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The 1st Confederate Battalion,
Company A
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Maj. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman
January 26, 1816–May 16, 1863
Lloyd Tilghman
was born in Maryland in 1817. He was a graduate of West Point in 1836, a
soldier in the Mexican War, a civil engineer upon the Panama Railroad in 1849
and subsequently upon the Baltimore and Ohio, Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania
Central, East Tennessee and Virginia, and new Orleans and Ohio Railroads, and
commander of the Kentucky State Guard in 1861, most of whom he took into the
Confederate service. He was colonel of the 3d Kentucky Regiment and promoted
to brigadier general. After a vigorous defense he surrendered Fort Henry
February 6, 1862, to Admiral Foote and was sent a prisoner of at Fort Warren,
in Boston Harbor. On being exchanged he was placed in charge of exchanged
prisoners at Jackson, where he reorganized and equipped them for the field. He
led them against Grant's forces at Coffeyville, and signally defeated them on
December 5, 1862. He served in the Vicksburg campaign to May 16, 1863, at
Champion Hill, where he lost his life when he was struck in the chest by a
shell fragment near the close of the battle..
Extract from
report of his division commander, Gen. W. W. Loring: "As soon as the enemy
discovered that we were leaving the field he rallied and moved forward in
heavy force. General Tilghman had been instructed to hold a point on the
Edwards Depot and Raymond road at all hazards. Always ready to obey orders, he
soon met the enemy, 6,000 to 8,000 strong, with a fine artillery; him, being
advantageously posted, he not only held him in check but repulsed him on
several occasions, and thus kept open the only line of retreat left to the
army. The bold stand of this brigade, less than 1,500 effective men, under the
lamented hero, saved a large portion of the army. It is befitting that I
should speak of that death of gallant and accomplished Lloyd Tilghman. Quick
and bold in the execution of his plans, he fell in the midst of his brigade
that loved him well, after repelling a powerful enemy in deadly fight, struck
by a cannon shot: A brigade wept over the dying hero, alike beautiful as it
was touching."
Extracts from
the report of Col. A. F. Reynolds, who succeeded Tilghman: "At 5:20 o'clock
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman who up to that time had commanded the brigade with
marked ability, fell, killed by a shot from one of the enemy's guns. I cannot
here refrain from paying a slight tribute to the memory of my late commander.
As a man, a soldier, and a general, he had few if any superiors. Always at his
post he devoted himself day and night to the interests of his command. Upon
the battlefield he was cool and collected and observant. He commanded the
entire respect and confidence of every officer and soldier under him, and the
only censure ever cast upon him was that he always exposed himself too
recklessly. At the time he was struck down he was standing in the rear of a
battery directing a charge in the elevation of one of the guns. The tears shed
by his men on the occasion and the grief felt by his entire brigade are the
proudest tribute that can be given the gallant dead."
General
Tilghman was one of the most picturesque figures of the Confederate army. He
was very handsome and a strict disciplinarian. Untrained soldiers winced at
his discipline, but they realized under him that war was not a frolic. When
General Tilghman offered his life in defense of the cause of the South as he
heroically resisted the advance of Grant's victorious legions, he wrought with
his own blood on the sluggish banks of Baker's Creek an epitaph which will not
be forgotten as long as the bronze statue lasts to remind all who see it of
his intrepid courage and gallantry.
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