John Corneille Smith:

Never in a Confederate Unit.

by Terry Foenander.


As of early August, 2008, it has been noted that Mr. Gray has removed his biography of this person, an obvious result of Gray's having noted all the evidence shown at this web site. However, the damage has already been done, since his numerous errors and inaccuracies (which are included on every single biography at his web site), have now spread all across the Internet.

John Corneille Smith was a well known personality of the town of St. Arnaud, in the state of Victoria, Australia.   At the time of his death, in June of 1914, his lengthy obituary appeared in the June 24th issue of the local newspaper, the St. Arnaud Mercury, describing his very active life, from the time of his birth at Limerick, Ireland, in 1846, and giving details of his apprenticeship under his uncle’s wine and spirit trade at Dublin, on to his move to America, his subsequent return to Ireland, and his final settlement in Australia.   The year of his birth, indicated not only in his obituary, but also as shown (through the inclusion of his age) on both his marriage and death certificates, should have been sufficient enough evidence to indicate to any person with even a very basic knowledge of the factors required for proper research, that this could not have been the same person who is indicated, in a very unreliable web site on the veterans of the American Civil War buried in Australia and New Zealand, to have served in company H of the (Old) 1st Florida Infantry of the Confederate States Army.   This web site, compiled by James Mason Gray, a member of the American Civil War Round Table of Queensland, almost definitely shows that very little research was ever conducted by the host, if any at all.   Mr. Gray is notorious for making wayward assumptions, and not even attempting to look at all the facts available for each individual, that he includes biographies on.

The person listed as John C. Smith, who had served in company H, (Old) 1st Florida Infantry, is shown in the Florida rosters as having been born in 1828, and thus was nearly twenty years older than the John Corneille Smith who died at St. Arnaud, on Sunday, June 21, 1914.   This should have been more than sufficient evidence to prove that the two were not one and the same person at all.   Yet further evidence, if any research at all had been undertaken, would have been found within the obituary of the St. Arnaud John C. Smith, as there is a clear statement that this person, although he is indicated to have gone to America, and “took an active part for a lengthy period in the war in that country”, a subsequent statement clears the air, when it states that “On the conclusion of the struggle he moved to Florida, and there secured a responsible position as overseer of a large number of employees engaged in building the Forts.”    Thus, there is no doubt that he was in Florida after the end of the war, and not before or during it.   The assumption, made by Mr. Gray, that the St. Arnaud’s Smith had been in the Florida Infantry was based purely on finding a person of a similar name within that unit, and nothing more.   I challenge Mr. Gray to show any other additional evidence that proves, conclusively, that both Smith’s were one and the same person, but I am convinced that no such evidence is forthcoming at all.


Obituary of John Corneille Smith, from the St Arnaud Mercury of Wednesday, June 24, 1914. Note especially the details relating to his time in America. Nowhere at all does it state that he was ever in the 1st Florida Infantry, let alone the Confederate Army Additionally, note the statement of his move to Florida after the end of the war.

Page from volume 1 of the Florida rosters, showing the service of John C. Smith, in the 1st Florida Infantry, and showing his year of birth as 1828, a difference of eighteen years from the birth of John Corneille Smith who died at St. Arnaud.

Nowhere at all, in the obituary, or subsequent notices of his death and the church services, as reported in issues of the St. Arnaud Mercury, following his death, is there any indication that this John Corneille Smith had ever been in service in the 1st Florida Infantry, or any other Florida unit of the Confederate Army for that matter.   And nowhere else will such evidence ever be found, except in the mind of James Mason Gray.   Mr. Gray has come to quite a large number of such incorrect conclusions on a number of persons indicated to have been veterans of the Civil War, which shows that he has never been interested in proper research, but is more interested in building up a reputation based on totally inadequate research and incorrect assumptions.   It is very unfortunate that a very large number of persons, with no way of finding out the facts, are being fooled into believing that Mr. Gray’s work is of major importance.

With so little evidence to go on, except the statement that John Corneille Smith had served during the war, the possibilities of his service are immense.   He may very well have served in the Union Army, or even been involved in Naval service for either side.   Then there is also the possibility that he may even have been in the blockade running service, or worked in some civilian capacity, for all we know.   With so little evidence to go on, and with such a common name, John C. Smith, and until much more concrete evidence surfaces, we can only accept the fact that John Corneille Smith, buried at the St. Arnaud Cemetery, in Victoria, had served in the American Civil War, and nothing more.

SOURCES:

St. Arnaud Mercury issue of Wednesday, June 24, 1914: see article entitled Death of Cr. J.C. Smith, J.P.: An Honorable Career.

Biographical Rosters of Florida's Confederate and Union Soldiers 1861 - 1865, volume 1, compiled by David W. Hartman and David Coles; published 1995 by Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, North Carolina.

For more inaccurate biographies, see "A Litany of Errors."

Page Created, April, 2008 (Updated August, 2008).