George Smithing was born on October 22, 1841, in Pennsylvania to Louis Smithing. His father was a German immigrant. By the early 1860s, he was working as a boilermaker in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 14, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company K of the 132^nd Pennsylvania Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 4 inches tall, with black hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, and the Battle of Chancellorsville, and Smithing mustered out on May 24, 1863. He returned to the Union army on November 2, 1863, and he mustered in as a private in the 2^nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery two days later. The regiment fought in the siege of Petersburg, and it mustered out on January 29, 1866.

 

He settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania, after the war, and he married Wilhelmina Phillips around 1866. They had at least six children: George, born around 1867; Walter, born around 1869; Lewis, born around 1872; Frank, born around 1878; Edward, born around 1883; and Lawrence, born around 1891. He worked as an engineer, and by 1870, he owned $300 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in May 1881 and eventually secured one. By 1890, he was suffering from chronic rheumatism. He died of “acute rheumatic fever” in Scranton on December 13, 1909.

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