Be all this as it may, it is certain that his family were straight Anglo-Saxons, who like the rest, came into New England under the pressure of religious and political disturbance at home, and brought with them the sturdy virtues and ineradicable prejudices of their race. It is equally certain that this race, whatever its origin and however it may have been compounded and produced, has thriven and expanded in America, and that our country is indebted to it for not only its greatest scholars, divines and statesmen, but for its greatest soldiers as well. General Smith belonged by nature and education to both classes, and before this sketch is concluded I hope to show that in the highest walks of his chosen profession he had few equals and no superiors.
Like many another youth, his latent love of arms and his determination to go to West Point were aroused by seeing a company of regular soldiers, and making the acquaintance of its officers, at his native town. They were sent there to maintain order and prevent violations of the neutrality laws during the Canadian disturbances in 1837-8. From the day of his cadetship he received the sobriquet and was always thereafter designated familiarly by his more intimate friends as Baldy Smith in contradistinction from other officers of the same patronymic. In the old days his name would have been written Baldysmith.
He was a brilliant and faithful student and became in turn a cadet-corporal, color-sergeant and lieutenant. When it is recalled that he received those honors from that prince of soldiers Captain (afterwards Major General) Charles F. Smith, then commandant of cadets, and in whose presence it is said no graduate of his time could ever appear without involuntarily assuming the position of a soldier, it will be understood that young Smith was brought up under proper influences and sent forth with the highest ideals of his profession. He graduated in the "fives" of his class. He was commissioned as a Brevet Second Lieutenant in the corps of Topographical Engineers, and served with it continuously till, for convenience and simplicity of administration, it was merged with the Corps of Engineers after the outbreak of the Rebellion. At the request of his chief, he gave up two-thirds of the usual graduating leave of absence to lend a hand to an under-manned surveying party on Lake Erie. His services were from the first of the scientific and useful rather than the showy sort. They brought him a wide range of valuable experience, extending from the surveys of the great lakes to explorations of Texas and Arizona, covering a period of seven years, two of which were spent under Joseph E. Johnston and William H. Emory, then of the same corps, while engaged in establishing the new boundary line between Mexico and the United States. During his service in that region he located the stage and wagon-route from San Antonio to El Paso, surveyed a part of the Rio Grande Valley, and familiarized himself with the topography and resources of Northwestern Texas and the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Later he was transferred to Florida and made surveys for a ship canal across the peninsula from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico. Subsequently he had charge of the Eleventh District in the light-house service with his headquarters at Detroit. He then became Assistant Secretary, and finally on the retirement of his friend, Captain Franklin, Engineer Secretary of the Light-House Board. He had previously asked for service with the army in Mexico, but this had been denied. His service in Texas and Florida had brought him in contact with a number of officers who afterwards became distinguished in the Civil War. Among the most notable of these were Buell, Joseph E. Johnston, McClellan, Meade, Burnside and Emory. His light-house service gave him a friendly association with Commodore Shubrick and Captain (afterwards Admiral) Jenkins of the navy, General Totten of the army, Professor Bache of the Coast survey and Professor Henry of the Smithsonian Institute, and opened to him a wide acquaintance with the scientific thought of the day. While connected with the Light-House board he planned and supervised the construction of four first-class light-houses, one for Montauk Point, two for Navesink Highlands and Sandy Hook, and one for Cape Canaveral. These were all works of the highest class, fully abreast of the world's best practice at the time.
His experience in connection with the Light-House Board prepared the way for a piece of specially useful service to the country during the exciting period just prior to the outbreak of actual hostilities between the North and the South. His position gave him access to the Secretary of the Treasury, as the chief of the department to which the Light-House Board belonged. The storm then brewing showed itself in that board, made up, as it was, of Northern and Southern men, as well as elsewhere, and being intensely loyal, Smith took measures to protect and supply the principal light-houses on the southern coast. It will be remembered that Howell Cobb of Georgia was succeeded by General John A. Dix of New York as Secretary of the Treasury, and that the latter aroused the drooping hopes of the country by his celebrated order: "If any man attempts to haul down the American flag shoot him on the spot." Smith was privy to and encouraged the issuance of that order. Immediately afterwards General Dix gave him carte-blanche over the light-house service, in pursuance of which he visited all the important southern light stations, winding up at Key West. He found that place cut off from communication with Washington, and liable to fall at once under the control of the Secessionists. The Collector of Customs was a southern man and disloyal. The people of the town were in sympathy with him, and were doing all they could to overawe Captains Hunt and Brannan, who were stationed there with a small force of regular artillery. They were loyal and able officers. Both rose to distinction afterwards, but having been left without instructions they were at a loss as to their proper course till Smith arrived with the latest news from Washington. His clear and determined counsel gave them heart and encouragement, under which they made good their hold upon the fort and the island. They were reinforced in due time, which enabled the government to hold this important strategic position at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico till the termination of the war put an end to all danger. Before returning to the north, Smith visited Havana, where he obtained valuable information for future use.
So far his work had been preparatory, and one of the most useful features of it was his tour of duty at West Point. His services in the south, and especially at Corpus Christi, had brought on a severe attack of malarial poisoning, ending in congestive chills and shattered health, followed by sick-leave and a return to the north. Before he had entirely recovered he was ordered to West Point, as principal Assistant Professor of Mathematics. This was in 1855, but his illness had so seriously affected his head as to make it impossible for him to discharge the duties of his position in a manner satisfactory to himself. As one of his pupils, I failed to discover any lack of knowledge or perspicacity on his part. To the contrary, he impressed the sections of which he had charge as a very clear-headed man with remarkable powers of mind and great aptitude as a disciplinarian and teacher. It is now known, however, that the close attention and mental exertion which his duties required of him gave him such pain as to make it imperative that he should be relieved, and this was done at his own request after a year's hard work and suffering. The injury he had received was unfortunately never entirely overcome. Throughout the whole of his subsequent life he was subject to recurrent attacks of malaria, accompanied by pain in the head with a tendency to mental depression, which disabled him entirely at times, and upon one most important occasion compelled him to leave the field, when his interests and his inclinations demanded that he should remain. I refer now especially to the time when he was assigned by General Grant to the command of the Army of the James, to succeed Major General Butler, who was at the same time ordered to return to Fortress Monroe. It will be remembered that this order was never carried into effect, but that General Smith, who was suffering from one of his attacks, took leave of absence, much to the concern of his friends, and went by the way of Fortress Monroe to New York. There was no great movement under way at the time, but before his leave of absence had expired he was notified that the order in question had been countermanded. Various explanations were given for this action, and I shall recur to it again. But it is believed by those who were interested in General Smith, and had confidence in his unusual capacity for high command, that his relief was largely, if not altogether, due to intrigue, on the part of General Butler, aided perhaps by an exaggerated estimate on the part of General Grant of that officer's political importance, which General Smith could easily have defeated had he been on the ground in actual command of the army to which he had been assigned.
But to return to his services at West Point. It was during this year that he greatly widened his knowledge of military history and the art of war. Although far from well, he led the studious life of a scientist, and in the daily companionship of the professors and of Lieutenants Silvey and Holabird, two officers of distinguished talent and learning, he obtained new and broader views of professional subjects. He had early become noted as having an investigating mind which could not be satisfied with superficial knowledge, and for a sound and conservative judgment which gave great weight to his conclusions. He was most deliberate and methodical in his habits of thought, and had an unusually tenacious grip upon the thread of his argument. His manners and movements, while free from every appearance of hurry and excitement, were habitually so well ordered that he was enabled to cover a great deal of ground in a small space of time. Always a close student of the higher branches of his profession, and belonging to an élite corps which at that time had no part in the command of troops, he became a proficient in military organization, administration and logistics, and also in strategy and grand-tactics, as taught in the text books, long before the outbreak of the war for the Union, but it is to be observed that he never claimed to have become specially skilled in minor tactics, or in the daily routine of company or regimental service. He was, however, so profoundly devoted to the military profession in a larger way, that at times he gave to those less learned than himself the idea that he was a pedant in knowledge and a martinet on duty. With imperturbable self-possession, great lucidity of statement and a decidedly deliberate and austere manner, he was widely recognized as a masterful man, who won easily and without effort the respect and admiration, not only of the cadets who fell under his charge at West Point, but afterwards of the men and officers who came under his command from the volunteers. To such as are acquainted with West Point life, or with the relations existing between officers and men in the army, no higher evidence can be given of Smith's real abilities and strength of character. It is a creditable fact that no cadet, however adroit or skilful can cheat his way through the Military Academy, and that no officer, however plausible, can for any considerable time deceive or impose upon the cadets with a pretense of knowledge or a show of character which he does not possess. The same is true perhaps in a less degree of the volunteers and their officers. Occasionally a cadet or an officer may be so modest or unobtrusive or so slow of development as to escape the critical observation of his associates, but in most cases he becomes sufficiently known to justify a correct estimate of his character and a fair prediction, under favorable opportunities, as to his probable course and success in life. Of WILLIAM F. SMITH it may be truthfully said that he made his best friends among the cadets he taught and the subordinates he commanded, not one of whom ever deserted him in trouble or adversity, denied the greatness of his talents or questioned the elevation of his character. His troubles and differences were always with those above him, never with those under his command.
As is frequently the fate of the strong man gifted with an analytical mind, and an outspoken contempt of pretense and sham, it was Smith's misfortune upon more than one occasion to arouse the animosity and opposition of those having higher rank than himself. Direct and vigorous in his methods, and confident of the rectitude of his purposes, he never hesitated to give his views to such as he believed to be entitled to them, without reference to whether they would be well received or not. Loyal and truthful by nature, he always held others to the high standard which he set up for himself. Brought up to a rigid observance of military discipline, it is not to be denied that he was exacting in a high degree, with those over whom he found himself in command. While he never permitted those below him to vary from or to disregard his instructions, it is perhaps true that like most men of talent, he was somewhat impatient of restraint, especially in cases where he felt himself to be abler than his commanding officer, or better informed as to the actual conditions of his work, and yet no man knew better than he when the time for discussion and the exercise of discretion ended and that for obedience and vigorous action began. If at any time later in life he seemed to forget the true rule for his own guidance, it must be inferred that he was sorely tried by the ignorance or incompetency of those above him, or had overestimated their forebearance or friendship for him, or their zeal for the public service. Always highly conscientious in his purposes and independent in his thoughts it was but natural that he should scorn "to crook the pregnant hinges of the knee where thrift may follow fawning." Not always as patient and conciliatory with his equals as a less virile or rugged nature would have made him, he occasionally aroused antagonisms and made enemies, as such characters always do, and those enemies were not slow to impugn his motives, nor to do what they could to mar his career. Withal, it will appear from a careful study of his life and services as set forth in the records, and as explained by his own writings, that his critics have signally failed to mar the foundation of his reputation or to deprive him of the fame to which his brilliant achievements so justly entitle him.
The culmination of the political agitation for the dissolution of the Federal Union, and the commencement of actual hostilities between the government and the seceding states, found WILLIAM F. SMITH, only a captain by law, after fourteen years of continuous service, a few months over thirty-seven years of age, and in the full maturity of his faculties. As before stated, his health was never afterwards altogether stable, but it was sufficiently re-established to enable him to throw himself heartily into the struggle and to perform such duties as fell to his lot with a fair degree of endurance. Although a Democrat, as far as he had any party connection, his sympathies were all with the Union and National Government, and impelled him to lose no time, but make haste, on his return from Key West and Havana, to obtain such employment as might be open to him. The first duty that was offered him was in New York, where he was engaged for several weeks in mustering the volunteers into the United States service.
During this period, on the 24th of April, 1861, he was married to Miss Sarah Lyon, a young lady of New York, who was famous for the loveliness of her person and character, whom he had first met two years before. It was on a short wedding trip to his native state that he offered his services to the Governor. The latter had already raised and organized two regiments of infantry but without hesitation he promised Captain Smith the next, as soon as it should be called for.
Meanwhile he was still subject to duty as an engineer officer, and as such, strangely enough was ordered to report to Major General Benjamin F. Butler, fresh from the life of a successful lawyer, then in command at Fortress Monroe, where he arrived on the 1st of June, 1861. While there he conducted several important reconnaissances in the direction of Yorktown and Big Bethel, and thus became acquainted with a region in which he was afterwards to play a most important part. His services lasted something less than two months, and became still more notable from the fact that they made him thoroughly acquainted with General Butler. They were brought suddenly to an end by the reappearance of his old trouble, which in time made it necessary for him to take a sick-leave. The surgeon who had him in charge directed him to again seek the tonic climate of Brattleborough in his native State. According to promise, his good friend, the Governor, took the earliest opportunity to send him his commission as Colonel of the Third Regiment of Vermont Volunteer Infantry, to date from July 16th. But owing to the scarcity of regular officers, he had previously been ordered to duty on the staff of General McDowell, then commanding the army in front of Washington, though, his health did not permit him to join in time to take part in the forward movement which ended in the disastrous battle of Bull Run.