Capt. Arthur St. Clair Smith, 12th New Hampshire, Co. K, born in Meredith, NH; age 22; resided in Gilford, credited to Gilford; enl. Aug. 21, 62; must. in Sept. 9, 62, as 1st Sergt; app. 2nd Lt. Co. A, Feb. 14, 63; tr. to Co. B; wounded severely May 3, 63, Chancellorsville, Va.;, app. 1st Lt. Co. E, June 12, 63; wounded twice June 3, 64, Cold Harbor, Va.; app. Capt. Co. K, July 20, 64; must. out June 21, 65. P. O. ad., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Burial: Oak Hill Cemetery, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This officer, the oldest son of Joshua II. and Clarissa C. (Crockett) Smith, was born February 1 1, 1841, and is the great-grandson of Hon. Ebenezer Smith, one of the first setters of Meredith, and great-great-grandson of two soldiers of the Revolution. Ebenezer, aforesaid, called and held in his house the first town meeting, being then, March, 1769. elected town clerk and selectman, and holding the latter office as long as he lived, or for thirty-six years. He was also representative, senator, and judge, and held many other offices oi honor and trust. Inheriting the public spirit and patriotism of his ancestors. Arthur St. Clair left the academy at New London in 1861, and went home to enlist, but his widowed mother, his father having been accidentally killed in California three years before, persuaded him to return to his school, where he impatiently remained until the new call for troops in 1862, when I could no longer study. as he says, and went home again to enlist. Assisted by Adjutant-General Colby, he enlisted forty or fifty men for Company G, but waiving his claim to rank was elected first sergeant, instead of lieutenant, as he might have been. His brother Henry J., of the same company, was killed at Gettysburg. In all the battles of the regiment to Cold Harbor, but Gettysburg and Wapping Heights, when he was still suffering from a severe wound received in arm at Chancellorsville, where his equipments were perforated with bullets. At Cold Harbor he was struck five times, being wounded twice, and having musket or grape shot through hat, haversack, and coat, he says: I shall never forget my ambulance ride with Captain Shackford from Cold Harbor to White House landing., Rejoined the regiment after the Siege of Petersburg, was present at the battle of Bermuda Hundred, and led a provisional battalion, that he commanded for a while, into Richmond. He was married December 11, 1868, to Harriet H. Baker, of Portland. Me. Children, Albert II., Kate E. (deceased), Arthur St. Clair. Percy P., and Leigh B. and one, oldest of all, who died in infancy. After the war he received the degree of L. L. 1. from the Albany Law School. N. Y., and settled in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has been judge of the municipal court, and was elected to the legislature by several thousand plurality though a candidate of the minority. He died December 19, 1895.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 11:29:52 +0000
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