William Sooy Smith

Infobox Military Person
name=William Sooy Smith
born=birth date|1830|7|22
died= death date and age|1916|3|4|1830|7|22


caption=William Sooy Smith
nickname=
placeofbirth=Tarlton, Ohio
placeofdeath=Medford, Oregon
placeofburial=
allegiance=United States of America
branch=United States Army
serviceyears=1849 – 1864
rank=Major General
unit= 13th Ohio Infantry
commands= Cavalry units of the Military Division of Mississippi
battles=American Civil War • Shiloh • Meridian • Okolona
awards=
relations=

William Sooy Smith (July 22 1830 – March 4 1916) was a West Point graduate and career United States Army officer who rose through the ranks to become a Brigadier General in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In civilian life, he was a renowned engineer involved in bridge construction.Ohio State History [http://www.oll.state.oh.us/your_state/remarkable_ohio/marker_details.cfm?marker_id=885 "Major General William Sooy Smith"] retrieved July 8 2007]

Early life and career

Smith was born in Tarlton, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio University in 1849 with an engineering degree. He furthered this degree at West Point as soon as he left the university, graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1853.

Smith established the engineering company Parkinson & Smith in 1857, and was involved in the first surveys for a bridge between the United States and Canada across the Niagara River near Niagara Falls.

Civil War

In 1861 at the outbreak of the Civil War, Smith joined the 13th Ohio Infantry, and by June he was commissioned as its colonel. After serving in western Virginia, he was promoted to brigadier general in April 1862 during the Battle of Shiloh.

Smith participated in the Vicksburg campaign, commanding the XVI Corps' first division.Civil War Home [http://www.civilwarhome.com/vicksburgorgunion.htm Vicksburg Order of Battle] retrieved August 14, 2007] Afterwards, he served as chief of cavalry in both the Department of Tennessee and the Military Division of Mississippi, under Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman. Under Sherman, during Union attacks on Meridian, Mississippi, Smith was given the command of a force of 7,000 Union cavalry. Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, however, defeated these forces on February 22 1864 in the Battle of Okolona. Smith, having disobeyed orders from Sherman, was forced to fight this eleven-mile running battle before retreating across the state line into Tennessee on February 26, where he was criticized for putting Sherman's Meridian Expedition in danger.The American Battlefield Protection Program [http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/ABPP/BATTLES/ms013.htm "Okolona"] retrieved July 7 2007]

Postbellum career

Smith later left the military and returned to civil engineering. In 1867, he sank the first pneumatic caisson of the Waugoshanee lighthouse in the Straits of Mackinaw. At Glasgow, Missouri, from 1878 to 1879, Smith worked on the Glasgow Railroad Bridge. This was the first all-steel bridge, which crossed the Missouri River.

In 1876 Smith was awarded the American Centennial Exposition prize, and continued to work in engineering until retirement to Medford, Oregon towards the end of his life. After his death in 1916, he was buried in Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.Grave location: [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9838 William Sooy Smith] retrieved July 8 2007]

ee also

*List of American Civil War generals

Notes

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/us_cmnd/smith_ws.htm Bust of General Smith at Vicksburg National Military Park]
* [http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/ngs/smithws.htm Photo gallery of William S. Smith]

Persondata
NAME= Smith, William Sooy
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