Thomas Benton Smith, The Boy General

 

At the Battle of Nashville, on 16 December 1864, the Tennessean’s brigade, fought valiantly, but Brigadier General Thomas Benton Smith soon found himself surrounded on three sides by Federal troops. A bullet had pierced the skull of Colonel William M. Shy, the commander of Smith’s original regiment, the 20^th Tennessee Infantry. He had fallen, fighting to the last, and holding the line at all hazards. The situation was hopeless. A member of Smith’s staff wrote, “More than half the brigade were killed, wounded or captured in a hand-to-hand struggle, prominent among the killed being Colonel Shy.” The fighting was so close, in fact, that Shy had been killed at point-blank range.

Eyewitness accounts tell of powder burns to Shy’s face. Smith had no choice but to wave his white handkerchief, order his men to cease fire, and surrender himself and the band of battle-weary survivors with him.

More @b The Abbeville Institute