Thomas Kilby Smith

Infobox Military Person
name=Thomas Kilby Smith
born= birth date|1820|9|23
died= death date and age|1887|12|14|1820|9|23


caption=
nickname=
placeofbirth=Boston, Massachusetts
placeofdeath= New York City, New York
placeofburial=
allegiance= United States of America
branch=Union Army
serviceyears=1861–65
rank=Brigadier General
unit=XV Corps
commands=Department of Southern Alabama and Florida
battles=American Civil War - Battle of Shiloh - Red River Campaign
awards=
relations=
laterwork=Diplomat, journalist

Thomas Kilby Smith (September 23, 1820 – December 14, 1887) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, as well as a postbellum diplomat and journalist.

Early life and career

Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 23, 1820. He was the eldest son of Captain George Smith and Eliza Bicker Walter. Both his paternal and maternal forefathers were active and prominent in the professional life and in the government of New England.

His parents moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in his early childhood, where he was educated in a military school under Ormsby M. Mitchel, the astronomer, and studied law in the office of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. In 1853 he was appointed special agent in the Post Office Department at Washington, and later marshal for the Southern District of Ohio and deputy clerk of Hamilton County.

Civil War

Smith entered the Union Army on September 9, 1861, as a lieutenant colonel. He was conspicuous in the Battle of Shiloh, on April 6 and 7, 1862, assuming command of Stuart's Brigade, Sherman's Division, during the second day. As commander of brigade in the XV and XV Army Corps, he participated in all the campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee, being also for some months on staff duty with General Ulysses S. Grant.

He was commissioned as a brigadier general of volunteers on August 11, 1863. Smith was assigned on March 7, 1864, to the command of the detached division of the XVII Army Corps and rendered distinguished service during the Red River Expedition, protecting Admiral David D. Porter's fleet after the disaster of the main army. After the fall of Mobile, Alabama, he assumed the command of the Department of Southern Alabama and Florida, and then of the Post and District of Maine. He was brevetted as a major general for gallant and meritorious service.

Postbellum career

After the war he removed to Torresdale, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1866 President Andrew Johnson appointed him as the United States Consul at Panama. At the time of his death, he was engaged in journalism in New York City.

On May 2, 1848, he married Elizabeth Budd, daughter of Dr. William Budd McCullough and Arabella Sanders Piatt, of Cincinnati. She was a gifted and devout woman, and through her influence and that of the venerable archbishop Purcell he became a Catholic some years before his death. He left five sons and three daughters.

54th Ohio Infantry Monument

The monument is located in the Vicksburg National Military Park on Union Avenue approximately 150 yards south of Grant Avenue. Also a marker designating the assaults of 19 May 1863 located on the ridge on the south side of Graveyard Road 400' east of the Stockade Redan. This unit was attached to Col. Thomas Kilby Smith and Brig. Gen. Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn's (assumed command 24 May 1864) 2nd Brigade of Maj. Gen.Francis P. Blair's 2nd Division, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's XV Army Corps and was commanded by Lt. Col. Cyrus W. Fisher.

ee also

*List of American Civil War generals

References

*NPS.Gov|sourceURL= [http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/oh/oh54inf.htm]
*catholic

Persondata
NAME= Smith, Thomas Kilby
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Union Army general
DATE OF BIRTH= September 23, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH= Boston, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH= December 14, 1887
PLACE OF DEATH= New York City, New York