Smith, John Henry

SMITH

Posted By: NettieMae
Date: 1/10/2017 at 07:30:10

"Notable Deaths" page 553

JOHN HENRY SMITH was born in Albany County, New York, March 19, 1827, and died at Camanche, Iowa, August 26, 1919. On reaching young manhood he removed to Michigan and later to Illinois. He was a locomotive engineer on the line that afterwards became the Chicago & Northwestern. In 1852 he quit railroading and located in Center Township, Clinton County, Iowa, and engaged in farming. He was a member of the Clinton County Board of Supervisors when it was first organized, which was just previous to the war. He recruited Company A, Sixteenth Iowa Infantry, and was appointed its captain October 17, 1861. The Sixteenth became a part of the famous "Crocker Brigade." As commander of his company he participated in several very important battles, and was cited for bravery and skill on different occasions. At Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864, he, with most of his company, was captured and for some time after he was confined in Confederate prisons, but escaped, visited his family which then lived in Lyons, Clinton County, and then rejoined his regiment. On February 18, 1865, he was promoted to major, and on May 11, 1865, to lieutenant-colonel. He was in the grand review at Washington, May 24, 1865, and soon thereafter resigned his commission, returned home, sold his farm and engaged in the grain business at Camanche. He was elected senator in 1865 and served in the Eleventh and Twelfth general assemblies. Public life did not appeal to him. For awhile he was an assistant United States assessor. In later life he followed market gardening.