George Fairlamb Smith

George Fairlamb Smith (February 28, 1840 – October 18, 1877) was an American soldier, politician, and lawyer from West Chester, Pennsylvania. He was wounded twice and captured during the American Civil War, ending the war with the rank of colonel in command of the 61st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. He went on to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1875–76 and as judge advocate general of the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1877. Early life and education Smith was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on February 28, 1840, to respected lawyer Persifor Frazer Smith and homemaker Thomasine Susan Fairlamb Smith. He received his preparatory education at the West Chester Academy and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Yale University in 1858. He read law under his father until enlisting in the Union Army upon the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861. While recuperating from wounds received in battle in May 1864, he went on to receive his Master of Arts degree from Yale University in 1864 and gained admittance to the bar on October 31, 1864. After the war, he joined his father's law practice in West Chester. American Civil War When President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 three-month volunteers to suppress Southern secession, Smith was one of the first men to volunteer from Chester County. On April 20, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company G of the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment and soon afterward became first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, mustering out on schedule on July 26, 1861. He returned home to raise a company for three years' service, receiving a commission as captain of Company B of the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment on August 2, 1861. He resigned this commission to rise to the rank of major of the 61st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment effective March 14, 1862. All these regiments deployed in the Army of the Potomac and fought mostly in Virginia. On May 31, 1862, Smith was wounded and captured at the Battle of Fair Oaks on May 31, 1862. The Confederates held him as a prisoner of war, first at Libby Prison for a week and then for three months at a prison camp in Salisbury, North Carolina. He was paroled on September 10, 1862. He found that he had become the commanding officer of his regiment, both his superior officers having been killed during the Peninsula campaign.