Lloyd Tilghman
| Lloyd Tilghman | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
January 18, 1816 Claiborne, Maryland |
| Died | May 16, 1863 (aged 47) Hinds County, Mississippi |
| Place of burial | Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City, New York |
| Allegiance |
United States of America Confederate States of America |
| Service/branch |
United States Army Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1836, 1847–1848 (USA) 1861–1863 (CSA) |
| Rank |
 Captain (USA) Brigadier General (CSA) |
| Battles/wars | |
Lloyd Tilghman (January 26, 1816 – May 16, 1863) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War.
A railroad construction engineer by background, he was selected by the Confederate government to build two forts to defend the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. The location of Fort Henry on the Tennessee was vulnerable to flooding, but Tilghman was slow to spot this, and his surrender of the fort to U.S. Grant in February 1862 was regarded as a disgrace. Taken prisoner and exchanged, he commanded a brigade in the Vicksburg campaign, and was killed by a shell at the Battle of Champion Hill, where he was widely praised for gallantry.
Tilghman was born in "Rich Neck Manor", Claiborne, Maryland to James Tilghman who was the great-grandson of Matthew Tilghman, and Ann C. Shoemaker Tilghman. He attended the United States Military Academy and graduated near the bottom of his class in 1836. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Dragoons, but resigned his commission after three months. He worked as a construction engineer on a number of railroads in the South and in Panama, except for a period in which he returned to the Army as a captain in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. Volunteer Artillery (August 1847 to July 1848). In 1852, he took up residence in Paducah, Kentucky.
Tilghman was commissioned colonel of the 3rd Kentucky Infantry on July 5, 1861, shortly after the start of the American Civil War. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Confederate States Army on October 18. When General Albert Sidney Johnston was looking for an officer to create defensive positions on the vulnerable Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, he was unaware of Tilghman's presence in his department and another officer was selected. However, the Richmond government pointed out Tilghman's engineering background and he was finally chosen for the task. The original sites for Forts Henry and Donelson were selected by another general, Daniel S. Donelson, but Tilghman was then placed in command and ordered to construct them. The geographic placement of Fort Henry was extremely poor, sited on a floodplain of the Tennessee River, but Tilghman did not object to its location until it was too late. (Afterward, he wrote bitterly in his report that Fort Henry was in a "wretched military position ... The history of military engineering records no parallel to this case.") He also was desultory in managing its needed construction and that of the small Fort Heiman, located on the Kentucky bank of the Tennessee, and quarreled with the engineers assigned to the task. He did manage to do a more creditable job on the construction of Fort Donelson, which was sited on dry ground, commanding the river.
...
Wikipedia