Smith Pyne Bankhead

Attorney, Artillerist, Confederate

Smith Pyne Bankhead was born on August 20, 1823, at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. His father, General James Bankhead was a career army officer from Virginia, stationed in South Carolina. His mother was Anne Pyne and she grew up in Virginia and attended Georgetown University and the University of Virginia. During the Mexican War, Smith P. Bankhead was a Captain of the Virginia Volunteers and he passed through Memphis, Tennessee enroute to Vera Cruz, Mexico. Smith P. Bankhead served under his father who was commanding the American troops stationed at Vera Cruz, after the Federal Army had captured it. After the Mexican war, Bankhead was presented a sword by his country for "Gallant Service." He migrated to California during the gold rush, but found life hard and decided to settle in Memphis in 1851.

In Memphis, Bankhead became involved in politics and was well known as a Mexican War hero. He founded and edited the Memphis Whig, a party newspaper. He soon sold the newspaper and was elected the City Attorney of Memphis in 1852. He built up a reputable private law practice throughout the decade before the War of Northern Aggression.

In the spring of 1861, secession was the talk of the South. In April, before Tennessee had decided to secede, Smith P. Bankhead was already recruiting men to form an artillery battery. Governor Isham G. Harris signed his commission on June 29, 1861. He was appointed "Sixth Captain in the Artillery Corps in the service of the Provisional Force of the Tennessee Volunteers". Bankhead's first engagement was serving under General McCowan at New Madrid, Missouri, where he had to evacuate his command. The cannon were evacuated safely, but the ammunition and limbers and caissons were dumped into the Mississippi River to avoid capture. His battery was increased from four to six cannons after this engagement.

Just prior to the Battle of Shiloh, Bankhead was promoted to Chief of Artillery, First Corps, Army of Mississippi. Oddly though, he served with his own battery at Shiloh, where it was part of Ruggles Brigade. His command captured six cannon, two caissons, and 37 horses. Two men were killed in his battery and 18 wounded.

After Shiloh, the battery was reorganized at Grenada, Mississippi. Bankhead was promoted to Major and transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department and later became Colonel of Artillery. Bankhead will serve the Trans-Mississippi Department throughout the rest of the War.

During the occupation of Memphis, Ada Garth Bankhead, wife of Smith P. Bankhead, received an order from General Sherman ordering her into exile, along with 23 other prominent Memphis families whose male members were fighting for the Confederacy. The fiery Southern Lady sought out General Sherman. "General, I won't go", she announced. "Madam", Sherman replied, "We'll have to put you out then at the point of bayonets." "I wish my grandmother was here," she reported. "She'd spank you. To think you were my Grandfather's Adjutant in the Mexican War and here you are trying to put my daughter and me out of our home. I'll not have it, and when you try to force us, you had best drag along a cannon instead of a bayonet." General Sherman modified his order of exile.

Bankhead served under his first cousin Major General John Bankhead Magruder who had been transferred to Texas following his dogged defense at Yorktown in the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia. He was promoted to Colonel on November 13, 1862 after already serving a month as Magruder's Chief of Artillery. However, the Confederate Senate did not confirm Bankhead's promotion papers. Evidently the promotion papers were mislaid in the Confederate War office and the Senate never saw them. This oversight will not be made good until January 14, 1865 to rank from June 15, 1864.

In the spring of 1863, Bankhead commanded the Post of San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to command the North Sub-District of Texas as "Acting Brigadier General" on May 30, 1863. His tenure as commander of a district was not very successful. Deserters and cotton speculators overran his district while he was trying to organize his forces. Several men he had recruited in Memphis were transferred to his command to help him. He was ordered into Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to link up with Confederate Forces. He had only 3 regiments of cavalry and skirmished with Federal patrols, but failed in his mission. In his absence he was replaced as brigade commander of his cavalry. He returned to Texas and reverted to his substantive rank of Colonel, but did not see field service again. On December 28, 1863, he again became Chief of Artillery, District of Texas.

On March 1, 1865, Brigadier General Smith P. Bankhead passed through the Union lines near New Orleans, Louisiana. The war was not quite over, but for Bankhead he was going home. Major General Canby, USA, gave him a pass of safe conduct and protection with the assurance that he would not fight against the United States again. Under these circumstances Bankhead returned to Memphis, where he became a prominent figure in the Reconstruction government that was harsh on the Memphis area. He was appointed Deputy City Attorney and Trustee of the Navy Yard.

On Saturday, March 31, 1867, General Bankhead was assassinated near the corner of Main and Washington in Memphis. It was 11:00 P.M. when he was struck down from behind and beaten to death by persons never identified and the crime is now famous in Memphis as the oldest unsolved murder. His death was thought to be due to his change of coats late in the war, his post war activities, and that he had become unpopular with many of his former Confederate friends. The funeral was held on April 1, 1867 at the Cavalry Episcopal Church. He was buried in the family plot, Lot 67, Chapel Hill Area of Elmwood Cemetery. Although he held the rank of General at the end of the war he is not considered one of the 12 Confederate Generals buried in this cemetery. As the 13th General, he had fallen from grace. In 1997 it was suggested that the cemetery include him in the list of Generals, but is unknown if this ever happened.

Bankhead's wife died in 1872 while in Charlottesville, Virginia and was buried beside him. He had two brothers that served on the Union side during the War. Captain John Bankhead, a commander of the Monitor, and General Henry Bankhead of General Buell's staff. On July 14, 1924, Miss Ada Payne Bankhead, only child of General and Mrs. Bankhead died at the family home at 229 Washington Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. Thus ended the encounter of the Smith P. Bankhead family with the War of Northern aggression.

A Bankhead letter dated September 24, 1863, mentions that he was appointed Brigadier by Order of General Edmund Kirby Smith. General Smith actually approved Magruder's assignment to duty pending action by the War Department.