Private Sam Smith
Pvt. Sam Smith
Private Sam Smith was born in Franklin County, Virginia, around 1839. He lived in Dallas County, Alabama, before the Civil War, where he married Mary Ann Abraheart. Smith, a shoemaker, was recruited and enlisted April 27, 1865, out of Selma, Alabama. He was 26 years old and was described as 5’9” with a brown complexion, black hair and hazel eyes. He enlisted to serve for three years.
He served in the 48th United States Colored Infantry, Co. A. This regiment was organized from the 10th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) in March 1864 and fought in the Gulf Coast areas as part of the Department of the Gulf. The 48th USCT participated in the Battle of Fort Blakeley in April 1865. This was the largest Civil War battle fought in Alabama and one of the last of the entire war. After a siege of more than a week, on the very day Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox, the battle resulted in a Union victory which paved the way for the capture of the city of Mobile by Federal forces. Approximately 20,000 men fought in the combined-forces affair, including one of the largest contingents of African American troops assembled for any battle during the Civil War.
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After major Union victories, formerly enslaved people would often rally at “contraband camps” and follow the Union Army. Soldiers were recruited to the USCT from these camps, and wives would often go along to serve as cooks, laundresses and nurses.
After the Battle at Fort Blakeley, Pvt Samuel Smith and his regiment were assigned garrison duty in Texas. Pvt Smith was sick from May to July 1865 near Alexandria, Louisiana. He was again listed as sick from December 8, 1865, to January 4, 1866, with dysentery and acute diarrhea, but he did survive and was honorably discharged in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on January 4th, 1866, when his regiment mustered out. During its time of service, the regiment lost three officers and 59 enlisted who were killed or mortally wounded in battle. Four hundred sixty-five men from the regiment died of disease.
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Sam Smith, 40, was listed in the 1880 Census with his wife, Mary, 32, in Warren County, Mississippi. According to later records, their ages would have been more accurately 41 and 43 at this time. His birthplace and the birthplace of his parents were listed as Virginia. Her parents were born in Georgia. He was a farmer, and she a housekeeper, and neither could read nor write. No children were identified in the household.
Sam Smith passed away in 1884 in Warren County, Mississippi, as noted in his widow’s pension application. Mary Ann, his widow, married Matthew Johnson in 1911 at Signal, Mississippi. In 1916, at the self-reported age of 79, Mary Ann applied for a widow’s pension. Her application was denied, presumably because she had remarried.
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Contributors: Savannah Smith, Sarah Plummer, Toni Smith and Cathie Cummins