{{Short description|American military officer (1815–1897)}} {{other people|Andrew Smith}} {{for|the soldier|Andrew Jackson Smith (Medal of Honor)}} {{Infobox military person |name= Andrew Jackson Smith |birth_date= {{birth date|1815|4|28}} |death_date= {{death date and age|1897|1|30|1815|4|28}} |image= AJSmith.jpg |caption=Smith during the Civil War |nickname=Whiskey<ref name=Eicher492>Eicher, p. 492.</ref> |birth_place= [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania]] |death_place= [[St. Louis, Missouri]] |burial_place= [[Bellefontaine Cemetery]], St. Louis, Missouri |burial_label= Place of burial |allegiance={{flag|United States of America|1867}}<br />[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] |branch= [[United States Army]]<br />[[Union Army]] |service_years= 1838–1869 |rank= [[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] |unit= |commands=[[XVI Corps (Union Army)|XVI Corps]] |battles=[[Mexican–American War]] * [[Capture of Tucson (1846)|Capture of Tucson]] [[Indian Wars]]<br /> [[American Civil War]] * [[Vicksburg campaign]] * [[Red River campaign]] * [[Price's raid]] * [[Smith's Expedition to Tupelo]] ** [[Battle of Tupelo]] * [[Battle of Nashville]] |awards= |relations= |other_work= }}
'''Andrew Jackson Smith''' (April 28, 1815{{snd}}January 30, 1897) was a [[United States Army]] general during the [[American Civil War]], rising to the command of a [[corps]]. He was most noted for his victory over [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] General [[Stephen D. Lee]] at the [[Battle of Tupelo]], [[Mississippi]], on July 14, 1864.
==Early life== Smith was born in rural [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania]]. He graduated from the [[United States Military Academy]] in 1838 ranking 36th in a class of 45 graduates. He entered West Point with his kin Langdon C. Easton of St. Louis, who was Chief Quartermaster of General William T. Sherman's 100,000-man army. Smith was engaged on active service on the [[frontier]] in the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]] and in the [[Mexican–American War]], in the latter briefly commanding the [[Mormon Battalion]]. He later fought against Native Americans in the [[Washington Territory|Washington]] and [[Oregon Territory|Oregon territories]]. He was successively promoted to [[First Lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]] in 1845, [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] in 1847, and [[Major (United States)|major]] in early 1861.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
==Civil War== At the outbreak of the Civil War, Smith became a [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] of the [[2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry|2nd California Volunteer Cavalry]] in the [[Union Army]], rising early in 1862 to the rank of [[Brigadier General#United States|brigadier general]] in the United States Volunteers and to the chief command of the cavalry in the Department of the Missouri. From March through July, he served in the same capacity in the Department of the Mississippi. Assigned afterwards to the [[Army of the Tennessee]], he took part in the [[Battle of Chickasaw Bayou]] and the capture of [[Battle of Arkansas Post (1863)|Arkansas Post]]. He commanded a division of the [[XIII Corps (ACW)|XIII Corps]] in the [[Vicksburg campaign]]. Later, he led a division of the [[XVI Corps (ACW)|XVI Corps]] in the [[Red River campaign]] of Maj. Gen. [[Nathaniel Banks]]. He received the [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] rank of colonel in the [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] for his services at the action of [[Battle of Pleasant Hill|Pleasant Hill]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Smith, Andrew Jackson|volume=25|page=259}}</ref>
Smith became a [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] in the Regular Army in July 1864, to rank from May 9.<ref name=Eicher492/> On May 14, 1864 [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] appointed Smith a major general in the volunteers, to rank from May 12, 1864, the date of the [[United States Senate]]'s confirmation of President Lincoln's May 9, 1864 nomination of Smith for the appointment.<ref name=Eicher705>Eicher, 2001, p. 705.</ref>
In July, 1864, Smith led [[Smith's Expedition to Tupelo|an expedition into Mississippi]]. On July 14–15, he defeated Confederate Lt. Gen. [[Stephen D. Lee]] at the [[Battle of Tupelo]], where Lee took over general command over the Confederate forces on the field from General [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]].
In retaliation for Forrest's raid on [[Battle of Fort Pillow|Fort Pillow]], north of Memphis, Union General Andrew Jackson Smith, with a large military force, arrived in Oxford, Mississippi on August 24, 1864, and in one day burned the Lafayette County Courthouse, all the business houses on the Square, except one, and all homes in the immediate area.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}
During the autumn of 1864, Smith lead Union troops against Confederate Maj. Gen. [[Sterling Price]] during [[Price's raid]] into [[Missouri]]. Smith was then summoned to join forces with Maj. Gen. [[George Henry Thomas]] at [[Nashville, Tennessee]], then threatened by the advance of Confederate Lt. Gen. [[John Bell Hood]]. Smith bore a conspicuous share in the crowning victory at the [[Battle of Nashville]] leading his troops past the Confederates' south flank. He commanded the XVI corps in the final campaign against [[Mobile, Alabama]], in 1865.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
On April 10, 1866, President [[Andrew Johnson]] nominated Smith for appointment to the grade of brigadier general in the United States Army (Regular Army), to rank from March 13, 1865, for his services at the Battle of Tupelo and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866.<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 737.</ref> On the same dates, President Johnson nominated and the United States Senate confirmed Johnson's appointment of Smith as brevet major general in the Regular Army, to rank from March 13, 1865, for his success in leading his men at the Battle of Nashville.<ref>Eicher, 2011, p. 709.</ref> The Senate reconfirmed this appointment on July 14, 1866, after recalling the confirmation and return of the nomination to President Johnson for possible readjustment of the date.<ref>Eicher 2001, p. 710.</ref>
==Postbellum life== Smith resigned his volunteer commission and was mustered out of the volunteers on January 15, 1866.<ref name=Eicher705/> He then became colonel of the [[U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment]], serving in the [[American West]]. He retired from the military service in April 1869 to become [[postmaster]] of [[St. Louis]], Missouri, where he died on January 30, 1897.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was buried at [[Bellefontaine Cemetery]] in St. Louis.<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 493.</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}} * [[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]]
==Notes== {{more footnotes needed|date=January 2014}} {{Reflist}}
==References== * Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher|Eicher, David J.]], ''Civil War High Commands'', Stanford University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}. * [http://www.uis.edu/newsreleases/mar07/20070316.html University of Illinois at Springfield News Release]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Andrew Jackson}} [[Category:1815 births]] [[Category:1897 deaths]] [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]] [[Category:Military personnel from Bucks County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:People of California in the American Civil War]] [[Category:People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War]]