, and especially during the Great Conflict,
but he was a singularly virile and independent character who exerted
great influence over all with whom he came in contact. He was strong,
self-contained and deliberate in speech, and having been an industrious
student and an acute thinker all his life, his opinions always
commanded attention and respect. It so happened that his services
brought him into the very focus of events on more than one occasion. It
so happened also that I was more or less intimate with him to the time
of his death, from the date of my entry into the Military Academy,
where I had the good fortune to receive his instruction in mathematics.
I first met him in the field, while I was serving temporarily on the
staff of General McClellan, and he was commanding a division in the
Antietam campaign, and next at Chattanooga, whither I was sent in
advance of General Grant to prepare for his coming, after the
disastrous battle of Chickamauga.
Shortly afterwards Smith was transferred to Grant's staff as Chief
Engineer, and we messed and served together, in the closest intimacy
throughout that campaign, and until I was assigned to duty in the War
Department in charge of the Cavalry Bureau. I saw him frequently while
I was commanding a division of cavalry and he an army corps in Grant's
overland campaign against Richmond. During the latter period we were
exceedingly intimate, and when we were not serving together an active
correspondence was kept up between us. It is a source of pleasure and
satisfaction to me that this intimacy became still closer after General
Smith was appointed agent of the United States and assigned as a civil
engineer to the charge of the river and harbor works on the Delaware
and Maryland peninsula, with his office at Wilmington, Delaware. This
long and close intimacy, extending as it did over the greater part of a
lifetime, has afforded me an ample opportunity of studying his
character and familiarizing myself with the facts of his military
career, and with the point of view from which he considered his
relations to the men and events with which he was so conspicuously
connected.
A man of great purity of character and great singleness of purpose, he
took an intense interest in whatever his hand found to do. He felt a
deep and abiding concern in all public and professional questions, and
was both a tender and affectionate friend and an unrelenting enemy. He
was a bold and resolute thinker who indulged in no half way measures.
The bolder his plans and the more dangerous his undertakings, the more
careful was he in working out the details, and the more attentive was
he in supervising their execution. He left nothing to chance, but
provided for every possible contingency with infinite care and yet he
was a rapid worker. Methodical in his habits, untiring in his
application and deliberate in his manner, he was always ready, always
on time and nearly always successful.
In following him through the trials and vicissitudes of his active life
it will be seen that he was one of the most interesting personalities
of his day. He played a bold and distinguished part in the war for the
Union, quite out of proportion to the actual command which fell to his
lot. Indeed, it may well be doubted if any other single officer exerted
a more potential or beneficial influence than he did upon the plans and
operations in which he took part. While he was austere and reserved in
manners, he was most highly esteemed by all with whom he served, and
received unstinted praise for his suggestions and assistance, and yet
strangely enough he became involved in several notable military
controversies, which so enlisted his interest and wounded his pride as
to materially change his career and cause him great unhappiness, during
the later years of his life.
It may be truly said that he came to know by experience the dangers of
frankness and friendly criticism, and that even the most patriotic and
unselfish men in these modern times, like those of antiquity "have
their ambitions which neither seas nor mountains nor unpeopled deserts
can limit;" their egotism and personal interests "which neither victory
nor far-reaching fame can suppress;" their secret motives and purposes
which "cause them to injure one another when they touch and are close
together." After all, generals and statesmen are but fallible men, the
most magnanimous of whom are watchful of their rivals, and love not
those who despitefully use them. In the vindication of his claims that
he has rendered some service to his country, General Smith has made
several valuable contributions[1] to current American history,
and has in addition left a manuscript volume of personal memoirs upon
which I shall draw as occasion offers, and which will doubtless be
published in due time. They were written during the last two years of
his life and throw an interesting light, not only upon his own deeds
and character, but upon the life and services of his friends and
contemporaries. They are conceived in a kindly and charitable vein
which does credit both to his heart and to his understanding.
[Footnote 1: From Chattanooga to Petersburg under Generals Grant and
Butler, Houghton, Muffin & Co., N.Y. 1893.]
WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH was born at St. Albans, in Northern Vermont, on
the 17th of February, 1824. He came of good New England stock, which
emigrated from Massachusetts to the valley of Lake Champlain before the
beginning of the last century. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors
and relations were notable people, and took prominent parts in the
troubles of a thinly-settled frontier, and especially in the French and
Indian war, and in the Committee of Safety, as well as in the militia
and volunteers during the Revolutionary War. They fought at the battle
of Lake George, at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, and at the affairs
at Hubbardton and Bennington. They were the companions of Stark, Seth
Warner and Ethan Allen, and appear to have borne themselves bravely and
well upon all occasions. They were by name Robinsons, Saffords, Fays,
Butlers and Smiths. There is a well-founded tradition that his father's
family, which came from the old hill town of Barré, Massachusetts, were
known during the earlier colonial days as Smithson, but before
emigrating to Vermont dropped the second syllable for the sake of
simplicity, and always thereafter called themselves Smith.
William's father was a respectable farmer at or near St. Albans. His
uncle John was a lawyer and a judge of distinction, and during the
excitement growing out of the Canadian rebellion of 1837, was elected
to the next Congress. He was a Democrat and the only one up to that
time ever elected from the State. During his term of service he gave
the appointment of cadet at West Point to his nephew William. His
cousin John Gregory Smith, also a lawyer of distinction, was afterwards
Governor of Vermont, and for many years president of the Vermont
Central and Northern Pacific Railroads. His grandmother Smith also from
Barré, was the sister of a certain Captain Gregory of the Highland
regiment serving in Boston before the Revolution. Through this
connection the General always believed he received a strain of McGregor
blood, for many of that clan took the name of Gregory after their
immigration to the colonies.
His own mother was Sarah Butler, a direct descendent of Isaac and
Samuel Robinson who were believed to have come in the direct line from
the celebrated puritan pastor, John Robinson, of Leyden, who was long
recognized by even those who differed with him on questions of doctrine
as "the most learned, polished and modest spirit that ever separated
from the Church of England." To the prepotency of this distinguished
divine, General Smith often, in a tone of mingled banter and
seriousness, attributed not only his habit of mature reflection and
love of learning, but also his "moderation combined with firmness" upon
all questions which engaged his attention.
Be all this as it may, it is certain that his family were straight
Anglo-Saxons, who like the rest, came into New England under the
pressure of religious and political disturbance at home, and brought
with them the sturdy virtues and ineradicable prejudices of their race.
It is equally certain that this race, whatever its origin and however
it may have been compounded and produced, has thriven and expanded in
America, and that our country is indebted to it for not only its
greatest scholars, divines and statesmen, but for its greatest soldiers
as well. General Smith belonged by nature and education to both
classes, and before this sketch is concluded I hope to show that in the
highest walks of his chosen profession he had few equals and no
superiors.
Like many another youth, his latent love of arms and his determination
to go to West Point were aroused by seeing a company of regular
soldiers, and making the acquaintance of its officers, at his native
town. They were sent there to maintain order and prevent violations of
the neutrality laws during the Canadian disturbances in 1837-8. From
the day of his cadetship he received the sobriquet and was always
thereafter designated familiarly by his more intimate friends as Baldy
Smith in contradistinction from other officers of the same patronymic.
In the old days his name would have been written Baldysmith.
He was a brilliant and faithful student and became in turn a
cadet-corporal, color-sergeant and lieutenant. When it is recalled that
he received those honors from that prince of soldiers Captain
(afterwards Major General) Charles F. Smith, then commandant of cadets,
and in whose presence it is said no graduate of his time could ever
appear without involuntarily assuming the position of a soldier, it
will be understood that young Smith was brought up under proper
influences and sent forth with the highest ideals of his profession. He
graduated in the "fives" of his class. He was commissioned as a Brevet
Second Lieutenant in the corps of Topographical Engineers, and served
with it continuously till, for convenience and simplicity of
administration, it was merged with the Corps of Engineers after the
outbreak of the Rebellion. At the request of his chief, he gave up
two-thirds of the usual graduating leave of absence to lend a hand to
an under-manned surveying party on Lake Erie. His services were from
the first of the scientific and useful rather than the showy sort. They
brought him a wide range of valuable experience, extending from the
surveys of the great lakes to explorations of Texas and Arizona,
covering a period of seven years, two of which were spent under Joseph
E. Johnston and William H. Emory, then of the same corps, while engaged
in establishing the new boundary line between Mexico and the United
States. During his service in that region he located the stage and
wagon-route from San Antonio to El Paso, surveyed a part of the Rio
Grande Valley, and familiarized himself with the topography and
resources of Northwestern Texas and the state of Chihuahua in Mexico.
Later he was transferred to Florida and made surveys for a ship canal
across the peninsula from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico.
Subsequently he had charge of the Eleventh District in the light-house
service with his headquarters at Detroit. He then became Assistant
Secretary, and finally on the retirement of his friend, Captain
Franklin, Engineer Secretary of the Light-House Board. He had
previously asked for service with the army in Mexico, but this had been
denied. His service in Texas and Florida had brought him in contact
with a number of officers who afterwards became distinguished in the
Civil War. Among the most notable of these were Buell, Joseph E.
Johnston, McClellan, Meade, Burnside and Emory. His light-house service
gave him a friendly association with Commodore Shubrick and Captain
(afterwards Admiral) Jenkins of the navy, General Totten of the army,
Professor Bache of the Coast survey and Professor Henry of the
Smithsonian Institute, and opened to him a wide acquaintance with the
scientific thought of the day. While connected with the Light-House
board he planned and supervised the construction of four first-class
light-houses, one for Montauk Point, two for Navesink Highlands and
Sandy Hook, and one for Cape Canaveral. These were all works of the
highest class, fully abreast of the world's best practice at the time.
His experience in connection with the Light-House Board prepared the
way for a piece of specially useful service to the country during the
exciting period just prior to the outbreak of actual hostilities
between the North and the South. His position gave him access to the
Secretary of the Treasury, as the chief of the department to which the
Light-House Board belonged. The storm then brewing showed itself in
that board, made up, as it was, of Northern and Southern men, as well
as elsewhere, and being intensely loyal, Smith took measures to protect
and supply the principal light-houses on the southern coast. It will be
remembered that Howell Cobb of Georgia was succeeded by General John A.
Dix of New York as Secretary of the Treasury, and that the latter
aroused the drooping hopes of the country by his celebrated order: "If
any man attempts to haul down the American flag shoot him on the spot."
Smith was privy to and encouraged the issuance of that order.
Immediately afterwards General Dix gave him _carte-blanche_ over the
light-house service, in pursuance of which he visited all the important
southern light stations, winding up at Key West. He found that place
cut off from communication with Washington, and liable to fall at once
under the control of the Secessionists. The Collector of Customs was a
southern man and disloyal. The people of the town were in sympathy with
him, and were doing all they could to overawe Captains Hunt and
Brannan, who were stationed there with a small force of regular
artillery. They were loyal and able officers. Both rose to distinction
afterwards, but having been left without instructions they were at a
loss as to their proper course till Smith arrived with the latest news
from Washington. His clear and determined counsel gave them heart and
encouragement, under which they made good their hold upon the fort and
the island. They were reinforced in due time, which enabled the
government to hold this important strategic position at the entrance to
the Gulf of Mexico till the termination of the war put an end to all
danger. Before returning to the north, Smith visited Havana, where he
obtained valuable information for future use.
So far his work had been preparatory, and one of the most useful
features of it was his tour of duty at West Point. His services in the
south, and especially at Corpus Christi, had brought on a severe attack
of malarial poisoning, ending in congestive chills and shattered
health, followed by sick-leave and a return to the north. Before he had
entirely recovered he was ordered to West Point, as principal Assistant
Professor of Mathematics. This was in 1855, but his illness had so
seriously affected his head as to make it impossible for him to
discharge the duties of his position in a manner satisfactory to
himself. As one of his pupils, I failed to discover any lack of
knowledge or perspicacity on his part. To the contrary, he impressed
the sections of which he had charge as a very clear-headed man with
remarkable powers of mind and great aptitude as a disciplinarian and
teacher. It is now known, however, that the close attention and mental
exertion which his duties required of him gave him such pain as to make
it imperative that he should be relieved, and this was done at his own
request after a year's hard work and suffering. The injury he had
received was unfortunately never entirely overcome. Throughout the
whole of his subsequent life he was subject to recurrent attacks of
malaria, accompanied by pain in the head with a tendency to mental
depression, which disabled him entirely at times, and upon one most
important occasion compelled him to leave the field, when his interests
and his inclinations demanded that he should remain. I refer now
especially to the time when he was assigned by General Grant to the
command of the Army of the James, to succeed Major General Butler, who
was at the same time ordered to return to Fortress Monroe. It will be
remembered that this order was never carried into effect, but that
General Smith, who was suffering from one of his attacks, took leave of
absence, much to the concern of his friends, and went by the way of
Fortress Monroe to New York. There was no great movement under way at
the time, but before his leave of absence had expired he was notified
that the order in question had been countermanded. Various explanations
were given for this action, and I shall recur to it again. But it is
believed by those who were interested in General Smith, and had
confidence in his unusual capacity for high command, that his relief
was largely, if not altogether, due to intrigue, on the part of General
Butler, aided perhaps by an exaggerated estimate on the part of General
Grant of that officer's political importance, which General Smith could
easily have defeated had he been on the ground in actual command of the
army to which he had been assigned.
But to return to his services at West Point. It was during this year
that he greatly widened his knowledge of military history and the art
of war. Although far from well, he led the studious life of a
scientist, and in the daily companionship of the professors and of
Lieutenants Silvey and Holabird, two officers of distinguished talent
and learning, he obtained new and broader views of professional
subjects. He had early become noted as having an investigating mind
which could not be satisfied with superficial knowledge, and for a
sound and conservative judgment which gave great weight to his
conclusions. He was most deliberate and methodical in his habits of
thought, and had an unusually tenacious grip upon the thread of his
argument. His manners and movements, while free from every appearance
of hurry and excitement, were habitually so well ordered that he was
enabled to cover a great deal of ground in a small space of time.
Always a close student of the higher branches of his profession, and
belonging to an élite corps which at that time had no part in the
command of troops, he became a proficient in military organization,
administration and logistics, and also in strategy and grand-tactics,
as taught in the text books, long before the outbreak of the war for
the Union, but it is to be observed that he never claimed to have
become specially skilled in minor tactics, or in the daily routine of
company or regimental service. He was, however, so profoundly devoted
to the military profession in a larger way, that at times he gave to
those less learned than himself the idea that he was a pedant in
knowledge and a martinet on duty. With imperturbable self-possession,
great lucidity of statement and a decidedly deliberate and austere
manner, he was widely recognized as a masterful man, who won easily and
without effort the respect and admiration, not only of the cadets who
fell under his charge at West Point, but afterwards of the men and
officers who came under his command from the volunteers. To such as are
acquainted with West Point life, or with the relations existing between
officers and men in the army, no higher evidence can be given of
Smith's real abilities and strength of character. It is a creditable
fact that no cadet, however adroit or skilful can cheat his way through
the Military Academy, and that no officer, however plausible, can for
any considerable time deceive or impose upon the cadets with a pretense
of knowledge or a show of character which he does not possess. The same
is true perhaps in a less degree of the volunteers and their officers.
Occasionally a cadet or an officer may be so modest or unobtrusive or
so slow of development as to escape the critical observation of his
associates, but in most cases he becomes sufficiently known to justify
a correct estimate of his character and a fair prediction, under
favorable opportunities, as to his probable course and success in life.
Of WILLIAM F. SMITH it may be truthfully said that he made his best
friends among the cadets he taught and the subordinates he commanded,
not one of whom ever deserted him in trouble or adversity, denied the
greatness of his talents or questioned the elevation of his character.
His troubles and differences were always with those above him, never
with those under his command.
As is frequently the fate of the strong man gifted with an analytical
mind, and an outspoken contempt of pretense and sham, it was Smith's
misfortune upon more than one occasion to arouse the animosity and
opposition of those having higher rank than himself. Direct and
vigorous in his methods, and confident of the rectitude of his
purposes, he never hesitated to give his views to such as he believed
to be entitled to them, without reference to whether they would be well
received or not. Loyal and truthful by nature, he always held others to
the high standard which he set up for himself. Brought up to a rigid
observance of military discipline, it is not to be denied that he was
exacting in a high degree, with those over whom he found himself in
command. While he never permitted those below him to vary from or to
disregard his instructions, it is perhaps true that like most men of
talent, he was somewhat impatient of restraint, especially in cases
where he felt himself to be abler than his commanding officer, or
better informed as to the actual conditions of his work, and yet no man
knew better than he when the time for discussion and the exercise of
discretion ended and that for obedience and vigorous action began. If
at any time later in life he seemed to forget the true rule for his own
guidance, it must be inferred that he was sorely tried by the ignorance
or incompetency of those above him, or had overestimated their
forebearance or friendship for him, or their zeal for the public
service. Always highly conscientious in his purposes and independent in
his thoughts it was but natural that he should scorn "to crook the
pregnant hinges of the knee where thrift may follow fawning." Not
always as patient and conciliatory with his equals as a less virile or
rugged nature would have made him, he occasionally aroused antagonisms
and made enemies, as such characters always do, and those enemies were
not slow to impugn his motives, nor to do what they could to mar his
career. Withal, it will appear from a careful study of his life and
services as set forth in the records, and as explained by his own
writings, that his critics have signally failed to mar the foundation
of his reputation or to deprive him of the fame to which his brilliant
achievements so justly entitle him.
The culmination of the political agitation for the dissolution of the
Federal Union, and the commencement of actual hostilities between the
government and the seceding states, found WILLIAM F. SMITH, only a
captain by law, after fourteen years of continuous service, a few
months over thirty-seven years of age, and in the full maturity of his
faculties. As before stated, his health was never afterwards altogether
stable, but it was sufficiently re-established to enable him to throw
himself heartily into the struggle and to perform such duties as fell
to his lot with a fair degree of endurance. Although a Democrat, as far
as he had any party connection, his sympathies were all with the Union
and National Government, and impelled him to lose no time, but make
haste, on his return from Key West and Havana, to obtain such
employment as might be open to him. The first duty that was offered him
was in New York, where he was engaged for several weeks in mustering
the volunteers into the United States service.
During this period, on the 24th of April, 1861, he was married to Miss
Sarah Lyon, a young lady of New York, who was famous for the loveliness
of her person and character, whom he had first met two years before. It
was on a short wedding trip to his native state that he offered his
services to the Governor. The latter had already raised and organized
two regiments of infantry but without hesitation he promised Captain
Smith the next, as soon as it should be called for.
Meanwhile he was still subject to duty as an engineer officer, and as
such, strangely enough was ordered to report to Major General Benjamin
F. Butler, fresh from the life of a successful lawyer, then in command
at Fortress Monroe, where he arrived on the 1st of June, 1861. While
there he conducted several important reconnaissances in the direction
of Yorktown and Big Bethel, and thus became acquainted with a region in
which he was afterwards to play a most important part. His services
lasted something less than two months, and became still more notable
from the fact that they made him thoroughly acquainted with General
Butler. They were brought suddenly to an end by the reappearance of his
old trouble, which in time made it necessary for him to take a
sick-leave. The surgeon who had him in charge directed him to again
seek the tonic climate of Brattleborough in his native State. According
to promise, his good friend, the Governor, took the earliest
opportunity to send him his commission as Colonel of the Third Regiment
of Vermont Volunteer Infantry, to date from July 16th. But owing to the
scarcity of regular officers, he had previously been ordered to duty on
the staff of General McDowell, then commanding the army in front of
Washington, though, his health did not permit him to join in time to
take part in the forward movement which ended in the disastrous battle
of Bull Run.
As soon however as his strength was sufficiently re-established Colonel
Smith repaired to Washington, and in the rush and excitement which
prevailed after the return of the defeated army to that neighborhood,
he was engaged in helping to fortify and defend that city till the
danger was past and the requirements of his regiment made it necessary
for him to take command and begin its preparation for active service.
It is to be noted that there was an unaccountable reluctance on the
part of the War Department at the time, to permit the detachment of
officers belonging to the various staff corps, for the purpose of
commanding volunteers, but this was overcome without much difficulty in
his case, and he began his career as an infantry colonel opportunely at
the very time that McClellan was re-organizing the defeated army and
badly needed the assistance of educated officers. Deeply impressed with
the importance of stimulating the pride of the volunteers, and of
keeping alive the heroic traditions of their state by all proper means,
Colonel Smith recommended that the Vermont regiments should be brigaded
and trained together, and fortunately this was approved by General
McClellan. The Green Mountain men had won great renown in the Colonial
and Revolutionary Wars by virtue of their state organization and
services and the marked individuality which characterized them. It was
a happy thought to keep them together during the Civil War. The sequel
showed that it was not only highly beneficial to the national cause,
but that it added greatly to the fame of the Vermont men.
As the war was a sectional one in its origin, many of our best officers
believed that the volunteer regiments should be formed into brigades
and divisions, without reference to the States from which they came.
They held that an army organized in this way would more rapidly develop
the national spirit and become a more efficient military machine than
one formed on state or sectional lines, and the general practice to the
end of the war, in the Union army, was in accordance with this idea.
The Vermont brigade, composed of the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and
Sixth Vermont Regiments, was the one notable exception to this practice
and the result was in every way satisfactory. It preserved its identity
till the end of the war and became famous as one of the best and most
distinctive organizations that ever upheld the Union cause. It was
composed almost entirely of native Vermont men, racy of the soil,
hardy, self-reliant and courageous, and always ready for the serious
business of warfare. It owned its early and enduring discipline to
Smith, who was appointed Brigadier General on the 13th of August, and
from that time forth it never ceased to have a place in his affections.
From the first he took a special pride in his regiment, and devoted
himself earnestly to its instruction and discipline, for the perfection
of which it soon became noted, but in those days of rapid changes, when
the loyal states were sending forth their volunteers by the hundred
thousand, brigades soon grew into divisions, and divisions into
army-corps and armies.
General Smith was then at exactly the right age, and had already
achieved such a high reputation as a scientific and competent soldier,
that he was called upon after only a few weeks' service as a brigade
commander to take charge of a division of three brigades. Looking about
him with anxious care for a suitable successor, he assigned the Vermont
Brigade to the command of Brigadier General William T.H. Brooks, a
graduate of West Point from Ohio, but a grandson of Vermont. He was a
veteran of the Mexican and Indian Wars, in which he had gained great
experience, and from which he became justly famous as one of the finest
soldiers of his time. A man of striking countenance, great physical
vigor and dauntless courage, he was an ideal leader of the Vermont men
and at once won their confidence and respect. It is one of the
traditions of the times that under him "The Iron Brigade," as it soon
came to be known throughout the army, was never repulsed and never
failed to accomplish the task before it. Its "skirmish line" was
believed to be "stronger than an old-fashioned line of battle," and
when it covered the advance, the column behind it had to put forth its
best efforts to keep up. From the brigadier general to the lowest
private, they not only knew their business, but just when they should
be called upon to take the lead. It was one of the grizzled privates
during the pursuit of Lee from the field of Gettysburg, who perceiving
that the cavalry was making but poor progress, said from the ranks as
General Sedgwick was passing: "I 'low you want to get to Williamsport
tonight, don't you, Uncle John?" "Yes, my man," said the General.
"Well, in that case you had better put the Vermont brigade to the
front!" The suggestion was at once adopted, and under the sturdy
advance which followed the desired camp was reached that night without
a check or a halt by the way.
The other two brigades of Smith's division were commanded,
respectively, by Windfield Scott Hancock and Isaac I. Stevens, two
soldiers of the highest quality, and both destined to achieve undying
fame. When their subsequent career is considered it may well be doubted
if there was ever a division in the Union army commanded by abler men
than Hancock, Stevens, Brooks and Baldy Smith. During the formative
period of the Army of the Potomac, when all were drilling, all studying
tactics, all teaching guard duty and all striving hard to establish a
satisfactory state of military discipline, Smith varied this irksome
work by an occasional review, or by the still more exciting exercise of
a reconnaissance in force, thus adding practice to precept, and
bringing regiments and brigades to act coherently together. In all this
he handled his division skillfully and well, and consequently soon had
the satisfaction of showing those in authority over him that it was in
admirable spirits and condition.
How far he favored the policy of delay for the purpose of increasing
the army's strength and perfecting its organization is not certainly
known, but it must be admitted on his own testimony that he belonged to
the coterie of officers who fully trusted and supported McClellan in
the determination to make complete preparation before moving against
the enemy. Nor is it known what part he took in the selection of the
line of operations ultimately adopted by McClellan for the capture of
Richmond. Perhaps this is not important, for neither the duty nor the
responsibility of the choice was his. It is not likely, however, that
he was consulted for his acquaintance with McClellan was not at first
close or intimate. At a later period he joined his friend General
Franklin, then generally acknowledged as one of the leading military
men of the day, in a letter to the President recommending the transfer
of the Army of the Potomac from the vicinity of Fredericksburg to the
James River, as near to Richmond as practicable, and urging its
reinforcement by all the troops that could be gathered from the
departments of the Atlantic seaboard. Without discussing here the
origin or the wisdom of this controverted proposition, it may be
remarked that it was supported by such an array of arguments and
influence as would doubtless have secured another trial for it, even in
the face of its failure under McClellan, had the condition and strength
of the army, and the resources of the country been considered by the
administration sufficient to meet all the requirements of the civil and
military situation.
At a still later period after General Grant had come to the head of
military affairs, had decided to take personal charge of operations in
Virginia, and was seriously considering the appointment of General
Smith to the immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, it became
known to me, through a letter from the latter, that he strongly favored
a "powerful movement from the lower James River, or even from the
sounds of North Carolina" against the interior of the Confederacy. I
was at that time serving in Washington, as the Chief of the Cavalry
Bureau, and upon receipt of the letter laid it before General Rawlins,
Grant's able Chief of Staff, but without giving it my concurrence or
approval, for such consideration as he might think best to give it. It
was received at a juncture when the selection of a proper plan of
operations was conceded to be a matter of the gravest importance. It is
an interesting fact that the plan in question did not receive the
support of Rawlins, although both he and Grant, fresh from the victory
of Chattanooga, were warm friends and admirers of General Smith as a
strategist. Rawlins, with unerring instinct, took strong grounds
against it, for the reason, as he vigorously expressed it, that he
could not see the sense of going so far, and taking so much time to
find Lee with a divided army, when he could be reached within a half
day's march directly to the front, with the entire army united and
reinforced by all the men the government had at its disposal. Knowing
that this was Grant's argument as well, I have always supposed that his
final decision to advance directly from Culpepper Court House against
Lee's army, and to retain Meade in immediate command of the Army of the
Potomac, while the entire available force of Butler's Department should
advance directly from Fort Monroe under the immediate command of
General Smith, was due partly to Smith's decided opposition to the
overland line of operations, and to his tenacious adherence to the
principal features of the plan which he and Franklin had recommended to
Lincoln. Meade's approval of the direct line of advance, and his
cheerful support of Grant's plans as explained in detail, aided by
Butler's assurances of hearty co-operation, doubtless had much to do
with the retention of those officers in their respective places, and in
the assignment of Smith, much to his disappointment, to a relatively
subordinate position on the line he had so openly preferred. It may
also account in some degree for the failure of those distinguished
generals to work as harmoniously with each other to the common end, as
was necessary to ensure success.
Before following this interesting subject to its conclusion, the part
actually played by General Smith in McClellan's Peninsular Campaign
should be briefly recounted. After the Army of the Potomac had been
transferred to the lower Chesapeake, by water, instead of landing at
Urbana or on the estuary of the Rappahannock, as was at first intended,
out of fear of the Merrimac, which had played such havoc with the
wooden frigates of Goldborough's fleet, in Hampton Roads, it was
disembarked at Fortress Monroe. It necessarily lost some time here
before it could be reunited and begin its march up the Peninsula. It
had hardly got well under way, when much to the disappointment of the
country it found itself stopped for thirty days, by an insignificant
stream and a weak line of entrenchments held by a few guns and a single
division of Confederate Infantry, under the command of General
Magruder.
The so-called "Siege of Yorktown" followed, and General Smith, chafing
at the delay which he conceived to be unnecessary set about studying
the situation in his own front, with the keen eye of an experienced
engineer. Having the year before familiarized himself with the lay of
the land near Fort Monroe, he was quick to grasp every condition which
favored an advance. A careful reconnaissance of his immediate front
enabled him to surprise a crossing of Warwick River and to carry a
section of the fortified line beyond. This as might have been expected
was done by a detachment of the Vermont Brigade, which made a gallant
effort to maintain the lodgement it had gained, but as it was not
supported by McClellan, it was withdrawn after suffering a loss of 165
men killed, wounded and missing. This was the first engagement in a
campaign destined to cost the lives of many brave men and to end in a
terrible disaster to the national arms.
After making a heroic stand and holding McClellan and his overwhelming
force at bay for nearly a month, Magruder abandoned his lines and fell
back to Williamsburgh on the road up the Peninsula to Richmond. He was
slowly followed by McClellan's army. Smith's division having crossed
the Warwick at Lee's mill, led in the pursuit, coming up with the enemy
strongly posted in a new line of fortifications covering the town of
Williamsburg. Smith's engineering skill and his quick intelligence
served him again most fortunately, and with the aid of Captain West of
the Coast Survey then serving on his staff, soon enabled him to find
the weak spot in the enemy's position. This time it turned out to be on
the extreme left, where he had failed, probably through lack of troops,
to occupy the extensive works which had been previously constructed.
Realizing intuitively the futility of a front attack against such
entrenchments, Smith threw Hancock's brigade promptly to the right and
under cover of the woods, succeeded without serious loss or delay in
occupying one of the works from which, with his division he could
easily have swept the whole line had he not been restrained by the
presence of his seniors.
Unfortunately McClellan was in the rear, but Sumner and Heintzelman,
corps commanders, were soon upon the ground, and with prudent but
ill-timed conservatism declined to sanction the proper movement to
reinforce Hancock, for fear that it would bring on a general engagement
before the army could be properly closed up and placed in position to
participate. Smith recognizing, the great advantage certain to arise
from pushing promptly through the opening he had already found,
besought Sumner for permission to go with the rest of his division to
Hancock's assistance, but this was also denied. As other troops arrived
on the field, Smith moved to the right to make place for them, with the
hope that he might be permitted to continue his march unobserved till
he had come up with his advanced brigade, but orders were sent which
arrested him before he had accomplished the object he had in view. All
day long he was held in the leash with certain victory in sight.
McClellan arrived on the field late in the afternoon, but before he
could get a satisfactory understanding of the condition of affairs,
night came on. Consequently nothing decisive was done that day and a
great opportunity was lost. The wily Magruder, seeing that his left had
been turned, and that his position was untenable, abandoned his works
under cover of darkness and fell back towards Richmond. Obviously this
result was due, first, to the fortunate discovery made by General Smith
and his engineer, and to the successful turning movement of Hancock,
based thereon; and, second, to the certainty that if properly
reinforced by the rest of Smith's division, and by other divisions, if
necessary, as it surely would be as soon as the national commander had
come to comprehend the real condition of affairs, the Confederate
forces would be taken in flank and rear and overwhelmed.
This was Smith's last chance at anything like independent action.
During the remainder of this ill-starred campaign he played the part of
a subordinate division commander, in a large army engaged in a
complicated series of movements and battles, and of course had no
control over the general plans or operations. There is no evidence that
he was ever consulted by anyone except his corps commander Franklin who
was himself also a subordinate. The army lacking field experience, did
not work well together as a whole. The corps commanders had been
selected and appointed by the Secretary of War, without reference to
McClellan's wishes or recommendations. Several of them were veterans,
who received their assignments because of seniority rather than for
special aptitudes, and this naturally begot a disposition on the part
of the division commanders, who were generally younger and perhaps more
ambitious men, to look carefully after their own troops and leave
larger affairs to their seniors. At all events, Smith's principal care
henceforth was to handle his own division and look out exclusively for
its requirements, and this he did prudently and well, especially during
the Seven days' battle, and during the change of base from the York to
the James River. His brigades, led as I have pointed out, by very able
men, were more or less constantly and successfully engaged. They took a
most creditable part in the battles of Golding's Farm, Savage Station
and White Oak Swamp.
Throughout the whole of this trying time of incessant marching and
fighting Smith remained watchful and wary, directing his division
through every peril, and finally conducting it, without material loss,
but with increased confidence in itself and in its leader, to the new
base which had been selected for the army. His cool and confident
bearing, and his skillful conduct throughout this campaign, won for him
the brevet of Lieutenant Colonel in the regular army and the rank of
Major General of Volunteers.