{⋆★⋆} BG Smith, Preston

Preston Smith

Brig. General Preston Smith.jpg
Born:
December 25, 1823

Birthplace: Giles County, Tennessee

Father: Durie Smith 1779 – 1831

Mother: Lucinda Morton 1792 – 1870

Wife: Mary Amanda Crawford 1826 –

Children:


Louisa Smith​

Education:

Attended Jackson College in Columbia, Tennessee​

Occupation before War:

Attorney in Memphis & Waynesboro, Tennessee​

Civil War Career:
1861 – 1862: Colonel of 154th Tennessee Infantry Regiment​
1862: Wounded in the right shoulder disabling arm Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee
IMG_1556.JPG
1862 – 1863: Brigadier General in the Confederate Army Infantry​
1863: Rode into a federal Brigade Mortal Wound, Battle of Chickamauga​

Died:
September 19, 1863

Place of Death: Battle of Chickamauga, Catoosa County, Georgia

Age at time of Death: 40 years old

Cause of Death: Gun Shot Wounds to the chest and heart

Original Burial Place: Atlanta, Georgia

Burial Place: Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee (May 2, 1868)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bump for Chickamauga.
Preston Smith was involved in Cleburne's night attack, trying to reconnoiter his front in preparation for an assualt, when he ran into a federal brigade. He mistook the 77th Pennsylvania as one of his units, and chastised an NCO for not getting his unit ready for the assault. The NCO soon realized Smith was an enemy, and fired a shot at his chest. Luckily, Smith's golden watch deflected the bullet from striking his heart, but his wound was mortal. He was brought to the rear, dying just an hour later.
General Cheatham lamented his death, saying: "It was in this night attack that Brig.-Gen. Preston Smith of Tennessee received his mortal wound, from which he died in 50 minutes. At the head of his noble brigade, of which he had been the commander as colonel and brigadier-general for two years and a half, he fell in the performance of what he himself, with his expiring breath, simply said was his duty. Active, energetic and brave, with a rare fitness to command, full of honorable ambition in perfect harmony with the most elevated patriotism, the whole country will mourn his fall and do honor to his memory".
 
Preston Smith was the Colonel of the 154th Tennessee Regiment, a former Nashville Militia unit which was allowed to keep their designation on their mustering in. He led them at Shiloh, where he was first brought to brigade command. He was kept in command of a brigade of Tennesseans after the army was reorganized at Corinth, and led it as part of Cleburne's demi-division at Richmond; as senior Colonel, he took charge of the command after Cleburne was wounded. After that battle and Perryville, he was promoted to Brigadier General on October 27th, 1862. He missed out on the bloodletting at Murfreesboro (he arrived the day after the attacks in his sector ended), but was involved at Chickamauga, where he supported Cheatham's command at the Brotherton Road, before taking part in Cleburne's Evening assault, where he was mortally wounded.
 
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