As soon however as his strength was sufficiently re-established Colonel Smith repaired to Washington, and in the rush and excitement which prevailed after the return of the defeated army to that neighborhood, he was engaged in helping to fortify and defend that city till the danger was past and the requirements of his regiment made it necessary for him to take command and begin its preparation for active service. It is to be noted that there was an unaccountable reluctance on the part of the War Department at the time, to permit the detachment of officers belonging to the various staff corps, for the purpose of commanding volunteers, but this was overcome without much difficulty in his case, and he began his career as an infantry colonel opportunely at the very time that McClellan was re-organizing the defeated army and badly needed the assistance of educated officers. Deeply impressed with the importance of stimulating the pride of the volunteers, and of keeping alive the heroic traditions of their state by all proper means, Colonel Smith recommended that the Vermont regiments should be brigaded and trained together, and fortunately this was approved by General McClellan. The Green Mountain men had won great renown in the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars by virtue of their state organization and services and the marked individuality which characterized them. It was a happy thought to keep them together during the Civil War. The sequel showed that it was not only highly beneficial to the national cause, but that it added greatly to the fame of the Vermont men. As the war was a sectional one in its origin, many of our best officers believed that the volunteer regiments should be formed into brigades and divisions, without reference to the States from which they came. They held that an army organized in this way would more rapidly develop the national spirit and become a more efficient military machine than one formed on state or sectional lines, and the general practice to the end of the war, in the Union army, was in accordance with this idea.