Thomas Benton Smith Thomas Benton Smith ( February 24 , 1838 – May 21 , 1923 ) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Biography . Smith was born in Mechanicsville , Tennessee . He attended the local schools before enrolling in the Nashville Military Academy . He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York , but resigned and returned home . He subsequently took a position working for the Nashville & Decatur Railroad . With Tennessee ' s Ordinance of Secession and the outbreak of the Civil War , Smith enlisted in the Confederate army as an officer in the 20th Tennessee Infantry . He first saw combat action at the Battle of Mill Springs in January 1862 , and in April of that same year participated in the Battle of Shiloh . Later in the year , after being promoted to colonel of the 20th Tennessee and assigned command of a small brigade , he was part of the Confederate forces that unsuccessfully tried to seize the Union post at Baton Rouge , Louisiana . Confederate Army commander John C . Breckinridge remarked in his official report that Smith " moved against the enemy in fine style . " At the end of the year , he fought in the Battle of Stone ' s River , where he suffered a serious wound that put him out of action for much of 1863 . After his recuperation , Smith resumed field duties , but was again wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga in September . After another lengthy recovery period , he returned to action during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign . He was promoted to brigadier general on July 29 , 1864 , and commanded an infantry brigade in the Army of Tennessee comprising the 2nd , 10th , and 20th Tennessee , the 37th Georgia , the 30th , 37th , and 50th Tennessee , consolidated , and a Georgia battalion of sharpshooter s . His military career ended at the Battle of Nashville on December 16 . Smith surrendered during the battle . After Smith had surrendered and been disarmed , Union Colonel William L . McMillen , whose brigade had suffered heavily in an engagement with Smith ' s Brigade , reportedly berated and then attacked the Confederate general , now a disarmed prisoner , with Smith ' s own sword ( one source says " wantonly and repeatedly " ) . Smith ' s resultant brain injuries were so severe that for a time it was feared he would not live . Confederate General William B . Bate in his report stated , " General T . B . Smith , commanding Tyler ' s brigade , and Finley ' s , bore themselves with heroic courage both through good and evil fortune , always executing orders with zeal and alacrity , and bearing themselves in the face of the enemy as became reputations which each had heretofore bravely won . " Held at Johnson ' s Island in Ohio and later at Fort Warren in Massachusetts , Smith was not released until July 24 , 1865 . Smith recovered enough to be able to do some railroad work after the Civil War . He ran for a seat in the U . S . Congress in 1870 , but lost the election . However , lingering effects of the savage beating caused permanent damage , and Smith spent much his last 47 years in an insane asylum in Nashville , emerging occasionally for army reunions and other social events . He was buried beside many of his former comrades in the Confederate Circle of Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville .