Senator John Henry Smith View All Years

JOHN HENRY SMITH

Senator Greenell, from a special committee, submitted the following report and moved its adoption:

MR. PRESIDENT—Your committee appointed to prepare resolutions commemorative of the life, character and public service of Col. John Henry Smith, late of Clinton county, Iowa, beg leave to report the following memorial:

Col. John Henry Smith was born in Albany county, New York, March 19, 1827, and died at his home at Camanche, Iowa, August 26, 1919.

He was of German ancestry, his grandparents having emigrated to America from Germany. His father died when he was a lad, and in his early manhood, after completing his education, which he procured through his own efforts, he removed to Michigan, then west to Illinois, where he learned the trade of a machinist.

Col. Smith entered the employ of what is now the Chicago & Northwestern, and was a locomotive engineer on that line when Dixon, Illinois, was its western terminus.

In 1851, in the state of Illinois, he was united in marriage with Emily P. Cooley, daughter of Thomas and Ann Cooley, natives of Connecticut. A year after his marriage he quit railroading, and with his wife came to Clinton county and settled on a farm in Center township.

The death of Col. Smith marks the passing of the last line officer of Crocker’s famous fighting brigade, which helped to make history during the Civil War.

It is said of Col. Smith that he literally left his plow in the field when Fort Sumpter was fired upon. He recruited a company which became Company A of the Sixteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned as its captain. Later he was promoted to the rank of major, and in the course of time became colonel of the regiment, which was mustered out after the grand review in Washington at the close of the war at which time he commanded the famous regiment of Iowa fighting men.

Col. Smith was captured by the confederates at the battle of Atlanta, and confined in several Southern prisons, where he endured great hardships before making his escape with a few of his comrades and rejoining his command. He was voted a medal by congress for gallant action and meritorious services.

In politics, Col. Smith was a Republican and held several offices of trust in his local community. He served as a state senator from the Twenty-second Senatorial District, comprised of Clinton county, in the Eleventh and Twelfth General Assemblies.

Now Therefore, Be It Resolved By the Senate of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly of Iowa, that in the death of Col. John Henry Smith, the state and community where he lived, have suffered the loss of an influential and honorable citizen; and

Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the journal of the Senate and that the secretary be directed to send an engrossed copy thereof to the son of the deceased.

W. J. GREENELL,

D. W. KIMBERLY,

CHAS. M. DUTCHER,

The resolution was adopted unanimously by a rising vote.