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Morgan Lewis Smith

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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MORGAN LEWIS SMITH (1822-1874), American general, was born in Oswego county, New York, on the 8th of March 1822. In 1843 he settled in Indiana, and later had some military experience in the United States army. At the outbreak of the Civil War he raised the 8th Missouri regiment, of which he was elected colonel in 1861. He commanded a brigade at the capture of Fort Donelson, and did good service at Shiloh. In July 1862 he was made a brigadier-general U.S.V., and served under Sherman in the river expedition against Vicksburg. At the battle of Chickasaw Bayou he received a severe wound, from which he recovered only in time to join the Army of the Tennessee before Chattanooga. He led his division in the battles of the Chattanooga campaign, as also, in the following year, in the Atlanta campaign. At the battle of Atlanta he commanded Logan's corps. Afterwards he was placed in charge of Vicksburg. General Sherman said of M. L. Smith, "He was one of the bravest men in action I ever knew." He died at Jersey City on the 29th of December 1874.

His brother, Giles Alexander Smith (1829-1876), also a distinguished soldier of the Federal army, was born in Jefferson county, N.Y., on the 29th of September 1829. At the beginning of the Civil War he joined the Missouri volunteers, in which he became a captain. He took part in the capture of Fort Donelson, the battle of Shiloh and the operations against Corinth, becoming, later in 1862, colonel of a regiment which he led at Chickasaw Bayou. After the final campaign against Vicksburg he was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers. He was wounded at the battle of Chattanooga. He took part in the Atlanta campaign, the "March to the Sea" and the Carolinas campaign, rising to the rank of major-general of volunteers. After the war he declined the offer of a colonelcy in the regular army, and was subsequently engaged in politics, retiring from public life in 1872. He died at Bloomington, Ill., on the 8th of November 1876.