Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, March 23, 1865

Headquarters District Of South Alabama,

Fort Gaines, Ala., March 23, 1865.

My Dear Mother:

A glance at the map will show you the locality of “Dauphine Island” and Fort Gaines, my headquarters for the present. It is just beyond Grant's Pass, at the entrance of Mobile Bay, about twenty-eight miles from the city of Mobile, and about one hundred and eighty miles from New Orleans. The island is not many miles in circumference, and, save on one side, the view from it is only bounded by the horizon, it has little vegetation but pine trees, and the surface is covered with fine, white perfectly clean sand, almost as free from impurities as snow. The beaches are fine, and the music of the surf is always in my ear. Oysters and fish of the finest varieties abound and I have every facility for taking them. I have never seen oysters so fat or of so delicate flavor, and I am told that they are good and wholesome every month in the year. I am fortunate in having secured a most excellent cook, whose specialty seems to be the preparation of oysters, and really I have eaten no other food except bread since I have been here. During present operations, and until I move to headquarters, I shall be in daily communication with New Orleans, newspapers from whence reach me within twenty-four hours of publication. The air here is most delicious, and is said to be highly salubrious. From time immemorial the citizens of New Orleans and Southern Louisiana have resorted here for the benefit of health, and these islands, and the coast near by have been ever free from the ravages of yellow fever. I look southward over the open sea towards Havana, and it is from the West Indies that the pleasant south wind comes. My health improves, my bowels have not troubled me for a good while, and under God I am blessed with the most favorable opportunity possible to recuperate my well-nigh exhausted energies.

My anxiety will be great until I hear of the return in safety of my dear wife. I left her in what to her was an embarrassing situation, and I am proud to say she governed herself like a true heroine, and though left entirely alone in a strange hotel, in a strange city, and among entire strangers, she bore herself at my sudden departure like a true soldier's wife, without a whimper. I left Walter on the street without a good-bye. I pray to God they have got home safe.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 380-1

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, February 7, 1865

Washington, D. C, February 7, 1865.

If I can get permission, I shall stop for a day to see you, as I return to the field, unless, indeed, as there is some reason to suppose, I be transferred to another command. I am offered a splendid division in the cavalry service. . . .

But if I take it I am brought right into the Army of the Potomac, and I can't bear to lose my Western boys, or the broad Savannahs in the South, where I hope glory yet awaits me. I have been to some parties and some receptions, have paid my respects to most of the Secretaries and to the President and his wife, and altogether have been having a pretty good time here in Washington. My mind has been relaxed and relieved, and it has done me good.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 379-80

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, January 25, 1865

Washington, D. C, January 25, 1865.

You will doubtless be surprised at the heading of this note. On the 17th inst. I received from the Secretary of War a telegram ordering me to repair without delay to the Adjutant-General of the United States. The same day General Thomas ordered a steamboat to transport me to Paducah, from thence I came hither almost on the wings of the wind, staying neither for fog, flood, nor mountain pass, though I was befogged near Louisville, and snowed up one night in the Alleghenies. Still, considering the distance, I made marvellously good time, and arrived here last night. I discover that I have been summoned to appear before the Committee on the Conduct of the War (of Congress), probably to testify in reference to the Red River expedition.

I shall know to-morrow. My stay here will be only temporary, and I shall probably from here be ordered back to Eastport or wherever my command is. You may think it strange that I could not stop for at least a day, but I dared not. I had been pretty well up to the time I was ordered here, but that very day my old complaint came back upon me with great violence and lasted every day of my journey, and I feared to make a halt lest I should be detained as I was before. To-day I am a good deal better. I have not heard one word from home since the letters that reached me at Nashville.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 379

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, January 15, 1865

Headquarters Third Division,

Detachment Army Of The Tennessee,

in The Field, Sunday, Jan. 15, 1865.

I am now once more fairly in the field, and at the head of my command. My tent is pitched upon a pleasant knoll in a very hilly, almost mountainous country, from whence I have a view of the Tennessee river, and parts of three States, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. The ground is gravelly and the forests pine, so that I keep comparatively dry; the floor of my tent is carpeted with pine boughs that make a pleasant smell. For some days past the weather has been delightful, clear, bright and warm, yet bracing. Already the rose and briar are putting forth green leaves and bulbous roots are springing from the ground. The atmosphere is about as it would be in your latitude, say the 1st of May, or thereabouts. My health improves, bowels decidedly better, appetite pretty good, and the most that troubles me now is a tendency to take cold, cold with an irritation of the throat. This is to be expected, for I could hardly go from careful nursing directly into the field without some shock to the system.

My command is not yet thoroughly organized, and I have some new appointments of staff officers to make; in the course of a day or two I shall publish my staff, and will send you a copy. . . . I have three brigades; our detachments are about being organized into a corps of three divisions, each division of three brigades. The division commanders are General McArthur, General Garrard (Kenna Garrard of West Point, oldest son of Mrs. McLean), and myself, all under command of Gen. A. J. Smith.

A large mail has come to-day with the fleet that brought up General Thomas and troops, but I am disappointed in finding nothing for me.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 378-9

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, January 10, 1865

Eastport, Miss., January 10, 1865.

Our fleet arrived here this morning, and I am just debarking troops in the muddiest, worst country I ever saw. For some days past, as I wrote you in a former letter, I have been upon the flag ship of Admiral Lee, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, and have been very comfortable; the almost entire rest has been favorable to my health. I shall now be compelled to rough it ashore, but I think I shall get through.

General Thomas, I this moment learn, is expected here to-day.

The weather is warm, raining, muggy, and intensely disageeable, a warm Southern winter such as we had at Young's Point.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 377-8

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, January 6, 1865

On Board Flag Ship “Fairy,”

Up Tennessee River On The Alabama Side, Three

Miles Above Eastport, January 6, 1865.

My Dear Wife:

My heading will show you my position, that you can the better learn from the map. I am now, in point of fact, within the Alabama lines. I reported the day before yesterday to Major-Gen. A. J. Smith, at Clifton, Tennessee, in person, and immediately received the following order:

Special Orders

No. 3.

Extract II.

Brig.-Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith, U. S. V., having reported at these headquarters for duty, is hereby assigned to, and will at once assume command of, the Third Division, Detachment Army of the Tennessee.

Col. J. B. Moore, now commanding the Third Division, is hereby relieved from such command, and will report to Brig.-Gen. T. K. Smith for assignment.

In relieving Colonel Moore, the Major-General commanding desires to express his high appreciation of the able, thorough, and soldierly manner with which he has executed the trust confided to him in the command.

By order of Major-Gen. A. J. Smith,

J. Hough, Asst. Adjt.-Gen.

I have transcribed the order in full because it contains a well-deserved compliment to a soldier of my own making, and who received all his training from me, and who has done full justice to his preceptor in the important responsibilities thrust upon him in my absence. I have not yet assumed command, because I am reconnoitring the river with Gen. A. J. Smith, upon Admiral Lee's ship, with a view to position and the debarkation of our troops. Admiral Lee, who is in command of the Mississippi Squadron, has been immensely polite to me, and has made me quite at home with him. All my officers, and those at General Smith's headquarters, have expressed much joy at my return, which I assure you is mutual; on my part I am gratified beyond expression in being once more restored to my command and associated with my comrades in arms. I write under some difficulty, for the boat is shaking excessively, and I can hardly keep my pen to the paper, but as a despatch boat will be sent down this evening, I avail myself of the opportunity, as I do of each that presents itself, to advise you of my movements and physical condition. My health is tolerably good; I am not as well as when on the Cumberland, and from two causes — the weather is murky and the Tennessee water unwholesome, added to which my food has not for two or three days been as good as usual, and I suffer from the confined air of the boats. Heretofore I have had the boat exclusively to myself, but since arriving at Clifton, there has been a necessity for transportation of troops and the boats are all crowded with soldiers. However, I am every way better than I expected to be at this time, and certainly have no right to complain. Joe and the horses are in good care, and when we get to some place I will write you a long letter.

Since writing the above, our boat has stopped at Eastport, and I have been ashore on horseback with General Smith, reconnoitring the country, and such a desolate, cursed, God-forgotten, man-forsaken, vile, wretched place I have never yet seen in all my campaigning. If I shall have to stay here long, I shall well-nigh go crazy. We hear Hood is moving south; his pickets disappeared from this place night before last, and there is what has been for them a strong fortification. There are but two or three families left, and they in the last stages of destitution; whenever you offer a prayer, petition that you or yours may never be in the war-path. You read of horrors of war, but you can form no conception of those horrors until you are an eyewitness of its results upon the inhabitants of the country where it has raged, where they have been, as they usually are, the prey of both contending parties. I shall probably go down the river as far as Clifton, where my own command is, to-morrow, to be governed by circumstances that may transpire after my arrival. As the case now stands, in all probability, I shall go into winter quarters somewhere hereabouts, and General Thomas's orders are “Eastport.” My third winter in the South does not promise more comfort than the two that have preceded it. Four winters ago it was Camp Dennison and Paducah, the next Young's Point, before Vicksburg, in the swamps, the next between the Black and Yazoo Rivers, the worst country, save this, I ever saw, and this winter, here, up the Tennessee. I think I have had my share of the dark side of the war, but my motto is, a stiff upper lip, and never say die. If health, the great desideratum, is spared, the rest will come. General Garrard, one of Mrs. McLean's sons, is here. His head is as bald as an egg, and he looks to be a thousand years old. War adds age fast.

You must address your letters to me as General commanding Third Division Detachment Army of the Tennessee, via Cairo. I suppose I shall stand a chance of getting them sometime within a month or less.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 375-7

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, January 1, 1865

Near Paducah, January 1, 1865.

My Dear Mother:

I am waiting to coal and for a convoy and soon shall be with my command, I hope. I am mortified to learn here, within a few moments, that Hood has succeeded with the remnant of his army in crossing the Tennessee upon the shoals; we disabled two of his guns and captured a portion of his pontoons, but for a while he has escaped, and this may materially disarrange the plan of our campaign.

The weather continues very pleasant, and we are well provided with food.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 374-5

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, December 30, 1864

Headquarters Military Division Of The Mississippi,

Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 30, 1864.

I was inexpressibly gratified by the reception your affectionate letter of 26th inst., handed me to-day. It came just in time, for I have my orders, and am about leaving for Eastport, Mississippi, via Paducah, and a steamboat is in waiting to carry me down the Cumberland and up the Tennessee. I shall debark close to the old battle-ground of Shiloh.

I shall probably take command of a division made up from my old division and another in Smith's corps. After a little there will be a new organization entire of the army here, and I shall hope to be recognized.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 374

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, December 26, 1864

26th. – Detained at Clarkesville by the unwarrantable interference of the officer in charge of the gunboat fleet who deemed it necessary to give us convoy against guerillas, lay there all night and until 9 A.M. of the 27th, which passes without event. Scenery on the river beautiful, high rocky cliffs of limestone, iron in abundance in these hills. Arrived at Nashville about two o'clock in the morning of the 28th. City dirty and disagreeable; has been the abode of wealth, as evidenced in the splendid architecture of the private dwellings, but everything now shows the brunt of war and war's desolation.

I find many friends and am hospitably entertained at the quarters of General Sawyer, General Sherman's Adjutant-General. The military are all agog at the good news from Sherman, but everybody here is as ignorant as I am of Hood's movements, of Thomas's intent. I have telegraphed to Gen. A. J. Smith, who is far to the front, but as yet receive no response. Railroad communication will be opened soon, we hope, to near the front, when I shall progress as soon as possible.

P. S. — You may have noticed in the papers that the train from Louisville to this point was attacked and captured, and that thus travel by rail was interrupted. With my usual good fortune, I have escaped this calamity, and it is doubly well with me that I came by boat.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 373-4

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, December 25, 1864

On Board Str. “Huntsman,”

Cumberland River, Christmas, 1864.

We left Louisville Thursday evening last and, just as the boat was shoving off, I indicted you a brief note. We have progressed thus far, having a few moments since left Fort Donaldson without accident. Fort Donaldson, as you are aware, was the scene of General Grant's first great victory, and the starting-point to his present greatness. I caught but a bird's-eye view of the fortifications; from the river side they seem almost impregnable. It is now garrisoned by some twelve hundered troops. All the way to this point we have been warned to keep a bright lookout for guerillas, this boat being the pioneer from Louisville. I have apprehended no danger and feel satisfied that so far as these gentry are concerned we shall reach our destination unobstructed. The anniversary, as usual, brings no joy to me, save that, to-day, I have leisure in quiet to make a retrospect of the past. Last Christmas I passed on the banks of the Yazoo, reviewing the field of battle on which I had fought just a year prior to this time. How fraught with events to me these years have been, and now I wonder where my next Christmas will find me.

I thought when I started to keep something like a log or diary of my wanderings, but so thorough a nomad have I become, so used to the current events of everyday travel, especially by steamboat, that something of a really startling nature must transpire to make me think it worth while to note. I would renew a former injunction to follow my course on the map. Trace me down the Ohio to the mouth of the Cumberland, and up. It will be a good way for the children to learn something of the geography of the country by following in imagination their father's wanderings, in thousands of miles through various States from the Gulf of Mexico to the extreme New England coast. It will seem incredible to you, until after careful study, how much I have passed over within the past year, and all without the slightest accident from the perils of navigation or travel by land. I lay me down at night to sleep with the same confidence with which I share your pillow; I wake in the morning to find myself hundreds of miles from where I had my last waking dream or dreaming thought. The bird of passage is hardly fleet enough of wing to outstrip me in my wandering. The weather was very cold the day we left Louisville, the next still colder but clear and beautiful and the morning sun rose and glittered upon one of the strangest scenes I have ever witnessed in nature. A very heavy fog rose from the river about one o'clock, and settling upon the trees and shrubs imperceptibly froze and gathered until everything that had a spray was clothed with the lightest feathery texture that can be imagined, lighter, purer, whiter than the softest driven snow, and each little flake looking like a small plume, all nodding and waving to the passing air; all this the sun shone upon from a cloudless horizon through rosy tints and such a sunrise has rarely been witnessed. The captain of our boat, an old man, who has been upon the river thirty years, saw no sight like it, and the commonest deckhand looked on with rapture at the beauty. All day under a bright sun, but with a freezing atmosphere we glided through the drift of a full and rising river, and, by starlight, kept on through the night coursing the bends and running the chutes bank full; the next day was warm, and yesterday, as we struck the mouth of the Cumberland, the air was soft and balmy as a day in May. We are running now nearly due south, but a light rain is falling; it is a soft, green Christmas here. No passengers on the boat; Joe and the horses, and officers and the crew, all. We are freighted with iron and lumber, oats and corn. I tread the deck sole monarch of the steamboat. The Cumberland winds through high banks of limestone rock, rich with iron and coal, occasional bottoms fertile for corn, but the rolling land back thin and sterile.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 371-3

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, December 22, 1864

Louisville, Ky., On Board Str. “Huntsman,”

Thursday, Dec. 22, 1864.

Arriving yesterday morning at Louisville, I found myself too late for the morning train to Nashville, and of course was compelled to lie over. The circumstance was fortunate, inasmuch as the train was thrown from the track and the passengers who started were compelled to return. Discovering that the road was not in first rate working order, I determined to go round by water, and am now about taking my departure on the steamboat Huntsman, that, if we have good wind and meet with no guerillas, will put me in Nashville on Monday next. I expect to spend Christmas on the Cumberland River.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 371

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, November 27, 1864

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES Of ThE UNITED STATES,

Nov. 27, 1864.

My Dear Wife:

My last was dated from headquarters at camp. I am now sojourning for a day or two in the city of Washington, arranging my business with some of the departments. I shall head towards the West before long, and have the pleasure of greeting you all on my way to the field. It is a good while, weeks, since I have had a line or intimation of any kind from home, but I steel my heart to anything approaching anxiety, maintain a firm faith that Providence will order all things as is best for us all and bide with confidence his decree. My health is better a good deal than when I left home, and though from time to time I am caught up by the old trouble, I think, on the whole, I am steadily on the mend. There is no doubt as to the chronic nature of the disease that will remain with me during the rest of my life, but some years of usefulness may yet be spared me. My visit to the headquarters of General Grant was very agreeable and of very considerable advantage to me.

I have no lack of courtesy wherever I go, and here in Washington feel compelled to lie perdu and preserve a strict incognito, lest I suffer from the kindness of my friends.

I enclose a rosebud gathered on the banks of the James, in the close vicinity of the contending armies; it was literally the last rose of the summer then, for that night a heavy frost fell, and my plucking saved it from a black death; it still maintains its hues, though I have carried it in my pocket for a week, and I hope will not be quite withered ere it reach your hand.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 370-1

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, November 18, 1864

Headquarters Armies Of The United States,

City Point, Va., Nov. 18, 1864.

I wrote a hurried note to wife a day or two ago upon my first arrival at General Grant's headquarters, simply to advise you all of my health and well-being. I was received here with open arms, unfeigned, and bounteous hospitality. I proposed returning with the General the day after my arrival, as he was about paying a visit to his wife at Burlington, but he pressed me to remain and inspect the lines, for that purpose mounting me on his own best horse with his own equipments, and assigning his chief aide-de-camp as my escort. The day before yesterday I rode the lines of the “Army of the James.” For this purpose a steamboat was detailed which took me up the river to a point just above the famous “Dutch gap” canal, where the extreme left of the army now under command of General Butler rests. Mounting our horses, we struck the field works at this point, and rode the whole circuit, visiting each fort en route, not forgetting the famous “Fort Harrison,” which cost us so dearly to wrest from the enemy; we were frequently in sight and within rifle range of the enemy's pickets, indeed at points within an hundred and fifty yards, and almost with the naked eye the lineaments of their countenances could be discerned; but we were not fired upon, for both armies on these lines decry the abominable practice of picket shooting, which for the most part is assassination, save when works are to be attempted by assault, and, relying on each other's honor, observe a sort of truce. I was so often within gunshot of them this day, and they so well observed the tacit understanding, that I did not dismount as is usual in exposed places, but always from the saddle made careful survey of their works. I rode as close as three miles from Richmond, whose spires could be discerned glittering in the hazy distance. General Butler had not then returned, but I was glad to be able to renew with my old friend General Weitzel then in command, an acquaintance formed at Port Hudson, which ripened into intimacy at New Orleans. He is an elegant fellow, and well worthy of the honors he enjoys. You may be sure he was glad to see me, and that he did all one soldier can do to make another happy, giving me his personal escort through the whole day. I also called upon General Terry, also in command of a corps, and two or three brigadiers. Their lines of fortifications display splendid engineering, their army in good condition and spirits, and the soldiers in first rate fighting trim. The enemy lies at short distance like a couchant tiger watching for the expected spring. There will be desperate fighting when we close. At night I re-embarked and returned to these headquarters. Yesterday our horses were placed upon a special railroad train provided for the purpose, and after breakfast we started for the headquarters of General Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac. At “Meade's Station” our horses were unshipped and we mounted, riding a short distance to the general's tent. He received me with profound respect and consideration, excused himself upon the plea of urgent business from giving me personal escort over the lines, but assigned his chief aide-de-camp, Colonel Riddle, who gave me guidance. I rode through his entire army of sixty thousand infantry, and surveyed their lines of fortifications, in close view of the lines of the enemy, and of the town of Petersburg. It would be neither proper for me, nor interesting to you, to give close description of all I saw; suffice it to say, that I found a splendidly appointed army in tip-top condition, behind works that, well-manned, are impregnable, close to an enemy who are watching with argus eyes and making defences with the arms of Briareus. I called in the course of the day upon Major-Generals Parke and Warren. Parke I knew at Vicksburg, and should have called upon Hancock, who had made preparation to entertain me, but the night was closing in murky with promise of storm, and I felt compelled to hasten to the depot. Thus in these two days I have made very extensive reconnaissance, inspection and survey of these two great armies upon the movements of which the destiny of a nation, if not of a world, seems to rest. An incident occurred yesterday that may serve to interest the children. We often were, as on the day previous, very close to the picket lines and fortifications of the enemy, and upon one occasion, as we halted to make close observation of a certain point, the enemy sent over a dog with a tag of paper attached to his collar, upon which was written, “Lincoln's majority 36,000.” We detached the paper, offered the dog something to eat, which he refused, turned him loose, when he forthwith returned to his master. Surely this is one of the “dogs of war.”

I have been called off from writing, a moment, to be introduced to General Butler, who has called, and who invites me to dine with him to-morrow. If the day is not very stormy I shall go to his headquarters.

At Pittsburg, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, I have been really oppressed, overwhelmed, with polite attentions. In the War Department, every officer I met, the Secretary, the Adjutant-General, the Assistant, were eager to give facilities. So at the Treasury, where I had occasion to transact some business. The Postmaster-General, our Mr. Dennison, promptly offered me every politeness, and here at these headquarters, from the General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States down, all have done me, and all have seemed eager to do me honor. I am informed that none others save the General, since he has come into his possession, has ridden or been offered his favorite horse, a magnificent animal, which, caparisoned with his own splendid housings, he ordered for me, and has left subject to my order while I remain. His Chief of Staff offered me the General's tent and bed during his absence; this I refused. I am the honored guest at the long mess-table. Well these are trifles in themselves, but taken together are gratifying to me and will doubtless be to you. I am very proud to have the good opinion of my commanding generals. I believe I mentioned to you in a former letter that I had introduced myself to the President, who was pleased to say he had heard of me, and who, in our interview, was exceedingly polite. Of course, I take all this just for what it is worth, and nothing more, and should be mean to attempt self-glorification upon the reception of courtesy that costs so little. But I am writing to my mother, and to her I cannot refrain some hints of my position towards those who are now most prominent in the world's history, and who give countenance and support to me, because I have cheerfully given my humble efforts to uphold the glory of a nation, the sustaining of a wise and beneficent government, the crushing of an unholy rebellion, the exposition of a devilish heresy, the elevation of truth as opposed to error. Those efforts for a while have been paralyzed and even now I am warned that the flesh is weak. I am not as I have been. This poor abused body fails me when the spirit is most strong, and truly with me is the conviction forced, that just as I am learning to live I must prepare to die. And the world and its glories to me are so pleasant. No day, no night, is long, “every moment, lightly shaken, runs itself in golden sands.” My comrades are fast passing away. You have noted, of course, the death of poor Ransom, my comrade in battle, my bosom friend, whom I dearly loved. After being four times wounded in battle, he went back to the field to die like a dog of this disease, this scourge of the soldier, dysentery. I saw his physician a day or two ago, who told me his bowels were literally perforated. He retained his mind clear to the last moment, said he was dying, and called in his staff as he lay in his tent to take a final leave, and issue a final order. How much better to die as McPherson, with the bullet in the breast. I sometimes think my health is improving, and I run along for several days feeling pretty well, but I have had recent evidence that at this time I am unfit for active service in the field. A Major-General's commission is just within my grasp, but a week's march and bivouac, I fear, would give me my final discharge. Still, it is all as God wills. The God of Heaven has watched over all my steps, and with that careful eye which never sleeps, has guarded me from death and shielded me from danger. Through the hours, the restless hours of youth, a hand unseen has guarded all my footsteps in the wild and thorny battles of life, and led me on in safety through them all. In later days still the same hand has ever been my guard from dangers seen and unseen. Clouds have lowered, and tempests oft have burst above my head, but that projected hand has warded off the thunder-strokes of death, and still I stand a monument of mercy. Years have passed of varied dangers and of varied guilt, but still the sheltering wings of love have been outspread in mercy over me; and when the allotted task is done, when the course marked out by that same good God is run, then, and not till then, shall I, in mercy, pass away. Meanwhile, give me your prayers, dear mother, for in your prayers, and in those of the dear good women who remember me in their closets, alone with their God, do I place all faith. Pray for me that I be not led into temptation, that I may be delivered from evil.

We do not hear from General Sherman, but we have the fullest faith that all will be well with him, and that he will accomplish his great undertaking. My own command is by this time with Thomas at Paducah. Say to Joe and Margaret, that the same servants are about General Grant's headquarters, each man remaining true at his post, that they all inquired after Joe and Margaret and old Uncle Jeff, and that all of them were very much mortified when I felt compelled to tell them that Uncle Jeff had abandoned me. They were all glad to hear that Joe and Margaret were married, and all sent kind messages to them. General Rawlins's little black boy Jerry has got to be a first rate servant, and so has Colonel Duff's boy Henry; Douglass, and General Grant's William, are all on hand. Colonel Duff's sorrel horse, John, that great walking horse he was afraid of, the one that used to run away and that he got me to ride (Joe will remember him), was captured by the enemy. The General's little bay stallion, he thought so much of, is dead. He sent the cream-colored stallion home. I write this to interest Joe. Tell him to keep quiet, that I shall soon be home, and don't want him to leave me till the war is over, and then I will make provision for him.

Just as I am writing now, I am being complimented by a serenade from a splendid brass band. I would give a good deal if you were all here on the banks of the James, to hear the thrilling music, though I should want you away as soon as it was over. My best and dearest love to all my dear ones.

Blessings rest upon you all, forgive my haste and crude expressions. It is always hard to write in camp, but impossible almost to me with music in my ear.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 365-70

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, November 16, 1864

Headquarters Armies Of The Un1ted States,

City Point, Va., Nov. 16, 1864.

I write not to give interesting intelligence, but simply to advise you that I am in the land of the living, at City Point, on James River, that waters the sacred soil, and that I am about as far to the front on my way to Richmond as it is this day safe to go.

The James reminds me a good deal of the lower Mississippi, and so far as I have come, its banks are studded with points of interest, and historical in the war. At Fort Monroe, I saw the finest fleet that, perhaps, has ever been collected in the American waters. Leaving Washington in a steamer for this place, I passed Alexandria, Point Lookout, Harrison's Landing, Newport News, Fort Powhatan, Wilson's Landing, Jamestown Island. If the children will look at the map, they will discover that we descend the Potomac, scud along Chesapeake Bay, and at Fort Monroe ascend the James, so that they can get upon my track. There is no news here proper for me to write. General Grant is in good health and spirits and I hear as late as last Wednesday from Sherman, who also is well.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 364-5

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, October 24, 1864

Quincy, Sunday, Oct. 24, 1864.

My Dear Mother:

After strange, and what would be considered in any other age, romantic vicissitudes, I find myself once more in the land of my birth, with the same surroundings, changed so little as to be a marvel, that made my sum of childhood life. I have had for years an earnest longing to look again upon the everlasting hills, the eternal rocks, and changing seas of this New England coast, and being so near could not resist the temptation to gratify my desires. I am glad I came, and feel much benefited in health and spirits. I have met most of our kith and kinsfolk who, like their trees, are rooted in the soil.

To-day, thus far, I rest; if you were with me to join in the calm enjoyment, the serenity of happiness, the sweet content of this glorious, autumnly sunny Sunday, that is mine, here so close to my birthplace, hallowed to you by so many recollections, I should be supremely blest, “to sit at good men's feasts, to hear the holy bell that knolls to church,” far from war and war's alarms, the bracing breeze rustling the leaves all tinged with the hectic hues of autumn, just ready to fall, but lingering, clinging to the swinging bough, giving sweet music as to the wind they sing their parting lay; to listen to the pattering of children's feet upon the bridge where my first footsteps ventured, the babbling of the same old brook, here confined between trim borders, there in its freedom merrily dancing in the sunlight; to wander through the same old rooms, sit in the same old chairs, eat from the same old spoons, hear the familiar household words from the same lips that well-nigh half a century ago gave greeting. Ah, well-a-day, you and I are growing old, dear mother, and as we drift by rapidly upon the stream of time we clutch convulsively at these old landmarks and for a while would fain stay our progress onward to the boundless gulf that is beyond. We cheat ourselves in thought, that in good sooth we do linger, while even all else is passing away, that while inanimate objects, that from associations seem self-identified, remain apparently unchanged, we, by mere contact, rejuvenate our stay, or receive the virtues of the waters of Lethe. Yet, when the real comes back, it is good to know that in imagination we have triumphed over time, that in mere enjoyment of imagination, we have caught some glimpse of the glorious immortality yet to come.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 363-4

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, June 9, 1864

Steamer “silver Moon,”

Mississippi River, Near Cairo, Ill., June 9, 1864.

I am on my way home and may reasonably be expected by you on Monday, 15th, by the morning up train, God willing and weather permitting. My retinue is small, as I am on brief furlough. You will only need to make preparations for three servants, two male, one female, four horses, a small dog and myself. You need not put yourself out, as the horses and servants are used to bivouac.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 363

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, April 29, 1864

Mississippi Squadron, Flag Ship “Cricket,”

Alexandria, April 29, 1864.

My Dear Wife:

I am safe after a most severe campaign. I had three fights, battles, on my own hook, inasmuch as I had the honor of bringing up the rear of the army to this point. These three fights were exclusively my own, and in every instance entirely victorious. I have only time to say that my opinion is, we (I mean A. J. Smith's command) will get through safely to the Mississippi; after that, there will be work enough for us. I will give you full details so soon as opportunity offers. Meanwhile, rest assured of my health and personal safety. Admiral Porter is safe and sitting by my side as I write. He is a noble fellow, game as a pheasant; so is old A. J. a perfect trump.

I hope you are all well. I am in first rate spirits, stiff upper lip, “never say die.” Do not be discouraged about me, in the slightest degree. We can whip these fellows whenever we get the chance.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 362-3

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, March 24, 1864

Alexandria, La., March 24, 1864.

My Dear Mother:

We have had some skirmishing in making reconnaissance, and have taken one entire battery, horses and harness. Some four hundred prisoners and some six hundred horses. General Banks has not yet arrived, but is momentarily expected. The country on the north side of the river is pine woods and for the most part barren, though rolling and beautiful on the south side — that upon which Alexandria is situated. It is exceedingly rich and very highly cultivated in cotton and sugar plantations. Corn, clover, and other grasses grow, the clover especially, with wonderful luxuriance. The perfectly flat nature of the country gives a sameness that is wearisome, but at first view the beauty of the plain, as one rides through the plantations, is enchanting. Hereabouts they are all well-watered by the bayous and these can be led by ditching in any direction. The planters, taking advantage of this, have beautified their grounds with lakes and wandering streams, upon the shores of which to the water's edge grows the white clover, carpeting the ground at this season with its rich green leaves, the sod cut away for parterres and flowerbeds, all shaded with beautiful pines, Japan plums, pride of China, and others, the names of which you would not recognize, of the beauty of which you can hardly form an idea. Their houses are not very elegant. The Southerner as a general rule does not care much about his house; so that it has plenty of piazza (gallery, as they call it here), is painted white, with Venetian blinds at all the openings, he is satisfied. Some of the wealthiest of them have spent their lives in log houses, and the wigwam at Mackacheek would be entirely en regle as the mansion house of a sugar estate. They find all their enjoyment in the open air, and shelter from the rain and night dew is all they ask.

The inhabitants hereabouts are pretty tolerably frightened; our Western troops are tired of shilly shally, and this year will deal their blows very heavily. Past kindness and forbearance has not been appreciated or understood; frequently ridiculed. The people now will be terribly scourged. Quick, sharp, decisive, or, if not decisive, staggering blows will soon show them that we mean business. I anticipate, however.

The State of Louisiana founded a Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, not long since, of which General Sherman, by election, was made superintendent, and which he abandoned to take up arms for his government. The building is a fine, large, very expensive one, situate some four miles from Alexandria, and was thoroughly provided with all the adjuncts of a large college. It has recently been used as a hospital by the rebels. The people cherish the name of General Sherman, and mourn his loss. He had great popularity here. My newspaper dates are to the 14th inst. My news very vague. I have the intelligence of the promotion of Lieutenant-General Grant, General Sherman and General McPherson. This is all right. With the old woman I may say to you, “I told you so.” One year ago there was a fearful pressure made against all these officers, Grant and Sherman especially. Where are those, now, who villified them? I do not know if you preserve them, but I must ask, if you do, to look at some of my letters written during last February and March.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 361-2

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, March 19, 1864

Friday, March 19th.

A messenger has just arrived with despatches from below, and a mail, but no letters for me. I have nothing of importance to add, hardly enough in what I have written to repay perusal; you must not permit yourself to suffer anxiety on my account; the good God whose arm till now has shielded me will care for me to the end. It may be permitted us to meet again and again I may enjoy the pleasure of home. If not, let us all pray that we meet in Paradise.

I see by some newspapers that are brought with this mail that the expedition into Mississippi is misrepresented and misunderstood. I assure you it was entirely successful and all was accomplished that was intended or desired.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 360-1

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, March 18, 1864

Thursday, 18th March, on board steamer Hastings, Red River.

I resume, having no opportunity as yet to forward despatches. Having destroyed fort and blown up magazines, am now en route for Alexandria. Weather most charming, river winding through fertile, productive country. I find it impossible to write, however, with any comfort, the machinery going; shall close at Alexandria.

Arrived at Alexandria at this 6 P.M., after a pleasant passage without incidents; discover upon our arrival that the enemy, some fifteen thousand strong, have evacuated, leaving three field-pieces and an immense amount of commissary stores, cotton, sugar and molasses. My fleet is moored on the east side of the river, opposite the town, and I have debarked my troops, throwing out heavy pickets, my scouts informing me that two thousand of the enemy's cavalry are in my front, and propose to make a dash this night, a threat I don't believe, but am ready for their reception. Have received a despatch within a few moments, stating that General Lee, of General Banks's command, was at Opelousas, on the 16th, with five thousand cavalry, and that General Banks, with fifteen thousand infantry, was on the march. We are ahead of Banks some five days. I am jotting down incidents as a sort of diary; hardly know whether it will ever reach your eye.

You must be careful to trace me properly on the map. The children will not be set back in their geography by following their father's footsteps in imagination. I wish I had you all here this night. I have just been ashore inspecting my troops, and rarely has the mellow moonlight fallen upon a more romantic scene. The plain is level, covered with grassy sod, and studded with clumps of underbrush, of a growth that at night I can not distinguish; there is ample room to move about and sufficient verge for line of battle. The bright arms glittering in the moonlight are stacked upon the color line, the soldiers lie, each covered with his blanket, behind their arms; there are no camp-fires; the videttes, far in advance, can be distinguished, dismounted, but each man at his horse's head and ready at the blast of the bugle to mount; the moon is clear and the stars all out, the atmosphere serene. The gunboats lie far above and below, the transports between. One can scarcely look without a yearning for the power of word-painting to convey a portion of his pleasure, as well as regret that all the world, at least his friends in it, cannot share his feelings. There is a peculiar fascination in this wild, dangerous life, a continued exaltation and exultation; mine have been the joys of victor, continuous and continued. I have never known defeat; onward and onward, victory after victory, casting behind me, as my horse throws dust, clouds of prisoners. Three hundred and thirty-four brave men I sent down under charge of one of my lieutenant-colonels yesterday. This must change, sometime, doubtless. I may be called to-morrow, to captivity in sackcloth and ashes. God give me strength to bear, if the evil day comes. I write wildly and hurriedly to-night. To-morrow, perhaps, I shall have leisure to give you something like a home letter. Did I say I wish you were here? God forbid, except that you might be translated straightway back.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 359-60