Morgan Lewis Smith
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Morgan Lewis Smith (March 8, 1822 – December 29, 1874) was a Union general in the American Civil War.
Smith was born in Oswego County, New York. In 1843 he settled in Indiana, and later had some military experience in the United States Army. At the outbreak of the Civil War he raised the 8th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, of which he was elected Colonel in 1861. He commanded a brigade at the capture of Fort Donelson, and performed well at Shiloh.
In July 1862 he was made a brigadier general of volunteers and served under Sherman in the Vicksburg Campaign. At the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou he received a severe wound, from which he recovered in time to join the Army of the Tennessee before Chattanooga.
He led his division in the battles at Chattanooga, and in the following year's Atlanta Campaign. During the Battle of Atlanta he assumed command of the XV Corps when John A. Logan assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee after James B. McPherson's death. Afterwards he was placed in charge of Vicksburg. General Sherman said of M.L. Smith, "He was one of the bravest men in action I ever knew." He died at Jersey City, New Jersey. His brother, Giles Alexander Smith, was also a noted soldier.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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