Family of Abiel Leonard SMITH and Florence COMPTON

Brigadier General Abiel Leonard Smith was a United States Army Officer from 1878 to 1918.

 

He was born on on July 14th, 1857, in Fayette, Missouri, the son of Joseph Darnell (1828-1900) and Martha S. Leonard Smith (1836-1927), and was raised in Missouri.

 

He obtained an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from the state of Missouri in 1873 and entered the Military Academy as a Cadet on July 1st, 1874. On June 14th, 1878, he graduated 40th in his class from the Military Academy and was commissioned as an Additional Second Lieutenant with the 19th United States Infantry Regiment.

 

He was promoted to Second Lieutenant with the 19th Infantry Regiment on June 28th, 1878, and served on frontier duty at posts in the Indian Territory, Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico, to 1883, being transferred to the 4th Cavalry Regiment on February 3rd, 1879.

 

He was promoted to First Lieutenant with the 4th Cavalry Regiment on June 30th, 1883, and resumed his duties at posts in New Mexico, Arizona, Missouri, Virginia, and Washington, to May of 1892. On February 27th, 1890, he was brevetted to the rank of Captain for "gallant service in the campaign against Geronimo's Band of Indians in Sonora, Mexico, from July to September of 1886," and was promoted to Captain with the 4th Cavalry Regiment on May 6th, 1892.

 

In June of 1892 he was called to Washington, D.C., and assigned to special duty, and on June 28th, 1892, received his appointment as a Captain & Commissary of Subsistence in the United States Army, in which branch he would remain for the rest of his service. He served as various Commissary Depot's in Illinois, California, and Missouri to 1898, when the Spanish American War occurred.

 

On June 14th, 1890, Abiel L. Smith married Miss Florence Compton, the daughter of Colonel Charles E. Compton, United State Army, the couple would go on to have four children (Abiel Leonard Jr., Dorothy S., Charles Compton, and Margaret).

 

He was assigned to duty as a Lieutenant Colonel & Commissary of Subsistence of United States Volunteers from July 22nd, 1898, to March 2nd, 1899, and served as the Purchasing and Depot Commissaries in Florida, Porto Rico, and Cuba, until 1899 when he was called back to Washington, D.C., to served as an Assistant to the Commissary-General of Subsistence and as the Disbursing Commissary at Washington, D.C., until April 3rd, 1901. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel & Deputy Commissary General of Subsistence on April 1st, 1901, and spent the several few years inspecting subsistence supplies for the troops in the Philippine Islands in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri. In 1904 he was sent to the Philippine Islands where he served as the Chief Commissary of the Philippines Division from November of 1904 to March of 1907, spending time in China, Japan, and Australia, as well as the Philippines seeing to the needs of the troops. On October 13th, 1905, he was promoted to Colonel & Assistant Commissary General, and returned to the United States in April of 1907, assuming the duties as the Purchasing Commissary and the Subsistence Superintendent of the Army Transport Service at New York City, New York, to October of 1912.

 

He then served as the Chief Quartermaster of the Central Department at Chicago, Illinois, to August of 1913, as the Depot Quartermaster and Superintendent of the Army Transport Service at New York City, New York, to October of 1916. On September 21st, 1916, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the Quartermaster Corps, and was assigned to duty as the Chief of the Supplies Division, including clothing, equipage, fuel, forage, subsistence, at Washington, D.C., to January 3rd, 1918.

 

General Smith retired from active service on January 3rd, 1918, at his own request after over forty-years of service. Following his retirement he resided at Carmel, New York, from 1918 to 1946, it was then that on April 24th, 1946, while visiting New York City, New York, that he passed away at the age of 88.¹