Algernon Smith

Infobox Military Person
name= Algernon Emory Smith


caption= Algernon Smith
born= birth date|1842|9|17
died= death date and age|1876|6|25|1842|9|17
placeofbirth= New York
placeofdeath= Montana
placeofburial=Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery
allegiance= flagicon|United States United States of America
branch= United States Army
serviceyears= 1862-1876
rank=First Lieutenant
unit= 7th Cavalry
battles=American Civil War
*Fort Fisher
Indian Wars
*Battle of Washita River
*Battle of Little Bighorn

Algernon Emory Smith (September 17, 1842 – June 25, 1876) was an officer in the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment who was killed in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory.

Smith was born in the state of New York, where he attended Hamilton College. In June 1862, during the American Civil War, he enlisted in Company K, U.S. 7th Infantry Regiment. He became a lieutenant in the 117th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment until October 1863 when he assigned to Maj. Gen. Alfred Terry as an aide-de-camp. He was severely wounded at Fort Fisher in January 1865. He was later breveted to major for his actions in the war.

After the war, in 1867, Smith joined the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under George Armstrong Custer. He soon became friends with Custer, and was part of the so-called "Custer Clan" or "Custer Gang" of close-knit friends and relatives of the general. Custer called him "Fresh" Smith, the opposite of "Salty" Smith. He married Nettie B. Bowen on October 10, 1867, at her home in Newport, New York.

Smith served in the 1868 Washita Campaign, seeing his first action against the Native Americans. He was promoted to first lieutenant on December 5, 1868. He participated in most the 7th Cavalry's campaigns, including the 1873 Yellowstone campaign and as assistant quartermaster in the 1874 Black Hills expedition. Although the 1st lieutenant of Company A, Smith was named as assigned to command Company E, whose commander was at Fort Leavenworth, and was killed as a result in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

His body was not found among his men, but instead was discovered with Custer in the small knot of dead troops on "Final Stand Hill." Smith was given a hasty burial on the battlefield. He was reinterred in 1877 in the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

His widow survived until 1903.

References

*"Son of the Morning Star", Evan S. Connell, 1984, ISBN 0-06-097161-4
*"Classic Battles: Little Big Horn 1876", Peter Panzieri, 1995, ISBN 1-85532-458-X
*"Cavalier in Buckskin", Robert M. Utley, 1988, ISBN 0-8061-2150-5
*"Custer and His Commands", Kurt Hamilton Cox, 1999, ISBN 1-85367-358-7
*"The Custer Autograph Album", John M. Carroll, 1994, ISBN 0-932702-97-X
*"The Little Bighorn Campaign", Wayne Michael Sarf, 1993, ISBN 0-938289-21-7Persondata
NAME = Smith, Algernon Emory
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Officer of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment who was killed in the Battle of the Little Bighorn
DATE OF BIRTH = September 17, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH = New York
DATE OF DEATH = June 25, 1876
PLACE OF DEATH = Montana