The Odyssey of a Southerner: The Life and Times of Guslavus Woodson Smith Hardcover - 1998

From the publisher

The Odyssey of a Southerner, an interpretive biography of Gustavus Woodson Smith, takes a look at his life that spanned almost seventy-five years of the 19th century. Born in Kentucky in 1822, he enrolled at West Point at the age of sixteen and distinguished himself as an exemplary cadet. Following graduation, he worked as an engineer on fortifications in Connecticut, and joined the only company of engineer soliders in the United States Army during the Mexican War.In The Odyssey of a Southerner, Leonne Hudson provides a thorough analysis of Smith's Civil War career by carefully examining his leadership in several memorable battles in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina. Jefferson Davis's refusal to promote Smith to the rank of lieutenant general set the stage for a contentious encounter between the Kentuckian and his chief, resulting in Smith's leaving the Confederate Army in the winter of 1863. Smith proceeded from Richmond to Georgia, and in 1864 Governor Joseph E. Brown appointed him to command the state militia.Hudson's detailed discussion of Smith's postwar life shows the ex-general serving as the general manager of the Southwestern Iron Works in Chattanooga and as the first insurance commissioner of Kentucky. Smith left the Bluegrass State in the late 1870s and relocated to New York City, where he devoted much of his time to writing books and articles. Hudson uses a wide variety of sources, including manuscript collections, government documents, official records, and newspapers to recreate the life of Smith, who emerges in this volume as a leading participant in several tumultuous events of the 19th century.