Alfred B. Smith was probably born in about January of 1840 in Buncombe County, North Carolina, to Ally Burnett and Burton “Burt” Smith. (Alfred's birth year was reported in various censuses as 1840, 1839, 1844, 1845, 1838, and 1837. However, the census closest to his birth may be the most likely to be accurate.)

The 1850 U.S. Census for Buncombe County found a household with Burt, “Alley,” and 11 children — including ~10-year-old Alfred.

Alfred was the eldest child still living with his parents in 1860, when the U.S. Census for Buncombe County found Burton, Ally, and 10 youngsters, ranging in age from 21 to 3, living near Swannanoa. Several of these children seem too young to have been the couple’s biological children. Perhaps some were grandchildren or other kin of Burt and Ally?

THE CIVIL WAR

On May 20, 1861, the state of North Carolina followed the states of the Deep South in seceding from the Union. Public opinion was mixed.

The North Carolina 11th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Mangum near Raleigh, North Carolina, in March of 1862. Unit records suggest Alfred was an early volunteer.

Many of Alfred’s fellow soldiers were already battle tested, having fought in the short-lived 1st North Carolina under Colonel Zebulon Vance at Big Bethel, Virginia, in June of 1861 — earning the 11th the nickname “Bethel Regiment.”

Alfred’s younger brother, Thomas, also volunteered for the 11th in March of 1862. However, Thomas died of Typhoid Fever on September 24, 1862 in Military Hospital No. 2 in Wilson County, North Carolina. Thomas’s body was not returned home to Buncombe County.

Alfred’s Company K, nicknamed the Southern Stars, and made up mainly of Buncombe County volunteers, fought at White Hall Ferry on December 16, 1862. Captain Taylor of the Union signal service reported that fire from the 11th was “one of the severest musketry fires I have ever seen!”

Following White Hall, the 11th was placed in General Pettigrew's Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia … then spent the winter and spring of 1863 in North Carolina. During this time, disease and desertions plagued the 11th while its primary duty was to guard railroads from Federal incursions.

Alfred was admitted to C.S.A. General Hospital No. 4 in Wilmington, North Carolina, on May 13, 1862. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, but was soon returned to duty.

In early May of 1863, the 11th and four other regiments were ordered to Virginia to guard the supply line at Hanover Junction. Six weeks later, the 11th joined Henry Heth's division of A. P. Hill's Third Corps as General Robert E. Lee planned for an invasion of Pennsylvania.

The Battle of Gettysburg exacted a fearful toll from the 11th. In some of the earliest fighting on July 1, 1863, General Pettigrew's men were thrown at the Union’s Iron Brigade — made up mainly of volunteers from Michigan and Wisconsin — with orders to take McPherson's Ridge. During this attack, Alfred was shot in the face and neck, and taken prisoner by Union troops along with dozens of his fellow Bethels.

The 11th would go on to fight bravely at Gettysburg for two more days, including the assault on Cemetery Ridge where the Tar Heels went as far as or farther than any troops in the forlorn attack and suffered more grievous losses. But Alfred had been taken to the rear with the other wounded, then transferred to the Union Provost Marshal (military police).

Many of the worst wounded were soon paroled, and Alfred seems to have been in that group. July 15, 1863 found Alfred a patient at Chimborazo Hospital No. 5, Richmond, Virginia with “G.S.W (gunshot wounds) of face & neck.” Alfred was then transferred to Raleigh on July 28, 1863.

Upon release from hospital, Alfred apparently went home to Swannanoa in Buncome County to continue his recuperation. During this time, Alfred was maintained on the Company Muster Roll, and continued to accrue back pay at the rate of $11 per month (Confederate) as a Prisoner of War, albeit “Absent … on furlough home paroled.”

In the spring of 1864, and as planting was well underway, Alfred was required to travel back to Richmond for medical evaluation.

On April 11, 1864, Alfred was “retired as unfit for military duty,” paid off with $44 (Confederate) for the period September 1, 1863 to December 31, 1863, and sent home to sit out the rest of the war.

Family lore holds that Alfred would wear a full beard for the rest of his life to help cover his battle scars.

After the surrender, Alfred was named in the Roll of Honor for Company K, North Carolina 11th Infantry Regiment (Leventhorpe’s) as wounded and captured at Gettysburg.

Alfred married Ermandarrill "Emma" Mae Huggins on July 8, 1866 in Buncombe County.

NOTE: “Ermandarrill” is an attempt to decipher Emma’s scrawled name in the 1850 U.S. Census when she was about two years old. It is never found written that way again, and no explanation can be found for its source. To confuse matters even more, the same enumerator, Ass’t Marshal John Clayton, visited the same Huggins home twice in 1850 — once on August 13th, and again on August 19th. Emma’s name on the earlier, even less legible record, may be “Ermanda M.,” “Dmonda M.,” or Ernestine M.” None of these variations ever appears again, either.

Emma was probably born about a decade after Alfred in Henderson County, North Carolina. Her parents were Hodge Huggins (born about 1827) and Sarah or Sally White (born about 1828), both natives of North Carolina.

The bad news is that a man named of Hodge Huggins — not a common name by any means — appears in the inmate records of the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville. Hodge was convicted in Roane County, Tennessee in 1859 of “giving a Negro a forged pass.” The 1860 U.S. Census for the prison adds that “H. Huggins” was a Stone Mason born in North Carolina. Granted, we do not know with certainty that this was Emma’s father, Hodge. But Sarah and her children, Emma and William, appear without Hodge in the 1860 U.S. Census in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. And there is not another reliable sighting of either Hodge or Sarah/Sally after 1860.

Alfred and Emma had at least nine children over the next 20-odd years. The youngest was born April 26, 1885 in the Chunn's Cove area of Buncombe County. They named her Minnie, and she is the author’s paternal grandmother through her marriage to James Victor “Jim” White in 1903.

In October of 1873, the White and Smith family streams crossed when Alfred’s sister, Catharine "Kate" Elizabeth Smith, married Pharoah White, the author’s 2nd great uncle. It was Pharoah’s third marriage, and Catharine’s first. Pharoah is most notable for having started the war a Rebel, and ending it in the service of the Union Navy as a “Galvanized Yankee” following his capture in 1864.

NOTE: We do not currently know if Emma’s mother, Sarah/Sally White, was part of “our” White family. Although the odds probably favor it.

Alfred and Emma lived in several areas of Buncombe County during their marriage, suggesting that they never owned a farm of their own. However, a 1911 Asheville city directory found them living back up in Chunn's Cove. And that is probably where Alfred died on December 10, 1912 at the age of 74.

We believe Alfred was laid to rest with other family in the Bethesda United Methodist Church Cemetery in Haw Creek. However, there are no headstone photos at this time.

EPILOGUE

Now on her own, Emma moved into town, taking up residence on Fairview Road in the Biltmore Estate neighborhood with her daughter, Julia, and Julia’s husband, John A. Penley.

On July 6, 1914, Emma filed a claim for a Civil War widow’s pension based on the service of “A.B. Smith” in “Co. K, 11” Regiment North Carolina State Troops. The application was witnessed by Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Penley. We currently have no evidence the claim was approved, but there seems no reason it would not have been.

Emma died on August 27, 1923 at her daughter’s home on Fairview Road in the Biltmore Estate suburb of Asheville. She was about 75 years old.

We believe Emma was laid to rest with Alfred and other family members in the Bethesda United Methodist Church Cemetery in Haw Creek.

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Researched and written by P. A. White, JD
2020 for @NewWorldAncestry at Shorewood, Wisconsin – All Rights Reserved
Subject’s relation to author: Great-grandfather