Persifor Frazer Smith
{{short description|American military officer (1798–1858)}}
{{for|the Pennsylvania politician and lawyer|Persifor Frazer Smith (politician)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Persifor Frazer Smith
| image = Persifor F Smith.jpg
| order = 6th
| office = Military Governor of California
| term_start = February 28, 1849
| term_end = April 12, 1849
| lieutenant =
| predecessor = Richard Barnes Mason
| successor = Bennet C. Riley
| birth_date = {{birth date|1798|11|16}}
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1858|5|17|1798|11|16}}
| death_place = Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S.
| resting_place = Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| party =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Frances Jeanette Bureau|1822|1852|reason=died}}
- {{marriage|Anne Monica Millard Armstrong|18 Apr 1854}}
}}
| children = Howard Smith (first marriage)
| profession = Soldier
| allegiance = {{flagicon|USA}} United States of America
| branch = {{army|USA}}
| serviceyears = 1836–1838
1846–1858
| rank = 35px Brigadier General
35px Bvt. Major General
| unit =
| commands = U.S. Regiment of Mounted Riflemen
P.F. Smith's Brigade
Pacific Division
Department of Texas
Department of the West
| battles = {{tree list}}
- Second Seminole War
- Mexican–American War
- Battle of Monterrey
- Siege of Veracruz
- Battle of Cerro Gordo
- Battle of Contreras
- Battle for Mexico City
- Bleeding Kansas
{{tree list/end}}
}}
Persifor Frazer Smith (November 16, 1798 – May 17, 1858) was an American military officer. He served as an officer in the Louisiana State militia and as Louisiana State adjutant general. He led two regiments of Louisiana and Pennsylvania volunteers during the Second Seminole War. He served as a colonel in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War, was brevetted to major general, and became known as the "hero of Contreras". He commanded the Pacific Division from 1848 to 1849 including as the 6th Military governor of California from February to April 1849. He commanded the Department of Texas from 1850 to 1856 and the Department of the West from 1856 to 1858 during the Bleeding Kansas conflict. In 1858, he was appointed commander of the Department of Utah with orders to quell the Mormon Rebellion, but died at Fort Leavenworth before he could take command.
Early life and education
Smith was born on November 16, 1798, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Jonathan and Mary Ann (Frazer) Smith. In 1815, he graduated from the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) and studied law.
Career
In 1819, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, built a successful law practice and served in several elected offices. He was active in local militia activities and put in charge of a company and a battalion of Louisiana militia. After his political ally, Edward D. White Sr. was elected governor, Smith was appointed state adjutant general.{{cite web |last1=Knetsch |first1=Joe |title="All His Wants Should be Promptly Supplied" Persifor F. Smith and the Caloosahatchee River Campaign of 1837-38 |url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1284&context=sunlandtribune |website=digitalcommons.usf.edu |publisher=Sunland Tribune |access-date=5 May 2024}} On February 2, 1836, he was elected colonel of a Louisiana volunteer regiment that served in the second Seminole War from 1836 to 1838. His service impressed Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor and he remained in Florida and led a Pennsylvania volunteer regiment after the Louisiana volunteers returned home. After the war, he served as a judge in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Jefferson Parish.
At the onset of the Mexican–American War, he was made brigadier general of Louisiana volunteers on May 15, 1846, and accepted a commission as colonel in the United States Army on May 27, 1846. He commanded a brigade in Zachary Taylor's forces during the Battle of Monterrey. He was brevetted brigadier general on September 23, 1846, and joined Winfield Scott's army as commander of the newly created Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. He led his brigade at the battles of Veracruz, Cerro Gordo, and Contreras. He was brevetted major general for actions at Contreras and became knowns as "the hero of Contreras".{{cite web |title=Persifor Frazer Smith |url=https://libraries.uta.edu/usmexicowar/node/4892 |website=libraries.uta.edu |publisher=The University of Texas Arlington |access-date=5 May 2024}} He fought in the Battle for Mexico City and served on the armistice commission and as military governor of Mexico City. He was an original member of the Aztec Club of 1847 and served as president from 1848 to 1851.[https://wixlabs-pdf-dev.appspot.com/assets/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?file=%2Fpdfproxy%3Finstance%3DYBwN2Pd7Bd0MKq2l2Uj4MIiVTUVp22aQq9HnfTAha-E.eyJpbnN0YW5jZUlkIjoiMWZlNWIyNzMtMTYyOC00MTMxLTkzYjctNzNiMmZmNjI2NTdkIiwiYXBwRGVmSWQiOiIxM2VlMTBhMy1lY2I5LTdlZmYtNDI5OC1kMmY5ZjM0YWNmMGQiLCJtZXRhU2l0ZUlkIjoiMWNhZmYwYTEtNTBkNi00YTQ5LWFjNjgtZTk0YWMwOTJlZjNiIiwic2lnbkRhdGUiOiIyMDIzLTA2LTI1VDAwOjQ4OjA2LjU5M1oiLCJkZW1vTW9kZSI6ZmFsc2UsImFpZCI6IjE5ZjJlNmZjLTk2OGYtNDg1ZC04NDAxLTIzNjdmMzdlMDk0ZCIsImJpVG9rZW4iOiIwMzRhNDJkMi00NmZlLTBiNzgtM2ZkZi05YWY4M2ZmMDhhNDYiLCJzaXRlT3duZXJJZCI6IjA5M2ViM2RlLWQyMzEtNGE3Mi04NjMzLWI1ODUyZTgyYWU2ZSJ9%26compId%3Dcomp-jun8smbl%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fdocs.wixstatic.com%2Fugd%2F093eb3_c0e94a5192ea4eecbdce721f2875d7dc.pdf#page=1&links=true&originalFileName=Presidents&locale=undefined&allowDownload=true&allowPrinting=true] Aztec Club of 1847 website. [https://www.aztecclub.org/past-presidents] List of Past Presidents. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
After the war, Smith commanded the Pacific Division from 1848 to 1849 including as the 6th military governor of California from February to April 1849.{{cite book |last1=Bandini |first1=Helen Elliott |title=History of California |date=1908 |publisher=American Book Company |location=New York |page=292 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LugXAAAAIAAJ |access-date=5 May 2024}} He sent relief parties across the Sierra Nevada in the fall of 1849 to meet the last arrivals in the emigration, saving many lives.Josiah Royce, California, Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2002, p. 192 et seq.
Smith commanded the Department of Texas from 1850 to 1856. He established a series of forts to prevent raids from native Americans.{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Thomas T. |title=The U.S. Army and the Texas Frontier Economy 1845-1900 |date=1999 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |location=College Station |isbn=0-89096-882-9 |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phOIOnzTvv8C |access-date=5 May 2024}} He selected the site for Fort Davis{{Cite web |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/38/hh38c.htm |title=Fort Davis |access-date=2005-12-01 |archive-date=2006-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060505045227/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/38/hh38c.htm |url-status=dead }} and issued orders for the establishment of Fort Lancaster.{{cite book |last1=Francell |first1=Lawrence J. |title=Fort Lancaster: Texas Sentinel |date=1999 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin, Texas |isbn=0-87611-173-8 |page=32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ziLEAgAAQBAJ |access-date=6 May 2024}} In 1856, Smith was appointed commander of the Department of the West. He served during the Bleeding Kansas conflict and organized multiple sortees of soldiers from Fort Leavenworth to reduce the violence between pro-slavery and abolitionist groups.{{cite web |last1=Eaton |first1=Aurore |title=Looking Back: Fitz John Porter and the Conflicts in Kansas and Utah |url=https://www.unionleader.com/voices/looking_back/looking-back-fitz-john-porter-and-the-conflicts-in-kansas-and-utah/article_83daed8e-0729-5036-8c73-ac019af9f78f.html |website=www.unionleader.com |publisher=Union Leader Corp |access-date=6 May 2024}}
He was promoted to brigadier general on December 30, 1856{{cite book |last1=Colby |first1=Frank Moore |last2=Williams |first2=Talcott |title=The New International Encyclopaedia Volume XVII |date=1928 |publisher=Dodd, Mead and Company |location=New York |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QoUEeb5gZrEC |access-date=6 May 2024}} and was appointed to command the Department of Utah to suppress the Mormon uprising but never took command. He died on May 17, 1858, at Fort Leavenworth, of dysentery.{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Rand |title=Mud, Blood, and Gold - San Francisco in 1849 |date=2009 |publisher=Heritage House Publishers |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-1-879367-06-7 |page=205 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxRx06NyD0oC |access-date=5 May 2024}} He was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.{{cite web |last1=Cutrer |first1=Thomas W. |title=Smith, Persifor Frazer |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/smith-persifor-frazer |website=www.tshaonline.org |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=5 May 2024}}
Personal life
His maternal grandfather was Revolutionary War figure Persifor Frazer.Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J. H. Beers & Co., 1914; Pp. 489–496. Smith's cousin, also named Persifor Frazer Smith, was a lawyer in Philadelphia and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.{{cite web |title=Persifor Frazer Smith |url=https://archives.house.state.pa.us/people/member-biography?ID=7793 |website=archives.house.state.pa.us |publisher=Archives Pennsylvania House of Representatives |access-date=6 May 2024}}
Smith married his first wife, Frances Jeanette Bureau, in 1822.{{cite book |last1=Ball |first1=Durwood |title=Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, 1848-1861 |date=2001 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman, Oklahoma |isbn=0-8061-3312-0 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7wzjM5IHgMC |access-date=5 May 2024}} Their only child, Howard Smith, became a physician and surgeon. After his first wife died in 1852, Smith married Anne Monica Millard Armstrong, mother of Confederate Army general Frank Crawford Armstrong.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://discover.hsp.org/Record/ead-1377/Description Persifor Frazer Smith papers - Historical Society of Pennsylvania]
{{Governors of California}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Persifor F.}}
Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
Category:American people of the Seminole Wars
Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)
Category:Deaths from dysentery
Category:Lawyers from New Orleans
Category:Louisiana city judges
Category:Members of the Aztec Club of 1847
Category:Military personnel from Philadelphia
Category:People of the Conquest of California
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:State defense forces of the United States personnel