Major General G.W. Smith: Was the strain more than he could bear?

Major General G.W. Smith: Was the strain more than he could bear?

Gustavus Woodson Smith

     One of the lesser known Confederate generals who could have played a larger role was Major General Gustavus Woodson Smith. He was born in Kentucky in 1821 and was a cousin of Confederate General John Bell Hood. Ten years older than his cousin, Smith graduated from West Point in 1842 and opposite his famous cousin, Smith graduated high in his class. Finishing high in his class meant he was able to enter the engineer corps.

     He saw action in the Mexican War and was breveted for gallantry three times. Smith then returned to West Point where he taught. In 1854 a year after his cousin John Bell Hood's graduation, Smith resigned and began a career in civil engineering. He was working in New York City as street commissioner when the Civil War began. He was delayed in coming South and joining the Confederacy until September, 1861 because of having suffered from a stroke that caused temporary paralysis.

  Upon enlisting in the Confederate Army, Jefferson Davis immediately commissioned him a major general. He was sent straight to the army in Virginia as a division commander under Joseph E. Johnston. Smith soon thereafter became an ardent follower of Beauregard and helped him in his attempt to gain control of the army over Johnston.

G.W. Smith in Confederate uniform

     When Davis tired of Beauregard and sent him to the western army, G.W. Smith became second in command of the Virginia army. His responsibility also began to grow. Johnston placed him in command of one wing of the army. When the army moved to the Peninsula to face McClellan's advancing army, Smith began to have strange medical conditions. His field performance was also poor.

    An aide of President Davis actually called Smith's condition one of moral cowardice. Not a fear for safety, but a fear of failure. This may be partially true, but was there more to the situation than just fear of failure. Was the mental strain of commanding large bodies of troops to much for him. Perhaps there was just too much responsibility for him to handle, especially for a man who has suffered from a stroke at such a young age. He was only forty when the war began.

     The great reputation that Smith had obtained when the war began was about to go spiraling downward. Davis had thought so much of the man, that he'd promoted him to third in rank in the Army of Northern Virginia the day he'd joined the Confederacy.

   That fall from glory occurred on May 31, 1862 when General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines. Command of the army passed to Smith. Davis arrived at his headquarters the next morning to learn of his plans and found his general partially paralyzed again and unable to “endure the mental excitement.” By the next day, he would be forced to leave the army entirely because of his condition. Davis placed Robert E. Lee in charge of the Virginia army and we all know how well that worked out.

    Smith was taken to Richmond where his condition seemed to worsen. In July he said, “I do not get straight in brains and nerves as fast as I hoped.” Smith would serve at various posts in the army throughout the war, but never again would he be given an important assignment.

    Following the war, he would return to civil engineering and begin a long bitter feud with Davis and Johnston. He would die in 1896 of a heart condition and rests today in Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London, Connecticut.

    Historian William C. Davis believes Smith's failure came from too much pride and ego. He believes that Smith had earned too high a reputation without earning it and when forced to perform had become sick. This of course is possible. It is also possible Smith suffered from a nervous breakdown from the strain. Especially one who has suffered from a stroke the previous year, working under constant responsibility, it may just be that simple. We may never know for sure. 

A Mississippi Civil War Gasm

Me at the grave of Brigadier General Joseph L. Hogg

       Well, I finally had a day off without kids to baby sit and went on a mini-Civil War Gasm with my buddy Jerry in Mississippi. If you know Jerry, you know we had a blast. We have begun a hobby of visiting as many Confederate generals graves as possible and having our pictures taken with them. Our first stop was in Corinth, Mississippi at the museum located on the site of Battery Robinette where Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Lewis Hogg is buried. He didn't die in battle here, but from dysentery about three months after his promotion to brigadier general and without seeing any action whatsoever. Colonel William Peleg Rogers is also buried there, killed in the charge that overran the small earthen fort. He commanded a brigade in the action there and by all rights should have been a general officer. Despite the fact that a petition was signed begging President Davis to promote the man, he remained a colonel. The reason being that he and Davis had an argument during the Mexican War and Davis being the type person who held grudges would never forgive Rogers. 

       This brings us to the funny part of the story. Jerry and I wore our shell jackets on this trip. We were in a hurry because after all it was a Civil War Gasm. (Civil War Gasm definition is where you hit as many places as quickly as possible and we had places to go before dark.) We entered the museum to find the park ranger talking to a group of people. The entire group paused to watch us pass right by and out the back door of the museum at a high rate of speed. We exited the museum and walked around to the gate to find it locked. We then re-entered the museum by a side door and exited through another door out of sight of the ranger and group. We made each others picture beside General Hogg and Colonel Rogers graves, walked back around the building to Jerry's truck and left. It was only later that we decided that this is how ghost stories begin. We can just imagine someday reading about ourselves as the park ranger writes a book about the first sergeant and private that passed right through the museum and beyond a locked gate to be seen no more. 

Me at the grave of Colonel William Rogers one of my personal hero's.

       We left Corinth and headed southwest toward Ripley, Mississippi. About six miles beyond Ripley is a small town called Blue Mountain. Here in Blue Mountain Cemetery is the resting place of Brigadier General Mark Perrin Lowrey. His grave was easy enough to find, the cemetery not much more than an acre and his being the only one with an obelisk. General Lowrey was one of Patrick Cleburne's brigade commanders. He had fought in the Mexican War and returned home determined to become a preacher. Despite the fact that he couldn't read or write, he proceeded to accomplish his goal. His wife taught him reading and writing and he became a Baptist minister. He rose to the rank of general during the Civil War and following the war returned to the ministry and also founded a female college in Blue Mountain which later became Blue Mountain College. He died in the railroad depot in Middleton, Tennessee while awaiting a passenger train. 

Grave of Mark Perrin Lowrey

       Leaving Blue Mountain, Mississippi, Jerry called my attention to something I had never realized before. It seems the laws of mathematics cease to exist in this old southern state. We arrived at a sign that declared the intersection a four way stop. The problem was, we only counted three roads. One might think this was a simple accident, but we'll come back to this later. 

       We then drove west to Holly Springs, Mississippi where there are four generals buried in one cemetery. We arrived and entered the first cemetery entrance we came to. There on the right within twenty feet of the entrance we found the grave of Major General Edward Cary Walthall. If you know my luck, you'll know this was a complete accident. Walthall was the little known Confederate general that Forrest chose to help him fight the rear-guard for Hood during the retreat from Nashville. It would prove to be Walthall's best performance of the war. 

Major General Edward Cary Walthall

       We then got lucky and found the graves of Samuel Benton and Winfield Scott Featherston. Benton was only a colonel leading a brigade at the Battle of Atlanta when artillery shrapnel nearly tore his foot off and a piece lodged just inches from his heart. His foot would be amputated and his promotion to brigadier general would arrive from Richmond just two days before his death. The authorities in Richmond had not known he'd been wounded. 

Brigadier General Samuel Benton

       Brigadier General Winfield Scott Featherston began the war in the Virginia army and made a name for himself at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. From that point on he would serve as a capable officer but made no special name for himself. He would be shipped to the west where he would finish the war with the Army of Tennessee. His grave was as easy to find as Walthall's which was a good thing because it was about a ten degree windchill factor and I told Jerry that if a limb was to hit my ear, it would shatter like glass. 

Brigadier General Winfield Scott Featherston

       This brought us to the most difficult part of finding Brigadier General Daniel Chevilette Govan's grave. His marker is relatively flat without the enormous obelisks to mark the position. Jerry has a sixth sense or so he claims, sometimes it gets a bit off on him. He told me to check some markers about forty yards from the truck. I almost left my camera in the car because I don't trust Jerry's sixth sense, but I carried it along just in case. Lucky for me because, it did indeed turn out to be General Govan. This was truly our lucky day, my ears having lost all feeling along with my fingers, toes, and nose. Govan is the Arkansas brigadier who stood next to his close friend Patrick Cleburne at Franklin and said, "General, there won't be many of us to return home to Arkansas after this battle." Cleburne simply replied, "Well, Govan, if we are to die, let us die like men."

Brigadier General Daniel Govan

       It was at this point that Jerry's sixth sense began to get goofy or at least I think it did. He still claims he was right, but on that point I still remain dubious. He claimed he had an intuition that there was someone buried beneath a cedar tree he could see across the cemetery. He refused to leave the cemetery without investigating this mystery person. We drove across the cemetery to the cedar tree in question and sure enough, there was someone buried beneath the tree. I simply shook my head. Of course there was someone buried beneath the tree, it is a cemetery. He argues that he never said it was anyone buried there that had anything to do with the Civil War, he simply said there was someone buried there. 

       Leaving Holly Springs headed back home we again encountered a four way stop sign with only three roads. Jerry wanted to stop and take a picture of the intersection, but luckily he chose to pass on by this time. It was a typical Civil War Gasm for me. Out prowling the country with a fellow Civil War nut and we got photographs of us by six Confederate generals graves. I only wish I could do this everyday. 

Northern Born Confederate Generals

       Of the 425 Confederate generals commissioned during the Civil War you may find it surprising to learn that 33 were born in Northern states. New York was the leader with seven Confederate generals followed by Pennsylvania and Ohio who had six each. Massachusetts had five, New Jersey three, Maine two, and one each from Iowa, Connecticut, Indiana and Rhode Island. I did a little research to try and figure out why so many fought for the South. 

       There were six generals that moved with their families at a very young age and were raised in the South. All served in the war as brigadier Generals. They were Charles Clark (Ohio), Robert Hopkins Hatton (Ohio), William Miller (New York), Lawrence Sullivan Ross (Iowa), Clement Hoffman Stevens (Connecticut), and William Stephen Walker (Pennsylvania).

       There were 15 generals that moved to the South after reaching adulthood and in essence considered themselves Southerners. Two were eventually promoted to major general. They were Samuel Gibbs French (New Jersey) and Bushrod Rust Johnson (Ohio). The other 13 were commissioned brigadier generals and they were Albert Gallatin Blanchard (Massachusetts), Julius Adolph De Lagnel (New Jersey), Johnson Kelly Duncan (Pennsylvania), Daniel Marsh Frost (New York), Archibald Gracie, Jr. (New York), Richard Griffith (Pennsylvania), Danville Leadbetter (Maine), William McComb (Pennsylvania), Edward Aylesworth Perry (Massachusetts), Albert Pike (Massachusetts), Daniel Harris Reynolds (Ohio), Claudius Wistar Sears (Massachusetts), and Zebulon York (Maine).

General Samuel Cooper

       Eight Northern born generals married Southern women and that's how they came about joining the Confederacy. One may come as a complete surprise to most. That was General Samuel Cooper (New Jersey) who was the highest ranking Confederate general. Although he was essentially a desk general, many are surprised that the man actually ranked General Robert E. Lee. One was Lieutenant General John Clifford Pemberton (Pennsylvania) who eventually would become hated in the South for surrendering Vicksburg. Two became major generals. One was Martin Luther Smith (New York) and Franklin Gardner (New York) who ironically was forced to surrender Port Hudson after Vicksburg fell. The other four were brigadier generals. They were Josiah Gorgas (Pennsylvania), Roswell Sabine Ripley (Ohio), William Steele (New York), and Walter Husted Stevens (New York). 

Major General Lunsford Lindsay Lomax

       Major General Lunsford Lindsay Lomax (Rhode Island) really can't be counted like the others because he was born to Southerners while his father was stationed up North in the army. Brigadier General Otho French Strahl (Ohio) moved South because his grandmothers were Southerners and impressed him with stories of the South. One of the most surprising of all was Brigadier General Francis Asbury Shoup (Indiana) who was still living in Indiana when the Southern states began seceding. The man immediately moved to Florida because of his admiration of the South and claimed he was a Southerner in his heart. The other was Brigadier General Daniel Ruggles (Massachusetts) who I was unable to find the reason for his joining the South. 

       Of those 33 Confederate generals born in the Northern states, five would be killed in action. All five were brigadier generals. They were Archibald Gracie, Jr. (Petersburg), Richard Griffith (Savage's Station), Robert Hopkins Hatton (Fair Oaks), Clement Hoffman Stevens (Atlanta), and Otho French Strahl (Franklin). 

       Later, I will try and figure out how many Southern born generals served in the Union army during the war. It will be daunting task as the Union army had so many more generals than the Confederacy. 

Bragg's Light

General Braxton Bragg

       Braxton Bragg was born in Warrenton, North Carolina in 1817. His father was a carpenter and many people in Warrenton looked down on Bragg's family because they were middle-class. He was often teased as a child because of the rumor that his mother had killed a free black man. Rumors were also circulated that Braxton Bragg had been born in prison because of this. Braxton often spoke of his father throughout his life, but never made mention of his mother. 
       Bragg's father secured his son an appointment to West Point and the young officer graduated fifth in the class of 1837 and secured a commission in the artillery. Bragg saw action in the Seminole War, but became a hero in the Mexican War. Upon his return from Mexico to his hometown of Warrenton, the citizens presented him with a sword and cheered his heroism. Many have speculated how Bragg might have felt being cheered by the very people who had made his childhood life so miserable. 
       Braxton wasn't loved by his men. He was known to be a strict disciplinarian and while in Mexico, one of his men tried to kill him by rolling a lit cannonball under his cot. The cot was destroyed by the blast, but Bragg escaped without injury. Ulysses Grant loved to tell a story about the time on the frontier when Bragg was post commander and quartermaster. Bragg had gotten into an argument with himself over supplies. When he notified his immediate superior of the problem, his commander had remarked, "My God, Mister Bragg, you have argued with everyone in the army and now your arguing with yourself!"

       Braxton made a trip to Louisiana where he met Eliza Brooks Ellis. She was the daughter of a rich sugar planter and the two soon fell in love. Bragg tried to take Eliza to the frontier with him, but things didn't work out. She had been raised on a plantation where she had everything a girl could possibly want. On the frontier, the living conditions were rather rough. She soon protested. Braxton tried to please his wife by asking Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to have his artillery battery assigned to Louisiana. When Davis refused, Bragg resigned his commission and moved to Thibodaux, Louisiana with his young bride. 
       He then bought a sugar plantation which consisted of 1,600 acres and 105 slaves. Bragg wasn't a cruel master, but he ran his plantation like a military unit. It didn't take long before Bragg started showing a profit. 
       When the Civil War began, Bragg was commissioned a major general. He would become one of the most controversial generals of the war. He first saw action at Shiloh leading a corps. After Shiloh, when Beauregard fell out of favor with President Davis, Bragg was promoted to general and given command of the Army of Tennessee. He proved to be a great organizer, though not a great military leader. 
       Kirby Smith would talk him into invading Kentucky. Bragg's first major battle as army commander would occur at Perryville. Bragg had pushed the Federal army back almost a mile by the time the first day was over. He then realized he faced a much larger enemy force than he had initially believed. Kirby Smith begged Bragg to stay and fight and Braxton promised he would, only to retreat during the night. 
       At Murfreesboro, he surprised the Federal army under General Rosecrans and bent it back like a hair pin. He failed to destroy Rosecrans' army or cut off their supply line and therefore ordered a retreat. By this point of his career, his subordinates were growing frustrated with his lack of leadership. 
       At the Battle of Chickamauga, Bragg won the greatest victory of the war for the Confederate army in the west. He failed to believe the enemy forces were defeated and refused to pursue. Once he finally realized he had won it was too late. He then went on a head hunting mission with his subordinates. He fought with Bedford Forrest, got rid of Hindman and D.H. Hill, then sent Longstreet to Knoxville which further weakened his army. Although his men had lost confidence in him, Davis kept him in command. 
       When the Federal army struck his force at Chattanooga and caused his army to practically break he offered to resign. The man was truly surprised when Davis accepted his resignation. Davis then made Bragg his military advisor. It wouldn't be the last field command for Braxton Bragg though. At the end of the war, Davis placed Bragg in command of Wilmington, North Carolina. He also bungled this assignment by not taking the Federal force serious. He had a major disagreement with General William Whiting and as a result, Fort Fisher fell and Whiting was mortally wounded. 
       Bragg's life began to spiral downward after the loss. Robert E. Lee was placed in command of all Confederate forces which cost Bragg his job as military advisor. One of his enemies, John C. Breckinridge was made Secretary of War. President Davis felt sorry for his friend and attempted to transfer him to Kirby Smith's Trans-Mississippi command. The politicians in the west wanted no part of Bragg and that plan fell apart. 
       During the Carolina's Campaign, Davis made Bragg a corps commander under Joseph E. Johnston. He would again make major mistakes at the Battle of Bentonville and Johnston would never forgive the man. 
       After the war, Bragg was broke, his plantation had been confiscated by the Federal government. His friend Jefferson Davis was made president of a life insurance company. Davis offered him a job as an insurance agent. He worked there over a year before becoming frustrated with the low pay and a job he believed was below him. He then went to work as an engineer for the city of Mobile. He soon got into an argument with his superiors and quit that job. He then moved to Texas where he became chief engineer for a railroad. Within a year he got into an argument with the board of directors and then resigned. 
       In September of 1876, Bragg was walking down a Galveston street with a friend (if you can believe he had one), when he collapsed on the sidewalk in front of a drug store. He was carried into the drug store where he was pronounced dead within ten minutes. Braxton Bragg was 59 years old. The cause of death has been listed as heart disease, but we will probably never know for sure. He rests today in Mobile's Magnolia Cemetery. 

Bragg's grave in Mobile, Alabama

       It is only fitting that a man as controversial as Braxton Bragg would leave behind some sort of unexplained legacy. The spot on the street at Galveston where Bragg collapsed has been the sight of some unexplained phenomena. There is a ghost light that appears there from time to time over the years. The locals have nicknamed it 'Bragg's Light'. I have attempted to locate the exact spot where this occurs for this blog, but haven't been able to find it online. I have written a guy who gives ghost tours in Galveston, Texas, but he never replied. Maybe I can update this mystery later. One has to wonder if the light appears as a result of this controversial commander arguing with himself over which direction he should go to spend eternity. 

Southern Charm: The Top Confederate Generals Who Possessed It

Thomas Benton Smith

       Confederate Brigadier General Thomas Benton Smith from Tennessee was known for his southern charm.  His staff officers often begged him to share the many pretty women who were attracted to him because of his good looks and southern charm.  All that would come to an end at the Battle of Nashville when he was struck over the head by a sword after surrendering.  He would spend the next 47 years in an insane asylum.  

Matthew Calbraith Butler

       Major General Matthew C. Butler from South Carolina may have gone a little far with his southern charm.  Despite losing a leg and having a wife he always had a lady on the side.  Somehow he kept his adulterous relationships going despite serving in the United States Congress following the war.  

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard

       General Beauregard was well liked by the women of the south because he was supposed to be the next Napoleon.  His first wife had died in 1853 and he had remarried in 1860.  Following his performance in capturing Fort Sumter, southern women fawned over him.  He received so many bouquets that he didn't have enough room to display them all.  His second wife died in 1864 and the man would never remarry, however the man was never without female companionship.  

Benjamin Franklin Cheatham

       Major General Ben Cheatham obviously obtained quite a bit of southern charm.  Because as my wife says, "He must have had something but it wasn't looks!"  The lifelong bachelor was well known for his hard drinking and his colorful language.  At the Battle of Murfreesboro he was so intoxicated he couldn't even mount his horse.  At the Battle of Springhill he was rumored to be seeing a local belle named Jessie Peters while the federal army escaped a carefully laid trap.  This resulted in the high casualties at Franklin the next day.  After the war he would return to Nashville, Tennessee, get married, and settle down.  

James Euell Brown Stuart

       Major General Jeb Stuart, the eyes and ears of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was well known for his southern charm.  He was married to Flora Cooke and there is no evidence that he ever cheated on her.  He did have a fondness for ladies though.  When in camp   he always made sure there was a ball.  Several officers under his command complained that Stuart always had to kiss all the pretty girls.  His life came to a tragic end at Yellow Tavern in 1864 where he was shot in the liver.

Earl Van Dorn

       The general most known for his southern charm was Earl Van Dorn of Mississippi.  Southern women thought he was extremely handsome and charming.  He had an extremely large ego, although he  never won a battle in command of an army.  Although he was married his wife knew of his extramarital activities.  President Davis reduced him to cavalry command and Van Dorn made Springhill, Tennessee his headquarters.  He chose the home of a local doctor.  The doctors wife was named Jessie Peters and they were known to take long carriage rides together alone.  One afternoon General Van Dorn was working at Dr. Peters desk when the doctor slipped around behind him and shot him in the back of the head.  

       You have to be careful with that southern charm because it is not always a good thing.  Some southern gentlemen can get away with these things while others of us get shot in the back of the head.  

       

Death of Confederate General Cobb: A Conspiracy Theory

      

        Confederate Brigadier General Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb was born on April 10, 1823 in Jefferson County, Georgia. Incredibly, he weighed twenty-one and one-half pounds at birth.

He attended college at what is now the University of Georgia and finished first in the class of 1841. He became a lawyer in the state of Georgia before his nineteenth birthday. By the time the Civil War began, he had accumulated a fortune worth 120,000 dollars and owned 23 slaves.

Thomas Cobb was known for his mercurial temper. During the war, he constantly complained about his superiors especially Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. He was always faultfinding and finding reasons to argue with others. Elijah H. Sutton, one of his soldiers, declared that his own men despised him. W.R. Montgomery claimed that his men admired him because he was brave and gallant.

        The brigadier seemed to be paranoid, once writing about General Lee, “Lee hates me and sneers whenever my name is mentioned.” After meeting Lee, he wrote, “Lee is haughty and boorish and supercilious in his bearing and is particularly so to me.”

He missed all major combat until December, 1862. He was present with his brigade at Fredericksburg. Ironically, his first major battle would also prove to be his last. Cobb’s brigade held the Stone Wall at the Battle of Fredericksburg. He was seen waving his hat over his head and crying to his men, “Get ready, boys, here they come.”

As to what happened next remains a mystery. According to historian Robert K. Krick, a piece of artillery shrapnel struck General Cobb in the left thigh and severed his femoral artery. General Cobb collapsed in the sunken road about two in the afternoon and bled to death. 

        In 1901, an anonymous veteran announced that General Cobb had been killed by a Confederate soldier who lived at Lost Mountain. According to this veteran, General Cobb had berated several men for stopping on a march to fill their canteens with water. Cobb had then ordered them to pour out the water, but one soldier had refused. He then told the others that he would kill Thomas Cobb when the first opportunity presented itself. 

According to this anonymous veteran, General Cobb was killed by a shot from Phillip’s Legion, the same unit that this man served with. This veteran approached the man who had made the threat against the general and asked, “Sam, did you shoot General Cobb?”

(Sam was later identified as Samuel Drake of Phillip’s Legion.) Sam replied, “Well, I got him.”

         Later in the battle, Samuel Drake was shot in the chest and carried to the field hospital. The anonymous veteran went there and asked him, “Sam, you are going to die and I want you to tell me did you kill General Cobb?”

“I did,” Sam replied, “I always do what I say I will.”

According to this anonymous veteran, he had spoken to General Cobb’s descendants after the war and they told him they had always known that Thomas Cobb was killed by one of his own men.

Historian Robert K. Krick writes, “That story cannot be substantiated and in fact is clearly inaccurate, its calm assertion lends credence to the other negative declarations about Cobb.” 

Doctor Gilmore, chief surgeon of McLaws division stated that Cobb was hit by a bullet that passed through a plank fence and a tourniquet would have saved his life. He stated that N.H. Hammond of Flippen, Georgia was within thirty feet of Cobb and can substantiate that the general died in this way. 

According to Derek Smith, author of The Gallant Dead, General Cobb was hit by either artillery shrapnel or a Federal sharpshooter. He fails to mention the friendly fire theory at all. 

        General Joseph Kershaw reported that Cobb was killed by Federal sharpshooters posted near his left flank. Colonel Porter Alexander reported that Cobb was killed by a Union sniper about one hundred and fifty yards from his front. 

        It seems fitting that a man that was so paranoid would be surrounded by controversy as to who killed him following his death. There were several Confederate generals hit by friendly fire, Stonewall Jackson being the most famous. Micah Jenkins and James Longstreet were also hit by friendly fire. Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb seems to be the only one that a witness has come forward and claimed that it was intentional. Was Cobb shot by Samuel Drake? The story seems a little far fetched and we will probably never know.