James Webster Smith

James Webster Smith (June 1850 - November 30, 1876) was an American professor and a cadet at the United States Military Academy. A former slave, Smith became a scholar and is recognized as the first black person appointed to a cadetship at West Point. His tenure at the academy, from 1870 to 1874, was fraught with racial prejudice and ended with Smith's formal dismissal a year before completing his studies. Embittered by his experience, Smith nonetheless found success as a professor at South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical Institute. He died of tuberculosis in 1876.

Often overlooked in black history, Smith's tenure at West Point is obscured by the accomplishments of Henry Ossian Flipper, the first black cadet to graduate from West Point. In 1997, Smith was posthumously honored at a ceremony that commissioned him as a second lieutenant.

Biography

James Webster Smith was born in 1850 in Columbia, South Carolina. His parents Israel and Catherine Smith were slaves; Israel, a mulatto man, worked as a carpenter before becoming one of Columbia's alderman following the abolishment of slavery.^[1] After the Civil War, Smith attended school through the Freedmen's Bureau, one function of which was to provide an educational system for the newly freedmen during the Reconstruction Era.^[2] David Clark, a benefactor from Connecticut, was so impressed by the progress shown by Smith that he arranged for him to travel to Hartford with him to advance his education in the city's school system; the pair arrived in April 1867.^[3]

At Hartford, Smith continued to excel and later attended Hartford High School where he graduated with honors on April 22, 1870. On May 1, 1870, with the backing of Clark and Oliver Otis Howard, Smith enrolled at Howard University, a prestigious institute founded by Howard.^[3] Smith, however, only attended Howard University briefly before representative Solomon L. Hoge of South Carolina recommended him for entry into the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point. Reluctantly, Clark agreed to send Smith West Point for his preliminary exams, knowing he would most likely have to endure racial bigotry if he was accepted.^[3]

Smith reported to West Point on May 31, 1870 in preparation for his exams; when rumors to this effect quickly swept the academy, Smith immediately faced opposition from cadets: "[I] had not been there an hour before I had been reminded by several thoughtful cadets that I was 'nothing but a damned nigger'", he recollected.^[4] Often times, Smith and his roommate, another black nominee named Michael Howard, were the subjects of hazing and physical abuse by the cadets.^[1][4] Smith passed his preliminary exams but Howard was rejected and sent home, leaving Smith as the first and only black cadet of West Point; he was officially admitted into the academy on July 9, 1870.^[5]

Resented by his fellow classmates, Smith lived an isolated lifestyle at West Point, facing harassment, vandalism, and dining alone.^[1] While drilling with his squad, cadets tended to refuse to work with Smith, unless faced with demotion or a court martial, and stepped on his feet in line. On August 13, 1870, Smith was confronted by his classmate J.W. Wilson as Smith went to fill his water pail and return to his post; an altercation ensued and both cadets were arrested.^[4] The incident was the subject of the first of three court martials issued on Smith but the court concluded his original three-week arrest was a sufficient punishment. A few months later in January 1871, Smith's third court martial, charging him with conduct unbecoming of a cadet and gentleman, resulted in a year-long suspension from West Point.^[3]

Smith's enrollment at West Point came to a sudden conclusion in June 1974 when he was deemed deficient in his philosophical studies by his professor and recommended for a formal discharge. Desperate for recourse, Smith met with Secretary of War William W. Belknap to request a re-examination but was refused.^[1] Henry Ossian Flipper's graduation from West Point three years later -- the first African American to accomplish such a feat -- incidentally made Smith an obscure figure in black history.^[1] Left embittered by the turn of events, Smith published a series of his memoirs detailing his experiences at the Academy in the New National Era and Citizen, a black newspaper.^[4] In 1875, Smith arrived in Orangeburg, South Carolina to accept a teaching position at State Agricultural College & Mechanics Institute, teaching mathematics and military tactics.^[1]

Smith taught at the university unti he succumbed to tuberculosis on November 30, 1876. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Columbia.^[1] At the request of South Carolina Congressmen John Spratt, Jim Clybum, and Senator Storm Thurmond, Smith was posthumously commissioned as a second lieutenant on September 22, 1997.^[6]

References