Friday, April 17, 2015

General Alexander Smyth



Alexander Smyth, for whom Smyth County, Virginia, was named per Wikipedia.

Source
By Frank A. Severance

"A singular figure in the war operations of 1812 on the Niagara Frontier was Alexander Smyth, a Virginian. who at the outbreak of the war with England was an inspector general in the regular army of the United States. In September 1812, he was assigned to the command of a brigade of regulars to operate under Major General Van Rensselaer on the Niagara. Smyth is said to have aspired to the chief command in this quarter; and it was probably pique at being made second in command, and subordinate to a militia officer, that led him to assume from the first an insolent and at times insubordinate attitude towards his chief."

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