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The historical marker claims Smith was promoted to Major General for the Vicksburg campaign. This appears to be incorrect; he later still gives his own rank as Brigadier General, see [1] for example. Of course it probably won't be possible to find a reference explicitly saying he wasn't promoted. --Huon22:04, 13 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
No one commented on this, and I haven't looked, but I can assure anyone that rank during this time can be confusing. A captain in the regular army could assemble his own troops (volunteers) and while still holding the rank of Captain (regular army) could be receive a brevet promotion to a rank entitled to command. This promotion would give the person all the rights and pay of the rank for a temporary period. Brevet ranks could also "awarded" for gallantry or meritorious service. I will look at this but this certainly seems likely. In a way such a promotion would be like a field promotion that also expires (without intervention) at a certain time. Otr500 (talk) 18:06, 21 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
From what I have found; Smith graduated West Point in 1853. He left the army in 1854 and was when the Civil War started he offered his services and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Ohio volunteers. Smith was was commissioned (not Brevetted) colonel of the 13th Ohio infantry (regular army) on June 26, 1861. He became (was appointed) brigadier-general of volunteers, April 15, 1862, when he joined the forces under Grant. I can not find anywhere that he held a rank above this. He signed [2] correspondence as "Brig. Gen., Chief of Cavalry, Mil. Div. of the Mississippi" on Feb. 04, 1864. Smith assumed this command when given charge of the cavalry by Sherman. He was later appointed as the Chief of Calvary of the Department of the Tennessee (redirected to Army of the Tennessee), that is actually incorrectly redirected. There is also some confusion, or misinformation, that Smith left the military (words used such as subsequently etc...) because of the defeat in Mississippi. This, as records show, is incorrect because he left because of health reasons. Otr500 (talk) 17:52, 4 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Just for the records, found no indication for a promotion to Major General or even a brevet, so I changed it to Brigadier General. ... GELongstreet (talk) 16:51, 3 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I moved Find a Grave to the external links section with a hidden access date per discussion and agreement. This is per Wikipedia policy (the move), guidelines, and very clear consensus that Find a Grave is not a reliable source. I hope I did this correctly to not create problems. There is also a reference (#1) Major General William Sooy Smith that redirected to a search page here so I marked it as a dead link. It is not a reference but a search link that I could have deleted but maybe some will care to explore and repair. Otr500 (talk) 18:06, 21 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
