Smith, Joseph H.
|
MILITARY SERVICE Age: 39, credited to Bolton, VT Unit(s): 13th VT INF Service: enl 9/10/62, m/i 10/10/62, 3SGT, Co. F, 13th VT INF, m/o 7/21/63 See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALSBirth: 09/12/1822, Jericho, VT Death: 11/21/1891 Burial: West Bolton Cemetery, Bolton, VT Marker/Plot: Not recorded Gravestone researcher/photographer: Kathy Valloch Findagrave Memorial #: 0 (There may be a Findagrave Memorial, but we have not recorded it) MORE INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, 2/11/18988, VT; widow Mary A., 2/2/1892 Portrait?: Unknown College?: Not Found Veterans Home?: Not Found (If there are state digraphs above, this soldier spent some time in a state or national soldiers' home in that state after the war) Remarks: 13th Vt. History off-site DESCENDANTS (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today) |
BURIAL: Copyright notice  West Bolton Cemetery, Bolton, VT Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Biography
JOSEPH H. SMITH
Son of Nathan and Lucy (Hall) Smith, was born in Jericho, Vt., September 12, 1822. Educated in the common schools. Married Mary Hall December 8, 1842. Enlisted from Bolton, Vt., September 10, 1862, in Company F, 13th Vt. Vol. Inf., and mustered into the service as a sergeant October 10, 1862. Sergeant Smith's first night on picket, which was also the company's first picket duty, after an all day's march, leaving Hunting Creek Bay soon after sundown, the last of the company, a sergeant, two corps, and one private reached their post on the corner of a road crossing the Telegraph road at the Mason farm, southeast of Vernondale, Va., about 2 o'clock a, m., November 2nd, 1862. A sharp fight was on southwest of us, and the roar, rattle and smoke, caused us some anxiety. The experienced orderly from General Casey's staff who placed us on duty, staid with us a short time, soon after he left the corporals rolled up in their blankets; this made the private anxious of course. The sergeant says go and get some of the dry brush and throw it down here and then smash it down and cover it with dry leaves, while 1 cut some green boughs and soon the private was rolled up in his rubber sheet, enjoying his bed of brush, leaves and boughs, while the sergeant did picket duty, sitting on a root at the foot of a tree, smoking his pipe as happy an any soldier could be. Soon the sergeant and private changed jobs, the officer took the ready made bed and the private shouldered his musket, and did picket duty, having learned that soldiers who wore stripes on their arms were exempt from guard duty. Sergeant Smith knew how to live a soldier's life on the tented field in active service. Mustered out of the service July 21, 1863. Occupation a farmer. Died at his home in Bolton, Vt., November 21, 1891; burial in West Bolton, Vt.
Source: Sturtevant's Pictorial History, Thirteenth Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, War of 1861-1865, p. 568
Obituary
Joseph Smith of Bolton, aged about 70 years, dropped dead last Saturday.
Source: St. Albans Weekly Messenger, November 26, 1891
Courtesy of Tom Boudreau.