Heroes of the Great Conflict; Life and Services of William Farrar by James Harrison Wilson

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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 Barre, 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
Barre, 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 elite 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.

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