Here’s a Railroad Stock Document Signed by Civil War General
ORLAND SMITH
(1825 - 1903)
CIVIL WAR UNION BVT BRIGADIER GENERAL,
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
COLONEL and COMMANDER OF THE 73rd OHIO
INFANTRY
-&-
PROMINENT B&O RAILROAD PRESIDENT!
As a “fighting” Union Army brigade
commander, Smith's men held Cemetery Hill
on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, and provided an anchor for the
retreating Federal soldiers. On the second day, three of Smith's regiments were
engaged in heavy skirmishing in front of Cemetery Hill, deployed between East
Cemetery Hill and a knoll on the McKnight farm, helped repulse an evening
attack by Confederate Col.
Isaac E.
Avery's North Carolina
brigade.
During the Chattanooga Campaign in
1864, he led a spirited bayonet
charge during the Battle of Wauhatchie that took a significant Confederate position on “Smith
Hill” named in his honor!
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HERE’S
AN ATTRACTIVE DOCUMENT SIGNED BY SMITH – A CINCINNATI, WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE
RAILROAD COMPANY PREFERRED CAPITOL STOCK CERTIFICATE FOR 10 SHARES, DATED MARCH
6th, 1884.
BEAUTIFULLY
SIGNED BY SMITH AS PRESIDENT OF THE RR CO.
This
historic document was printed by the American Bank Note Company and has an
ornate border around it with a vignette of a steam locomotive train at a
Station. This item is hand signed by the Company's President and Secretary and
is over 140 years old.
The document measures 11” x 7½” and is in VERY FINE
CONDITION.
A FINE PIECE TO ADD TO YOUR CIVIL
WAR “GENERALS IN BLUE”
AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & SCRIPOPHOLY COLLECTION!
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL
ORLAND SMITH
Orland Smith (May 2, 1825 – October
3, 1903) was a railroad executive and a brigade commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1864, he led
a spirited bayonet charge during
the Battle of
Wauhatchie that took a significant Confederate position on a
hill that now bears his name.
Smith was born in New England in Lewiston, Maine. He was educated in the local schools
and became a railroad agent, serving as station manager at Lewiston until 1852
when he moved to Ohio. He became an
official of the Marietta and
Cincinnati Railroad and settled in Chillicothe, Ohio. When the railroad fell into
financial difficulties, he was appointed receiver. Smith was a lieutenant and commander of a militia company in the late 1850s, the
"Chillicothe Greys."
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Smith joined the Union army and became
the Colonel and Commander of
the 73rd Ohio Infantry, a regiment that was raised in Chillicothe in
November 1861 and trained at nearby Camp Logan. Among his volunteer soldiers
was Pvt. George Nixon
III, the great-grandfather of future President Richard Nixon. Smith and his regiment saw action in
western Virginia, fighting at the Battle of McDowell and the Battle of Cross
Keys. During the late summer, as a part of the Army of Virginia, the 73rd OVI fought at the Second
Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia.
Smith assumed brigade command in the XI Corps on October 25, 1862, but he did not
participate in the Battle of
Chancellorsville. He returned to his command shortly before the Gettysburg
Campaign, after Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow, who had led the brigade at
Chancellorsville, was given command of the 1st Division on May 24, 1863. Smith's
men held Cemetery Hill on the first day
of the Battle of
Gettysburg at the orders of MG Oliver O. Howard, and provided an anchor for the
retreating Federal soldiers. On the second day, three of Smith's regiments were
engaged in heavy skirmishing in front of Cemetery Hill, and the 33rd
Massachusetts, deployed between East Cemetery Hill and a knoll on the McKnight
farm, helped repulse an evening attack by Col. Isaac E. Avery's North Carolina brigade.
Smith's Brigade was sent to the Western Theater in the autumn of 1863 along with the rest of the XI Corps.
During the Chattanooga
Campaign, Smith led his brigade in the Army of the
Cumberland in a successful bayonet assault up a steep hill that now
bears his name (Smith's Hill) during the Battle of
Wauhatchie. In the army reorganization later that year, his brigade
was disbanded and Smith returned on January 3, 1864 to the command of the 73rd
OVI. He resigned his colonelcy on February 17, 1864. In the omnibus promotions
at the close of the Civil War, Smith was appointed a brevet brigadier general dating from March 13, 1865.
After the war, he returned to his career as a railroad officer and became
President of the Cincinnati, Washington and Baltimore Railroad and later, First
Vice President of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, with his office in Baltimore,
Maryland. From 1884 to 1899 he was President of the Columbus and Cincinnati Midland Railroad.
Smith died in Chicago, Illinois. He is buried in Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio (Section
43, Lot 46, Grave 3
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(member name: John Lissandrello). I subscribe to each organizations' code of
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