Cyrus Smith ^{4 5 6 7 8}

  General Notes:

Cyrus Smith enlisted in Company H, 102nd Ohio Infantry on 5 August 1862 at age 33. He was captured at Athens, Alabama on 24 September 1864 along with approximately 100 other soldiers of the 102nd OVI. They were sent to a prison camp at Cahaba, Alabama. They were exchanged on 22 April 1865. The men were on the river boat Sultana when it exploded and sank on the Mississippi River above Memphis, Tennessee on 27 April 1865 with the loss of over 1500 men. Cyrus Smith of Company H, 102nd Ohio Infantry is listed among the dead in both Jerry O Potter's "The Sultana Tragedy" (p. 249) and Gene Salecker's "Disaster on the Mississippi" (p. 269). Charlotte Smith filed for a Widow's Pension on 27 June 1865.
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Private Smith enlisted as a private in Co. H, 102nd OVI, on 5 August 1862 at age 33. On 24 September 1864, while the regiment was stationed in garrison at Decatur, AL, Smith was assigned to a detachment sent in relief of Ft. Henderson at nearby Athens, AL, which was under siege by rebel cavalry under the command of CSA Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. After detraining, the detachment began fighting to gain the fort, and had made good progress, when the fort was unexpectedly surrendered by its commander. Forrest then forced the relief detachment to surrender as well. Smith was sent to Cahaba Prison until exchanged on 22 April 1865. He was killed, while on his way home, by the explosion and fire aboard the steamer Sultana north of Memphis, TN. His body was never identified. Unidentified victims of the disaster were all eventually buried in this cemetery, so this is his likely final resting place.
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Many of the victims of the Sultana disaster were buried at The Mississippi River Cemetery now the Memphis National Cemetery. After initially being buried at Elmwood, the Sultana victims were moved here. The story told at the cemetery is that the names were written on the coffins as they were removed from Elmwood so that they would be properly identified at the national cemetery. While the coffins were waiting to be reinterred a rain storm came up. Unfortunately the names had been written on the coffins in chalk so all the names washed away with the rain and the Sultana victims all lie in graves marked unknown.

The Mississippi River Cemetery was a Union Cemetery. The land was purchased by the Union while Memphis was occupied. Memphis had over 5000 hospital beds and soldiers from as far away as Vicksburg were brought to Memphis on hospital boats to Memphis hospitals and those who died onboard and in hospitals in Memphis were buried at The Mississippi River Cemetery AKA Memphis National Cemetery.
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  Noted events in his life were:

• He has alternate birth date of 1825 and a birth location of Ohio.

⁶

• He has alternate birth date of 1838 and a birth location of , Wayne County, OH.

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• He appeared on the 1850 US Census in Wooster, Wayne, Ohio, United States on 9 August 1850. ⁶

1850 US Census
Page 229A, Family 85
Wooster, Wayne, Ohio
Cyrus Smith..25..OH

(Living with wife.)

NOTE - If his birth date was in 1828, then his age should have been 21 or 22 instead of 25.
.

• He appeared on the 1860 US Census in Wooster, Wayne, Ohio, United States on 6 June 1860. ⁷

1860 US Census
Page 18, Family 122, Roll 1050
Wooster, Wayne, Ohio
Cyrus Smith..32..OH..Stone ..(?)

(Living with wife and 3 children.)
.

• He was buried after 27 April 1865 in the Memphis National Cemetery in Memphis, TN.

Find A Grave Memorial #61522933
. ⁸

Cyrus married Charlotte E. Lightfoot, daughter of Daniel Lightfoot and Caterina Salome Schmidt, on 25 November 1849 in , Wayne County, OH.^{1 3 4 5} (Charlotte E. Lightfoot was born on 17 December 1824 in Pennsylvania,^{6 9} died on 18 July 1887 in Wooster, Wayne, Ohio, United States ^{10 11} and was buried after 18 July 1887 in Wooster Cemetery, Wooster, OH ¹⁰.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Image: 25 November 1849, in , Wayne County, OH. ⁴

• They appeared on the 1850 US Census in Wooster, Wayne, Ohio, United States on 9 August 1850. ⁶

1850 US Census
Page 229A, Family 85
Wooster, Wayne, Ohio
Cyrus Smith..25..OH
Charlotte Smith..25..OH
.

• They appeared on the 1860 US Census in Wooster, Wayne, Ohio, United States on 6 June 1860. ⁷

1860 US Census
Page 18, Family 122, Roll 1050
Wooster, Wayne, Ohio
Cyrus Smith..32..OH..Stone ....(?)
Charlot Smith..31..PA
John Smith..4..OH
Emma Smith..4..OH
Coony (?) (Anna) Smith..8m..OH
.

  Marriage Notes:

Name: Cyrus Smith
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 25 Nov 1849
Event Place: Wayne, Ohio, United States
Gender: Male
Spouse's Name: Charlotte Lightfoot
Spouse's Gender: Female
Record Number: 313

Citing this Record
"Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZDK-WZK : 26 August 2019), Cyrus Smith and Charlotte Lightfoot, 25 Nov 1849; citing Marriage, Wayne, Ohio, United States, 442, Franklin County Genealogical & Historical Society, Columbus; FHL microfilm.
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