Watson B. Smith was born around 1838 in Vermont to Rollin C. Smith and Mary Amanda Birchard. His father was a city clerk who owned $3,000 of real estate by 1850. The family lived in Vermont until the 1840s, when they moved to Detroit, Michigan. He attended school there, and by 1860, he was working as a bookseller. He enlisted in the Union army and mustered in as a commissary sergeant in the 5^th Michigan Infantry. Then, on August 27, 1862, he became a commissary sergeant in Company C of the 8^th Michigan Cavalry. He was promoted to 1^st lieutenant on November 6, 1862, then to captain on April 15, 1864. Confederate forces captured him on August 2, 1864. He was eventually exchanged, and he was promoted to major on March 13, 1865. He mustered out on October 6, 1865.

 

Smith settled in Omaha, Nebraska, after the war, and he married Fannie R. Coon on December 15, 1869. They had at least six children: Ella, born around 1871; Gertrude, born around 1872; Rollin, born around 1874; Louisa, born around 1876; Sherman, born around 1879; and Watson, born around 1882. Smith worked as a clerk of the U.S. Circuit Court, and by 1870, he owned $10,500 of real estate and $800 of personal property. He served as chairman of the executive committee of the Omaha Temperance Association. A local writer described him as a “Christian gentleman” who was “always courteous, self-sacrificing and modest.” He was murdered in Omaha on November 11, 1881. According to one historian, he was “murdered for his support of blue laws, which forced tavern owners to pay licensing fees and close their businesses on Sundays.”

 

Image: Watson B. Smith (Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com)

SOURCES