Smith, William

Life Span
to
Full name
William Smith
Place of Birth
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Sectional choice
South
Origins
Slave State
Occupation
Politician
Military
Attorney or Judge
Businessman
Political Parties
Democratic
Government
US House of Representatives
Governor
State legislature
Military
Confederate Army

William Smith (Congressional Biographical Directory)

Reference
SMITH, William, a Representative from Virginia; born in Marengo, King George County, Va., September 6, 1797; attended private schools in Virginia and Plainfield Academy in Connecticut; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Culpeper, Culpeper County, Va., in 1818; established a line of United States mail and passenger post coaches through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia in 1831; member of the State senate from 1836 to 1841, when he resigned; successfully contested as a Democrat the election of Linn Banks to the Twenty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1843; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress; moved to Fauquier County; Governor of Virginia 1846-1849, and unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate during that period; moved to California in April 1849; president of the first Democratic State convention in 1850; returned to Virginia in December 1852; elected to the Thirty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1861); during the Civil War served in the Confederate Army as colonel of the Forty-ninth Regiment of Virginia Infantry, and subsequently was promoted to brigadier general and major general; served in the Confederate Congress in 1862; again Governor of Virginia in 1864; returned to his estate, “Monterosa,” near Warrenton, Va., in June 1865; engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the State house of delegates 1877-1879; died in Warrenton, Va., May 18, 1887; interment in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va.
"Smith, William," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000627.
Chicago Style Entry Link
Moore, James Tice. “Men in Crisis: Virginia's Civil War Governors.” Virginia Cavalcade 35, no. 4 (1986): 148-161. view record
How to Cite This Page: "Smith, William," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/6603.