Vignette bust view of Smith in the uniform of a Confederate general. The first few buttons and the collar insignia of his frockcoat are visible.

Clarity is good contrast is a okay. Mount and paper are good.

Reverse has a photographer’s imprint for VANNERSON… RICHMOND, VA. Top of reverse has a period pencil ID of “LT. GENL KIRBY SMITH.” There is also some collector information in pencil at bottom.

From the collection of the late William A. Turner.

Edmund Kirby Smith was born May 16, 1824 in Florida. He graduated from West Point in 1845 and held posts in both the 5th and 7th US Infantry. During the war with Mexico, he saw service at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Cerro Gordo, Contreras and Churubusco. After the Mexican War Smith served as a teacher of mathematics at West Point and then as a Captain in the 2nd US Cavalry in Texas where he was wounded in the thigh fighting Indians in 1859. When Texas seceded from the Union Smith was called upon by state forces to surrender his post at Camp Colorado but Smith refused. On January 31, 1861 Smith was promoted to Major but instead he resigned from the Army to join the Confederacy.

Smith became a Brigadier General on June 17, 1861 and led a brigade at 1st Bull Run where he was wounded in the neck and shoulder. He next went into Kentucky with Bragg and won a victory at Richmond Kentucky for which he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General. In January of 1863 Smith was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department with Headquarters in Shreveport, Louisiana. Smith had some small success in the Red River Campaign but for all purposes he was cut off from the rest of the Confederacy after Vicksburg fell. He was one of the last Confederate Generals to surrender on May 26, 1865. He then fled to Mexico but returned in a few months to take the Oath of Allegiance

After the war Smith worked in both the telegraph and railway business. He then served as a college professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee until his death on March 28, 1893 and is buried in the University Cemetery at Sewanee. [ad] [ph:L]

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