John L. Smith was born around 1841 in South Carolina. He eventually moved to Lowndes County, Mississippi, and he married Mary C. Egger on November 1, 1860. They had at least five children: Mary, born around 1861; Joseph, born around 1865; and Lawson, born around 1867; Thomas, born around 1872; and Emmet, born around 1878.
Smith enlisted in the Confederate army on April 7, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 24th Mississippi Infantry. Union forces captured him in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, 1863, and imprisoned him at Rock Island Prison in Illinois. He apparently remained there until March 20, 1865.
He returned to Lowndes County after the war and earned a living as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $320 of real estate. He died sometime after 1910.