My Genealogy Hound

Dr. C. P. Smith, physician and surgeon, Arkansas City, Ark. The name that appears above will be at once recognized by nearly all of those of this community, for it is borne by a man who is ever ready to minister to the sick and afflicted, no matter of what class or condition. He was born in Woodville, Miss., on September 18, 1846, and is the second of a family of three children, the result of the union of Hon. C. P. and Catherine Smith. C. P. Smith was a man of education and prominence, was an attorney of considerable note in Mississippi, and he had represented his county in the Legislature, being a member of that body when in his nineteenth year. He was chief justice of Mississippi at the commencement of the late war, and was filling that honorary position at the time of his death, which occurred in 1862. He had been three times married, and was the father of eleven children, four of whom are now living: Henderson (is a planter and resides in Mississippi), Mrs. Thomas M. Wetherill (of Baton Rouge, La.), Maud (resides at Jackson, Miss.), and Dr. C. P. The Smith family was a prominent one in Mississippi, and some of the descendants of Hon. C. P. Smith have become quite noted as authors. Mrs. Wetherill’s daughter, Julia K., who is now the wife of the proprietor of the New Orleans Times Democrat, wrote quite an interesting novel entitled “Wings.” The mother of our subject died in 1848 or 1849. Dr. C. P. Smith was educated in a private school at Jackson, Miss., and his last preceptor was the Rev. Mr. Wheat of Mississippi. When starting out for himself the Doctor first embarked in the drug business, which he followed for six years, during which time he studied medicine. He then entered the University of Louisville in 1868, graduated from this in 1873, and first acted as assistant physician in the hospital, Vicksburg, Miss., where he remained for twelve months. He subsequently located at Chicot, Chicot County, Ark., remained there until 1874, and then came to Arkansas City when that city was but a village. He has been a witness to the rapid growth of that place, and has seen it burned out and washed away. In 1881, during the big fire at that place, the Doctor lost several thousand dollars, and he was afterward burned out twice, losing considerable at one of them. During all, the disasters that happened to this city, the Doctor has always been found at his post, and ready and anxious to assist in all laudable enterprises. On first coming to this State his practice extended over a radius of twenty miles, and through a sparsely settled country, frequently devastated by overflows. During 1875 he was surgeon-in-chief from this point to Watson, a distance of about twenty-five miles. The Doctor has been president of the Board of Physicians and was a member to the State Board of Health, appointed by Gov. Churchill. Dr. Smith is a member of the K. of P., Valley Lodge No. 21, and is also a member of the Uniform Rank of that order. He is a member of the Episcopal Church. In February, 1863, he joined the Confederate army, Fifty-first Alabama Regiment Cavalry, and was attached to the staff of Gen. W. T. Martin who commanded the first division of Wheeler’s cavalry. He participated in the battle of Shelbyville and was captured at that place and sent to Nashville, Tenn., and later from there to Louisville, Ky., then to Camp Chase, then Fort Delaware, and was released by special pardon by President Johnson on May 31, 1865, after being held a prisoner for nearly two years. He passed Fourth of July, 1863, at Camp Chase, and was at Fort Delaware when President Lincoln was assassinated. He was in the medical department on that memorable day, and all the prisoners who had any liberties were again placed in the barracks.