Daniel L. Smith
Civil War Round Table Member Dan Smith received the Steve Treaster Civil War Preservation Award at our dinner meeting in January of 2016.
Daniel L. Smith currently serves as chairman of the Monnett Battle of Westport Fund. He was one of the founding members in 1977 of the Westport fund, which is a §501(c)(3) non-profit group, dedicated to the commemoration and preservation of the Civil War battlefields of Kansas City.
Reared a few miles from the Mine Creek battlefield in Pleasanton, Kansas, Dan developed an early interest in history and historic preservation. He has been actively involved in Civil War battlefield preservation efforts since 1970, including nomination applications for the National Register of Historic Places. As a congressional intern in 1969, he performed research on Civil War topics at the National Archives and Library of Congress.
Dan has served as the editor and historical consultant for various works, including October 25th and the Battle of Mine Creek, by Lumir F. Buresh and Border Warfare in Southeast Kansas, by Murlin G. Welch.
In 2002, Dan authored the study, "Interpretive and Development Plan for Byram’s Ford Big Blue Battlefield” This study has been adopted by governmental agencies in the preservation of the site. Dan and fellow historian Shirley Christian are co-chairs of the “Saving Kansas City’s Battlefield” initiative which is reclaiming and restoring the battlefield at the Byram’s Ford crossing. On behalf of the Monnett Battle of Westport Fund, Dan and Alisha Cole collaborated in 2008, to create and establish the Battle of Westport Visitor Center and Museum, located at Swope Park in Kansas City MO. More recently he has served as a speaker and consultant on Civil War topics to the Missouri Humanities Council. In 2010, Dan served as consultant to the National Park Service on matters pertaining to the revision of the Civil War Sites Advisory Committee’s listing for the Byram’s Ford (CWSAC 027) and Westport (CWSAC 028) sites in Missouri.
Dan has also served as president of the Civil War Round Table of Kansas City in 1980 and 2005. He is currently an officer of the Westport Historical Society and a life member of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Dan received his undergraduate degree in political science, with honors, from the University of Kansas in 1973. He graduated from Duke University Law School in 1976. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and is listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Law.
Since 1976, Dan has been engaged in the practice of law in the Kansas City metropolitan area, as a trial attorney. He resides in Overland Park with his wife Alana.
