Green Clay Smith was a United States soldier and politician. Elected to the Kentucky state house before the American Civil War, he was commissioned as a Union officer when he volunteered, advancing to the rank of major general before he resigned the next year to go to Congress. He was elected to the US Congress from Kentucky in 1862 representing the Unionist Party, serving until 1866.
Smith was born in 1826 in Richmond, Kentucky to John Speed Smith and his wife Elizabeth Lewis Smith as the third of seven children. He was named for his maternal grandfather, Green Clay, a very wealthy planter and slaveholder in Kentucky and a prominent politician. His siblings included Sally Ann Lewis , named for her maternal grandmother Curran Cassius, Pauline Green, Junius Brutus , Mary Spencer , and John Speed, Jr.
Source: Wikipedia