Smith Plantation Receives Historic Trunk

Posted Tuesday, December 12, 2006

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Roswell, GA (December 11, 2006)-The Archibald Smith Plantation Home Preservationists (ASPHP) received an early Christmas gift with the donation of William Smith's Civil War Trunk by Dr. James Lister Skinner and Dr. Arthur Skinner, great nephews of the last living member of the Smith family, Mary Norvell Smith. The presentation was made during a private Christmas party on December 10.

William "Willie" Seagrove Smith was stationed near Savannah as part of the Signal Corps throughout the Civil War. In anticipation of Sherman taking control of Savannah, Willie sent his trunk to his family taking refuge in Valdosta because he was unable to transport personal belongings during the Confederate retreat. After Willie's death, and the Smith's return to their Roswell home following the war, the trunk was placed in the attic of the home where it was discovered 120 years after Willie's death.

Arthur Skinner found the trunk in the attic in 1987, still containing personal items such the letters to William used in the composition of The Death of a Confederate: Selections from the Letters of the Smith Family of Roswell, Georgia, 1864-1956, copies of which are on sale at the Plantation Home. The historic trunk will make a significant addition to the Smith family collection of artifacts purchased by the City of Roswell and the ASPHP from the Skinner Family in 2004.

Smith Plantation is an original 1840's plantation site built by Archibald Smith, one of Roswell's founding fathers, featuring original family furnishings and ten original outbuildings. It is owned by the City of Roswell and operated with support from the Archibald Smith Plantation Home Preservationists, Inc. Smith Plantation is located in historic Roswell at 935 Alpharetta Street, adjacent to the Roswell Municipal complex. For more information about the Smith Plantation please contact the Smith Plantation at 770.641.3978 or log on to www.archibaldsmithplantation.org.

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