Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Smith, Charles B. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 8, 2008, 6:51 pm Author: Ed Blair Charles B. Smith, of Holliday, came to Kansas in 1869 and has spent forty- six years of his life in Johnson county. He is a descendant of pioneer American stock on the maternal side. The Buffington family, that history records as being massacred on Buffington Island in 1778, belonged to the same family from whom Mr. Smith's mother descended. The parents of Charles D. Smith were William L. Smith and Jacy Buffington, natives of Indiana. They were the parents of five children, as follows: Charles B., the subject of this sketch; Anna S. Frame, Bonner Springs, Kan.; Jesse, who was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863; Joseph, died near Monticello, 1896; and Lois, died at Monticello in 1896. Charles B. Smith was reared in Indiana, received a common school education and was working on the home farm, and in the spring of 1861, although but seventeen years old, when President Lincoln called for troops to defend the Union, he was one of the first to respond. He enlisted in April and served in the Army of the Potomac, participating in most of the important battles of the war. He served under Generals McClellan, Hooker, Burnside, Meade, Phil Sheridan and Grant. He was at Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Uniontown, Fredericksburg (both engagements), Chancellorsville, Culpeper Court House, Gettysburg, Wilderness, and to the best of his knowledge and belief he fired the first shot at the Battle of the Wilderness. He was also at Cold Harbor, Petersburg and on the Wilson raid, down the Roanoke river, then back with the army to the Shenandoah Valley to intercept General Early's army that was marching on Washington. On September 16, 1864, he was severely wounded in an engagement with Mose-by's men at Snicker's Gap on the Blue Ridge mountains. After being wounded, he was taken prisoner and after an investigation Moseby's men decided that he was so severely wounded that it would prove fatal, and they were indifferent about guarding him so he succeeded in escaping. At the close of the war he returned to Indiana, and in 1869 came to Kansas, and since that time has made his home in Monticello township. Mr. Smith is very familiar with much of the early history of the lower Kaw valley. When he came here he met, and became very well acquainted with John M. Owens, who had lived in this section many years and who was married to a Shawnee woman and lived among the Indians and traded with them and he, at various times, related many 'early historical incidents to Mr. Smith. Owens told him that the flood of 1844 was two feet higher than that of 1903 and that in the flood of 1844 the first mill that was built in Kansas was washed away. This mill was located on Mill creek, on the farm which Charles Ellis now owns, and it was built for the Shawnee Indians by the Government. Owens also claimed that the first wheat grown in Kansas was raised where the Ellis farm now is, in 1844. Charles B. Smith has been twice married, his first wife being Amanda Carbaugh, a native of Indiana, to whom he was married in 1866. Six children were born to this union, as follows: Anna, born in Indiana in 1867, died in Monticello, in 1879; William L., born in 1870, a railroad man, residing at Emporia; Myrtle, born in 1873, died in Kansas City, Kan., in 1915; Ralph B., born in 1877, resides at Kansas City, Kan., and is an employee of the city; Daniel, born in 1880, a farmer in Platte county, Missouri, and Bessie, born in 1883, died in 1884. All the children, except Anna, the oldest, were born in Johnson county. The wife and mother of these children died in 1908, and in 1915 Mr. Smith married Mrs. Anna Durcan, of Mound City, Kan. She was born in 1861 and is a native of Madison county, Illinois, and came to Kansas with her parents in 1870. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas BY ED BLAIR AUTHOR OF Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches IN ONE VOLUME ILLUSTRATED STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY LAWRENCE, KANSAS 1915 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/johnson/bios/smith203nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ksfiles/ File size: 4.6 Kb