diff --git a/hapi-fhir-cli/hapi-fhir-cli-api/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/cli/BaseApp.java b/hapi-fhir-cli/hapi-fhir-cli-api/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/cli/BaseApp.java
index dd4b652f239..23ca152a033 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-cli/hapi-fhir-cli-api/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/cli/BaseApp.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-cli/hapi-fhir-cli-api/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/cli/BaseApp.java
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ public abstract class BaseApp {
 	}
 
 	private Optional<BaseCommand> parseCommand(String[] theArgs) {
-		Optional<BaseCommand> commandOpt = getNextCommand(theArgs);
+		Optional<BaseCommand> commandOpt = getNextCommand(theArgs, 0);
 
 		if (! commandOpt.isPresent()) {
 			String message = "Unrecognized command: " + ansi().bold().fg(Ansi.Color.RED) + theArgs[0] + ansi().boldOff().fg(Ansi.Color.WHITE);
@@ -294,8 +294,8 @@ public abstract class BaseApp {
 		return commandOpt;
 	}
 
-	private Optional<BaseCommand> getNextCommand(String[] theArgs) {
-		return ourCommands.stream().filter(cmd -> cmd.getCommandName().equals(theArgs[0])).findFirst();
+	private Optional<BaseCommand> getNextCommand(String[] theArgs, int thePosition) {
+		return ourCommands.stream().filter(cmd -> cmd.getCommandName().equals(theArgs[thePosition])).findFirst();
 	}
 
 	private void processHelp(String[] theArgs) {
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ public abstract class BaseApp {
 			logUsage();
 			return;
 		}
-		Optional<BaseCommand> commandOpt = getNextCommand(theArgs);
+		Optional<BaseCommand> commandOpt = getNextCommand(theArgs, 1);
 		if (! commandOpt.isPresent()) {
 			String message = "Unknown command: " + theArgs[1];
 			System.err.println(message);
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-cli/hapi-fhir-cli-api/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/cli/BaseAppTest.java b/hapi-fhir-cli/hapi-fhir-cli-api/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/cli/BaseAppTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..28f602bb142
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hapi-fhir-cli/hapi-fhir-cli-api/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/cli/BaseAppTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package ca.uhn.fhir.cli;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+public class BaseAppTest {
+
+	private final PrintStream standardOut = System.out;
+	private final ByteArrayOutputStream outputStreamCaptor = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+
+	@BeforeEach
+	public void setUp() {
+		System.setOut(new PrintStream(outputStreamCaptor));
+	}
+
+	@AfterEach
+	public void tearDown() {
+		System.setOut(standardOut);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testHelpOption() {
+		App.main(new String[]{"help", "create-package"});
+		assertThat(outputStreamCaptor.toString().trim(), outputStreamCaptor.toString().trim(), containsString("Usage"));
+	}
+}
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-docs/src/main/resources/ca/uhn/hapi/fhir/changelog/5_6_0/2973-CLI-option-help-fails.yaml b/hapi-fhir-docs/src/main/resources/ca/uhn/hapi/fhir/changelog/5_6_0/2973-CLI-option-help-fails.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d2b6cf2ff64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hapi-fhir-docs/src/main/resources/ca/uhn/hapi/fhir/changelog/5_6_0/2973-CLI-option-help-fails.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+type: fix
+issue: 2973
+title: "CLI `smileutil help {command}` returns `Unknown command` which should return the usage of `command`. This has been corrected."