Henry Carpenter Smither (July 28, 1873 – July 13, 1930) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

officer and

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

from 1906 to 1907, compiling a record of 7–2–1. Smither was born on July 28, 1873, at Fort Sill and was the son General Robert Gano Smither. He attended schools in Burlington, Iowa, and graduated from West Point in 1897. Smither was a commanding officer during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

and the Philippine–American War. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served as an adjutant to Peyton C. March, the

Chief of Staff of the United States Army The chief of staff of the Army (CSA) is a statutory position in the United States Army held by a general officer. As the highest-ranking officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the chief is the principal military advisor and ...

. Smither was promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

in 1925. Smither died on July 13, 1930, at the Olney sanitarium in

Lawrenceville, Illinois Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, Illinois, Lawrence County, Illinois, United States, located along the Embarras River (Illinois), Embarras River. The population was 4,348 at the 2010 census. Lawrenceville is locat ...

, following two operations for appendicitis.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

1873 births 1930 deaths American military personnel of the Philippine–American War American military personnel of the Spanish–American War Army Black Knights football coaches United States Army generals United States Army personnel of World War I United States Military Academy alumni People from Burlington, Iowa People from Fort Sill, Oklahoma Coaches of American football from Iowa Military personnel from Iowa Deaths from appendicitis {{1900s-collegefootball-coach-stub