Smith should be accorded great praise for the in- genuity which conceived, and the ability which executed, the movement at Brown's ferry. When tin bridge was thrown at Brown's ferry, on the morning of the 27th Oct., 18(53, the surprise was as great to the army within Chattanooga as it was to the army besieging it from without." The house committee on military affairs, in April, 18(55, unani- mously agreed to a report that " as a subordinate, Gen. William F. Smith had saved the Arnn nf thf Cumberland from capture, and afterward di- rected it to victory." He was confirmed as major- general of volunteers in March, 18(54, and in May assigned to the 18th corps, which he commanded at, t'<>ld Harbor and at Petersburg till July, when he was placed on special duty. On 13 M.nvh. IS(M, lie received the brevets of brigadier-general, I". S. army, for "gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Chattanooga, Tenn.." and that of major-general for services in the field during the civil war. He resigned his volunteer commission in 1865, and that in the U. S. army in 1867. He became president of the International telegraph .company in 1865, police commissioner of New York city in 1875, and subsequently president of the board. Since 1881 he has been a civil engineer. He was known in the army as "Baldy" Smith.
SMITH, William Henry, journalist, b. in Austerlitz, N.Y.,
1 Dec., 1833; d. in Lake Forest, Ill.,
27 July, 1896. In 1836 his parents emigrated to
Ohio, where he received an English education.
He was tutor in a western college, and then assistant
editor of a weekly paper in Cincinnati, of which,
at the age of twenty-two, he became editor, doing
also editorial work on the “Literary Review.”
At the opening of the civil war he was on the
editorial staff of the Cincinnati “Gazette,” and during
the war he took an active part in raising troops
and forwarding sanitary supplies, and in political
work for strengthening the government. He was
largely instrumental in bringing Gov.
John Brough
to the front as a candidate of the united Republicans
and War Democrats; and at Brough's election,
in 1863, he became the latter's private secretary.
The next year he was elected secretary of state of
Ohio, and he was re-elected in 1866. He retired from
public office to establish the “Evening Chronicle”
at Cincinnati, but, his health giving way, he was
forced to withdraw from all active work. In 1870
he took charge of the affairs of the Western
associated press, with headquarters at Chicago. In
1877 he was appointed by President
Hayes
collector of the port at that city, and was instrumental
in bringing about important reforms in customs
methods in harmony with the civil-service policy
of the administration. In January, 1883, he effected
the union of the New York associated press with
the Western associated press, and became general
manager of the consolidated association. Mr.
Smith was a student of historical subjects. He was
author of the
“St. Clair Papers”
(2 vols., Cincinnati, 1882), a biography of
Charles Hammond,
and many contributions to American periodicals. He
was also the author of a “Political History of the
United States.” By his investigations in the British
museum he brought to light many unpublished
letters of Washington to Col.
Henry Bouquet
and, had shown that those that were published by Jared Sparks
were not given correctly.
SMITH, William Laughton, diplomatist. l>.
in Charleston, S. C., in 1758 : d. there in 1812. He
was educated in England, and in Geneva, Switzer-
land, studied law in the Middle Temple, and re-
turned to Charleston in 1783. after an absencv of
thirteen years. He was twice chosen to the legis-
lature, and was one of the governor's council. In
1788 he was elected to the first congress, -and his
was the first contested election case before that
body, his opponent being Dr. David Ramsay, the
historian. Mr. Smith was sustained with' only
one negative vote. He was an able and frequent
debater, advocating, among other measures, a com-
mercial treaty with England instead of France.
When Jay's treaty was before the senate, he was
burnt in effigy in Charleston, in the outburst of
public feeling against it. He became charge d'af-
faires to Portugal in 1797. In 1800 he was trans-
ferred to the Spanish mission, which he held till
1801. He supported the administrations of Wash-
ington and Adams, but was a vehement opponent
of Jefferson, against whose pretensions to the
presidency he published a pamphlet. His other
works include " Speeches in the House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States " (London, 1?!>4);
" Address to his Constituents " (1794) ; Fourth-
of-July Oration " (1796) ; " Comparative View of
the Constitution of the States" (Philadelphia,
1796); and several essays, published under the sig-
nature of " Phocion " as " American Arguments for
British Rights " (London, 1806).
SMITH. William Nathan Harrell. jurist, b.
in Murfreesborough, N. C., 24 Sept., 1812; d. in
Kaleigh, N. ('.. 14 Nov., 1889. He was graduated
at Yale in is:>4. studied at the law department
there, was admitted to practice in his native state
in 1840, and took high rank at the bar. He served
in the legislature in 1840. and in the state senate
in 1848, in which year he was chosen solicitor for
the 1st judicial circuit, and held office for two
terms of eight years. He was defeated as a Whig
candidate for congress in 185f>. returned to the leg-
islature, was chosen to congress in 1858. and served
one term. He declared himself for secession at the
beginning of the civil war, was a member of the
Confederate congress in 1861-'5, and of the North
Carolina legislature in the latter year. During the
administration of President Johnson he aided in the
reconstruction of the state according to the policy
that he suggested. He practised his profession in
Norfolk, Va.. in 1870-'2, returned to North Caro-
lina in the latter year, and settled in Raleigh. He
was appointed chief justice of the state supreme
court, succeeding Richmond V. Pearson in 1878,
and continued to serve by re-election after that date.
SMITH, William Russell, congressman, b. in
Tuscaloosa, Ala., 8 Aug., 1813; d. 20 Feb., 1896.
He was educated at the University of Alabama,
but was not graduated, and began the practice ut'
law in Greensborough, Ala. He served in the
Creek war in 1836 as a captain of volunteer in-
fantry, removed to Tuscaloosa in 1838, founded the
" Monitor " in that city, and was mayor in 1839.
He was a circuit judge and major-general of state
militia in 1850-'!, and in the former year was chosen
to congress as a Whig, serving by re-election till
1857. During his last term in that office he deliv-
ered a notable speech in denunciation of Louis
Kossuth. He was a member of the Alabama con-
vention in 1861, opposed secession, but after the
opening of hostilities sat in the Confederate con-
gress till 1865. He was president of the University
of Alabama for several years after the war, but re-
signed to devote himself to his profession and to lit-
erary pursuits. He had published " The Alabama
Justice "(New York, 1841); "The Uses of Solitude,"
a poem (Albany, N. Y., 1860) ; " As it Is," a novel
(Tuscaloosa, 1860) ; "Condensed Alabama Reports"
(1862) ; and several poems and legal pamphlets.
SMITH. William Sooy. civil engineer, b. in Tarllon, Ohio, 22 July, 1830. He was graduated
