Father: Gen. Persifor Frazer Smith (1798-1858)
Mother: Frances Jeannette Bureau (1806-1853)
1844 - B.A. degree, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1847 - M.D. degree, University of Pennsylvania Medical Department, Philadelphia, PA (from: Louisiana: thesis: "Tetanus")
10/29/1848 - Married, Frances Harriet "Fannie" Alexander (1829-1914)
1855 - Practiced medicine and surgery, Marine Hospital, Algiers District, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA
1856 - Professor of Materia Medica, The New Orleans School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA
06/16/1860 - Practiced medicine, Ward 2, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fannie A., and three children - indexed in the 1860 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
10/04/1861 - Appointed Asst. Surgeon from Louisiana, Provisional Army of the Confederate States (P.A.C.S.) and ordered to report to the Surgeon General, Richmond, VA
11/30/1861 - Asst. Surgeon, Dept. No. 1, Gen. M. Lovell's Command
12/31/1861 - Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, New Orleans, LA
06/12/1862 - In a letter written from Headquarters, Dept. No. 1, Jackson, MS, to George W. Randolph, Secretary of War, Richmond, VA, "Sir: Having passed and been recommended by the Examining Board, consisting of Surgeons [John Miller] Haden, [Cornelius Collins] Beard & [William Lowndes]
Lipscomb, at New Orleans, for the rank of Surgeon, I have the honor to make application to you for my commission. I am Acting Medical Director of this Department and my rank as Asst. Surgeon I find interferes with the proper discharge of its duties. Many of the gentlemen who now rank me, I have instructed in their profession. I am Sir, Very Respectfully, Your Obt. Servant, Howard Smith, Asst. Surgeon, P.A.C.S." [Docketing on the back of this letter, "Forwarded respectfully with the hope that Dr. Smith's request may be granted. His duties as Acting Med. Director, and his great proficiency in his profession make it but just that no time be lost in placing him on an equality with those whom have heretofore been his pupils but now rank him although he is acting as director of this Department. From this course alone ___ ___ ___ are likely to ___ . G. M. Sorrell, Maj. Genl. Comd." Further docketing "Commission. GWR"]
06/13/1862 - Acting Medical Director of Department No. 1, Jackson, MS
06/26/1862 - Announced as Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor to Gen. Van Dorn, Commanding, Dept. of S. Mississippi & E. Louisiana
07/05/1862 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 06/13/1862
07/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. M. Lovell
07/28/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith will report for duty to Surgeon Richard Potts, as Medical Purveyor to General Van Dorn's Command" [S.O. 174/21]
08/27/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is relieved from his present post of duty and will report to Major General Theophilus H. Holmes, Commanding Trans Mississippi Department at Little Rock Arkansas for duty as Medical Purveyor of his Command" [S.O. 200/5]
09/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. T. H. Holmes at Little Rock, AR [S.O. 60 Dist. of Miss. Gen. Van Dorn]
09/13/1862 - As Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, stationed at Jackson, MS
10/13/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is announced as Medical Purveyor for the Trans Miss. Dept. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly. All Medical Purveyors now in this Dept. will report to him the quantities of medicines and Hospital Stores they have on hand. By command of Maj. Genl. Holmes"
[General Orders No. 27 Trans-Mississippi Dept., Little Rock, Arkansas]
10/25/1862 - In a letter written from the Medical Purveyor's Office, C.S.A, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Richard Potts, Med Purveyor, C.S.A., Jackson, Mississippi, "Sir: I herewith enclose you duplicate Requisitions of Medical & Hospital Supplies much needed in this Department. The quantities called for may be larger than you are able to supply, but are made so in order to cover any surplus you may have received or have on hand, and in expectation of our not being able to procure further supplied this winter. The supplies included in your Invoice of Sept. 12 were exposed to heavy rains and much damaged in consequence. Please have the articles thus liable, bottled as far as practicable; well packed and all the boxes bound with iron or hoop-poles; Please send all the bedding you can spare. I will forward your receipts as soon as the remainder of the supplies come to hand some of them being still on the way. Mr. J. D. Carpenter the bearer will take charge of the supplies as soon as put up and see them over the [Mississippi] river. Please assist him in getting transportation if necessary. Thanking you for past favors, I remain, Very Respectfully, Your Obedt
Servant, Howard Smith Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S.A., Trans Miss Depart."]
02/03/1863 - Surgeon, ?Fort Brown, TX
02/05/1863 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. T. H. Holmes, Commanding
06/01/1863 - Stationed at Houston, TX
10/01/1863 - Stationed at Little Rock, AR
11/02/1863 - Issued orders relative to Government works at Tyler, TX [District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona Trans Mississippi Dept.}
11/06/1863 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Capt. ?E. P. Turner, A. A. G., Dist. of Texas, New Mexico & Arizona, "Sir, In answer to endorsement, I beg leave to enclose a copy of my com'n of the 2nd inst explaining the matter as far as possible. It was originally intended to supply distillers by detail from the ranks - the negroes have been substituted and are to [be] paid for by the Q. M. Dpart. My request is that the Q. M. at Tyler be instructed to place the negroes upon his rolls and to afford all other facilities necessary to Surgeon Johnston [Probably, Surgeon Richard Johnston, Chemical Laboratory] in carrying out this undertaking. The negroes are not furnished by the Labor Bureau and being employed for a special purpose, as distillers and coopers, their places cannot be supplied. Very Respectfully, Your Obdt Servant, Howard Smith, Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S. A."
12/24/1863 - Mentioned in connection with the impressment of cotton
06/01/1864 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Surgeon & Medical Director J. H. Berrien, C.S.A., District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona, Houston, TX, "Sir, I would respectfully request that a board of survey be called for the purpose of examining Medical & Hospital Supplies received by me in a damaged condition of which no Invoice has been received, Very Respectfully, your
Obedient Servant, Howard Smith, Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dpart Trans Miss, C.S.A." [Docketing on the back of the letter reads, "Medical Directors Office, Houston, June 1, 64, Approved. Respectfully referred to Col. A. C. Jones, Chief of Staff, J. H. Berrien, Surgeon and med Dir., Dist of Texas"
12/09/1864 - Announced as the Medical Purveyor for the Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. E. K. Smith, Commanding
01/28/1865 - "Dr. H. Smith has volunteered to act as Surgeon of the Houston Battalion. Dr. H. Smith will enter upon his duties at once and examine all men sent to him by order of Company Commanders of the Houston Battalion and only give exemptions to such men from drill as may in his judgement be unable. All permanent exemptions will be subject to the approval of the Major Commanding the Battalion." [Special Orders No. 3, Headquarters, Houston Battalion]
03/01/1865 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX
00/00/1865 - Surgeon, Texas Infantry, Houston Battalion, Local Defenses, Houston, TX
06/28/1870 - Practiced medicine, 2nd Ward, New Orleans, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and five daughters - indexed in the 1870 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
06/19/1875 - Elected, First Vice President, Medical Protective Association, New Orleans, LA
06/01/1880 - Practiced medicine, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and three daughters - indexed in the 1880 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
08/02/1889 - In a report written from Belize, British Honduras to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Since the case of yellow fever reported from Truxille, I have been informed by the colonial surgeon of the reported existence of a malignant fever in Ruatan; also a case of yellow fever at Kingston, Jamaica, in the government house. The British steamship Hondo was put in quarantine on her arrival yesterday, because she brought no bill of
health from Kingston. The City of Dallas leaves this day without having touched any infected ports, and takes but one passenger from here. I inclose a note from Dr. C. H. Eyles, colonial surgeon, British Honduras, who has in the kindest manner shown me through Belize and kept me informed of all the cases which would aid me in carrying out the orders of the Louisiana board of health. On my return from the lower towns, where the bananas are shipped, I will try to give you a full account of everything which will be of service and of interest to the board."
08/23/1889 - In a report written from Belize to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Dr. C . P. Wilkinson, President Louisiana State Board of Health: Dear Sir, I beg to report my return from Puerto Cortez and the towns along the coast. The sanitary condition still continues good and at Livingston, Guatemala, the report from the physicians and the consuls is that there is no fever. As the quarantine against Livingston has not been removed by our board of health, I could not go ashore. The governor of this colony has raised the quarantine against Livingston, and it is still continued against Truxillo, Puerto Cortez, and some other places. Very respectfully, Howard Smith, M.D., Special Inspector, Louisiana State Board of Health." [The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Sept. 6, 1889, p. 6.]
07/03/1890 - Sailed from New Orleans on the British Steamship "Stroma" for Puerto Cortez via Belize and Livingston [now, Livingston, Guatemala]
00/00/1890 - In a report to the Louisiana State Board of Health written from Livingston, Central America [now, Livingston, Guatemala], "The town of Livingston is on a promontory formed by the Rio Dulce and the Bay of Honduras. It is placed on a bluff 75 to 80 feet high, on which is built the town of about 2500 to 3000 inhabitants. Most of these are Caribs, and there are not more than 150 white people, the rest are a mixture of Indian, Negro, mixed Spanish and Carib. What the Caribs are I cannot find out; they are utterly adverse to telling the history of their race. They do not affiliate in marriage or socially with their neighbors. They are affected with a skin disease which resembles leprosy, but physicians who have studied the malady say it is not. There is no doubt that they came from the west coast of Africa, and gentlemen who have served in that region say they recognize certain Kaffir words. They are dirty in their ways; such a thing as decency among themselves is unknown. Livingston is more or less surrounded by swamps. At the foot of the hills forming the town are swamps, and on the other side of Rio Dulce, at the foot of the hills which extend towards San Thomas, are large swamps. The Dulce is a fresh water stream, and meets the salt water of the Caribbean sea, of which this bay is only an outlet. From the bluff on which Livingston is built there are many natural gutters, into which the whole of the city's filth is thrown. During the rainy season, this is washed away to the river or the bay, but in the dry season this becomes a fermenting mass of everything that is thrown from the houses. You can understand, then, how liable this place is to fevers of the low type. Besides, there is no way of finding out who among the people are sick nor who have died, as there is no registration of deaths. They live on fish and plantains. The men do the fishing, the women the cooking and all the work of the family." [Note: The colonial secretary of Belize transmitted a report, taking exception to the report of Dr. Smith about Belize, accompanied by statistics of deaths and sickness. This showed eleven yellow fever deaths since Jan. 1.] [Article quoting Dr. Howard Smith (1890) The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 3, 1890, p. 6.]
01/30/1892 - Died of the grippe (influenza), New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
00/00/1914 - Wife, Frances, died (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
Scout Finch provided input to this biography.
This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
05/20/2018. Unpublished database.
The following was added by Scout Finch, the creator of this memorial:
The Times-Picayune.
Sunday, January 31, 1892
Page 7
DEATH OF DR. HOWARD SMITH.
A Popular Physician of Heroic Lineage at the Close of His Career.
Dr. Howard Smith, the well-known physician, died at 8 o'clock yesterday morning after a twelve days' illness of the grip. The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock this morning from the late residence, at the corner of Webster and Hurst streets, and the body will be interred in the Metairie cemetery.
The deceased was well known socially, and the joyous spirit that made him popular with his friends, and which he carried with him into the sick room, made him beloved by his patients.
Dr. Smith (the son of General Persifor F. Smith, a gallant veteran of the Mexican war, whose portrait adorns the walls of the mayor's parlor in city hall), was born in this city in 1823. He graduated from Yale College in 1842; studied medicine in the University of Pennsylvania; won his diploma in 1846, and, returning to his native city, began his long and honorable career in the practice of medicine.
He was appointed to the medical staff of the marine hospital by President Polk, and resigned the position to accept the professorship of materia medics in the local medical college.
He was chief of the medical corps under General Mansfield Lovell early in the war, and when New Orleans surrendered to the federal forces in April, 1862, he went to Jackson, Miss., where he served as a surgeon. Later, he served in the trans-Mississippi department as medical purveyor, under General E. Kirby Smith.
Dr. Smith returned to New Orleans immediately after the war and practiced until, three years ago, his increasing years and growing infirmity compelled him to retire from active practice. He was then elected health officer for the Central American ports by the board of health and stationed at Belize, where he remained during two quarantine seasons. During the past summer he was placed on one of the vessels plying between city and Central American ports, where his services were most effective.
The deceased leaves one son, Persifor F. Smith and five daughters, all but one of whom are married. He was a member of Orleans-Delta, Royal Arch Chapter No. 1, and of Louisiana Lodge No. 102, of the Masonic Order.
Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer will read the Presbyterian service at the residence, and the interment will be conducted by Louisiana Lodge with Masonic honors.
Note: This obituary has several errors. Dr. Smith received his A.B. degree from Yale University in 1844, not 1842, and his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Department in 1847, not 1846. Under Gen. Sorrell, not Gen. Lovell, he served as an Acting Medical Director, not chief of the medical corps. F.T.H.
Mother: Frances Jeannette Bureau (1806-1853)
1844 - B.A. degree, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1847 - M.D. degree, University of Pennsylvania Medical Department, Philadelphia, PA (from: Louisiana: thesis: "Tetanus")
10/29/1848 - Married, Frances Harriet "Fannie" Alexander (1829-1914)
1855 - Practiced medicine and surgery, Marine Hospital, Algiers District, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA
1856 - Professor of Materia Medica, The New Orleans School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA
06/16/1860 - Practiced medicine, Ward 2, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fannie A., and three children - indexed in the 1860 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
10/04/1861 - Appointed Asst. Surgeon from Louisiana, Provisional Army of the Confederate States (P.A.C.S.) and ordered to report to the Surgeon General, Richmond, VA
11/30/1861 - Asst. Surgeon, Dept. No. 1, Gen. M. Lovell's Command
12/31/1861 - Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, New Orleans, LA
06/12/1862 - In a letter written from Headquarters, Dept. No. 1, Jackson, MS, to George W. Randolph, Secretary of War, Richmond, VA, "Sir: Having passed and been recommended by the Examining Board, consisting of Surgeons [John Miller] Haden, [Cornelius Collins] Beard & [William Lowndes]
Lipscomb, at New Orleans, for the rank of Surgeon, I have the honor to make application to you for my commission. I am Acting Medical Director of this Department and my rank as Asst. Surgeon I find interferes with the proper discharge of its duties. Many of the gentlemen who now rank me, I have instructed in their profession. I am Sir, Very Respectfully, Your Obt. Servant, Howard Smith, Asst. Surgeon, P.A.C.S." [Docketing on the back of this letter, "Forwarded respectfully with the hope that Dr. Smith's request may be granted. His duties as Acting Med. Director, and his great proficiency in his profession make it but just that no time be lost in placing him on an equality with those whom have heretofore been his pupils but now rank him although he is acting as director of this Department. From this course alone ___ ___ ___ are likely to ___ . G. M. Sorrell, Maj. Genl. Comd." Further docketing "Commission. GWR"]
06/13/1862 - Acting Medical Director of Department No. 1, Jackson, MS
06/26/1862 - Announced as Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor to Gen. Van Dorn, Commanding, Dept. of S. Mississippi & E. Louisiana
07/05/1862 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 06/13/1862
07/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. M. Lovell
07/28/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith will report for duty to Surgeon Richard Potts, as Medical Purveyor to General Van Dorn's Command" [S.O. 174/21]
08/27/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is relieved from his present post of duty and will report to Major General Theophilus H. Holmes, Commanding Trans Mississippi Department at Little Rock Arkansas for duty as Medical Purveyor of his Command" [S.O. 200/5]
09/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. T. H. Holmes at Little Rock, AR [S.O. 60 Dist. of Miss. Gen. Van Dorn]
09/13/1862 - As Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, stationed at Jackson, MS
10/13/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is announced as Medical Purveyor for the Trans Miss. Dept. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly. All Medical Purveyors now in this Dept. will report to him the quantities of medicines and Hospital Stores they have on hand. By command of Maj. Genl. Holmes"
[General Orders No. 27 Trans-Mississippi Dept., Little Rock, Arkansas]
10/25/1862 - In a letter written from the Medical Purveyor's Office, C.S.A, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Richard Potts, Med Purveyor, C.S.A., Jackson, Mississippi, "Sir: I herewith enclose you duplicate Requisitions of Medical & Hospital Supplies much needed in this Department. The quantities called for may be larger than you are able to supply, but are made so in order to cover any surplus you may have received or have on hand, and in expectation of our not being able to procure further supplied this winter. The supplies included in your Invoice of Sept. 12 were exposed to heavy rains and much damaged in consequence. Please have the articles thus liable, bottled as far as practicable; well packed and all the boxes bound with iron or hoop-poles; Please send all the bedding you can spare. I will forward your receipts as soon as the remainder of the supplies come to hand some of them being still on the way. Mr. J. D. Carpenter the bearer will take charge of the supplies as soon as put up and see them over the [Mississippi] river. Please assist him in getting transportation if necessary. Thanking you for past favors, I remain, Very Respectfully, Your Obedt
Servant, Howard Smith Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S.A., Trans Miss Depart."]
02/03/1863 - Surgeon, ?Fort Brown, TX
02/05/1863 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. T. H. Holmes, Commanding
06/01/1863 - Stationed at Houston, TX
10/01/1863 - Stationed at Little Rock, AR
11/02/1863 - Issued orders relative to Government works at Tyler, TX [District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona Trans Mississippi Dept.}
11/06/1863 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Capt. ?E. P. Turner, A. A. G., Dist. of Texas, New Mexico & Arizona, "Sir, In answer to endorsement, I beg leave to enclose a copy of my com'n of the 2nd inst explaining the matter as far as possible. It was originally intended to supply distillers by detail from the ranks - the negroes have been substituted and are to [be] paid for by the Q. M. Dpart. My request is that the Q. M. at Tyler be instructed to place the negroes upon his rolls and to afford all other facilities necessary to Surgeon Johnston [Probably, Surgeon Richard Johnston, Chemical Laboratory] in carrying out this undertaking. The negroes are not furnished by the Labor Bureau and being employed for a special purpose, as distillers and coopers, their places cannot be supplied. Very Respectfully, Your Obdt Servant, Howard Smith, Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S. A."
12/24/1863 - Mentioned in connection with the impressment of cotton
06/01/1864 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Surgeon & Medical Director J. H. Berrien, C.S.A., District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona, Houston, TX, "Sir, I would respectfully request that a board of survey be called for the purpose of examining Medical & Hospital Supplies received by me in a damaged condition of which no Invoice has been received, Very Respectfully, your
Obedient Servant, Howard Smith, Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dpart Trans Miss, C.S.A." [Docketing on the back of the letter reads, "Medical Directors Office, Houston, June 1, 64, Approved. Respectfully referred to Col. A. C. Jones, Chief of Staff, J. H. Berrien, Surgeon and med Dir., Dist of Texas"
12/09/1864 - Announced as the Medical Purveyor for the Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. E. K. Smith, Commanding
01/28/1865 - "Dr. H. Smith has volunteered to act as Surgeon of the Houston Battalion. Dr. H. Smith will enter upon his duties at once and examine all men sent to him by order of Company Commanders of the Houston Battalion and only give exemptions to such men from drill as may in his judgement be unable. All permanent exemptions will be subject to the approval of the Major Commanding the Battalion." [Special Orders No. 3, Headquarters, Houston Battalion]
03/01/1865 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX
00/00/1865 - Surgeon, Texas Infantry, Houston Battalion, Local Defenses, Houston, TX
06/28/1870 - Practiced medicine, 2nd Ward, New Orleans, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and five daughters - indexed in the 1870 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
06/19/1875 - Elected, First Vice President, Medical Protective Association, New Orleans, LA
06/01/1880 - Practiced medicine, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and three daughters - indexed in the 1880 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
08/02/1889 - In a report written from Belize, British Honduras to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Since the case of yellow fever reported from Truxille, I have been informed by the colonial surgeon of the reported existence of a malignant fever in Ruatan; also a case of yellow fever at Kingston, Jamaica, in the government house. The British steamship Hondo was put in quarantine on her arrival yesterday, because she brought no bill of
health from Kingston. The City of Dallas leaves this day without having touched any infected ports, and takes but one passenger from here. I inclose a note from Dr. C. H. Eyles, colonial surgeon, British Honduras, who has in the kindest manner shown me through Belize and kept me informed of all the cases which would aid me in carrying out the orders of the Louisiana board of health. On my return from the lower towns, where the bananas are shipped, I will try to give you a full account of everything which will be of service and of interest to the board."
08/23/1889 - In a report written from Belize to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Dr. C . P. Wilkinson, President Louisiana State Board of Health: Dear Sir, I beg to report my return from Puerto Cortez and the towns along the coast. The sanitary condition still continues good and at Livingston, Guatemala, the report from the physicians and the consuls is that there is no fever. As the quarantine against Livingston has not been removed by our board of health, I could not go ashore. The governor of this colony has raised the quarantine against Livingston, and it is still continued against Truxillo, Puerto Cortez, and some other places. Very respectfully, Howard Smith, M.D., Special Inspector, Louisiana State Board of Health." [The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Sept. 6, 1889, p. 6.]
07/03/1890 - Sailed from New Orleans on the British Steamship "Stroma" for Puerto Cortez via Belize and Livingston [now, Livingston, Guatemala]
00/00/1890 - In a report to the Louisiana State Board of Health written from Livingston, Central America [now, Livingston, Guatemala], "The town of Livingston is on a promontory formed by the Rio Dulce and the Bay of Honduras. It is placed on a bluff 75 to 80 feet high, on which is built the town of about 2500 to 3000 inhabitants. Most of these are Caribs, and there are not more than 150 white people, the rest are a mixture of Indian, Negro, mixed Spanish and Carib. What the Caribs are I cannot find out; they are utterly adverse to telling the history of their race. They do not affiliate in marriage or socially with their neighbors. They are affected with a skin disease which resembles leprosy, but physicians who have studied the malady say it is not. There is no doubt that they came from the west coast of Africa, and gentlemen who have served in that region say they recognize certain Kaffir words. They are dirty in their ways; such a thing as decency among themselves is unknown. Livingston is more or less surrounded by swamps. At the foot of the hills forming the town are swamps, and on the other side of Rio Dulce, at the foot of the hills which extend towards San Thomas, are large swamps. The Dulce is a fresh water stream, and meets the salt water of the Caribbean sea, of which this bay is only an outlet. From the bluff on which Livingston is built there are many natural gutters, into which the whole of the city's filth is thrown. During the rainy season, this is washed away to the river or the bay, but in the dry season this becomes a fermenting mass of everything that is thrown from the houses. You can understand, then, how liable this place is to fevers of the low type. Besides, there is no way of finding out who among the people are sick nor who have died, as there is no registration of deaths. They live on fish and plantains. The men do the fishing, the women the cooking and all the work of the family." [Note: The colonial secretary of Belize transmitted a report, taking exception to the report of Dr. Smith about Belize, accompanied by statistics of deaths and sickness. This showed eleven yellow fever deaths since Jan. 1.] [Article quoting Dr. Howard Smith (1890) The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 3, 1890, p. 6.]
01/30/1892 - Died of the grippe (influenza), New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
00/00/1914 - Wife, Frances, died (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
Scout Finch provided input to this biography.
This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
05/20/2018. Unpublished database.
The following was added by Scout Finch, the creator of this memorial:
The Times-Picayune.
Sunday, January 31, 1892
Page 7
DEATH OF DR. HOWARD SMITH.
A Popular Physician of Heroic Lineage at the Close of His Career.
Dr. Howard Smith, the well-known physician, died at 8 o'clock yesterday morning after a twelve days' illness of the grip. The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock this morning from the late residence, at the corner of Webster and Hurst streets, and the body will be interred in the Metairie cemetery.
The deceased was well known socially, and the joyous spirit that made him popular with his friends, and which he carried with him into the sick room, made him beloved by his patients.
Dr. Smith (the son of General Persifor F. Smith, a gallant veteran of the Mexican war, whose portrait adorns the walls of the mayor's parlor in city hall), was born in this city in 1823. He graduated from Yale College in 1842; studied medicine in the University of Pennsylvania; won his diploma in 1846, and, returning to his native city, began his long and honorable career in the practice of medicine.
He was appointed to the medical staff of the marine hospital by President Polk, and resigned the position to accept the professorship of materia medics in the local medical college.
He was chief of the medical corps under General Mansfield Lovell early in the war, and when New Orleans surrendered to the federal forces in April, 1862, he went to Jackson, Miss., where he served as a surgeon. Later, he served in the trans-Mississippi department as medical purveyor, under General E. Kirby Smith.
Dr. Smith returned to New Orleans immediately after the war and practiced until, three years ago, his increasing years and growing infirmity compelled him to retire from active practice. He was then elected health officer for the Central American ports by the board of health and stationed at Belize, where he remained during two quarantine seasons. During the past summer he was placed on one of the vessels plying between city and Central American ports, where his services were most effective.
The deceased leaves one son, Persifor F. Smith and five daughters, all but one of whom are married. He was a member of Orleans-Delta, Royal Arch Chapter No. 1, and of Louisiana Lodge No. 102, of the Masonic Order.
Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer will read the Presbyterian service at the residence, and the interment will be conducted by Louisiana Lodge with Masonic honors.
Note: This obituary has several errors. Dr. Smith received his A.B. degree from Yale University in 1844, not 1842, and his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Department in 1847, not 1846. Under Gen. Sorrell, not Gen. Lovell, he served as an Acting Medical Director, not chief of the medical corps. F.T.H.
Father: Gen. Persifor Frazer Smith (1798-1858)
Mother: Frances Jeannette Bureau (1806-1853)
1844 - B.A. degree, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1847 - M.D. degree, University of Pennsylvania Medical Department, Philadelphia, PA (from: Louisiana: thesis: "Tetanus")
10/29/1848 - Married, Frances Harriet "Fannie" Alexander (1829-1914)
1855 - Practiced medicine and surgery, Marine Hospital, Algiers District, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA
1856 - Professor of Materia Medica, The New Orleans School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA
06/16/1860 - Practiced medicine, Ward 2, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fannie A., and three children - indexed in the 1860 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
10/04/1861 - Appointed Asst. Surgeon from Louisiana, Provisional Army of the Confederate States (P.A.C.S.) and ordered to report to the Surgeon General, Richmond, VA
11/30/1861 - Asst. Surgeon, Dept. No. 1, Gen. M. Lovell's Command
12/31/1861 - Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, New Orleans, LA
06/12/1862 - In a letter written from Headquarters, Dept. No. 1, Jackson, MS, to George W. Randolph, Secretary of War, Richmond, VA, "Sir: Having passed and been recommended by the Examining Board, consisting of Surgeons [John Miller] Haden, [Cornelius Collins] Beard & [William Lowndes]
Lipscomb, at New Orleans, for the rank of Surgeon, I have the honor to make application to you for my commission. I am Acting Medical Director of this Department and my rank as Asst. Surgeon I find interferes with the proper discharge of its duties. Many of the gentlemen who now rank me, I have instructed in their profession. I am Sir, Very Respectfully, Your Obt. Servant, Howard Smith, Asst. Surgeon, P.A.C.S." [Docketing on the back of this letter, "Forwarded respectfully with the hope that Dr. Smith's request may be granted. His duties as Acting Med. Director, and his great proficiency in his profession make it but just that no time be lost in placing him on an equality with those whom have heretofore been his pupils but now rank him although he is acting as director of this Department. From this course alone ___ ___ ___ are likely to ___ . G. M. Sorrell, Maj. Genl. Comd." Further docketing "Commission. GWR"]
06/13/1862 - Acting Medical Director of Department No. 1, Jackson, MS
06/26/1862 - Announced as Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor to Gen. Van Dorn, Commanding, Dept. of S. Mississippi & E. Louisiana
07/05/1862 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 06/13/1862
07/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. M. Lovell
07/28/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith will report for duty to Surgeon Richard Potts, as Medical Purveyor to General Van Dorn's Command" [S.O. 174/21]
08/27/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is relieved from his present post of duty and will report to Major General Theophilus H. Holmes, Commanding Trans Mississippi Department at Little Rock Arkansas for duty as Medical Purveyor of his Command" [S.O. 200/5]
09/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. T. H. Holmes at Little Rock, AR [S.O. 60 Dist. of Miss. Gen. Van Dorn]
09/13/1862 - As Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, stationed at Jackson, MS
10/13/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is announced as Medical Purveyor for the Trans Miss. Dept. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly. All Medical Purveyors now in this Dept. will report to him the quantities of medicines and Hospital Stores they have on hand. By command of Maj. Genl. Holmes"
[General Orders No. 27 Trans-Mississippi Dept., Little Rock, Arkansas]
10/25/1862 - In a letter written from the Medical Purveyor's Office, C.S.A, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Richard Potts, Med Purveyor, C.S.A., Jackson, Mississippi, "Sir: I herewith enclose you duplicate Requisitions of Medical & Hospital Supplies much needed in this Department. The quantities called for may be larger than you are able to supply, but are made so in order to cover any surplus you may have received or have on hand, and in expectation of our not being able to procure further supplied this winter. The supplies included in your Invoice of Sept. 12 were exposed to heavy rains and much damaged in consequence. Please have the articles thus liable, bottled as far as practicable; well packed and all the boxes bound with iron or hoop-poles; Please send all the bedding you can spare. I will forward your receipts as soon as the remainder of the supplies come to hand some of them being still on the way. Mr. J. D. Carpenter the bearer will take charge of the supplies as soon as put up and see them over the [Mississippi] river. Please assist him in getting transportation if necessary. Thanking you for past favors, I remain, Very Respectfully, Your Obedt
Servant, Howard Smith Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S.A., Trans Miss Depart."]
02/03/1863 - Surgeon, ?Fort Brown, TX
02/05/1863 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. T. H. Holmes, Commanding
06/01/1863 - Stationed at Houston, TX
10/01/1863 - Stationed at Little Rock, AR
11/02/1863 - Issued orders relative to Government works at Tyler, TX [District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona Trans Mississippi Dept.}
11/06/1863 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Capt. ?E. P. Turner, A. A. G., Dist. of Texas, New Mexico & Arizona, "Sir, In answer to endorsement, I beg leave to enclose a copy of my com'n of the 2nd inst explaining the matter as far as possible. It was originally intended to supply distillers by detail from the ranks - the negroes have been substituted and are to [be] paid for by the Q. M. Dpart. My request is that the Q. M. at Tyler be instructed to place the negroes upon his rolls and to afford all other facilities necessary to Surgeon Johnston [Probably, Surgeon Richard Johnston, Chemical Laboratory] in carrying out this undertaking. The negroes are not furnished by the Labor Bureau and being employed for a special purpose, as distillers and coopers, their places cannot be supplied. Very Respectfully, Your Obdt Servant, Howard Smith, Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S. A."
12/24/1863 - Mentioned in connection with the impressment of cotton
06/01/1864 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Surgeon & Medical Director J. H. Berrien, C.S.A., District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona, Houston, TX, "Sir, I would respectfully request that a board of survey be called for the purpose of examining Medical & Hospital Supplies received by me in a damaged condition of which no Invoice has been received, Very Respectfully, your
Obedient Servant, Howard Smith, Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dpart Trans Miss, C.S.A." [Docketing on the back of the letter reads, "Medical Directors Office, Houston, June 1, 64, Approved. Respectfully referred to Col. A. C. Jones, Chief of Staff, J. H. Berrien, Surgeon and med Dir., Dist of Texas"
12/09/1864 - Announced as the Medical Purveyor for the Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. E. K. Smith, Commanding
01/28/1865 - "Dr. H. Smith has volunteered to act as Surgeon of the Houston Battalion. Dr. H. Smith will enter upon his duties at once and examine all men sent to him by order of Company Commanders of the Houston Battalion and only give exemptions to such men from drill as may in his judgement be unable. All permanent exemptions will be subject to the approval of the Major Commanding the Battalion." [Special Orders No. 3, Headquarters, Houston Battalion]
03/01/1865 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX
00/00/1865 - Surgeon, Texas Infantry, Houston Battalion, Local Defenses, Houston, TX
06/28/1870 - Practiced medicine, 2nd Ward, New Orleans, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and five daughters - indexed in the 1870 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
06/19/1875 - Elected, First Vice President, Medical Protective Association, New Orleans, LA
06/01/1880 - Practiced medicine, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and three daughters - indexed in the 1880 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
08/02/1889 - In a report written from Belize, British Honduras to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Since the case of yellow fever reported from Truxille, I have been informed by the colonial surgeon of the reported existence of a malignant fever in Ruatan; also a case of yellow fever at Kingston, Jamaica, in the government house. The British steamship Hondo was put in quarantine on her arrival yesterday, because she brought no bill of
health from Kingston. The City of Dallas leaves this day without having touched any infected ports, and takes but one passenger from here. I inclose a note from Dr. C. H. Eyles, colonial surgeon, British Honduras, who has in the kindest manner shown me through Belize and kept me informed of all the cases which would aid me in carrying out the orders of the Louisiana board of health. On my return from the lower towns, where the bananas are shipped, I will try to give you a full account of everything which will be of service and of interest to the board."
08/23/1889 - In a report written from Belize to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Dr. C . P. Wilkinson, President Louisiana State Board of Health: Dear Sir, I beg to report my return from Puerto Cortez and the towns along the coast. The sanitary condition still continues good and at Livingston, Guatemala, the report from the physicians and the consuls is that there is no fever. As the quarantine against Livingston has not been removed by our board of health, I could not go ashore. The governor of this colony has raised the quarantine against Livingston, and it is still continued against Truxillo, Puerto Cortez, and some other places. Very respectfully, Howard Smith, M.D., Special Inspector, Louisiana State Board of Health." [The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Sept. 6, 1889, p. 6.]
07/03/1890 - Sailed from New Orleans on the British Steamship "Stroma" for Puerto Cortez via Belize and Livingston [now, Livingston, Guatemala]
00/00/1890 - In a report to the Louisiana State Board of Health written from Livingston, Central America [now, Livingston, Guatemala], "The town of Livingston is on a promontory formed by the Rio Dulce and the Bay of Honduras. It is placed on a bluff 75 to 80 feet high, on which is built the town of about 2500 to 3000 inhabitants. Most of these are Caribs, and there are not more than 150 white people, the rest are a mixture of Indian, Negro, mixed Spanish and Carib. What the Caribs are I cannot find out; they are utterly adverse to telling the history of their race. They do not affiliate in marriage or socially with their neighbors. They are affected with a skin disease which resembles leprosy, but physicians who have studied the malady say it is not. There is no doubt that they came from the west coast of Africa, and gentlemen who have served in that region say they recognize certain Kaffir words. They are dirty in their ways; such a thing as decency among themselves is unknown. Livingston is more or less surrounded by swamps. At the foot of the hills forming the town are swamps, and on the other side of Rio Dulce, at the foot of the hills which extend towards San Thomas, are large swamps. The Dulce is a fresh water stream, and meets the salt water of the Caribbean sea, of which this bay is only an outlet. From the bluff on which Livingston is built there are many natural gutters, into which the whole of the city's filth is thrown. During the rainy season, this is washed away to the river or the bay, but in the dry season this becomes a fermenting mass of everything that is thrown from the houses. You can understand, then, how liable this place is to fevers of the low type. Besides, there is no way of finding out who among the people are sick nor who have died, as there is no registration of deaths. They live on fish and plantains. The men do the fishing, the women the cooking and all the work of the family." [Note: The colonial secretary of Belize transmitted a report, taking exception to the report of Dr. Smith about Belize, accompanied by statistics of deaths and sickness. This showed eleven yellow fever deaths since Jan. 1.] [Article quoting Dr. Howard Smith (1890) The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 3, 1890, p. 6.]
01/30/1892 - Died of the grippe (influenza), New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
00/00/1914 - Wife, Frances, died (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
Scout Finch provided input to this biography.
This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
05/20/2018. Unpublished database.
The following was added by Scout Finch, the creator of this memorial:
The Times-Picayune.
Sunday, January 31, 1892
Page 7
DEATH OF DR. HOWARD SMITH.
A Popular Physician of Heroic Lineage at the Close of His Career.
Dr. Howard Smith, the well-known physician, died at 8 o'clock yesterday morning after a twelve days' illness of the grip. The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock this morning from the late residence, at the corner of Webster and Hurst streets, and the body will be interred in the Metairie cemetery.
The deceased was well known socially, and the joyous spirit that made him popular with his friends, and which he carried with him into the sick room, made him beloved by his patients.
Dr. Smith (the son of General Persifor F. Smith, a gallant veteran of the Mexican war, whose portrait adorns the walls of the mayor's parlor in city hall), was born in this city in 1823. He graduated from Yale College in 1842; studied medicine in the University of Pennsylvania; won his diploma in 1846, and, returning to his native city, began his long and honorable career in the practice of medicine.
He was appointed to the medical staff of the marine hospital by President Polk, and resigned the position to accept the professorship of materia medics in the local medical college.
He was chief of the medical corps under General Mansfield Lovell early in the war, and when New Orleans surrendered to the federal forces in April, 1862, he went to Jackson, Miss., where he served as a surgeon. Later, he served in the trans-Mississippi department as medical purveyor, under General E. Kirby Smith.
Dr. Smith returned to New Orleans immediately after the war and practiced until, three years ago, his increasing years and growing infirmity compelled him to retire from active practice. He was then elected health officer for the Central American ports by the board of health and stationed at Belize, where he remained during two quarantine seasons. During the past summer he was placed on one of the vessels plying between city and Central American ports, where his services were most effective.
The deceased leaves one son, Persifor F. Smith and five daughters, all but one of whom are married. He was a member of Orleans-Delta, Royal Arch Chapter No. 1, and of Louisiana Lodge No. 102, of the Masonic Order.
Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer will read the Presbyterian service at the residence, and the interment will be conducted by Louisiana Lodge with Masonic honors.
Note: This obituary has several errors. Dr. Smith received his A.B. degree from Yale University in 1844, not 1842, and his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Department in 1847, not 1846. Under Gen. Sorrell, not Gen. Lovell, he served as an Acting Medical Director, not chief of the medical corps. F.T.H.
Mother: Frances Jeannette Bureau (1806-1853)
1844 - B.A. degree, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1847 - M.D. degree, University of Pennsylvania Medical Department, Philadelphia, PA (from: Louisiana: thesis: "Tetanus")
10/29/1848 - Married, Frances Harriet "Fannie" Alexander (1829-1914)
1855 - Practiced medicine and surgery, Marine Hospital, Algiers District, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA
1856 - Professor of Materia Medica, The New Orleans School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA
06/16/1860 - Practiced medicine, Ward 2, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fannie A., and three children - indexed in the 1860 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
10/04/1861 - Appointed Asst. Surgeon from Louisiana, Provisional Army of the Confederate States (P.A.C.S.) and ordered to report to the Surgeon General, Richmond, VA
11/30/1861 - Asst. Surgeon, Dept. No. 1, Gen. M. Lovell's Command
12/31/1861 - Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, New Orleans, LA
06/12/1862 - In a letter written from Headquarters, Dept. No. 1, Jackson, MS, to George W. Randolph, Secretary of War, Richmond, VA, "Sir: Having passed and been recommended by the Examining Board, consisting of Surgeons [John Miller] Haden, [Cornelius Collins] Beard & [William Lowndes]
Lipscomb, at New Orleans, for the rank of Surgeon, I have the honor to make application to you for my commission. I am Acting Medical Director of this Department and my rank as Asst. Surgeon I find interferes with the proper discharge of its duties. Many of the gentlemen who now rank me, I have instructed in their profession. I am Sir, Very Respectfully, Your Obt. Servant, Howard Smith, Asst. Surgeon, P.A.C.S." [Docketing on the back of this letter, "Forwarded respectfully with the hope that Dr. Smith's request may be granted. His duties as Acting Med. Director, and his great proficiency in his profession make it but just that no time be lost in placing him on an equality with those whom have heretofore been his pupils but now rank him although he is acting as director of this Department. From this course alone ___ ___ ___ are likely to ___ . G. M. Sorrell, Maj. Genl. Comd." Further docketing "Commission. GWR"]
06/13/1862 - Acting Medical Director of Department No. 1, Jackson, MS
06/26/1862 - Announced as Asst. Surgeon & Medical Purveyor to Gen. Van Dorn, Commanding, Dept. of S. Mississippi & E. Louisiana
07/05/1862 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 06/13/1862
07/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. M. Lovell
07/28/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith will report for duty to Surgeon Richard Potts, as Medical Purveyor to General Van Dorn's Command" [S.O. 174/21]
08/27/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is relieved from his present post of duty and will report to Major General Theophilus H. Holmes, Commanding Trans Mississippi Department at Little Rock Arkansas for duty as Medical Purveyor of his Command" [S.O. 200/5]
09/05/1862 - Ordered to report to Gen. T. H. Holmes at Little Rock, AR [S.O. 60 Dist. of Miss. Gen. Van Dorn]
09/13/1862 - As Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, stationed at Jackson, MS
10/13/1862 - "Surgeon Howard Smith is announced as Medical Purveyor for the Trans Miss. Dept. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly. All Medical Purveyors now in this Dept. will report to him the quantities of medicines and Hospital Stores they have on hand. By command of Maj. Genl. Holmes"
[General Orders No. 27 Trans-Mississippi Dept., Little Rock, Arkansas]
10/25/1862 - In a letter written from the Medical Purveyor's Office, C.S.A, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Richard Potts, Med Purveyor, C.S.A., Jackson, Mississippi, "Sir: I herewith enclose you duplicate Requisitions of Medical & Hospital Supplies much needed in this Department. The quantities called for may be larger than you are able to supply, but are made so in order to cover any surplus you may have received or have on hand, and in expectation of our not being able to procure further supplied this winter. The supplies included in your Invoice of Sept. 12 were exposed to heavy rains and much damaged in consequence. Please have the articles thus liable, bottled as far as practicable; well packed and all the boxes bound with iron or hoop-poles; Please send all the bedding you can spare. I will forward your receipts as soon as the remainder of the supplies come to hand some of them being still on the way. Mr. J. D. Carpenter the bearer will take charge of the supplies as soon as put up and see them over the [Mississippi] river. Please assist him in getting transportation if necessary. Thanking you for past favors, I remain, Very Respectfully, Your Obedt
Servant, Howard Smith Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S.A., Trans Miss Depart."]
02/03/1863 - Surgeon, ?Fort Brown, TX
02/05/1863 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. T. H. Holmes, Commanding
06/01/1863 - Stationed at Houston, TX
10/01/1863 - Stationed at Little Rock, AR
11/02/1863 - Issued orders relative to Government works at Tyler, TX [District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona Trans Mississippi Dept.}
11/06/1863 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Capt. ?E. P. Turner, A. A. G., Dist. of Texas, New Mexico & Arizona, "Sir, In answer to endorsement, I beg leave to enclose a copy of my com'n of the 2nd inst explaining the matter as far as possible. It was originally intended to supply distillers by detail from the ranks - the negroes have been substituted and are to [be] paid for by the Q. M. Dpart. My request is that the Q. M. at Tyler be instructed to place the negroes upon his rolls and to afford all other facilities necessary to Surgeon Johnston [Probably, Surgeon Richard Johnston, Chemical Laboratory] in carrying out this undertaking. The negroes are not furnished by the Labor Bureau and being employed for a special purpose, as distillers and coopers, their places cannot be supplied. Very Respectfully, Your Obdt Servant, Howard Smith, Surg & Med Purveyor, C. S. A."
12/24/1863 - Mentioned in connection with the impressment of cotton
06/01/1864 - In a letter written from the Office of the Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX, to Surgeon & Medical Director J. H. Berrien, C.S.A., District of Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona, Houston, TX, "Sir, I would respectfully request that a board of survey be called for the purpose of examining Medical & Hospital Supplies received by me in a damaged condition of which no Invoice has been received, Very Respectfully, your
Obedient Servant, Howard Smith, Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dpart Trans Miss, C.S.A." [Docketing on the back of the letter reads, "Medical Directors Office, Houston, June 1, 64, Approved. Respectfully referred to Col. A. C. Jones, Chief of Staff, J. H. Berrien, Surgeon and med Dir., Dist of Texas"
12/09/1864 - Announced as the Medical Purveyor for the Trans-Mississippi Dept., Gen. E. K. Smith, Commanding
01/28/1865 - "Dr. H. Smith has volunteered to act as Surgeon of the Houston Battalion. Dr. H. Smith will enter upon his duties at once and examine all men sent to him by order of Company Commanders of the Houston Battalion and only give exemptions to such men from drill as may in his judgement be unable. All permanent exemptions will be subject to the approval of the Major Commanding the Battalion." [Special Orders No. 3, Headquarters, Houston Battalion]
03/01/1865 - Surgeon & Medical Purveyor, Dept. of Trans-Mississippi, Houston, TX
00/00/1865 - Surgeon, Texas Infantry, Houston Battalion, Local Defenses, Houston, TX
06/28/1870 - Practiced medicine, 2nd Ward, New Orleans, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and five daughters - indexed in the 1870 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
06/19/1875 - Elected, First Vice President, Medical Protective Association, New Orleans, LA
06/01/1880 - Practiced medicine, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (lived with wife, Fanny, one son, and three daughters - indexed in the 1880 U.S. Census as Howard Smith)
08/02/1889 - In a report written from Belize, British Honduras to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Since the case of yellow fever reported from Truxille, I have been informed by the colonial surgeon of the reported existence of a malignant fever in Ruatan; also a case of yellow fever at Kingston, Jamaica, in the government house. The British steamship Hondo was put in quarantine on her arrival yesterday, because she brought no bill of
health from Kingston. The City of Dallas leaves this day without having touched any infected ports, and takes but one passenger from here. I inclose a note from Dr. C. H. Eyles, colonial surgeon, British Honduras, who has in the kindest manner shown me through Belize and kept me informed of all the cases which would aid me in carrying out the orders of the Louisiana board of health. On my return from the lower towns, where the bananas are shipped, I will try to give you a full account of everything which will be of service and of interest to the board."
08/23/1889 - In a report written from Belize to the Louisiana State Board of Health, "Dr. C . P. Wilkinson, President Louisiana State Board of Health: Dear Sir, I beg to report my return from Puerto Cortez and the towns along the coast. The sanitary condition still continues good and at Livingston, Guatemala, the report from the physicians and the consuls is that there is no fever. As the quarantine against Livingston has not been removed by our board of health, I could not go ashore. The governor of this colony has raised the quarantine against Livingston, and it is still continued against Truxillo, Puerto Cortez, and some other places. Very respectfully, Howard Smith, M.D., Special Inspector, Louisiana State Board of Health." [The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Sept. 6, 1889, p. 6.]
07/03/1890 - Sailed from New Orleans on the British Steamship "Stroma" for Puerto Cortez via Belize and Livingston [now, Livingston, Guatemala]
00/00/1890 - In a report to the Louisiana State Board of Health written from Livingston, Central America [now, Livingston, Guatemala], "The town of Livingston is on a promontory formed by the Rio Dulce and the Bay of Honduras. It is placed on a bluff 75 to 80 feet high, on which is built the town of about 2500 to 3000 inhabitants. Most of these are Caribs, and there are not more than 150 white people, the rest are a mixture of Indian, Negro, mixed Spanish and Carib. What the Caribs are I cannot find out; they are utterly adverse to telling the history of their race. They do not affiliate in marriage or socially with their neighbors. They are affected with a skin disease which resembles leprosy, but physicians who have studied the malady say it is not. There is no doubt that they came from the west coast of Africa, and gentlemen who have served in that region say they recognize certain Kaffir words. They are dirty in their ways; such a thing as decency among themselves is unknown. Livingston is more or less surrounded by swamps. At the foot of the hills forming the town are swamps, and on the other side of Rio Dulce, at the foot of the hills which extend towards San Thomas, are large swamps. The Dulce is a fresh water stream, and meets the salt water of the Caribbean sea, of which this bay is only an outlet. From the bluff on which Livingston is built there are many natural gutters, into which the whole of the city's filth is thrown. During the rainy season, this is washed away to the river or the bay, but in the dry season this becomes a fermenting mass of everything that is thrown from the houses. You can understand, then, how liable this place is to fevers of the low type. Besides, there is no way of finding out who among the people are sick nor who have died, as there is no registration of deaths. They live on fish and plantains. The men do the fishing, the women the cooking and all the work of the family." [Note: The colonial secretary of Belize transmitted a report, taking exception to the report of Dr. Smith about Belize, accompanied by statistics of deaths and sickness. This showed eleven yellow fever deaths since Jan. 1.] [Article quoting Dr. Howard Smith (1890) The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 3, 1890, p. 6.]
01/30/1892 - Died of the grippe (influenza), New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
00/00/1914 - Wife, Frances, died (buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA)
Scout Finch provided input to this biography.
This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
05/20/2018. Unpublished database.
The following was added by Scout Finch, the creator of this memorial:
The Times-Picayune.
Sunday, January 31, 1892
Page 7
DEATH OF DR. HOWARD SMITH.
A Popular Physician of Heroic Lineage at the Close of His Career.
Dr. Howard Smith, the well-known physician, died at 8 o'clock yesterday morning after a twelve days' illness of the grip. The funeral will take place at 10 o'clock this morning from the late residence, at the corner of Webster and Hurst streets, and the body will be interred in the Metairie cemetery.
The deceased was well known socially, and the joyous spirit that made him popular with his friends, and which he carried with him into the sick room, made him beloved by his patients.
Dr. Smith (the son of General Persifor F. Smith, a gallant veteran of the Mexican war, whose portrait adorns the walls of the mayor's parlor in city hall), was born in this city in 1823. He graduated from Yale College in 1842; studied medicine in the University of Pennsylvania; won his diploma in 1846, and, returning to his native city, began his long and honorable career in the practice of medicine.
He was appointed to the medical staff of the marine hospital by President Polk, and resigned the position to accept the professorship of materia medics in the local medical college.
He was chief of the medical corps under General Mansfield Lovell early in the war, and when New Orleans surrendered to the federal forces in April, 1862, he went to Jackson, Miss., where he served as a surgeon. Later, he served in the trans-Mississippi department as medical purveyor, under General E. Kirby Smith.
Dr. Smith returned to New Orleans immediately after the war and practiced until, three years ago, his increasing years and growing infirmity compelled him to retire from active practice. He was then elected health officer for the Central American ports by the board of health and stationed at Belize, where he remained during two quarantine seasons. During the past summer he was placed on one of the vessels plying between city and Central American ports, where his services were most effective.
The deceased leaves one son, Persifor F. Smith and five daughters, all but one of whom are married. He was a member of Orleans-Delta, Royal Arch Chapter No. 1, and of Louisiana Lodge No. 102, of the Masonic Order.
Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer will read the Presbyterian service at the residence, and the interment will be conducted by Louisiana Lodge with Masonic honors.
Note: This obituary has several errors. Dr. Smith received his A.B. degree from Yale University in 1844, not 1842, and his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Department in 1847, not 1846. Under Gen. Sorrell, not Gen. Lovell, he served as an Acting Medical Director, not chief of the medical corps. F.T.H.
Family Members
Advertisement
Advertisement
