SMITH, Joseph Lee, jurist, born in New Britain, Connecticut,
28 May, 1776; died in St. Augustine, Florida, 27 May, 1846. His father, Elnathan,
was an officer in the old French war, and a major in the commissary department
in the Revolution. Joseph was educated at Yale, studied law in Hartford, and
practised in his native county until the second war with Great Britain, when he
was appointed major in the 25th infantry, participating in the invasion of
Canada. In the battle of Stony Creek, 6 June, 1813, in which General William H.
Winder was taken prisoner, he saved his regiment by a judicious movement. He was
promoted lieutenant-colonel and brevetted colonel, United States army, for that
action, and became colonel of the 3d United States infantry in 1818. He resigned
from the army in that year, removed to Florida in 1821, and was United States
judge of the superior court in 1823-'37. Of the 1,000 cases that he decided
previous to 1836, not one was reversed. Judge Smith was remarkable for his great
physical strength and imposing appearance. He married Frances Marvin, daughter
of Ephraim Kirby.
SMITH, Ephraim Kirby, son of Joseph Lee, soldier, born in
Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1807; died near the city of Mexico, 11 September,
1847, was graduated at the United States military academy in 1826, served on
frontier duty m 1828-'9, and was dismissed from the army in October, 1830, for
inflicting corporal punishment on mutinous soldiers, but was reinstated in 1832.
He became 1st lieutenant in 1833, captain in 1838, and during the war with
Mexico was engaged in numerous battles, including Molino del Rey, where he was
mortally wounded in leading the light infantry battalion under his command in an
assault on one of the enemy's batteries.--Another son, Edmund Kirby, soldier,
born in St. Augustine, Florida, 16 May, 1824, was graduated at the United States
military academy in 1845, and appointed brevet 2d lieutenant of infantry.
In the war with Mexico he was twice brevetted, for gallantry
at Cerro Gordo and Contreras. He was assistant professor of mathematics at West
Point in 1849-'52, became captain in the 2d cavalry in 1855, served on the
frontier, and was wounded, 13 May, 1859, in an engagement with Comanche Indians
near old Fort Atchison, Texas In 1861 he was thanked by the Texas legislature
for his services against the Indians. He was promoted major in January, 1861,
but resigned on 6 April, on the secession of Florida, and was appointed
lieutenant-colonel in the corps of cavalry of the Confederate army. He became
brigadier-general, 17 June, 1861, major-general, 11 October, 1861,
lieutenant-general, 9 October, 1862, and general, 19 February, 1864. At the
battle of Bull Run, 21 July, 1861, he was severely wounded in the beginning of
the engagement. In 1862 he was placed in command of the Department of East,
Tennessee, Kentucky, North Georgia, and Western North Carolina. He led the
advance of General Braxton Bragg's army in the Kentucky campaign, and defeated
the National forces under General William Nelson at Richmond, Kentucky, 30
August, 1862.
In February, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the
Trans-Mississippi department, including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Indian
territory, and was ordered to organize a government, which he did. He made his
communications with Richmond by running the blockade at Galveston, Texas, and
Wilmington, North Carolina, sent large quantities of cotton to Confederate
agents abroad, and, introducing machinery from Europe, established factories and
furnaces, opened mines, made powder and castings, and had made the district
self-supporting when the war closed, at which time his forces were the last to
surrender. In 1864 he opposed and defeated General Nathaniel P. Banks in his Red
river campaign. General Smith was president of the Atlantic and Pacific
telegraph company in 1866-'8, and chancellor of the University of Nashville in
1870-'5, and has been professor of mathematics in the University of the South,
Sewanee, Tennessee, since 1875. -
-Ephraim Kirby's son, Joseph Lee Kirby Smith, soldier, born
in New York city in 1836; died at Corinth, Mississippi, 12 October, 1862, was
graduated at the United States military academy in 1857, served as assistant
topographical engineer in the office of the Mississippi delta survey in
Washington, D. C., in 1857-'8, on the Utah expedition, the survey of the
northern lakes in 1859-'61, and then became 1st lieutenant of topographical
engineers. During the civil war he served on General Nathaniel P. Banks's staff
in July and August, 1861, received the brevet of captain, United States army, in
the latter month "for gallant and meritorious service in the Shenandoah valley,
Virginia," became colonel of the 43d Ohio volunteers in September, and was in
command of a brigade of the Army of the Mississippi in the capture of New
Madrid, Missouri, in March, 1862. He was brevetted major, United States army,
for the capture of Island No. 10, 7 April, 1862, served on the expedition to
Fort Pillow, fought at the siege of Corinth in May of that year, and was
brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the United States army for repelling a
Confederate sortie from that city. He was in command of a regiment in operations
in northern Mississippi in September and October, was engaged at the battle of
Iuka, and mortally wounded at Corinth, 4 October, while charging " front forward
" to repel a desperate attack on Battery Robinett. For this service he was
brevetted colonel in the regular army, his commission dating 4 October, 1862.
Unauthorized Site:
This site and its contents are not affiliated, connected,
associated with or authorized by the individual, family,
friends, or trademarked entities utilizing any part or
the subject's entire name. Any official or affiliated
sites that are related to this subject will be hyper
linked below upon submission
and Evisum, Inc. review.
Please join us in our mission to incorporate The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America discovery-based curriculum into the classroom of every primary and secondary school in the United States of America by July 2, 2026, the nation’s 250th birthday. , the United States of America: We The
People. Click Here