General Lloyd Tilghman

[major bill]

Well tonight I am starting to read Lloyd Tilghman 'Confederate General in the Western Theatre (sic.) By Bryan S Bush. It seems to most that General Tilghman is best known for being in command at Fort Henry and dieing at the Battle of Champion's Hill.

In the introduction Bush seems to say he will show Tilghman was a fine engineer and did good work building Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, and did excellent preparing the defenders. He will also show Tilghman was doing well at Champion's Hill until he was killed.

I will try to keep an open mind but Mr. Bush may need all of his writing skills to convince me.

What are other forum members view on Tilghman?

 

[James N.]

… In the introduction Bush seems to say he will show Tilghman was a fine engineer and did good work building Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, and did excellent preparing the defenders. He will also show Tilghman was doing well at Champion's Hill until he was killed.

I will try to keep an open mind but Mr. Bush may need all of his writing skills to convince me.

What are other forum members view on Tilghman?

Apparently Tilghman could've escaped from Fort Henry and had already sent his infantry support out of it towards Fort Donelson, but turned back himself to be with the beleaguered artillerymen who were taking a pounding from Foote's ironclads where he of course surrendered in order to save their lives. That at least shows him to have been a commander considerate of his men. The photo above is likely the best dedicated to his memory and stands on the Confederate lines at Vicksburg, though he didn't fight here. The one below is on the spot where he was cut in two by a Parrott shell as he stood beside a Confederate gun at the Battle of Champion's Hill during the Vicksburg Campaign.

 

[luinrina]

Thanks for the great pictures, James N. ! There is also a monument in Woodlawn, Bronx, New York City.

I admittedly don't know that much yet about General Tilghman but I'm curious to hear more about him. @major bill , did you learn something new from the book?


Tilghman's wikipedia article says that whilst he didn't chose the sites for Forts Henry and Donelson, he ordered them constructed once he took over command. Do you think that as an engineer he should have noticed that Fort Henry lay in the Tennessee River's floodplain?

What was Bryan S Bush's opinion on that?

 

[major bill]

I have mixed thought on Tilghman. He was probably assigned a task without the needed resources to properly complete the task. That said, few Army officers at the start of the War could foresee how the Union Army and Navy could use combined power to conduct offensive operations in a way offensive operations in the past had been conducted.