The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-08-21
As to Badly Smith.

DO DdluJ SnlJu, III Ills huuresb III tnlS
city recently and his plea that an effort
be made by Vermont to obtain for the
veteran of some OF the hardest fought
actions of the civil war, for one of the
most efficient of the high commanding
officers of the volunteer army, the rank
he held in that army and the rank to
which the value and importance of bis
services to his country clearly entitle
him, in the regular army.
The statement by Captain Clark that
this officer, who was advanced from the
colonelcy of the Third Vermont vol
unteers to the command of the Yer
mont brigade, then to the command of
the division in which was this brigade,
and finally TO the high post of a corps
commander, commanding such bodies
OF troops as the Sixth and Eighteenth
corps, has only the rank of major lin
the regular army was q revelation and
surprise that was very much of a
shock to the great mass of his hearers,
if not to each individual member of the
great assemblage the Captain was adj
dressing.
W. F. Smith is a Vermonter and his
case appeals to the men and especially
to the veterans of the Green Mountain
State whom he led on the fields from
which they bore their laurels. 1t was
General Smith, after he had been APP
pointed brigadier general, who per-
suaded Mcclellan to have the Vermont
troops brigaded together and the COM
mand given to him. This brigade con-
tanned the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth
and Sixth regiments, the first in the
army composed of troops from single
State, and made for itself reputation
surpassed by none, if indeed it was
equalled by any, in the whole history
of the civil war.
He commanded division in the Pc.
ninsuls, Antietam and second Bull Run
campaigns and was at the head of the
Sixth corps at the battle of Fredericks-
burg. AT Chattanooga, in 1858, he
planned and carried out the operations
which ended in the relief of the Union
army beleagured in that city and on
short rations, an important movement
which preceded the battles and victo-
ries of Lookout Mountain and Mission
airy Ridge. He commanded the Eight
eenth army corps at Cold Harbor, losing
5000 men in that brief but CORY action.
He assaulted the lines beforeP Petersburg
in June, 1864, when Grant transferred
the Army of the Potamac to the south of
Richmond, carrying the outer works
and capturing many guns and prison.
ers, and it is believed he might have
taken Petersburg had he been left to
bis own judgment in following up the
advantage he had gained; but, night
coming ON, he obeyed the order of a
ranking officer to withdraw and fortify,
and when morning came Lee had filed
the half manned defenses of the CITY
with Confederate troops and the long
seige raised in the April following en-
sued.
Under the pressure Of circumstances
which are matter of history, written
or unwritten, and in which that arch
spirit of mischief in military and civil
affairs, Gen. b. f. Butler, is more or
less mixed up, Gen. Smith asked to be
relieved of his command, and his re-
quest was granted. H had always the
high approval of Gen. Grant, and his
commentator for advancement in
rank. In 1867 he resigned from the
regular army after twenty-five years
of service, having then the rank of
major OF engineers in that organiza-
ton, and entered civil pursuits. Some
ten years ago he was returned to the
army, and placed on the retired
list. There he has since remained,
with the rank and pay of major, this
officer who, as major general of vol
unteers, had commanded Army corps,
who had fought with distin guished
skill and bravery in the great battles
of the Army of the Potomac, who re-
lieved starving Chattanooga, who
might have taken Petersburg had his
genius for hard things been left I'M
hampered by the meddling of smaller
men-this man of Vermont who gave
being to that potent agency in putting
down the rebellion, the Old Vernon
Brigade.
He is now seventy-seven years old
His name will soon be entered on
another retired list, beyond the reach
of the honors he has earned or the
need of material means TO make his
last days comfortable. This govern
ment should make haste to clothe him |
with the rank of major general of the |
regular army, and Vermont in Con