Green Clay Smith

Infobox Governor
name=Green Clay Smith

---

caption=
order=3rd
office=Territorial Governor of Montana
term_start=July 13, 1866
term_end=April 9, 1869
lieutenant=
predecessor=Thomas Francis Meagher
successor=James Mitchell Ashley
birth_date=birth date|1826|7|4|mf=y
birth_place=Richmond, Kentucky, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1895|6|29|1826|7|4|mf=y
death_place=Washington, D.C., U.S.
party=Unconditional Unionist, Prohibitionist
profession=Politician, Lawyer, Pastor
spouse=
religion=Baptist
footnotes=

Green Clay Smith (July 4, 1826ndash June 29, 1895) was a U.S. soldier and politician. He served as a major general during the Civil War, was a congressman from Kentucky and was the Territorial Governor of Montana from 1866 to 1869. He also ran for President of the United States on the Prohibition ticket in 1876. He was the son of John Speed Smith.

Biography

Born in Richmond, Kentucky, Smith pursued academic studies as a young man. During the U.S.-Mexican War, he enlisted in the Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the First Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Infantry on June 9, 1846. He graduated from Transylvania University in 1849, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1852, commencing practice in Covington, Kentucky. From 1853 to 1857, Smith worked as a school commissioner. He was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863. On April 4, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the Fourth Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry and later advanced to brigadier general of volunteers on July 2, 1862. In 1862, Smith was elected an Unconditional Unionist to the thirty-eighth congress, resigning from his military post on December 1, 1863. He served as chairman of the Committee on Militia from 1865 to 1866. He was brevetted major general of volunteers on March 13, 1865. Smith resigned from congress in July 1866 when President Andrew Johnson appointed him Territorial Governor of Montana which he served as from 1866 to 1869. After he resigned, he moved to Washington, D.C. where he ordained to the Baptist ministry and supported the temperance movement. In 1876, the National Prohibition Party nominated Smith for President of the United States. With his running mate, Gideon T. Stewart, the two received 9,737 popular votes in the election. He continued his work in religion and temperance and in 1890 became pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. which he served as until his death in 1895. He was interned in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

ee also

*List of American Civil War generals

External links

*CongBio|S000544 Retrieved on 2008-08-17
*findagrave|5885506 Retrieved on 2008-08-13
* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/gcsmith.htm Green Clay Smith] at Arlington National Cemetery

Persondata
NAME= Smith, Green Clay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Union Army general
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=