Major N. Clark Smith

Nathaniel Clark Smith (often Major N. Clark Smith; July 31, 1877 – October 8, 1935) was an important African-American musician, composer, and music educator in the United States during the early decades of the 1900s. Born on the Army base at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Smith began his music education very early organizing bands in Wichita starting in 1893. His strict military style leadership led to prominence and over the next 30 years he would lead bands in Chicago, Wichita, Kansas City, the Tuskegee Institute, and in St. Louis. He was an important educator for many of the prominent early Jazz musicians from Kansas City, Chicago, and St. Louis. He died in 1935 as the result of a stroke. Many primary documents about Smith's life have been lost as a result of a fire that destroyed most of his personal documents.

Nathaniel Clark Smith was born July 31, 1877 (or possibly in 1866) in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Dan and Maggie Smith. His father was an Army Trumpeter at the fort. His mother was half Cherokee. At Fort Leavenworth, he learned music under the German bandleader H.E. Gungle who identified Smith's talent and encouraged him to continue his musical education. After finishing formal education, he worked briefly in Kansas City in the publishing industry before beginning service in the Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma as an Army trumpeter in 1891. However, eye problems prevented him from pursuing a military career, so he moved with his wife, Laura Smith (née Lawson), to Wichita, Kansas in 1893.

Smith claimed that his father knew Frederick Douglass and that at the age of eight the younger Smith accompanied Douglass in playing the famous Negro spiritual, and song that would become a famous arrangement of Smith's, Steal Away to Jesus.

Wherever he moved, Smith would organize a variety of different bands and choirs. These included beginner bands, youth touring bands, choral societies, and even symphony orchestras. He began organizing bands in Wichita where one of the bands was selected to attend the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. While in Chicago with the band Smith signed an agreement with Lyon & Healy to work in their music publications division by organizing a number of bands and choruses. For this job, he moved to Chicago where he started a number of bands. In addition, he led the band for the Eighth Illinois Infantry unit for four years. During this time, he went with the infantry unit to the front lines in the Spanish–American War where he met Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt at the Battle of San Juan Hill. His military rank and promotion during this period are not precisely clear, however, it is generally contended that during this period he achieved the rank of Major in the United States Army. While living in Chicago he studied at the Chicago Musical College, where he had to register as a "private student" to attend classes at the otherwise all white school. It was during this time in Chicago that his daughter Anna was born.

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