William Jay Smith

William Jay Smith (September 24, 1823 – November 29, 1913) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee's 8th congressional district.

Biography Smith was born in Birmingham, England on September 24, 1823, and immigrated to the United States and settled in Orange County, New York. He attended the common schools, and after he had learned the printing trade, he moved to Tennessee in 1846.

Career During the Mexican–American War, in 1847, Smith served in a regiment from Tennessee. He moved to Hardeman County, Tennessee, and engaged in horticulture.

In the American Civil War, Smith served in the First West Tennessee U.S. Cavalry, later known as the 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment. He rose through the ranks of the regiment, largely as an associate and confederate of Fielding Hurst. Both Smith and Hurst gained reputations for using the regiment to enrich themselves during the course of the war. The regiment's most effective leader, Lt. Colonel William K.M. Breckenridge, who worked to equip and lead the regiment in most of its legitimate missions from October 1862 to October 1863, derisively referred to Smith as "Petticoat Smith" for his habit of raiding plantation homes and even taking ladies' garments for his own wife and daughters.

Elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress, Smith served from March 4, 1869 to March 3, 1871. An unsuccessful candidate for reelection, he engaged in the real estate and banking businesses. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876.

Death Smith died in Memphis, on November 29, 1913 (age 90 years, 66 days), while walking down the street, due to sudden heart failure. He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery, in Memphis.