Link to the memorial page with his given name, Christian Zimmerman

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Excerpt from the "First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment" website.

"Christian Zimmerman (Samuel Smith) was born in Germany on Sept. 11, 1839. He came to this country in 1856. According to many period newspaper articles, Christian Zimmerman substituted for Samuel Smith of Winona, taking his place and assuming his name to serve in the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He was 21 when he enlisted in Captain Lester's Company, known as the "Winona Volunteers". The designation of the company was later changed to Company K. He was 5'7" tall, had a fair complexion, brown hair and blue eyes.

"Christian (Samuel Smith) was injured at the Battle of Bull Run. He was shot and lost the thumb of his right hand. His injury was considered serious and he was admitted to a hospital in Alexandria, Virginia on July 23, 1861. He returned to duty three weeks later, on August 15th, but was removed from the front lines and was detailed as a teamster from then on.

"Smith was also injured, near Harpers Ferry on March 22, 1862. While serving as a teamster, he had an accident with a runaway team. He got caught in the wheels of a wagon and severely injured his back and chest. Upon recovery, he was then detailed to serve with the ambulance corps. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Lt. Jasper Searles was in charge of the 2nd Corps ambulance train. Smith was probably one of Searles ambulance drivers. Smith was mustered out on May 5, 1864.

"This interesting story continues with his subsequent enlistment in the 2nd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Once again he enlisted as a substitute but this time using the shortened version of his name, Christ Zimmerman. On his Form 40 "Substitute Volunteer Enlistment" form, it states that he was replacing Johann Theis of Sand Creek, Scott County, Minnesota. It states that Theis had been drafted. For reasons unknown today, Theis did not want to serve and was willing to pay Christian to replace him in the ranks. Substitution was a practice allowed in the militia draft of 1862 and was perpetuated during the subsequent Conscription Act of 1863. Christian could have received a substantial amount for volunteering to substitute ($300 or more). The date was October 8, 1864. He served in Company K until the end of the war. Christian and the rest of the men of the 2nd Minnesota were mustered out on July 11, 1865.

"So here we have the interesting story of a man who served twice during the Civil War, in two different units and under two different names.

"Christian Zimmerman legally changed his name to Samuel Smith on May 21,1889, although he was using the name Samuel Smith prior to that time, as evidenced in his pension application. He may have done this in order to receive the military pension rightfully due him because of having been wounded during the war, while he was known as Samuel Smith. At the time of his death on May 21, 1923, he was collecting a pension of $50 a month.

"After Samuel served two enlistments with the Union Army (both as substitutes), he returned to Minnesota. He married Katrina Hartman on April 21, 1867, in Red Wing, MN. He and Katrina started their family in Red Wing and later moved to Rendsville Township, Stevens County, MN. The original homestead on Section 34 of the township is still in the Smith family. Over the years, Samuel and Katrina raised a large family. They had twelve children. They were George (July 9, 1868), Christian (August 14, 1870), Phillip (March 1, 1872) who passed away at 5 months, Emma Matilda (May 17, 1873), Charles L. (October 15, 1875), William F. (September 4, 1877), Ferdinand (July 23, 1879) who passed away at 15, Benjamin J. (January 23, 1882), Henry (December 4, 1883), Frank (February 14, 1885), Albert (February 13, 1887),and Robert W. (August 14, 1889). There is evidence of another boy being raised by the Smith family, Joseph Greenstein, who then moved to Rhein, Sack, Canada in 1902.

"On July 2, 1897, one hundred sixty-five veterans of the Fist Minnesota and a host of Minnesota officials arrived at Gettysburg on a special train that included sixteen sleeping cars provided by James J. Hill. At this point on Cemetery Ridge where General Winfield Scott Hancock had ordered the First Minnesota to commence its charge, they dedicated the larger-than-life bronze statue of an infantry man running with fixed bayonet toward the swale where so many of their comrades had died thirty-four years earlier. The Minnesota State Legislature had appropriated $20,000 for the monument, a huge sum at the time. A bronze plaque on the granite base succinctly describes the events that happened there that day and concludes "In self-sacrificing desperate valor their charge has no parallel in any war".

"In 1915, Sam traveled to Gettysburg. It may be that he was so impressed by the statue that he decided to have a replica made. Family oral tradition has it that Sam posed for the original statue that sits atop the monument at Gettysburg, but there is no proof of this and in fact many points discredit the theory. One of the best is a Notation in the Minneapolis Tribune in 1906 discussing the men who were attending the 1906 reunion of the veterans of the First Minnesota. Speaking of Josias R. King, it reported, "Joe is also the only living soldier who has been done for a soldiers monument, and his is the central figure of the soldier's monument at Summit Avenue and Third Street, St. Paul."

"On Decoration Day, May 30, 1916, the statue he commissioned was dedicated by the Overton G.A.R. Post #99 at Summit Cemetery in Morris, Mn. It is a smaller version of the Gettysburg statue. This monument was paid for and erected by Smith, as a memorial to soldiers of the Civil War, and as a special tribute to the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and their sacrificing charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. The statue marks the Smith/Zimmerman family burial plot, where Sam and his wife are at rest."

Source: Information supplied by LeRoy L. Smith, a proud descendent of "Pvt Sam".

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In addition to the eleven children listed below, there were two other children in the "Zimmerman/Smith" family. Philip Zimmerman was the 3rd son of Christian and Catherine Zimmerman. Philip was born on 1 March 1872 in Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minnesota. Philip passed away on 9 August 1872. His burial site is unknown. A second child, Joseph M. Greenstein (Russian born)(FAG# 102129687), appears on the 1895 Minnesota State Census with the Samuel Smith family. Early photos indicate he may have been with the Smith family as early as 1889. Joseph Greenstein moved to Saskatchewan, Canada in 1902; he married Catherine McDougall about 1922. Joseph passed away in 1946.

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