Lloyd Tilghman was born on January 18, 1816. Born in Claiborne, Maryland, he was the son of Revolutionary War lieutenant colonel, Tench Tilghman. Young Tilghman would be accepted to West Point, and would graduate, in 1836, in the lower portion of his class. After being assigned to the 1st U.S. Dragoons, he would promptly resign his commission, to work in the railroad industry.
Lloyd Tilghman monument - Vicksburg
Shortly after the outbreak, of the Civil War, Tilghman, now living in Paducah, Kentucky, would offer his services to the Confederacy. He would be commissioned colonel of the 3rd Kentucky Infantry (CS) on July 5, 1861. In October, 1861, he would be promoted to brigadier general, in the Confederate Army.
While the Confederacy was building its river defenses, on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, Tilghman’s engineering background was not known, to the theater commander, General Albert Sidney Johnston. Once Johnston learned of Tilghman’s training, he would be sent to help with the river fortifications. While the sites for both Forts Henry, and Donelson, were already determined, he would be involved in building the forts. He would later complain that Fort Henry was a, “…wretched military position.” An opinion that would prove very true.
On February 6, 1862, Tilghman would be commanding Fort Henry, when naval gunboats, commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Foote, and ground forces under US Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant would attack. Tilghman would evacuate most of the garrison, and return with a small contingent of artillery – before he was forced to surrender. While he received much condemnation for evacuating Fort Henry, Tilghman had little choice, as the Tennessee River was flooding the fort.
Tilghman would be a prisoner-of-war, at Fort Warren, until August 15, 1862, when he was exchanged for US Brigadier General John F. Reynolds. Returning to active command, in the fall of 1862, Tilghman would command a brigade, in Lovell’s Division of Earl Van Dorn’s Army of the West. He would be involved in the fighting at Corinth and a portion of U.S. Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign. Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman would be mortally wounded, by a shell fragment, in the Battle of Champion’s Hill. The monument, pictured above, is located on Confederate Avenue, at Vicksburg National Military Park. While he did not fight for the defense of Vicksburg, having already been killed at Champion’s Hill, his monument prominently displays his death.
