Gustavus Woodson Smith (November 30, 1821 – June 24, 1896), more commonly known as G.W. Smith, was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Mexican–American War, a civil engineer, and a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He briefly commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from May 31 until June 1, 1862, following the wounding of General Joseph E. Johnston at the Battle of Seven Pines, and before General Robert E. Lee took command. Smith later served as Interim Confederate Secretary of War and in the Georgia state militia.
Smith’s home state of Kentucky became a border state when the Civil War broke out in 1861. Some months afterward, he presented himself at Richmond to serve the Confederate States of America. Commissioned as a major general on September 19, he served in Northern Virginia as a divisional and “wing” commander, and fought in the Battle of Seven Pines near Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign.
On May 31, 1862, Smith briefly took command of the Army of Northern Virginia after Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at Seven Pines, due to his being the senior major general in Johnston’s army. However, Jefferson Davis replaced him with Robert E. Lee the following day, June 1. On June 2, Smith became ill and took a leave of absence to recuperate.[2]
In late August, Smith returned and took command of the defenses around Richmond, which was expanded to become the Department of North Carolina & Southern Virginia in September. In addition, he acted as interim Confederate States Secretary of War from November 17 through November 21, 1862.
He resigned his commission as a major general on February 17, 1863, and became a volunteer aide to General P. G. T. Beauregard for the rest of that year. Smith was also the superintendent of the Etowah Iron Works in 1863 until June 1, 1864, when he was commissioned a major general in the Georgia state militia and commanded its first division until the end of the war.[1]
Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Woodson_Smith.