Civil War
After the outbreak of the war in 1861, Smith served on recruiting duty as commander of Fort Columbus, New York. He was commissioned a Brigadier General of volunteers (August 31, 1861), and as colonel in the Regular Army, commanding the 3rd U.S. Infantry regiment, as of September 9. He was soon transferred to the Western Theater to command the District of Western Kentucky. He then became a division commander in the Department of the Missouri under Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who had been one of his pupils at West Point. This potentially awkward situation was eased by Smith's loyalty to his young chief.
The old soldier led his division of raw volunteers with success at the Battle of Fort Donelson in February 1862. During the attack on the Confederate right flank, which he led personally, he saw some of his men waver. He yelled to them, "Damn you, gentlemen, I see skulkers! I'll have none here! Come on, you volunteers, come on! This is your chance! You volunteered to be killed for love of country, and now you can be!"
Smith's experience, dignity, and unselfish character made him Grant's mainstay in the early days of the war. When theater commander Major General Henry W. Halleck became distrustful and perhaps jealous of Grant, he briefly relieved him of field command of the Army's expedition up the Tennessee River toward Corinth, Mississippi and gave that responsibility to Smith. However, Halleck soon restored Grant to field command (intervention by President Abraham Lincoln may have been a factor). Grant's restoration was fortunate because by the time Grant reached Savannah, Tennessee, Smith had already met with an accident while jumping into a rowboat that seriously injured his leg, forcing him out of field duty. His senior brigadier, W.H.L. Wallace, led his division (and was fatally wounded) at the Battle of Shiloh.
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