GENERAL E. KIRBY SMITH
TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL SURVEY COMMITTEE
TEXAS RANCHER
GENERAL E. KIRBY SMITH, C.S.A.
(1824–1893)
BORN IN FLORIDA. GRADUATED FROM WEST POINT. FOUGHT
IN MEXICAN WAR. ON THE TEXAS FRONTIER IN THE 1850’S,
COMMANDED CAMPS BELKNAP, COOPER AND COLORADO.
IN 1860 AND MANY YEARS AFTERWARDS WAS A PARTNER
OF J.M. HUNTER OF FREDERICKSBURG IN A TEXAS RANCH.
RESIGNED FROM U.S. ARMY, 1861, TO SERVE CONFEDERACY.
WAS APPOINTED 1863, TO COMMAND ALL THE AREA WEST OF
THE MISSISSIPPI. AT THAT TIME FEDERALS HELD THE
RIVER, ALL OF MISSOURI, MUCH OF ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA
AND INDIAN TERRITORY, AND WERE TRYING TO TAKE TEXAS
AND HER SUPPLIES OF FOOD, COTTON AND HORSES.
THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPT. HAD MANY PROBLEMS. THE
FRENCH UNDER MAXIMILIAN WERE APPROACHING FROM MEX-
ICO. INDIANS AND BANDITS CONSTANTLY RAIDED FRONTIERS.
FREIGHTERS AND BLOCKADE RUNNERS HAD TO BE EMPLOYED
FOR EXPORTING COTTON--THE ONLY PRODUCT THE SOUTH
HAD FOR TRADING TO GET GUNS, AMMUNITION AND GOODS.
TEXAS WAS CHIEF SOURCE OF THE COTTON GEN. SMITH
USED FOR FINANCING HIS ARMY. IT WAS PLACE OF SAFETY
TO WHiCH HE SENT HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN. IT GAVE HIM
OVATIONS AS HE WENT TO MEXICO AFTER THE WAR ENDED.
YOUNG TEXANS STUDIED, 1875–1893, IN HIS MATHEMATICS
CLASSES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH SEWANEE, TENN.
(1965)
Submitted by: Eric Goodill