' Smith, Robert. If one may judge by the high military rank attained by Robert Smith in the colony, it sees probable that he had been an officer in the English army before coming to America. The first appearance of his name in the extant records, is as a member of the council in 1663, but it is quite possible that he may have been appointed to that body at the restoration. He soon became a man of prominence and was appointed one of the three major generals in the militia. As "Major General Robert Smith," he was present in council in March, 1666, and on July 10, of the same year, when an attack from a Dutch fleet was expected. The governor and council ordered Maj. Gen. Robert Smith to demand and seize all ammunition in the hands of any one in the colony. On July 12, he was appointed one of the commissioners on the part of Virginia to treat with Maryland concerning the culture of tobacco. He is recorded as being present at meetings of the council as late as 1671, and not long after this, must have been sent to England as the colony's agent, as on July 2, 1673, he is referred to as the agent of Virginia and authorized by the assembly to purchase as many shares as possible in the patent for the Northern Neck, which the King had granted. In 1674, he, together with Francis Moryson and Thomas Ludwell, was appointed an agent for Virginia to secure from the King a repeal of his grant of Virginia to Lords Arlington and Culpeper, and a new charter. The charter which they attempted to gain, and which embodied the ideas of the colonists as to their rights, was a splendid document and included among other provisions the prophetic stipulation that the Virginians, in common with all Englishmen, should not be taxed without their own consent. Unfortunately for the efforts of the agents, the news of Bacon's rebellion reached England just as the King seemed ready to sign the charter and served him as an excuse for withholding it. He withdrew his grant of the colony to the two noblemen, however, so that the colony were much beholden to their agents' efforts. After his return to the colony, he played a prominent part in the suppression of the "plant cutting" insurrection and continued to be present at the meetings of the council until 1683, after which he seems to have visited England. His only daughter Elizabeth married Harry Beverley.'
