612 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



placing the active management of his business 

 in the hands of his sons, and retiring to a pri- 

 vacy, which was clouded by the death of his 

 wife in July, 1885. 



Smith, Thomas Kilby, an American soldier, 

 born in Dorchester, Mass., Sept. 23, 1820; died 

 in New York city Dec. 14, 1887. In 1825 his 

 parents removed to Cincinnati, O., where he 

 studied at the Military and Engineering School 

 of Prof. O. M. Mitchell, and, after spending 

 some time in civil engineering, read law in the 

 office of the late Chief-Justice Chase, and was 

 admitted to the bar, where he had for associ- 

 ates such men as George Hoadly, Stanley Mat- 

 thews, Edward Marshall, and George Pugh. 

 In 1861 he volunteered to raise a brigade of 

 troops for the national service at his own ex- 

 pense, and Gov. Denison appointed him lieu- 

 tenant-colonel of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of 

 Ohio Volunteers, and promoted him to the 

 colonelcy before he left the State. His regi- 

 ment was part of Gen. Sherman's division in 

 the battle of Shiloh, and when Gen. Stuart, 

 commanding the brigade, was wounded, the 

 command was given to Col. Smith, who held 

 it till the siege of Vicksburg. When Gen. 

 Grant assumed the direction of the siege, Col. 

 Smith was promoted to the rank of brigadier- 

 general, and acted for some time as chief of 

 Gen. Grant's staff. After the capitulation of 

 Vicksbnrg, Gen. Smith was given command of 

 a division of the Army of the Tennessee to as- 

 sist Gen. Banks in the Red River expedition, 

 and succeeded in protecting Admiral Porter's 

 fleet while withdrawing down the river .after 

 the disaster of Sabine Cross Roads. He as- 

 sisted in the reduction of Mobile, and was then 

 placed in command of the district of Southern 

 Alabama and Florida, which was his last mili- 

 tary service. He was brevetted Major-General 

 of volunteers for distinguished services in the 

 war, and on being mustered out was appointed 

 by President Johnson United States Consul at 

 Panama, holding the office till after the inaugu- 

 ration of President Grant. 



Smith, William, an American lawyer, born in 

 King George County, Va., Sept. 6, 1797; died 

 in Warrenton, Va., May 18, 1887. He was 

 educated in Plainfield Academy. Connecticut, 

 and private classical schools in Virginia, stud- 

 ied law in Fredericksburg and Warrenton, Va., 

 was admitted to the bar in 1818, and began 

 practicing in Culpeper. At the same time he 

 entered the political field as a Democrat, 

 pledged to a strict construction of party doc- 

 trines, frugality in public expenditures, and 

 honesty in the public servant. For eighteen 

 years he took an active part in all political 

 campaigns without being a candidate for office. 

 In 1830 he was elected a member of the State 

 Senate for four years, and was re-elected for a 

 second term, but resigned after serving its first 

 year. In 1841 he was elected a representative 

 in Congress and served the term, but at its 

 close found that a reapportionment had made 

 his district strongly Whig. He then removed 



to Fauquier County, where in December, 1845, 

 having just returned from one of his courts, he 

 was saluted as "Governor Smith," and in- 

 formed that the Legislature had elected him 

 Governor for three years from Jan. 1, 1846, 

 without even consulting him. In 1850 he re- 

 moved to California, and was chosen president 

 of the first Democratic Convention held in that 

 State. Within a year he was back in Virginia, 

 and in 1853 was returned to Congress, where 

 he served till 1861. In June of that year he 

 was commissioned colonel of the Forty-seventh 

 Regiment of Virginia Volunteers, and afterward 

 was elected a representative in the Confeder- 

 ate Congress, from which he resigned a year 

 later to return to the field. He was promoted 

 to the rank of major-general, and received a 

 serious wound at Antietam. He was again 

 elected Governor in 1863, and after the war 

 served one term in the Legislature. In early 

 life he established a line of post-coaches 

 through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, 

 and secured a contract for carrying the mails. 

 His demand for extra compensation gave him 

 the name of " Extra Billy " Smith. 



Spencer, Charles S,, an American lawyer, born 

 in Ithaca, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1824; died in New 

 York city Aug. 12, 1887. He was graduated 

 at Williams College in 1844, and in 1847 was 

 admitted to the bar. In 1850 he removed to 

 New York city to take an office in the United 

 States Custom House, but soon resigned and 

 began the regular practice of his profession. 

 Though his practice embraced a wide range, 

 his chief reputation was achieved by his abil- 

 ity and successes as a criminal lawyer. Pre- 

 vious to 1856 he was a Whig in politics, but 

 in that year united with the Republican party, 

 and continued in it through all its mutations 

 till his death. He was elected a member of 

 the New York Assembly in 1859, and again in 

 1873, serving through both sessions on the 

 Committee on Judiciary, and was an unsuccess- 

 ful candidate for representative in Congress 

 in 1866 and 1868. He represented his dis- 

 trict in the Republican State Conventions for 

 sixteen successive years, and was twice a 

 delegate to the National Conventions of his 

 party. He was also for ten years colonel of 

 the Fifth Regiment N. G., S. N. Y. 



Spooner, Lysander, an American lawyer, born 

 in Athol, Mass., Jan. 19, 1808; died in Bos- 

 ton, Mass., May 14, 1887. He studied law in 

 Worcester, Mass. In 1 844 he established an in- 

 dependent mail from Boston to New York, car- 

 rying letters at the uniform rate of five cents. 

 The prosecution of the Government soon com- 

 pelled him to retire from this undertaking, but 

 not until he had shown the possibility of sup- 

 porting the post-office department by a lower 

 rate of postage. His efforts resulted in an act 

 of Congress reducing the rates, followed in 

 1851 and subsequent years by still further re- 

 ductions. He was called the " father of cheap 

 postage in America." Mr. Spooner was an 

 active abolitionist, and contributed to the 



