[2] In an area known as Devil's Den, Smith, along with J. Levi Roush, John W. Hart, George Mears, Chester S. Furman and Wallace Johnson volunteered to attack a small log cabin being held by Confederate forces.
[2] Although they attempted to approach the cabin by stealth, they were spotted and began taking fire from the enemy force locked inside.
[3] Life in Anderson prison was hard with inadequate water supply, overcrowding, reductions of food rations and unsanitary conditions causing the deaths of nearly 13, 000 union troops.
[4] Although he managed to escape once, he was recaptured and returned to Andersonville where he remained a prisoner of war for the next seven months until he was freed by Union forces on March 2, 1865.
[2][3] After the war Smith returned to Pennsylvania where he met and married his wife Joanna C. Hinkel and together they had a daughter they named Blanche.