Jabez M. Smith (1826–1888)

Confederate colonel Jabez Mitchell Smith, a lawyer from Saline County, Arkansas, served during the Civil War as commander of the Eleventh Arkansas Infantry. He led the regiment from 1861 to 1862, until its capture at Tiptonville, Tennessee, during the Island 10 Campaign. He failed to be reelected at the reorganization of the regiment after being released from federal military prison and returned to Arkansas, serving in Crawford’s First Arkansas Cavalry the remainder of the war.

Jabez M. Smith was born on December 31, 1826, at Wadesboro, Calloway County, Kentucky, the third of nine children of David Smith and Lucretia Mitchell Smith. 1n 1843, the family moved to Paducah, Kentucky, where Smith received his early education. After studying law in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, he returned home and, in 1850, read law at the firm of Turner and Marshall of Paducah, gaining experience working for the circuit clerk. Migrating to Arkansas in 1852, he worked as a lawyer and was appointed prosecuting attorney by Governor Elias Nelson Conway for Rockport (Hot Spring County).

In 1856, Smith moved his law practice to nearby Benton (Saline County), becoming a prominent attorney in that city. He was elected Saline County delegate to the Arkansas Secession Convention in February 1861 and, upon the state’s secession in May, raised a company of volunteers known as the Fairplay Riflemen. In July, along with other companies, Smith’s company became Company D, Eleventh Arkansas Infantry, and Smith was elected colonel of the regiment.

Smith led the regiment to Memphis in September 1861, where it underwent training before being ordered to Fort Pillow, located above Memphis on the Mississippi River. In November, he was directed to Island 10 in the Mississippi River, where the Eleventh was tasked with building fortifications and gun emplacements. That next month, he was ordered to move his regiment to New Madrid, Missouri, on the river, garrisoning Fort Thompson.

In March 1862, Union major general John Pope’s 26,000-man army attacked the small garrison at New Madrid, resulting in its withdrawal across the river. On April 8, 1862, more than 6,000 Confederates were surrounded and captured at Tiptonville, Tennessee, including the Eleventh Arkansas. Smith was sent to Camp Chase and Johnson’s Island military prison until September 1862, when the regiment was exchanged and reorganized in Mississippi. Smith was not reelected as colonel, and he returned to Arkansas.

Returning to his law practice until the fall of Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Union forces in September 1863, Smith reenlisted that December in Crawford’s First Arkansas Cavalry. He served as adjutant with the rank of first lieutenant on the staff of Colonel William A. Crawford, another prominent citizen of Benton. Serving in this capacity, he participated in the battles of the Camden Expedition from March 23 to May 3, 1864, at Mount Elba, Prairie D’Ane, Moscow, Poison Spring, and Marks’ Mills. From August to October 1864, he served in Crawford’s Cavalry during Major General Sterling Price’s disastrous Missouri raid before returning to southwestern Arkansas. As part of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, he was surrendered with the last official Confederate army on May 26, 1865, at Marshall, Texas.

Smith returned to Benton. He continued his law practice and was elected Arkansas state senator, representing Saline County from 1866 to 1867. In 1874, he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. That same year, he was elected circuit judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Saline and Hot Spring counties, gaining reelection in 1878 and serving until 1882. Smith was again elected state senator in 1884, serving until his death at Malvern (Hot Spring County) on March 4, 1888. Colonel Smith was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Hot Spring County.

For additional information:
“Death of Judge Jabez M. Smith.” Arkansas Gazette, March 7, 1888, p. 4.

Rushing, Anthony C. Ranks of Honor: A Regimental History of the Eleventh Arkansas Infantry Regiment and Poe’s Cavalry Battalion, C.S.A., 1861–1865. Little Rock: Eagle Press, 1990.

Willis, James. Arkansas Confederates in the Western Theater. Dayton, OH: Morningside Press, 1998.

Anthony Rushing
Benton, Arkansas