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James Milton Smith

James Milton Smith (24 October 1823-25 November 1890) was the Democratic Governor of Georgia from 12 January 1872 to 12 January 1877, succeeding Benjamin F. Conley and preceding Alfred H. Colquitt.

Biography[]

James Milton Smith was born in Twiggs County, Georgia in 1823, and he became a lawyer in Columbus in 1846. He served as colonel of the Confederate 13th Georgia Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War, leading it at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg and being wounded at the 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor. He served in the Confederate Congress at the end of the war, and he opposed Reconstruction as a state legislator and as Governor from 1872 to 1877. He reduced the state debt through reduced expenditures, and he chose the most qualified people to staff his departments rather than engaging in patronage. He also saw African-Americans as "idle, thriftless" and "always depending on the whites for everything". He failed in his 1877 bid for the US Senate, and he served on the railroad commission and as a judge until his death in Columbus in 1890.

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