Peter Francisco Smith: Civil War vet.

Confederate States of America

April 25, 2012

oy was I wrong about how many family members served under the Confederacy during the Civil War. I naively thought military service would be a simple and common part of genealogy that it would automatically appear like content in the federal census does. I started out with 2 and now have 4 who served.

Soapy Smith's 2nd cousin, Peter Francisco Smith, born August 19, 1840, most likely somewhere in Georgia but not confirmed.

The book, History of Coweta County, by the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society lists Peter Francisco Smith as "A private in Company A, Fourth Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Cavalry." However, a website for the muster roll of Company D, 41st Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry for the Coweta County, Georgia "Pinson Guards" lists the following for him.

Smith, Peter Francisco - 

• Enlisted as a private in Co. A, 7th Regiment Ga. Inf. July 30, 1861. 
• Elected 2d Lieutenant December 16, 1861. 
• Resigned May 12, 1862. 
• Enlisted as a private in Co. D, 41st Regiment Ga. Inf. November 4, 1862. 
• Captured at Vicksburg, Miss. July 4, 1863.
• Paroled there July 6, 1863. 
• Absent, sick, December 31, 1863. 
• Transferred to Co. H, 4th Regiment Ga. Cavalry (Avery's) November 16, 1864. 
• Roll dated December 31, 1864, last on file, shows him present. 
• Surrendered at Greensboro, N. C. April 26, 1865.

Peter Smith died March 9, 1913 in Palmetto, Georgia. 

Is Peter F. Smith in the photograph?
Undated reunion of
Company D, 41st Regiment

Sources
History of Coweta County, Newnan-Coweta Historical Society, 1988, page 395.
Website: General Barton and Stovall

APRIL 18

1676: Sudbury, Massachusetts, is attacked by Indians. 

1775: American revolutionaries Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott ride though the towns of Massachusetts giving the warning that "the Regulars are coming out." Later, the phrase "the British are coming" was attributed to Revere. 

1818: A regiment of Indians and blacks are defeated at the Battle of Suwann, in Florida, ending the first Seminole War. 

1846: The telegraph ticker is patented by R.E. House. 

1847: U.S. troops defeat almost 17,000 Mexican soldiers commanded by Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo. (Mexican-American War) 

1861: Colonel Robert E. Lee turns down an offer to command the Union armies during the U.S. Civil War. 1877: Charles Cros writes a paper that described the process of recording and reproducing sound. In France, Cros is regarded as the inventor of the phonograph. In the U.S., Thomas Edison gets the credit. 1895: New York State passes an act that established free public baths.

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