Preacher Smith Monument - Lawrence County, SD - Obelisks on Waymarking.com

The memorial is enclosed by a fence and locked gate, and there is plenty of parking to be had here. A South Dakota Historical Marker at the edge of the lot provides some background about Preacher Smith:

"Deadwood's Sky Pilot", Henry Weston Smith, was born in Ellington, Connecticut, January 10, 1828. At 23 he became a Methodist exhorter. This led to ordination in the Methodist Episcopal church and he served various communities in New England. In 1862 he enlisted in the Union Army. Caring for the wounded may have turned his mind to healing for he studied the practice of medicine and was licensed in 1867.

In 1876 he joined the great rush to these Black Hills -- not to mine gold, but to claim lives for God. Reading and writing poetry eased his loneliness. During the week he performed manual labor to send savings to his family in Kentucky and to sustain himself as he preached on Deadwood's main street.

On Sunday, August 20, 1876, after service in Deadwood, he tacked a note on his cabin door saying he had gone to Crook City to preach. On the way he was shot. In his pocket were the notes, now blood-stained, for the undelivered sermon. His Bible lay unopened. The Society of Black Hills Pioneers erected this monument in 1914 near where he was killed.

Today his body lies in Mt. Moriah Cemetery overlooking Deadwood.

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Note that the marker does not reference "Indians" as the monument does. That he had not been robbed raises questions. He certainly may have been on the receiving end of senseless violence and left for dead, while some believe his murder was premeditated and carried out by someone in Deadwood who perceived him as a threat to the city's rough-and-tumble businesses.

As mentioned, the Society of Black Hills Pioneers erected this monument in 1914 on a road here in Lawrence County between Deadwood and Spearfish, in the general area where Smith's body was found. In 1994, progress and expansion of US 85 prompted the relocation of the monument to this site. At that time, a time capsule from 1914 was opened and examined, and along with contemporary items, it was returned to its place below the monument, which was rededicated on August 20, 1995. The date was chosen to observe the 119th anniversary of Smith's murder, and the sermon that Preacher Smith did not live to deliver was given then.

The obelisk and plinth are made of gray granite, standing atop a concrete base. There is text to be found only on the front of the monument. "Henry Weston Smith" and "The Pioneer Preacher" are on the obelisk shaft, while the plinth completes the thought:

Who was killed off
by Indians, Sunday
morning, Aug. 20, 1876
Erected by the
Society of B.H. Pioneers
Aug. 20, 1914

Date Created/Placed: 1914 Address: US 85, Sturgis, SD 57785 Height: 20' Illuminated: no Website: [Web Link]

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