Baldy

About the Book

Major General William F. (Baldy) Smith was a genuine, but largely unsung hero of the Civil War. After he devised and carried out the plan that saved the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga, General Grant said,” He [Smith] is possessed of one of the clearest military minds in the army; is very practical and industrious.” Grant advocated making General Smith commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing General Meade. For a variety of reasons, that didn’t happen.

General Smith was then assigned to command the Eighteenth Corps of the Army of the James under Major General Benjamin F. Butler, the man Lincoln called “The Damnedest Scoundrel”. Grant expected Smith, “to keep him [Butler] straight in military matters”. It was an impossible task. Butler was powerful politically, and in a presidential year, could not be controlled. Eventually, either Butler or Smith had to go, and Smith lost out.

This book is the story about the life of Major General Baldy Smith, Vermont hero.

About the Author

George S. Maharay is a retired Federal executive who loves Civil War history and Vermont. His love of Civil War history is, in part, due to the fact that three of his Mother’s five brothers married daughters of veterans of the Civil War.

Maharay has spent over twenty five summers in Orwell, Vermont. This is his fifth book on the Civil War. Two previous books are the first written about other Vermont heroes, Major General George J. Stannard, and Major General L A. Grant. He has lectured to Civil War Round Tables and historical groups in: Vermont and has appeared in the Vermont PBS documentary, Noble Hearts Civil War Vermont.