In 1842, she married
J. Gregory Smith, who served as
Governor during the Civil War. They were the parents of six children, including
Edward Curtis Smith, who also served as governor.
Author Smith wrote essays, poems and other works, and is best known for her three novels,
Seola, Selma, and
Atla. Her first published work,
From Dawn to Sunrise (1876) dealt with the historical and philosophical religious ideas of mankind. Its success caused Henry K. Adams, author of
A Centennial History of St. Albans Vermont to call it "[t]he smartest book ever written in Vermont." Her second work was
Seola (1878), which was written as an
antediluvian diary. The next novel published was
Selma (1883), a
Viking love story. The third novel,
Atla (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1886), was about the sinking of the legendary lost island called
Atlantis. At least one reviewer,
The Churchman, was highly critical of it:— In 1924,
Seola was revised by the "Bible Students"—later known as
Jehovah's Witnesses—and retitled
Angels and Women. Smith usually wrote under her married name, Mrs. J. Gregory Smith, but both
Seola and
Angels and Women were published anonymously; they were later ascribed to her by the
Library of Congress.
St. Albans Raid On the afternoon of October 19, 1864, the northernmost land event of the Civil War occurred, the St. Albans Raid.
Confederates infiltrated the town, robbed several banks, wounded two citizens (one mortally), and fled north to Canada. Since he was serving as governor, the home of J. Gregory Smith was a target of the raid. Governor Smith was not at home, and when Mrs. Smith appeared in the front doorway carrying an unloaded pistol (the only weapon she could find), the raiders decided to bypass the house. She then worked to organize the people of St. Albans to mount a pursuit of the raiders, which unsuccessfully attempted to prevent them from escaping to Canada. For her actions in defending the Smith home and efforts to rally the people of St. Albans in pursuing the raiders, Governor Washburn named Mrs. Smith a
brevet lieutenant colonel on his staff. Washburn, who served as governor from 1869 until his death in 1870, had served in the
Union Army early in the Civil War, and then spent the rest of the conflict as Adjutant General of the Vermont Militia. Under Washburn's direction, units of the militia had attempted to pursue the Confederate raiders, and later patrolled the border with Canada to ensure there were no further efforts to conduct Confederate activities in Vermont. Smith wrote of her personal reminiscences of the St. Albans Raid in
The Vermonter:— ==Death and legacy==