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596 Smith should be accorded great praise for the in- genuity which conceived, and the ability which executed, the movement at Brown's ferry. When tin bridge was thrown at Brown's ferry, on the morning of the 27th Oct., 18(53, the surprise was as great to the army within Chattanooga as it was to the army besieging it from without." The house committee on military affairs, in April, 18(55, unani- mously agreed to a report that " as a subordinate, Gen. William F. Smith had saved the Arnn nf thf Cumberland from capture, and afterward di- rected it to victory." He was confirmed as major- general of volunteers in March, 18(54, and in May assigned to the 18th corps, which he commanded at, t'<>ld Harbor and at Petersburg till July, when he was placed on special duty. On 13 M.nvh. IS(M, lie received the brevets of brigadier-general, I". S. army, for "gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Chattanooga, Tenn.." and that of major-general for services in the field during the civil war. He resigned his volunteer commission in 1865, and that in the U. S. army in 1867. He became president of the International telegraph .company in 1865, police commissioner of New York city in 1875, and subsequently president of the board. Since 1881 he has been a civil engineer. He was known in the army as "Baldy" Smith.

SMITH, William Henry, journalist, b. in Austerlitz, N.Y., 1 Dec., 1833; d. in Lake Forest, Ill., 27 July, 1896. In 1836 his parents emigrated to Ohio, where he received an English education. He was tutor in a western college, and then assistant editor of a weekly paper in Cincinnati, of which, at the age of twenty-two, he became editor, doing also editorial work on the “Literary Review.” At the opening of the civil war he was on the editorial staff of the Cincinnati “Gazette,” and during the war he took an active part in raising troops and forwarding sanitary supplies, and in political work for strengthening the government. He was largely instrumental in bringing Gov.

to the front as a candidate of the united Republicans and War Democrats; and at Brough's election, in 1863, he became the latter's private secretary. The next year he was elected secretary of state of Ohio, and he was re-elected in 1866. He retired from public office to establish the “Evening Chronicle” at Cincinnati, but, his health giving way, he was forced to withdraw from all active work. In 1870 he took charge of the affairs of the Western associated press, with headquarters at Chicago. In 1877 he was appointed by President

collector of the port at that city, and was instrumental in bringing about important reforms in customs methods in harmony with the civil-service policy of the administration. In January, 1883, he effected the union of the New York associated press with the Western associated press, and became general manager of the consolidated association. Mr. Smith was a student of historical subjects. He was author of the “ Papers” (2 vols., Cincinnati, 1882), a biography of , and many contributions to American periodicals. He was also the author of a “Political History of the United States.” By his investigations in the British museum he brought to light many unpublished letters of to Col.

and, had shown that those that were published by were not given correctly.

SMITH, William Laughton, diplomatist. l>. in Charleston, S. C., in 1758 : d. there in 1812. He was educated in England, and in Geneva, Switzer- land, studied law in the Middle Temple, and re- turned to Charleston in 1783. after an absencv of thirteen years. He was twice chosen to the legis- lature, and was one of the governor's council. In 1788 he was elected to the first congress, -and his was the first contested election case before that body, his opponent being Dr. David Ramsay, the historian. Mr. Smith was sustained with' only one negative vote. He was an able and frequent debater, advocating, among other measures, a com- mercial treaty with England instead of France. When Jay's treaty was before the senate, he was burnt in effigy in Charleston, in the outburst of public feeling against it. He became charge d'af- faires to Portugal in 1797. In 1800 he was trans- ferred to the Spanish mission, which he held till 1801. He supported the administrations of Wash- ington and Adams, but was a vehement opponent of Jefferson, against whose pretensions to the presidency he published a pamphlet. His other works include " Speeches in the House of Repre- sentatives of the United States " (London, 1?!>4); " Address to his Constituents " (1794) ; Fourth- of-July Oration " (1796) ; " Comparative View of the Constitution of the States" (Philadelphia, 1796); and several essays, published under the sig- nature of " Phocion " as " American Arguments for British Rights " (London, 1806).

'''SMITH. William Nathan Harrell'''. jurist, b. in Murfreesborough, N. C., 24 Sept., 1812; d. in Kaleigh, N. ('.. 14 Nov., 1889. He was graduated at Yale in is:>4. studied at the law department there, was admitted to practice in his native state in 1840, and took high rank at the bar. He served in the legislature in 1840. and in the state senate in 1848, in which year he was chosen solicitor for the 1st judicial circuit, and held office for two terms of eight years. He was defeated as a Whig candidate for congress in 185f>. returned to the leg- islature, was chosen to congress in 1858. and served one term. He declared himself for secession at the beginning of the civil war, was a member of the Confederate congress in 1861-'5, and of the North Carolina legislature in the latter year. During the administration of President Johnson he aided in the reconstruction of the state according to the policy that he suggested. He practised his profession in Norfolk, Va.. in 1870-'2, returned to North Caro- lina in the latter year, and settled in Raleigh. He was appointed chief justice of the state supreme court, succeeding Richmond V. Pearson in 1878, and continued to serve by re-election after that date.

SMITH, William Russell, congressman, b. in Tuscaloosa, Ala., 8 Aug., 1813; d. 20 Feb., 1896. He was educated at the University of Alabama, but was not graduated, and began the practice ut' law in Greensborough, Ala. He served in the Creek war in 1836 as a captain of volunteer in- fantry, removed to Tuscaloosa in 1838, founded the " Monitor " in that city, and was mayor in 1839. He was a circuit judge and major-general of state militia in 1850-'!, and in the former year was chosen to congress as a Whig, serving by re-election till 1857. During his last term in that office he deliv- ered a notable speech in denunciation of Louis Kossuth. He was a member of the Alabama con- vention in 1861, opposed secession, but after the opening of hostilities sat in the Confederate con- gress till 1865. He was president of the University of Alabama for several years after the war, but re- signed to devote himself to his profession and to lit- erary pursuits. He had published " The Alabama Justice "(New York, 1841); "The Uses of Solitude," a poem (Albany, N. Y., 1860) ; " As it Is," a novel (Tuscaloosa, 1860) ; "Condensed Alabama Reports" (1862) ; and several poems and legal pamphlets.

'''SMITH. William Sooy'''. civil engineer, b. in Tarllon, Ohio, 22 July, 1830. He was graduated