William F. Smith

William Farrar Smith was first and foremost an Army engineer. His military career spanned the years of the American Civil War, and he saw duty in that conflict as both a battlefield commander and as a construction engineer. Prior to the war, he served as a lieutenant and the district engineer of the 11th Light-House District (Great Lakes). With the rank of captain, still a junior officer, he was appointed as engineering secretary to the Light-House Board in 1859 and served until reassigned to wartime duties in April of 1861.