Cornelius C. Smith

Colonel Cornelius Cole Smith (April 7, 1869 – January 10, 1936) was an American officer in the U.S. Army who served with the 6th U.S. Cavalry during the Sioux Wars. On January 1, 1891, he and four other cavalry troopers successfully defended a U.S. Army supply train from a force of 300 Sioux warriors at the White River in South Dakota, for which he received the Medal of Honor. He was the last man to receive the award in battle against the Sioux, and in a major Indian war.

Cornelius C. Smith
Cornelius C. Smith displaying his Medal of Honor.
Born(1869-04-07)April 7, 1869
Tucson, Arizona Territory, United States
DiedJanuary 10, 1936(1936-01-10) (aged 66)
Riverside, California
Place of burial
Evergreen Memorial Park
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1889–1920
RankColonel
Unit4th U.S. Cavalry
2nd U.S. Cavalry
6th U.S. Cavalry
Commands heldPhilippine Constabulary
5th U.S. Cavalry
10th U.S. Cavalry
Battles/warsIndian Wars Spanish–American War
Philippine Insurrection
World War I
AwardsMedal of Honor

In his later career, Smith served as an officer during the Spanish–American War and the subsequent Philippine Insurrection under Generals Leonard Wood and John J. Pershing. In 1910, he was appointed by Pershing as commander of the Philippine Constabulary and served at Fort Huachuca as commanding officer of Troop G, 5th U.S. Cavalry from 1912 to 1914. It was in this capacity that he accepted the surrender of Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzky, commander of Mexican federal forces at Sonora, on March 13, 1913. In 1918, he was appointed commander of Huachuca and the 10th U.S. Cavalry. Prior to his retirement, he also oversaw the construction of Camp Owen Beirne, adjacent to Fort Bliss, which served as the model for similar camps built following the end of World War I.

Smith's son, Cornelius Cole Smith, Jr., who also served as a colonel in the Philippines during World War II,[1] was a successful author, historian and illustrator who wrote several books on the Southwestern United States including his biography entitled "Don't Settle for Second: Life and Times of Cornelius C. Smith" (1977).

Biography

Early life

Cornelius Cole Smith was born on April 7, 1869, in the frontier town of Tucson in the Arizona Territory. his father, Gilbert Cole Smith, was a member of a distinguished military family dating back to the Revolutionary War.[1] He had served as officer in the Union Army's famed California Column during the American Civil War and later became quartermaster at Fort Lowell in Tucson.[2][3] He was also related to brothers William and Granville H. Oury. His family lived at several outposts in the Arizona and New Mexico Territories, wherever his father happened to be stationed. In December 1882, they finally settled at Vancouver Barracks in the Washington Territory. Smith was then sent back east to Louisiana, Missouri, and in 1884 to Baltimore, Maryland. In 1888, Smith moved to Helena, Montana and joined the Montana National Guard on May 22, 1889.[4][5]

On April 9, 1890, at age 21, Smith enlisted in the United States Army in Helena and was immediately sent out with 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiment for frontier duty in the Dakota Territory.[2][3][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Battle at White River, 1891

Within a year, Smith reached the rank of corporal and saw his first action during the Pine Ridge Campaign. On January 1, 1891, two days after the Battle at Wounded Knee Creek, he accompanied a fifty-three man escort of a U.S. Army supply train to the regiment's camp at the battle site. While preparing to cross the White River, partially ice-covered during the winter, the supply train was suddenly attacked by a group of approximately 300 Sioux braves. In an attempt to save the wagon train, he and Sergeant Frederick Myers chose advanced positions from a knoll 300 yards from the river and held back the initial Sioux assault with four other troopers successfully defended their position against repeated enemy attacks.[12] After they had withdrawn, Smith and the others chased after the war party for a considerable distance before breaking off their pursuit.[4][6][9][10][11]

Smith's actions at White River prevented the Sioux from capturing the supply wagons. He was cited for distinguished bravery in the face of a numerically superior enemy force and received the Medal of Honor[4][6][7][8][12] on February 4, 1891.[9][11]

Service in Cuba and the Philippines, 1892-1912
In 1895 Second Lieutenant Cornelius C. Smith, a Medal of Honor recipient, posed with his favorite horse, Blue, in front of his quarters.
Smith as a captain with the 14th U.S. Cavalry in the Philippines during 1904.

The following year, on November 19, 1892, Smith was made a commissioned officer as a second lieutenant with the 2nd U.S. Cavalry. In 1898, he fought in Cuba during the Spanish–American War and in the Philippines during the Filipino and Moro Rebellions under Generals Leonard Wood and John J. Pershing respectively.

From 1903 to 1906, he served as captain with the 14th U.S. Cavalry,[13] in Mindanao under General Wood, during which time he helped publish A Grammar of the Maguindanao Tongue According to the Manner of Speaking It in the Interior and on the South Coast of the Island of Mindanao (1906) with Spanish Jesuit Rev. Father Jacinto Juanmart.

In 1908, he accepted a two-year position as superintendent of California's Sequoia National Park and Grant National Parks. In 1910, he returned to the Philippine Islands for 2 years [4] as commander of the Philippine Constabulary under General Pershing.[2][3]

Fort Huachuca and World War I, 1912-1920
Smith (far right) as commander of the Philippine Constabulary with Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing and Moro chieftains in 1910. Smith participated in expeditions against the Moro rebels for much of his time in the Philippines.

After a nine-year tour of duty in the Philippines, Smith was brought back to the U.S. in 1912 and in fall transferred to the 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment at Fort Huachuca in his home state of Arizona.[13] From December 1912 to December 1914 he was reassigned to the 5th U.S. Cavalry as commanding officer of its Troop G at Huachuca, when the 4th U.S. Cavalry was sent for rotation to Hawaii. On March 13, 1913, he formally accepted the surrender of Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzky, commander of Mexican federal forces of Sonora and his 209 followers in Nogales, Arizona after General Álvaro Obregón had defeated him days earlier.[2][3][4] The surrender was conducted in a formal ceremony, with Kosterlitzky presenting Smith his sword. The two officers later became lifelong friends.[14]

During 1915, Smith was a military attaché in Bogota and Caracas, and rose through the ranks from major to colonel of cavalry within the next two years.[2][3][4][13] He trained several regiments during World War I, but was denied further promotion and a field command in Europe due to the feud between General Pershing, then commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front (World War I), and Army Chief-of-Staff Peyton March. In 1918, he returned to Fort Huachuca where he assumed command of the post and the 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiment. His last assignment was at Fort Bliss where he had Camp Owen Beirne built, the model for similar bases constructed for servicemen following World War I. He retired in 1920 at the rank of colonel.[2][3]

Retirement and later years 1920-36

Smith taught military science and tactics at the University of Arizona after leaving the U.S. Army and was later hired as a technical advisor for war films in Hollywood. In 1928, he became a member of the American Electoral Committee which oversaw the presidential elections in Nicaragua.[2] That same year, he was also a contributing editor for Alice Baldwin's biography on her late husband Major General Frank Baldwin, Memoirs of the late Frank D. Baldwin, Major General, U.S.A., in which Smith related his experiences with Baldwin during the Spanish–American War. He went on to become a prolific author of articles relating to the American frontier in the Southwestern United States.[4]

Smith died in Riverside, California on January 10, 1936, at the age of 66.[4][11] He is buried at Evergreen Memorial Park and Mausoleum,[15][16] along with 1,000 other veterans.[17]

Personal life

Smith was married; His son Cornelius Cole Smith Jr. was born 1913 at Fort Huachuca.

Grave site restoration

In November 2003, a special ceremony was held at Smith's grave site to display a new 18-foot-tall flagpole and stone bench nearby. Smith's son, Cornelius Cole Smith, Jr., was in attendance. Initially started by 16-year-old Michael Emett for an Eagle Scout project, this was the first of a planned restoration campaign for the graves of Riverside's military veterans and town founders. The story was covered by The Press-Enterprise and encouraged community leaders to raise money for an endowment to provide for the upkeep of older rundown areas of the cemetery that are not watered or maintained.[18] A few years before, the California Department of Consumer Affairs ordered that sprinklers in the historic section be shut off because it lacked an endowment to pay for the water.[17][19]

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Corporal, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Helena, Mont. Birth: Tucson, Ariz. Date of issue: 4 February 1891.

Citation:

With 4 men of his troop drove off a superior force of the enemy and held his position against their repeated efforts to recapture it, and subsequently pursued them a great distance.[20]

Bibliography

Books
  • A Grammar of the Maguindanao Tongue According to the Manner of Speaking It in the Interior and on the South Coast of the Island of Mindanao (1906, contributing editor with Jacinto Juanmart)
  • Memoirs of the late Frank D. Baldwin, Major General, U.S.A. (1928, contributing editor with Alice B. Baldwin)

Articles
  • Old Military Forts of the Southwest (1930)
  • Some Unpublished History of the Southwest (1931)

See also

References
  1. Stokely, Sandra (May 6, 2004). "Pearl Harbor veteran, author, sculptor dies". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  2. University of Arizona, ed. (1978). "Review of "Don't Settle for Second: Life and Times of Cornelius C. Smith"". Arizona and the West. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press. 20 (2): 89–90.
  3. Finley, James P., ed. (1996). "Roll Call: Col. Cornelius C. Smith". Huachuca Illustrated. Fort Huachuca, Arizona: Huachuca Museum Society. 2 (2). Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  4. Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: P–Z. Vol. III. Norman: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. (pg. 1324) ISBN 0-8032-9420-4
  5. Tribune Staff. "125 Montana Newsmakers: Medal of Honor Winners". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
  6. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. Medal of Honor recipients, 1863–1973, 93rd Cong., 1st sess. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1973. (pg. 228)
  7. Hannings, Bud. A Portrait of the Stars and Stripes. Glenside, Pennsylvania: Seniram Publishing, 1988. (pg. 400) ISBN 0-922564-00-0
  8. O'Neal, Bill. Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America's Westward Expansion. Stillwater, Oklahoma: Barbed Wire Press, 1991. (pg. 35) ISBN 0-935269-07-X
  9. Army Times Publishing Company. "Military Times Hall of Valor: Cornelius Cole Smith". Awards and Citations: Medal of Honor. MilitaryTimes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  10. Sterner, C. Douglas (1999). "MOH Citation for Cornelius Smith". MOH Recipients: Indian Campaigns. HomeofHeroes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  11. Sterner, C. Douglas (1999). "Photo of Grave site of MOH Recipient". Medal of Honor Recipient Gravesites In The State of California. HomeofHeroes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  12. Beyer, Walter F. and Oscar Frederick Keydel, ed. Deeds of Valor: From Records in the Archives of the United States Government; how American Heroes Won the Medal of Honor; History of Our Recent Wars and Explorations, from Personal Reminiscences and Records of Officers and Enlisted Men who Were Rewarded by Congress for Most Conspicuous Acts of Bravery on the Battle-field, on the High Seas and in Arctic Explorations. Vol. 2. Detroit: Perrien-Keydel Company, 1906. (pg. 327, 330)
  13. United States Department of State. Register of the Department of State, December 17, 1917. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1918. (pg. 138)
  14. Trimble, Marshall. Arizona: A Panoramic History of a Frontier State. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1977. ISBN 0-385-14064-9
  15. Evergreen Memorial Historic Cemetery - Founders' Stories Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
  16. Haberman, Doug (January 18, 2008). "Evergreen Memorial gets a spruce up". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  17. Haberman, Doug (January 20, 2005). "Ever green". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  18. Paul, Jaqcuie (November 14, 2003). "Scout's project honors vet". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  19. Mendez, Lys (June 2, 2006). "Cemetery volunteers help clean, raise funds". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  20. "Medal of Honor recipients". Indian War Campaigns. United States Army Center of Military History. June 8, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.

Further reading
  • Smith, Jr., Cornelius C. Don't Settle for Second: Life and Times of Cornelius C. Smith. San Rafael, California: Presidio Press, 1977. ISBN 0-89141-007-4
  • Wilson, D. Ray. Terror on the Plains: A Clash of Cultures. Dundee, Illinois: Crossroads Communications, 1999. ISBN 0-916445-47-X
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