...adjutantgen-eral. Colonel Vaughn ordered the Thirteenth to fire, and the slayer of Donelson paid the penalty with his own life. In his official report, General Cheatham said: In this night attack Brig.-Gen. Preston Smith , of Tennessee, received a mortal wound, from which he died in fifty minutes. At the head of his noble brigade, of which he had been the commander as colonel and brigadier-general for two years and a ...