My Genealogy Hound

GEN. E. KIRBY SMITH was born in St. Augustine, Fla., in 1824, being a son of Judge J. L. Smith, presiding judge of the United States Court in Florida. He was graduated from the West Point Military Academy, in the class of 1845. Almost immediately he was ordered to Corpus Christi, and before the age of twenty-one began his military career. He was before Vera Cruz, and at the first battles of Resaca de la Palma and Palo Alto. He was mentioned in the official report of John Mclntosh, of the Fifth Infantry, for his brave conduct. He received two brevets in the campaign, one for the battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was one of the first to scale the heights, and one for gallant and meritorious conduct at Contreras. He was appointed instructor of mathematics at the military academy (West Point, N. Y.) for three years, and was selected to join the boundary commission, under Maj. Emory, in which service he received a high compliment in Maj. Emory’s official report. On the organization of the cavalry he received the appointment of captain, high on the list, and was ordered to Texas, where he served ten years, eleven times successfully engaging the Indians, and was severely wounded in one engagement. On the secession of Florida he offered his services to the governor of that State. At this time he was lieutenant-colonel of cavalry. Returning from Texas he received, first an appointment as major of artillery in the Confederate service, and afterward that of lieutenant-colonel of cavalry. He was ordered to Lynchburg, Va., to muster in troops, and on Gen. Joseph E. Johnston taking command of Harper’s Ferry, he accompanied him as chief-of-staff. After the evacuation of Harper’s Ferry he received from President Davis the commission of brigadier-general. He was shot while gallantly leading a charge at Manassas, and was carried to the rear. Recovering from the wound he was assigned to the Department of Tennessee, Kentucky and the mountain region of North Carolina and Alabama. He led the advance into Kentucky, winning the victory at Richmond. He was then assigned to the command of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and defeated Banks, on Red River, and Steele, in Arkansas. He was the last general to surrender in the war. After the war he was president of the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Company, and built the lines from Cincinnati to New Orleans. He was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Nashville, and reopened that institution after the war. In 1874 he came to Sewanee as professor of mathematics, and has since filled that chair. He was married, in 1861, to Miss Cassie Selden, of Virginia, the fruits of this union being eleven children, all now living.