Smith, Gustavus A.

Born: 1820-12-26 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Died: 1885-12-11 Santa Fe, New Mexico

Flourished: Decatur, Illinois

Gustavus A. Smith was a businessman, wagon and carriage manufacturer, and a Union Army general. Orphaned at an early age, Smith was raised by his maternal grandmother. At the age of sixteen, he emigrated west with his sister and brother-in-law, who were headed to Mississippi. Smith decided to stop in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lived for a short time before joining two of his brothers in Springfield, Ohio, where he learned the carriage and wagon-making trade. In December 1837, Smith moved to Decatur, Illinois, staying for a short time before moving to Springfield, Illinois, where he lived for several years. In December 1843, he married Margaret A. Bane, and immediately thereafter moved to Decatur, where he started a business manufacturing carriages and wagons. In 1850, he was working as a wheelwright and owned real property valued at $1,500. Between 1858 and the coming of the Civil War, Smith manufactured carriages mostly for markets in the American South. He spent his winters in the South, with the dual object of minding his health and looking after his business interests. By 1860, he was living in Decatur's Second Ward and owned real property valued at $7,000 and a personal estate of $2,000. In politics, Smith was a Whig until the party's demise, when he became a Democrat. Upon commencement of the Civil War, Smith began training Illinois volunteers for combat. In May 1861, he raised a regiment, which elected him colonel. In September 1861, the War Department accepted Smith's regiment as the Thirtieth-Fifth Illinois Infantry. Smith commanded his unit at the Battle of Pea Ridge, where he was severely wounded. Upon his recovery, he participated in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi. In September 1862, he received promotion to brigadier general of volunteers. He continued to command the Thirty-Fifth Illinois as brigadier general until his commission expired in March 1863, when he reverted to colonel. He continued service in the Western theater, leading his regiment in the Battle of Chickamauga, following which on September 22, 1863, the War Department dismissed him from service. Smith campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election of 1864, and in February 1865, he returned to military service as colonel of the 155th Illinois Infantry. In March 1865, the War Department breveted him brigadier general for faithful and meritorious service during the war. Smith mustered out of the army in December 1865, returning to Decatur.

History of Macon County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1880), 151-52; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 26 December 1843, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Macon County, IL, 127; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 2, Decatur, Macon County, IL, 41; Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903), 1:898; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McLean County, ed. by Ezra M. Prince and John H. Burnham (Chicago: Munsell, 1908), 1:486; Gravestone, Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, NM.