Soapy Smith's father: A Civil War soldier?

Jefferson R. Smith
70th Regiment, Georgia Militia

(Click image to enlarge)

  knew I would eventually be able to research more about the Smith's two known Civil War Confederate soldiers, Ira Ellis Caspar Wistar, who joined Colonel William Phillip's Cavalry Battalion, Company D known as the "Coweta Ranger's," and then there's Columbus "Lum" Darwin Smith, a Cavalry Second Lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment, Company F Georgia State Guards. What I did not expect was to find another family member soldier in the war between the states, especially one I have been studying pretty closely.

In a previous post I bragged about Gay Mathis and her amazing skills in genealogical research and this is another sample of that talent. The above photograph is a clip from a Civil War roster page on Ancestry.com that contains Jefferson R. Smith name for Coweta County, Georgia. I had a hard time immediately accepting this, that perhaps it was another "Jefferson R. Smith" but Gay is pretty certain this is Soapy Smith's father. He joined the 70th Regiment of the Georgia Militia and his name appears on the Muster Rolls 1861-1864 for March  1862. This is indeed a great surprise and there are six other eligible brothers that we will need to look at.

APRIL 16

1818: The U.S. Senate ratified Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border. 

1851: A lighthouse was swept away in a gale at Minot’s Ledge, MA. 

1862: Confederate President Jefferson Davis approved conscription act for white males between 18 and 35. 1862: In the U.S., slavery was abolished by law in the District of Columbia. 

1900: The first book of postage stamps was issued. The two-cent stamps were available in books of 12, 24 and 48 stamps.

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