Henry Bascom Smith

This is a memoir written by H B Smith for his family and as such should be forgiven for imperfections therein. Smith was in his early 20s when he volunteered for the Northerners in the American Civil War. Several reviewers have criticised the phrase "Secret service Stories", as though Smith was not a member of "the" Secret Service whatever that means. Surfice it to say, at the time of the Civil War between Northerners and Southerners, the work that Smith and others were instructed to do depended upon maintaining secrecy of their mission and their identities. By doing so, and setting up traps to catch individuals or groups of people who were sending anything - from money to tobacco to cloth from the North to the South, and those who collected said items Smith and his compatriots were indeed part of a secret service.

Criticism has been given that the book revolves around reports and fragments of paper kept by Smith, however think again when you read it. This is a "What did you do in the war" book, and the memories are triggered and fleshed out using letters, reports and other snippets of information kept by Smith over time.

Even I - An Australian thought he glossed over the assassination of Lincoln, for his approach is to refer to it as a heinous crime, the capturing of individuals relating to the assassination rather than emotions. Fifty years after the event, Smith gives out a small amount of sorrow, but stays steadfast to the facts as they related only to him and his work.

This type of personal history is extremely valuable for historians and family historian, in here are names of individuals who a genealogist can trace to towns and villages on certain dates allowing one to build up a good picture of one's family past - whether you like it or not.… (mehr)