He was born in the (now former) town of Washington, Alabama, in 1841, the son of Samuel Parrish Smith and his wife Adelaide Julia Allen.

[1] After an education in Prattville and a three-year stint at Central High School in Philadelphia, Eugene matriculated to the University of Alabama as a junior in 1860,[2] where he graduated with an A.B.

[1] With the American Civil War underway, Eugene enlisted as a private with the 33rd Regiment Alabama Infantry of the Confederate States Army, and was elected to the rank of 2nd lieutenant by the men.

In December 1862, Eugene was appointed Instructor of Military Tactics at the University of Alabama by Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate states.

[2] He resumed a state geological survey that had been discontinued in 1857 with the death of Michael Tuomey, reporting on the mineral resources of Alabama.