{{Infobox military person |name= Giles Alexander Smith |birth_date= {{birth date|1829|9|29}} |death_date= {{death date and age|1876|11|8|1829|9|29}} |birth_place= Jefferson County, New York |death_place= Bloomington, Illinois |burial_place= Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, Illinois |burial_label= Place of burial |image= Giles Alexander Smith by the Webster Brothers.jpg |caption= Giles Alexander Smith, circa 1864, by the Webster Brothers |allegiance= United States of America<br/>Union |branch= United States Army<br/>Union Army |service_years=1861 - 1866 |rank= 35px Major General |commands= 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment |unit= |battles= American Civil War |awards= |other_work= }} '''Giles Alexander Smith''' (September 29, 1829 – November 8, 1876), was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
==Biography== [[File:20-13-231-smith.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Smith by Solon Borglum at Vicksburg National Military Park, 1913]] Smith was born in Jefferson County, New York. When he was 18, he moved to southwestern Ohio, and for a decade engaged in business in Cincinnati. In the late 1850s, he moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where he was proprietor of a hotel.
At the beginning of the Civil War, he joined the 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment, in which he became a captain. He took part in the capture of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, and the operations against Corinth, becoming, later in 1862, colonel of a regiment which he led at Chickasaw Bayou. After the final campaign against Vicksburg, on August 4, 1863 he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers to rank from August 4, 1863.<ref>Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}. p. 728.</ref><ref>President Lincoln sent the nomination of Smith's appointment to the U.S. Senate on December 31, 1863 and the Senate confirmed the appointment on April 1, 1864. Eicher, 2001, p. 728.</ref> He was wounded at the Third Battle of Chattanooga. He took part in the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea and the Carolinas campaign.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was appointed to the rank of major general of volunteers on November 24, 1865, the last one based on seniority for the Civil War.<ref>President Andrew Johnson nominated Smith for the appointment on January 23, 1866 and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on February 23, 1866. Eicher, 2001, p. 705.</ref>
His brother Morgan Lewis Smith was a Union Army brigadier general of volunteers.<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 498.</ref> [[File:Giles Alexander Smith - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|left|Photograph from the Brady-Handy collection]] After the war, Smith declined the offer of a colonelcy in the Regular Army.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was mustered out of the volunteers on February 1, 1866.<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 705.</ref> He was subsequently engaged in Illinois politics, retiring from public life in 1872.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Smith was an Illinois delegate to the Republican National Convention. He moved to California in 1874 in a futile attempt to improve his health, but returned to Illinois two months before his death. He died at Bloomington, Illinois, and was buried in Bloomington Cemetery.<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 495.</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|American Civil War}} *List of American Civil War generals (Union)
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{EB1911|wstitle=Smith, Morgan Lewis|display=Smith, Morgan Lewis s.v. Giles Alexander Smith|volume=25|page=267}} * Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}.
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Giles Alexander}} Category:1829 births Category:1876 deaths Category:American hoteliers Category:People from Jefferson County, New York Category:People from Bloomington, Illinois Category:Union army generals Category:People of Illinois in the American Civil War