Smith fought in the American Civil War with the 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was brevetted a brigadier general for his actions at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Smith was also a prominent Freemason, leading the Illinois chapter and serving as Grand Scribe for twenty-five years.

The unit was eventually attached to the Military Division of the Mississippi, led by fellow Galena native Ulysses S. Grant.

[2] When the war ended, Smith returned to Galena and was named Assistant Assessor of the Internal Revenue for Jo Daviess County.

Smith left Galena in 1874 to return to Chicago, where he was named manager of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company office.

He was on the Committee of Correspondence, was on the Masonic Veterans' Association, and was a 33rd degree Emeritus Venerable Chief ad vitam, having served as Grand Master of Illinois in 1881.