Dates

• Existence: 1833 - 1864

Biographical Note

Jacob Wallace Smiley was born in 1833, probably in New York. From 1860, until the time he was drafted in 1863, he lived in Ellery, Chautauqua County, NY. He joined the 7th Company, 1st Battalion, New York Sharpshooters as a private in August of 1863. His unit traveled around Alexandria and other areas of Northern Virginia prior to his death in May 1864.

Mention of Smiley and documentation of the diary being returned to Smiley's widow, Melisa, by Private Henry Webb of the 50th Virginia Infantry are included in the book No word of them: First Battalion, New York Sharpshooters, 1862-1865 by John E. Bennett (Spec Civil War, Call No. E523.5.112th .B46 2007).

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