Smith, Francis
Smith, Francis
SMITH, FRANCIS. (1723–1791). British officer. Commissioned lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers on 25 April 1741, he became captain in the Tenth Foot on 23 June 1747 and on 16 January 1762 became brevetted lieutenant colonel of the regiment. The next month he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and in 1767 he took the regiment to America. Known for his girth and caution, Smith was promoted to brevetted colonel on 8 September 1775. His seniority in the Boston garrison seems to have been his only qualification for selection to command the expedition to Lexington and Concord. Having received a serious leg wound in the action at Fiske Hill, outside Concord, on 19 April 1775, he applied for retirement in August but was retained in the service and promoted. Before the end of the year he became colonel and aide-de-camp to the king. As a local brigadier general he showed as little skill at Dorchester Heights in March 1776 as he had at Concord. He commanded a brigade at Long Island in August 1776 and at Quaker Hill in the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778. Before the end of the year his regiment returned to England to recruit and reform. He was promoted to major general in 1779 and lieutenant general in 1787. The unanswered question is why.
SEE ALSO Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts; Lexington and Concord; Newport, Rhode Island (29 July-31 August 1778).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fisher, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
revised by Michael Bellesiles