Thomas A. Smyth: The Forgotten General

April 9, 1865 proved a momentous day in the annals of American history.  At Appomattox Court House, a white flag was seen, signaling the end of the four-year fratricidal war.  It was a day that hostilities ceased, that starvation was stayed, and the survivors looked forward to life at home.  At a house in nearby Farmville, located about 25 miles east of the surrender site, a Union general gave his last breath, unable to take part in the finality of the war he worked so long to achieve.  He was the last Union general killed in the war, dying at almost the precise moment that Generals Grant and Lee negotiated terms for a peace he would not live to see.  His name was Thomas Alfred Smyth, a forgotten commander in the annals of Civil War history.

Thomas Smyth was one of many Irish immigrants who fought in the American Civil War. He was born in County Cork, Ireland on Christmas Day in 1832.  His parents, David and Margaret Kennedy Smyth, were farmers.  At age 18, he served for a brief stint in the 65th Infantry Regiment in Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s Service, in 1851.  He returned to his parents’ farm, but after two years, he discovered that he preferred the military life to farming. Thomas left his father’s farm and journeyed to America, disembarking in Philadelphia, in 1854, at age 21.  Drawing on his newly found military prowess, he joined an expedition to Nicaragua shortly after his arrival.  Once he returned to the United States, he settled in Wilmington, Delaware and was engaged in work as a coach maker.  Like most of the young men at that time, he joined the local militia.  He made many friends, due to his cheerful nature, both in Delaware and the neighboring state of Pennsylvania.¹

In 1858 he married Amanda Pounder, a young woman from eastern Pennsylvania.  In 1859, the couple celebrated the arrival of their only child, Emma.  The family settled in their home on Third Street in Wilmington, until the clouds of war enveloped the nation.²

With the surrender of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Thomas immediately answered the call for volunteers to quell the rebellion.  He raised a company of Irish soldiers in Wilmington and they joined the 24th Pennsylvania Volunteers, a 3-month regiment.  Until they were mustered out at the end of the summer of 1861, the 24th Pennsylvania “performed arduous duties on the upper Potomac.”  They saw little of battle in those weeks, and Smyth was eager to get into the fight.³

In early September 1861, many of the soldiers from the 24th Pennsylvania joined up again, in other regiments, and Thomas was one of the most determined to do so. Smyth returned home to recruit a new infantry unit, the 1st Delaware.  He was chosen as Major of the new regiment, and he and his recruits returned to Philadelphia.  “In this capacity ” remembered one of the First Delaware, “he was never absent from his post, but took part in all the conflicts in which the Regiment was engaged.”⁴

Smyth participated in a multitude of engagements, always exhibiting “military genius and soldierly qualities”.  At Antietam, the regiment lost thirty percent of their number at the Sunken Road.  They lost another ninety men to casualties at Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg.  When Colonel John Andrews, the First Delaware’s commander, was severely wounded by a piece of shrapnel at Fredericksburg, Smyth became the commander of the regiment. 

Smyth was greatly admired by the men of the First Delaware.  “No officer in the army,” wrote one who remembered him, “had more thoroughly and completely the affections of his men … His tact, firmness and vigor were noted by his superiors…who never knew him to fail in an undertaking.”  Promoted to the rank of colonel and in command of a brigade of five regiments in the late spring of 1863, Smyth would find his most perilous duty yet during the early summer on the fertile fields of southern Pennsylvania.⁶

At Gettysburg, Smyth, still holding the rank of colonel, commanded the First Delaware, the 14th Connecticut, the 12th New Jersey, the 108th New York, and the 10th New York Battalion.  They formed the Second Brigade of the Third Division, led by Alexander Hays, as part of General Winfield Scott Hancock’s Second Corps.

On July 2, 1863, Smyth’s brigade deployed on Cemetery Ridge, near the Bryan Farm and across from Ziegler’s Grove.  Across the nearly mile-wide field, Mississippi men in butternut-colored uniforms headed toward the William Bliss Farm, a beautifully situated property halfway between the ridges.  The Southerners found it an ideal sniper’s nest with a plethora of windows in both the house and barn, with additional hiding places among the outbuildings.  With expert firing and easy camouflage, the Confederates managed to inflict significant damage to Union soldiers on Cemetery Ridge, picking off the men in blue from a few hundred yards away.  General Hancock ordered the farm taken, and men from the First Delaware and the 12th New Jersey made the attempt.  They chased the rebels away and held the farm for a time, but withdrew due to lack of sufficient ammunition and multiple losses.  The First Delaware’s commander that day, Colonel Harris, ordered them back to Cemetery Ridge – but lacked the authority to do so.  General Hancock, irate that they left the farm, arrested Harris and told Thomas Smyth to send men to retake the Bliss Farm.  The men in blue, throughout the ranks, knew that the Bliss farm “was a paradise for sharpshooters with long range rifles.”⁷

Several companies of the 12th New Jersey advanced and “charged in gallant style and captured it, losing several of their number.” They remained at the Bliss Farm until dusk, with the intention “of using it as the anchor for the Federal skirmish line.”  The Mississippians crept back toward the farm during the darkness.  By morning, a number of Confederates were back at the Bliss barn and house, harassing the Union line.  Thomas Smyth knew something permanent had to be done.  A soldier from 12th New Jersey mentioned to Colonel Smyth that the property should be destroyed to save Union lives.  He concurred, and passed the idea to his superior, General Alexander Hays.⁸

General Hays faced a dilemma: save the property or save the men of his division.  During the late morning of July 3, Hays ordered Smyth to take the farm once more.   A number of men from the 14th Connecticut made the attempt.  While the Connecticut soldiers fought furiously with the Mississippians among the myriad buildings, Hays and Smyth watched and realized the property had to be burned.  Smyth ordered one of his staff, Captain Postles, to reach the detail of 14th Connecticut and tell them to set the property ablaze.  Miraculously, the messenger reached the barn, as minié balls whizzed around him, and shouted the order.  The men immediately complied – and soon the farm was burned to the ground.⁹

The heroic actions of Smyth’s Brigade at Gettysburg contributed to the Union victory over Pickett’s Charge a few hours later – which resulted in the Federal triumph at the Battle of Gettysburg.  The war, however, would continue.  For nearly two more years the soldiers from multiple armies clashed across the nation.

Thomas Smyth was engaged in all major battles from Grant’s Overland Campaign in the spring and summer of 1864 through the siege of Petersburg.  He briefly led the famed Irish Brigade at the Wilderness in May, but returned to his regular brigade for the rest of that terrible year.  On October 1, 1864, he earned his brigadier’s star, for “ gallant conduct at Petersburg”, much to the elation of the men in his command.  “Wherever their brave leader would go, they were willing to follow.  Whatever he required of them, they performed with alacrity and cheerfulness.”¹⁰

By early 1865, General Smyth had risen to division command.  He had so far never suffered a serious wound, a man who so far exhibited “the luck of the Irish”.

As Robert E. Lee and his men vacated Petersburg on April 2, 1865, General Lee attempted, as a last resort, to join General Johnston’s army in North Carolina.  Skirmishes ensued as Union troops pursued the exhausted Confederates south through Virginia.  On April 7, 1865, Smyth rode with a detail on the skirmish line.  A sniper set his sights on the popular general and fired.  As Smyth prepared to give an order, the bullet struck him in his mouth and continued to his spinal column, severing the vertebrae.  He fell mortally wounded, and was taken from his horse.  His men carried the helpless soldier to an old farm house nearby, while the rest of the two armies continued their fateful trek toward Appomattox Court House.¹¹

General Smyth lingered for “two days in great pain, but perfectly rational to the last.”  He died, ironically and tragically, in the shadow of Appomattox on April 9, 1865.  His remains were borne to his adopted town of Wilmington, Delaware.  On April 17, his body rested in state at his home on Third Street.  “ Streets thronged with people to witness the ceremonies” and “businesses suspended and stores closed.”  A procession to the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery was attended by hundreds, as they watched Smyth’s riderless horse follow the wagon that bore his coffin to burial – another “ noble and patriotic victim ” of the war.  His widow and six-year-old daughter, like countless others, endured the rest of their days without him.  Like so many widows, Amanda Smyth never remarried, and lived until 1918, over a half-century without her husband.  Daughter Emma lived until the year 1924.¹²

There were so many who perished in the Civil War, and few have been fortunate enough to be remembered.  Thomas Smyth is one of the many forgotten soldiers.  He has earned the distinct but dubious honor of being the last Union general killed in the war.  He played a pivotal role in the Battle of Gettysburg, and helped the Union achieve their needed victory on the farmlands of Pennsylvania.  For his sake, and for those who were forced to go on without him, this “brave leader ” and “beau ideal of a soldier” should never be forgotten.¹³