Mexican-American War-dated official Army Register for 1847, personally owned and used by Captain Joseph Rowe Smith, Sr., of the Second Regiment of Infantry, whose ownership signature is penned vertically on the front cover, “Joseph R. Smith, Madison Barracks, Sacketts Harbor, 1847.” The booklet, 54 pages, 5 x 7.5, contains a full register of the Army of the United States for 1847 and lists several notable military figures and future Civil War generals, who first experienced military combat during the Mexican-American War, including Major Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, Captain Robert E. Lee, Second Lieutenants U. S. Grant, Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, and Abner Doubleday, Lieutenant Colonel John C. Fremont, Quartermaster Brigadier General Thomas S. Jesup, and more. The booklet contains annotations to the inner pages and covers. In very good condition, with moderate signature contrast, heavy wear, staining, and partial separation to the fragile chipped covers.
Joseph Rowe Smith, Sr. (1802-1868) was a U.S. Army Brigadier General who graduated from the Military Academy in 1823 and was assigned to the Infantry. Smith soon became Adjutant of his regiment and was part of a survey mission in Florida in 1823, during which he fought Seminole Indians. Smith traveled from New York (State) throughout Michigan as well as Florida between 1823 and 1835. In September 1835, he was appointed adjutant of the 2nd Infantry. Smith fought in the Mexican border wars and was wounded twice, including an elbow wound that went untreated and resulted in disability from active service. Yet, during the Civil War, Smith served as the military commander of Detroit with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was breveted as a Brigadier General at the end of the Civil War.
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