William Stephens Smith (November 8, 1755 – June 10, 1816) was a United States Representative from New York. He married Abigail "Nabby" Adams the daughter of President John Adams, and so was a brother-in-law of President John Quincy Adams, and an uncle of Charles Francis Adams.

Born on Long Island, he graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1774, studied law for a short time.

American Revolutionary War

He served in the Revolutionary Army as aide-de-camp to General John Sullivan in 1776. Smith fought in the Battle of Long Island, wounded at Harlem Heights, fought at the Battle of White Plains, promoted to lieutenant colonel at the Battle of Trenton as well as fighting at the Battle of Monmouth and Newport. He was on the staff of General Lafayette in 1780 and 1781, became an adjutant in the Corps of Light Infantry then transferred to the staff of George Washington.^[1]

Years After the War

He was secretary of the Legation at London in 1784. While there, he met and courted John Adams' daughter Abigail ("Nabby"), whom he married in 1786.^[2] He returned to America in 1788. Smith was appointed by President Washington to be the first United States Marshal for the District of New York in 1789, and later supervisor of revenue. He was one of the originators of the Society of the Cincinnati, and served as its president from 1795 to 1797. He was appointed by President John Adams surveyor of the port of New York in 1800. During this period the Smiths bought land in what was then the countryside outside of New York City, and planned to build an estate, which they called Mount Vernon, in honor of George Washington. They never lived there, but a carriage house on the property was later converted to a hotel and is now operated as the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.

Colonel Smith raised private funds, procured weapons, and recruited soldiers of fortune to fight the Spanish occupation of Venezuela. This action was inspired by Smith's renewal of acquaintance with Francisco de Miranda, whom Smith had first met when he was John Adams' secretary in London in 1783. On 2 February 1806, a force of filibusters, including Smith's son William Steuben, set sail on a chartered merchant vessel, the Leander. The Spanish captured the ship and the mercenaries. Steuben later escaped.

Colonel Smith was indicted in New York for violating the Neutrality Act of 1794 and put on trial. Colonel Smith claimed his orders came from U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison, who refused to appear in court. Judge William Patterson ruled that the President "cannot authorise a person to do what the law forbids." Colonel Smith stood trial and was found not guilty.^[3]

In 1807 Smith moved to Lebanon, New York.

Smith was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth Congress, holding office from March 4, 1813 to March 3, 1815. He presented credentials of his election to the Fourteenth Congress, but he did not qualify, and on December 13, 1815, Westel Willoughby, Jr. successfully contested his election.

Smith died in Smith Valley in the town of Lebanon in 1816. He is interned in the Lines Hill Cemetery, between Smyrna and Sherburne, New York.

External links

General Miranda's Expedition an 1860 account of the Leander affair http://www.fullbooks.com/Atlantic-Monthly-Vol-5-No-31-May-18603

Footnotes

References

• William S. Smith at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress