Description:General Smith is seated in his military uniform adorned with two rows of brass buttons. Only his right hand is shown. He has a very long, full beard.
History:This portrait of General E. Kirby Smith by Hankins, Cornelius was painted from a photograph. It now hangs in the Wyatt Center for Education on the Peabody Campus of Vanderbilt University.
Notes:Born in St. Augustine, FL, educated at West Point, Edmund Kirby Smith, fought in the Mexican War before returning to West Point to teach mathematics. He served in the Indian campaign in Texas before entering Confederate service in 1861. After being severely wounded in the first battle of Manassas, he was promoted to major general in command of the District of East Tennesse. Following the war, he entered the field of education, serving as chancellor of the University of Nashville from 1870 to 1875. He spent his last years as professor of mathematics at the University of the South, Sewanee, TN, where he died in 1893, the last survivor of the full generals of the Confederacy.
