G e n e ral Ki rby Sm i th BY ARTH UR H OWARD NOLL 1 1 ” A uth or of Sho rt H stor of M ex ico From Em re to R e ublic i y , pi p ; ’ ” d t r f i h uin r M em o rs of the ar etc E o o B s o ta d s W . i p Q i , TH E UNIVERSIT Y P RESS AT TH E UNIVERSIT Y OF T H E SO UT H SEWANEE TENNESSEE C opyrigh ted 1 90 7 by ART H UR H OW A RD N OLL All righ ts res erv ed 0 ‘ T o the ' C t z e s o f Fl o r i d a i i n , and e specially to the C o nfed era te Vetera ns an d D a ughte rs o f th e C o nfed eracy o f h S t at tate , This Life of a D istinguis hed Floridian and C o fede ate L and W tha n r eader , i l , P i i c Am ic n atr ot er a , i s dedicated Pre fa c e TH E purpose of this book i s to set forth the life of its subj ect more as a man than as a military leader ; and w ith that obj ect in View , letters written by him on b a ttl efi eld s o f at West Point , the the War with Mexico , on the Southwestern Frontier , in Virginia while recruiting the Armies of the Confederacy a n d while recovering from the wound received at Manas s a s from of , and Mexico and Cuba after the fall the w Confederacy , have been freely dra n upon . In edi t i n w g these letters for this purpose , the present riter o f has omitted only such portions as were local , tem ora r or p y personal interest , denoting such omissions w ur i o f here they occ n the midst paragraphs . The military operations of the Kentucky Campaign and , o f the Trans - Mississippi Department are related in the words of papers carefully prepared by General Kirby Smith for publication shor tly after the close of the ch i efl a utobi Civil War . The work is therefore y o n or graphical , though neither the letters the papers were written with any thought that they would be of used for such a purpose . In his extended use these materials the present writer frankly acknowledges that his true relation to the volume is that of editor rather than author , and as such he here expresses V Pr efa c e M r . of his obligations to Sanderson Smith , New E K A . U . S . York ; to Maj or Webster , . , and other H T members of the family ; and to the on . John of for Beard , Florida , valuable assistance rendered in the preparation of the book and i n seeing it through the press . One wh o took the deepest interest in every detail of of the preparation this volume , was in the Provi f s ee o o . dence God , not permitted to its publicati n on rd 1 0 Very early Sunday morning , November 3 , 9 7 , at Sewanee , Tennessee , Mrs . Cassie Selden Kirby Smith passed from the Church Militant to the rest of w s h e Paradise . The follo ing day was laid to rest by the side of her distinguished husband in the Se wa nee cemetery . A H . Th e Univ ers ity of th e S o uth ewa ee e es s ee S n , T nn , o e e 1 0 . N v mb r, 9 7 VI C o n ten ts PA GE INTROD U C TION T H E K B Y M S AN D K B Y -S M H IR S , THE S ITH THE IR IT S WE S T POINT I N THE W A R WITH MEXI C O WE S T POINT AG A IN SOUTHW E S TERN FRONTIER S ERVI C E SO U THWE S TERN FRONTIER SERVI C E : WITH THE B O U ND A RY C OM M ISSI O N VI I U W S S V C : C U G . SO TH E TERN FRONTIER ER I E S O TIN WITH THE SE C ON D C AVA L RY UN D ER LE E VI I I T H E I P B L F L C . RRE RESSI E CON I T IX T H E B G G O F W A R AND L . E INNIN THE THE BATT E OF M AN N A SSA S X T H E K Y M P . KENT UC CA AI GN I N THE TRAN S - MI S S I S S I P P I DEP ART M ENT X T H E D I I . S U RREN ER X I I XP I . E ATRIATION X I V AT S W A . E NEE IN D EX G e n eral Kirby- Sm ith INTRODUCTION I N A P RI L 1 86 w w , 5 , hen the ne s of the surrender of General Lee reached a small town in New Jersey, bo i n a y of ten years , who participated the rej oicing wa s ro with which the news was received , p mpted to as k if all the Confederate Generals had surrendered , H e wa s a nd if the war were actually ended . informed that there were several general offi cers who had not a nd surrendered , among them was mentioned General - fi x ed Kirby Smith . This name itself upon the mind of s the boy . Listening attentively to the discussion he heard among his elders at the time , he learned something more about the Confederate General , the oddity of whose name had the effect o f making him ’ H e a hero in the boy s mind . learned that this Con 1 86 i n s u federate General had been , since early in 3 , preme command of what was known as the Trans Mississippi Department of the Confederate Army ; that the Department included Texas , Louisiana , Ar kansas and the Indian Territory ; that he had organized a government there and had ma de that government G en e ra l Kirby - Smi th - C on self supporting , so that after the collapse of the federate Government at Richmond and the surrender of General Lee , fears were entertained among the f Federal leaders , that if the person of Je ferson Davis not - M i s were secured , he might escape to this Trans s i s s i ppi region and there cooperate with the mili i n tary commander maintaining a Confederacy , rather more contracted than the other, yet likely to hold out for some time longer . And secretly the boy hoped that this might be not from any feeling of disloyalty to the Union , but probably because he thought it would add interest to the history that was then making itself . h O e This p was indulged in secret , although in all the discussions of public affairs to which the boy listened at the time , he was much impressed by the modera tion with which the leaders of the then crumbling Confederacy were always referred to , and the absence of re of all personal bitterness , even in the midst the j oi c i ng over the surrender which brought the war to a close . w bo T enty years later , the New Jersey y came to of at the University the South , Sewanee , Tennessee , fi rs t wa s and among the persons he met there , Gen - n eral Kirby Smith , looki g very much like the war of time engraved portraits him , save that his long heard wa s snowy white instead of j et black ; hi s head more bald ; and instead of the gray uniform of a Con i n federate General , he was most frequently seen 2 G e n e ra l Kirby - Smith I n th e scholastic cap and gown . personal acquaint w fi rs t ance hich followed the meeting , the New Jersey to w - not boy learned kno General Kirby Smith , only as who the Confederate General was the last to surrender, but also as one who had borne a distinguished part i n the wa r with Mexico and had subsequently had a long and interesting career on the Southwest e rn frontier in a region with which the New Jer b o of s ey y had become familiar . But most all he came to know him as a scholar and a Christian gentle — m an a representative of a class of which the Con federate Army wa s largely composed ; and the ac quaintance became s uffi ci ently close to j ustify the ’ r Yankee boy s undertaking , at the close of anothe o f of hi s twenty years , to write a life this hero boy a w hood nd to show the world who he really as . To this task he has been drawn by coming into ’ close touch with the General s life and by having hi s character more deeply impressed upon him in two the previous literary ventures , notably in editing of Memoirs the Right Reverend Dr .