The Smith papers contain 5 letters of William Smith to his family, three of which were written during the summer of 1861 when he was considering enlisting. Two letters from his aunt, Jane Sterling, discussed her fears for her sons and William and described a vivid dream about the bleeding bodies of the boys. Both of her sons subsequently died in the service. Sterling's husband enlisted in the 56th Indiana Infantry, which was intended as a "railroad regiment", to consist of railroad workers who were to be assigned to duty tending tracks and trains. There are two other letters in the collection, one from a relative, Nelson H. Smith, and the other, from a person named Dutton, of uncertain relationship to the collection.
Smith, William H.
Rank: Private
Regiment: 26th Indiana Infantry Regiment (1861-1866)
Service: 1861 August-?
William H. Smith enlisted in the 26th Indiana Infantry in August, 1861, a regiment that served exclusively in the western theatre. Smith, a brickyard worker, may have enlisted in the Army to escape hard economic times as much as to fulfill his patriotic fervor. After mustering into the U.S. service at Indianapolis on August 31st, the regiment was sent to St. Louis and then into the interior of Missouri. Under John C. Fremont, they participated in the campaign on Springfield, Mo., and were then assigned to guard the Pacific Railroad line at Sedalia, Mo., until July, 1862, when they began in a long and frustrating pursuit of John Marmaduke's Confederates. The regiment engaged the enemy at Newtonia, Mo., in September, 1862, at the Battle of Prairie Grove (where they suffered substantial losses), and at Van Buren, Ark., on December 28th.
After Prairie Grove, the 26th Indiana remained on guard duty in Missouri until the following June, when they were sent to Vicksburg during the final days of the siege, and then to Port Hudson and Carrolton, La. By October, 1863, they were again on the move, being assigned to post duty at Brownsville, Tex. Upon their reenlistment in February, 1864, the regiment returned to Lousiana, where they remained until joining in the Mobile Campaign in March and April, 1865.
