ColonelCornelius Cole Smith (April 7, 1869 – January 10, 1936) was an American officer in the U.S. Army who served with the 6th U.S. Cavalry during the Sioux Wars. On January 1, 1891, he and four other cavalry troopers successfully defended a U.S. Army supply train from a force of 300 Sioux warriors at the White River in South Dakota, for which he received the Medal of Honor. He was the last man to receive the award in battle against the Sioux, and in a major Indian war.
Smith's son, Cornelius Cole Smith, Jr., who also served as a colonel in the Philippines during World War II,[1] was a successful author, historian and illustrator who wrote several books on the Southwestern United States including his biography entitled "Don't Settle for Second: Life and Times of Cornelius C. Smith" (1977).
Within a year, Smith reached the rank of corporal and saw his first action during the Pine Ridge Campaign. On January 1, 1891, two days after the Battle at Wounded Knee Creek, he accompanied a fifty-three man escort of a U.S. Army supply train to the regiment's camp at the battle site. While preparing to cross the White River, partially ice-covered during the winter, the supply train was suddenly attacked by a group of approximately 300 Sioux braves. In an attempt to save the wagon train, he and Sergeant Frederick Myers chose advanced positions from a knoll 300 yards from the river and held back the initial Sioux assault with four other troopers successfully defended their position against repeated enemy attacks.[12] After they had withdrawn, Smith and the others chased after the war party for a considerable distance before breaking off their pursuit.[4][6][9][10][11]
Smith's actions at White River prevented the Sioux from capturing the supply wagons. He was cited for distinguished bravery in the face of a numerically superior enemy force and received the Medal of Honor[4][6][7][8][12] on February 4, 1891.[9][11]
From 1903 to 1906, he served as captain with the 14th U.S. Cavalry,[13] in Mindanao under General Wood, during which time he helped publish A Grammar of the Maguindanao Tongue According to the Manner of Speaking It in the Interior and on the South Coast of the Island of Mindanao (1906) with Spanish Jesuit Rev. Father Jacinto Juanmart.
After a nine-year tour of duty in the Philippines, Smith was brought back to the U.S. in 1912 and in fall transferred to the 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment at Fort Huachuca in his home state of Arizona.[13] From December 1912 to December 1914 he was reassigned to the 5th U.S. Cavalry as commanding officer of its Troop G at Huachuca, when the 4th U.S. Cavalry was sent for rotation to Hawaii. On March 13, 1913, he formally accepted the surrender of Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzky, commander of Mexican federal forces of Sonora and his 209 followers in Nogales, Arizona after General Álvaro Obregón had defeated him days earlier.[2][3][4] The surrender was conducted in a formal ceremony, with Kosterlitzky presenting Smith his sword. The two officers later became lifelong friends.[14]
In November 2003, a special ceremony was held at Smith's grave site to display a new 18-foot-tall flagpole and stone bench nearby. Smith's son, Cornelius Cole Smith, Jr., was in attendance. Initially started by 16-year-old Michael Emett for an Eagle Scout project, this was the first of a planned restoration campaign for the graves of Riverside's military veterans and town founders. The story was covered by The Press-Enterprise and encouraged community leaders to raise money for an endowment to provide for the upkeep of older rundown areas of the cemetery that are not watered or maintained.[18] A few years before, the California Department of Consumer Affairs ordered that sprinklers in the historic section be shut off because it lacked an endowment to pay for the water.[17][19]
Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Helena, Mont. Birth: Tucson, Ariz. Date of issue: 4 February 1891.
Citation:
With 4 men of his troop drove off a superior force of the enemy and held his position against their repeated efforts to recapture it, and subsequently pursued them a great distance.[20]
Bibliography
Books
A Grammar of the Maguindanao Tongue According to the Manner of Speaking It in the Interior and on the South Coast of the Island of Mindanao (1906, contributing editor with Jacinto Juanmart)
Memoirs of the late Frank D. Baldwin, Major General, U.S.A. (1928, contributing editor with Alice B. Baldwin)
^ abcdefgUniversity of Arizona, ed. (1978). "Review of "Don't Settle for Second: Life and Times of Cornelius C. Smith"". Arizona and the West. 20 (2). Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press: 89–90.
^ abcSenate Committee on Veterans Affairs. Medal of Honor recipients, 1863–1973, 93rd Cong., 1st sess. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1973. (pg. 228)
^ abHannings, Bud. A Portrait of the Stars and Stripes. Glenside, Pennsylvania: Seniram Publishing, 1988. (pg. 400) ISBN0-922564-00-0
^ abO'Neal, Bill. Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America's Westward Expansion. Stillwater, Oklahoma: Barbed Wire Press, 1991. (pg. 35) ISBN0-935269-07-X
^ abSterner, C. Douglas (1999). "MOH Citation for Cornelius Smith". MOH Recipients: Indian Campaigns. HomeofHeroes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
^ abcdSterner, C. Douglas (1999). "Photo of Grave site of MOH Recipient". Medal of Honor Recipient Gravesites In The State of California. HomeofHeroes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
^ abBeyer, Walter F. and Oscar Frederick Keydel, ed. Deeds of Valor: From Records in the Archives of the United States Government; how American Heroes Won the Medal of Honor; History of Our Recent Wars and Explorations, from Personal Reminiscences and Records of Officers and Enlisted Men who Were Rewarded by Congress for Most Conspicuous Acts of Bravery on the Battle-field, on the High Seas and in Arctic Explorations. Vol. 2. Detroit: Perrien-Keydel Company, 1906. (pg. 327, 330)
^ abcUnited States Department of State. Register of the Department of State, December 17, 1917. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1918. (pg. 138)
^Trimble, Marshall. Arizona: A Panoramic History of a Frontier State. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1977. ISBN0-385-14064-9
Smith, Jr., Cornelius C. Don't Settle for Second: Life and Times of Cornelius C. Smith. San Rafael, California: Presidio Press, 1977. ISBN0-89141-007-4
Wilson, D. Ray. Terror on the Plains: A Clash of Cultures. Dundee, Illinois: Crossroads Communications, 1999. ISBN0-916445-47-X