How I spent my summer vacation or "Murdered in Texas Since the War"

Military Images, Mar/Apr 2000 by Valentine, Scott

Sometimes, when we least expect it, life presents us with a diamond in the rough. Hear my tale of one such adventure. A little over a year ago, I traded a really nice carte de visite for another CdeV of slightly lesser quality, but one I wanted nevertheless. The friend I was trading with noticed the disparity in quality (and the frown upon my face) and offered to add a second CdeV to level the playing field. The deal was done and we both departed the trading floor happy troopers.

For some time after the trade, I did not pay too much attention to the bargain-sealer other than to note it was a somewhat-the-worse-for-wear carte de visite of I st Lieut. George W. Smith, 123rd New York Volunteer Infantry. Lieutenant Smith had the star badge of the 12/20th Corps pinned to the front of his frock coat and a black mourning cockade pinned to his sleeve (probably to indicate mourning for President Lincoln). Recently, while perusing my CdeV collection looking for trade goods, I came across the image of Smith and decided if I were to trade it I should probably do more research on it to enhance its trade value.

First I went to Dyer's Compendium of the War of the Rebellion and discovered that the 123rd fought in both the East with the 12th Corps and with the 20th Corps in the West. Then I went to the Official Army Register and Phisterer [New York in the War of the Rebellion], where Lt. Smith was listed with the other officers of his regiment. I found nothing out of the ordinary. I then sent to the National Archives for Smith's pension records. My request came back "Not found." Hmmm. Smith was not listed among the regiment's casualties in the Register -- was he independently wealthy and, as such, not needful of a government dole? I next had my local library send to the New York State Library in Albany for a microfiche of one of the regiment's histories, Reminiscences of the 123rd New York State Volunteers, by Henry C. Morhous. Smith was only mentioned three times in that volume: Once when he was slightly wounded at Gettysburg, once when he was slightly wounded at Dallas, Georgia and once in a short biography in the regimental roster. I wouldn't want to sound overly optimistic, but things were beginning to look up. At the end of the brief biography, after recording Smith's muster, promotions, wounds and muster out, the historian noted that Smith was "Murdered in Texas since the war." Wow! That could explain the absence of Smith's pension records. What was Smith doing in Texas? Was he killed in a gunfight or murdered by raiding Comanches???

By this time I was bubbling with excitement and was becoming obsessed with Smith's fate. Where to go next for more information on Smith? Why not the World Wide Web! I went first to a fine website published by Louisiana State University's United States Civil War Center (http://www.cwc.Isu.edu). LSU's site has great links, including one to Civil War Units published by Sunsites (http://sunsite.utk.edu.civilwar) which provides a list of people who collect information on Civil War units and are generally willing to help others research the unit. Scrolling down to the 123rd New York Volunteer Infantry, I found the web address of Bob Farrell and sent him an e-mail. Bob kindly responded to my inquiry about Lieut. Smith and generously offered to search his awesome collection of 123rd New York material. He noted that Smith is barely mentioned in his exhaustive collection, which includes histories, diaries, letters, articles, pension records, newspaper accounts, G.A.R. material, photos and service records. Other than the one liner in Morhous, there was no other mention of Smith's demise. Bummer!

Well, I was lucky on the web once, why not try again. I figured if Smith was murdered in Texas then the State of Texas or some other Texas institution might have a record of his death. My first few queries to various state agencies went unanswered. However, on my third try I struck gold. The University of Texas Library directed me to a public works project called The Handbook of Texas Online, a joint project of the General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical Association. At this site, I not only discovered the fate of Smith, I also learned a whopping good history lesson.

But before I reveal Smith's fate, let me fill in some background for you. George Washington Smith was probably born in New York State some time during 1842. He lived and farmed in Wyoming County, New York until he enlisted in his Uncle George Warren's Company B, 123rd New York at Kingsbury. He mustered as Ist Sergeant of the Company on September 4, 1862 and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on June 10, 1863. He was slightly wounded at Gettysburg near Culp's Hill, probably on July 3rd during the regiment's nasty fight to recapture the defenses of the 12th Corps which had been taken the day before by the Confederates of Lieut. General Richard Ewell's corps. In September 1863, Smith, the 123rd and the rest of the 12th Corps transferred west to the Department of the Cumberland, and in April of 1864 the 12th Corps was officially consolidated with the 20th Corps. Smith and the 123rd would see some hard fighting with Sherman's Army of Georgia, including battles at Resaca, Cassville, Dallas (where Smith would again be slightly wounded), New Hope Church, Culp's Farm, Peach Tree Creek, the Siege of Atlanta, the March to the Sea, the Siege of Savannah, the Carolinas Campaign and Bentonville. In March 1865, Smith was promoted to Ist Lieutenant of Company K. He and the 123rd took part in the Grand Review in Washington D.C., and he mustered out with the regiment on June 8, 1865.