Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/593

Rh general, U. S. array, for Sailor's Creek, and major- general for gallant service during the civil war. He became colonel of the 28th infantry on the re- organization of the U. S. army in 1<8G6, was trans- ferred in 1869 to the 19th infantry, and was retired in 1891. He received the medal of honor.

SMITH, Charles Perrin, genealogist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 5 Jan., 1819; d. in Trenton, N. J., 2? Jan., 1883. On attaining his majority he became proprietor and editor of " The National Standard" in Salem, N. J., and conducted it for eleven years. He served in the legislature of 1852, and wa's clerk of the supreme court of New Jersey in 1857-'72. He was early identified with the old Whig party, and during the Harrison campaign travelled extensively through the west and north- west, publishing a graphic account of his journey in a series of letters. During the civil war he was a secret agent of the state of New Jersey. Mr. Smith was a corresponding member of the Phila- delphia numismatic and antiquarian society. He was the author of " Lineage of the Lloyd and Car- penter Families " (printed privately, Camden, N. J., 1870) and " Memoranda of a Visit to the Site of Mathraval Castle, with a Genealogical Chart of the Descent of Thomas Lloyd" (1875). See a memoir of him by Charles Hart in the " Necrology of the Philadelphia Numismatic and Antiquarian Society for 1883."

SMITH, Charles Shuler, engineer, b. in Pitts- burg, Pa., 16 Jan., 1836 ; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 19 Dec., 1886. He attended a private school in Pitts- burg, but at the age of sixteen entered on the study of his profession by securing an appointment as rddman on the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven railroad. After various services he became in 1856 engineer in charge of the Tennessee division of the Louisville and Nashville railroad. Subse- quently he became chief engineer of bridges and buildings of the Wilmington, Charlotte, and Ru- therford railroad in North Carolina, where he re- mained until the beginning of the civil war. He then entered the Confederate army as captain of engineers, and continued so until 1865, during which time, as chief engineer of government works in the Augusta district, he constructed the Con- federate states powder-works, with a daily capacity of 17,000 pounds of powder, and one of the largest that had then been built. Mr. Smith continued in the south as engineer of bridges, and con- structed the Catawba and Congaree bridges on the Charlotte and South Carolina railroad. In 1866, with Benjamin H. Latrobe, he organized the engineering firm of Smith, Latrobe and Co., which in 1869 became the Baltimore bridge company, with Mr. Smith as president and chief engineer. This company continued in business until 1877, and did a large amount of work. He removed to St. Charles, Mo., in 1868, to take charge of the rail- road bridge then just begun across Missouri river, and in 1871 he went to St. Louis, where he remained until the end of his life, mainly occupied as a consulting engineer. His name will ever be connected with the great bridges that were built under his supervision. They are hundreds in num- ber and include four over the Mississippi, one over the Missouri, and one over the St. Lawrence. His most important work was the practical demonstra- tion of the uses and value of the cantilever, be- ginning in 1869 with the 300-foot draw-span over Salt river on the line of the Elizabeth and Paducah railroad, and including the Kentucky river bridge on the Cincinnati Southern railroad, that over the Mississippi near St. Paul, and finally his last great bridge across the St. Lawrence river a short dis- tance above the Lachine rapids. Mr. Smith was elected a member of the American society of civil engineers in 1873, and was a director of that organization in 1877-'8. His publications are con- fined to a few professional papers, notably " A Comparative Analysis of the Fink. Murphy, Boll- man, and Triangular Trusses " (1865) ; " Propor- tions of Eyebars, Heads, and Pins as determined by Experiment " (1877) ; and " Wind-Pressure upon Bridges" (1880).

SMITH, Cotton Mather, clergyman, b. in Suf- field, Conn., 26 Oct., 1731 ; d. in Sharon, Conn., 27 Nov.. 1806. He was descended from Rev. Henry Smith, who came to this country in 1036, and was first pastor at Wethersfield, Conn. His mother was the granddaughter of Increase Mather. Cotton was graduated at Yale in 1701, taught the Stock- bridge Indians while studying theology, and in 1753 was licensed to preach. From 1755 until his death he was pastor of the Congregational church in Sharon. During the Revolution he served as chaplain under Gen. Philip Schuyler 'in 1775-'6. During his ministry he delivered more than 4,000 public discourses. He published three sermons (Hartford, 1770, 1771, 1793). He was distinguished for force of character, tact, tenderness of heart, fine scholarship, and grace of manner. His views were of advanced liberality, and he was an effective and persuasive preacher, whose influence long survived. His son, John Cotton, statesman, b. in Sharon, Conn., 12 Feb., 1765 ; d. there, 7 Dec., 1845, was graduated at Yale in 1783, admitted to the bar in 1786, and served several terms in the legislature, of which he was clerk in 1799 and speaker in 1800. He was elected to congress as a Fed- eralist in the lat- ter year, served till 1806, was chair- man of the com- mittee on claims in 1802-'6, and in the once celebrat- ed discussion on the judiciary in 1801 presided over the committee of the whole. He re- sumed an exten- sive legal practice when he returned from his congressional career, was again in the legislature in 1808-'9, and was chosen a judge of the Connecticut supreme court the next year. He was lieutenant-governor in 1810 and governor in 1813-'18, after which he retired and did not again accept office, devoting himself to literary pursuits and the care of a large estate. He was president of the Litchfield county foreign missionary society, and of the County temperance society, first president of the Connecticut Bible society, of the American Bible society in 1831-'45, and of the American board of foreign missions in 1826-'41. Yale gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1814. He was a member of the Northern society of antiquaries in Copenhagen, Denmark, and of the Connecticut historical society, and an occasional contributor to scientific reviews. He combined strength of character with true amiability in a remarkable degree. His fine personal appearance and graceful, commanding manners added a charm to the eloquence for which his speeches were noted. True to his convictions and his friends, enduring no thought of cum-