<p style="text-align:center"><strong>WILLIAM HARVEY SMITH</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>No. 2995 · Class of 1883</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>Died July 1, 1898, at before Santiago, Cuba, aged 38 years.</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>Interred at Arlington.</strong></p><p>William Harvey Smith, was born on January 13th, 1860, at Harrisonville, Cass County, Missouri. He was a descendant of Henry Smith, of England, one of the early settlers, of the Shenandoah Valley, Va. His great-grandfather, William Smith, born in 1742, emigrated to Kentucky, and his descendants, later on, settled in Missouri. William Harvey Smith was appointed to West Point from Missouri July 1st, 1879. Oscar Wilde, on a visit to the Military Academy, pronounced him the handsomest man in America. His face was but a reflection of his bright mind and beautiful soul. Graduating in the class of '83, he was commissioned, June 13th, Second Lieutenant in the Tenth Cavalry, then serving in Texas. Devoted to his profession, never losing an opportunity to improve himself, and one of the leaders of the progressive ideas in his branch of the service, he worked with telling effect. Neither was the social part of his life neglected; feeling it a duty as well as a pleasure to make those about him happy, he helped to keep up all social functions. He took great pride and was instrumental in collecting the beautiful silver belonging to his regiment. On March 29th, 1890, he was promoted First Lieutenant. The spring and summer of 1891 he spent in Europe, studying the foreign armies. He was made Regimental Adjutant in January 1892, filling the position until August of 1895, when he resigned in order to enter the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His regimental Commander said: "In parting with you as Adjutant, I felt I was consulting your best interests rather than my own pleasure. I feel indebted to you for much faithful and efficient service, and especially for a most excellent example of true manliness and an influence for good that will be long felt in the regiment." He was an honor graduate from the Infantry and Cavalry School in the class of 1897. His essay, "The Saber and the Revolver," the prize essay of the class, was much commented upon for its worth, and was delivered by him at the closing exercises. On leaving Leavenworth, he was recommended as an instructor for the school-not by one member of the board, but by several-and he received orders for this detail, to take effect July of 1898. But the war with Spain intervened. A commission as Captain and Assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers was offered him at the beginning of the war, but fearing it would keep him from the front, or if going in that capacity he would not have an opportunity of doing the same amount of good as in command of his troop, he declined, saying it would break his heart if he did not get to the front. A position in the Bureau of Information was also offered, which was declined. Thus going with his regiment in command of his troop, "G," Tenth Cavalry, he met his death, inevitable, ordained in heaven. It was the death he had always hoped would be his-not to live to wear out in old age, or to be carried off by a lingering and suffering disease-but in battle, to be killed instantly, while at the head of his men to die, as he always expressed it-with his boots on-like a true cavalryman. A man of unusual nerve and determination, courteous, kind and generous to a fault, no more perfect gentleman could be found anywhere. He was most loyal to his friends; had not an enemy. He never spoke an unkind word of anyone, and if others spoke uncharitably in his presence, he was the defender of the absent one, saying: "try to find his good points and not his weak ones." Duty was his watch-word and never one hair's breadth did he deviate from his ideas of it. With his strict adherence to principle, he commanded the respect and admiration of all who knew him. He was modest and retiring always. Though strict with his men in the discharge of their duty, he was ever looking out for their comfort and was well loved by them. When they learned of his death, it was pathetic to see the big, strong colored men of his troop weep at his loss and tell of his bravery. General Joseph Wheeler, under whose command he was, writes of him:</p><blockquote><p>"No officer of the cavalry division mentions the splendid charge on the Spanish trenches at San Juan, without speaking of the heroic manner in which Lieutenant Smith led his command, and of the great loss the army and the country have suffered at his untimely death. He was beloved not only by the men and officers of his own regiment, but by his comrades throughout the service. His reputation as a soldier, especially as a cavalryman, was not surpassed, if equalled, by that of any other of our young cavalry officers. He would have made a superb commander of a cavalry division."</p></blockquote><p>In September of 1891 he married Miss Louise Darst, of Ferguson, Missouri, who, with three small daughters, survive him.</p><p>In the Battle of Santiago, July 1st, 1898, on "Kettle Hill," in the hour of victory, while cheering on his men, he was shot through the head and killed instantly. Within the same hour and only a few yards from him, his dearest friend, class and room mate, Lieutenant Wm. E. Shipp, met his death. Since their first acquaintance in those early West Point days, their friendship remained unaltered, except to grow closer and stronger in the years that followed. To their wives and children this friendship will ever remain a beautiful and sacred memory.</p><p>Called "Captain John Smith" during his cadet days, it clung to him all through life. He loved to be called "John;" it flooded his memory with the happy times of his boyhood-those four years at West Point. No name could have been more appropriate for him, "John" meaning "precious gift of God."</p><p>On March 17th, 1899, he was laid to rest in Arlington. As a mark of respect to his memory, the cadet encampment of 1899, at West Point, N.Y., has been named after Captain Smith.</p><p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://usmalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/aogreunion/id/12279">Annual Report, June 7, 1899, pp. 18�23 · U.S. Military Academy Library</a></p>