Edmund Kirby Smith Edmund Kirby Smith (May 16, 1824 – March 28, 1893) was a career United States Army officer before serving the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and educator in the postwar years. He served as a general in the Confederate States Army, notable for his com- mand of the Trans-Mississippi Department after the fall of Vicksburg to the Union Army. After the conflict ended, Smith worked in both the telegraph and railway industries. He next served as a col- lege professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee until his death. 1 Early life and the U.S. Army Smith was born in 1824 in St. Augustine, Florida, as the youngest child to Joseph Lee Smith and Frances Kirby Smith. Both his parents were natives of Litchfield, Con- necticut, where their older children were born. The fam- ily moved to Florida in 1821, shortly before the elder Smith was named a Superior Court judge in the new Florida Territory, acquired by the US from Spain.[1][2] Older siblings included Ephraim, born in 1807; sister Frances, born in 1809;[1] and Josephine, who died in Edmund Kirby Smith as a U.S. Army officer 1835, likely of tuberculosis.[3][4] In 1836, his parents sent him to a military boarding school in Virginia, which he attended until his enrollment in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.[5] that year on through the war, Smith was accompanied by Alexander Darnes, then 15, a mixed-race slave of his fam- On July 1, 1841, Smith entered West Point and grad- ily who served as a valet until emancipation.) (See photo uated four years later, standing 25th out of 41 cadets. of Darnes.)[7] Kirby Smith collected and studied materi- While there he was nicknamed “Seminole” after the Na- als as a botanist; like many other military officers, he was tive Americans of his state, and brevetted a second lieu- also a scientist. Some of the items from his collecting at tenant in the 5th U.S. Infantry on July 1, 1845. He was West Point, he donated to the Smithsonian Institution. promoted to second lieutenant on August 22, 1846, now serving in the 7th U.S. Infantry.[6] Kirby Smith was assigned to teaching mathematics at West Point, from 1849-1852. According to his letters In the Mexican–American War, he served under General to his mother, he was happy with this environment.[8] Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of [2] On May 13, 1859, he was wounded in his thigh fight- Resaca de la Palma. He served under General Winfield ing Indians in the Nescutunga Valley of Texas.[2] When Scott later, and received brevet promotions to first lieu- Texas seceded, Smith, now a major, refused to surrender tenant for Cerro Gordo and to captain for Contreras and his command at Camp Colorado in what is now Coleman, Churubusco. His older brother, Ephraim Kirby Smith Texas, to the Texas State forces under Col. Benjamin Mc- (1807-1847), who graduated from West Point in 1826 Culloch; he expressed his willingness to fight to hold it.[5] and was a captain in the regular army, served with him in On January 31, 1861, Smith was promoted to major, but the 5th U.S. Infantry in the campaigns with both Taylor on April 6, he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and Scott. Ephraim died in 1847 from wounds suffered [6] [5] to join the Confederacy. His sister Frances (Smith) at the Battle of Molino del Rey. Webster remained loyal to the Union although married to After that war, Kirby Smith served as a captain (from Lucien Bonaparte Webster, a Confederate officer, who 1855) in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, primarily in Texas. (From died during the war. 1 2 2 CIVIL WAR SERVICE 2 Civil War service Following the Union capture of the remaining strongholds at Vicksburg and Port Hudson and the closing of the On March 16, 1861, Smith entered the Confederate Mississippi, he was virtually cut off from the Confed- forces as a major in the regular artillery; that day he erate capital at Richmond and was confronted with the was transferred to the regular cavalry with the rank of command of a virtually independent area of the Confed- lieutenant colonel.[6] After serving briefly as Brig. Gen. eracy, with all of its inherent administrative problems. Joseph E. Johnston's assistant adjutant general in the The area became known in the Confederacy as “Kirby [12] Shenandoah Valley,[9] Smith was promoted to brigadier Smithdom”. general on June 17, 1861. He was given command of a brigade in the Army of the Shenandoah, which he led at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21.[10] Wounded severely in the neck and shoulder, he recuperated while commanding the Department of Middle and East Florida. He returned to duty on October 11 as a major general and division commander in the Confederate Army of North- ern Virginia.[11] In February 1862, Smith was sent west to command the Army of East Tennessee. Cooperating with Gen. Braxton Bragg in the invasion of Kentucky, he scored a victory at the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky on August 30, 1862, and was named on October 9 to the newly cre- ated grade of lieutenant general, becoming a corps com- Kirby Smith resided in Shreveport during the Red River Campaign mander in the Army of Tennessee.[11] Smith would also of 1864. receive the Confederate "Thanks of Congress" on Febru- ary 17, 1864, for his actions at Richmond.[lower-alpha 1] In the spring of 1864, Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor, directly 2.1 Trans-Mississippi Department under Smith’s command, soundly defeated Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks at the Battle of Mansfield in the Red [13] On January 14, 1863, Smith was transferred to command River Campaign on April 8, 1864. After the Battle of the Trans-Mississippi Department (primarily Arkansas, Pleasant Hill on April 9, Smith joined Taylor and dis- Western Louisiana, and Texas) and he remained west of patched half of Taylor’s Army, Walker’s Greyhounds, un- the Mississippi River for the balance of the war, based der the command of Maj. Gen. John George Walker part of this time in Shreveport, Louisiana. As forces un- northward to defeat Union Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele's incursion into Arkansas. This decision, strongly opposed der Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant tightened their [14] grip on the river, Smith attempted to intervene. How- by Taylor, caused great enmity between the two men. ever, his department never had more than 30,000 men With the pressure relieved, Smith attempted to send re- stationed over an immense area and he was not able to inforcements east of the Mississippi, but as in the case of concentrate forces adequately to challenge Grant nor the his earlier attempts to relieve Vicksburg, it proved impos- Union Navy on the river.[11] sible due to Union naval control of the river. Instead he dispatched Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, with all available Westport Pilot Knob 1864 PRICE C O L O R A D O K A N S A S cavalry, on an unsuccessful invasion of Missouri. There- 1864 T E R R I T O R Y 1864 Mine Creek M I S S O U R I Saint Wilson`s Creek Louis after the war west of the river was principally one of small CANBY CURTIS 1861 1862 Pea Ridge T E N N E S S E E [15] Glorietta Pass Chustenlahlah raids and guerrilla activity. By now a full general (as 1861 1862 Memphis VAN DORN PRICE Santa Fe 1864 A R K A N S A S STEELE of February 19, 1864, one of only seven such men in I N D I A N Honey Little Rock 1863 1862 T E R R I T O R Y Springs Corinth [11] Peralta M I S S I S S I P P I the Confederacy), he negotiated the surrender of his Valverde STEELE N E W 1862 Marks Mill M E X I C O 1864 1864 department—the only significant Confederate field army T E R R I T O R Y Camden Poison Spring Red River 1864 left—on May 26, 1865. He signed the terms of surren- TRANS MISSISSIPPI Vicksburg Jackson Mesilla Shreveport [16] L O U I S I A N A Mansfield Port Hudson der in Galveston, Texas, on June 2, and afterward fled SIBLEY 1864 T E X A S 1864 to Mexico and then to Cuba to escape potential prosecu- Baton Rouge Austin Yellow Bayou Sabine Pass 1863 BANKS New Orleans [17] Rio Grande Houston tion for treason. In August that year General Beaure- Galveston 1863 gard's house near New Orleans, was surrounded by troops Confederate victory Union victory MEXICAN EMPIRE Gulf of Mexico who suspected he was harbouring Smith. All the inhabi- TRANS MISSISSIPPI Confederate Trans-Mississippi tants were locked in a cotton press overnight. Beauregard Department (from 1863) Palmito Ranch 1865 complained to General Sheridan who expressed his an- noyance at his erstwhile enemy’s treatment.[18] Smith re- Shows Trans-Mississippi Department, “Kirby Smithdom”, also turned to take an oath of amnesty at Lynchburg, Virginia, shows Price's failed invasion of Missouri on November 14, 1865.[6] 3 3 Marriage and family life 5 Legacy and honors • In August 1861, Kirby Smith met Cassie Selden (1836– His papers have been collected at the University 1905), the daughter of Samuel S.