A Kentucky Unionist

Union Brigadier General James Streshly Jackson, a United State Representative from Kentucky was killed October 8^th 1862 during the Battle of Perryville.

James Streshly Jackson was born in Fayette County, Kentucky September 27^th 1823.  He attended Center College at Danville, Kentucky before graduating in 1844 from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.  He would also study law at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, practicing law afterwards in Greenup County, Kentucky.  When the Mexican American war started Jackson enlisted as a private in the 1^st Kentucky Cavalry, but after participating in a duel with a fellow soldier, he was sure he’d be court martialed and so resigned in 1846.  In 1859 Jackson ran for Congress, he was elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress serving until December 13^th 1861 when he entered the Union Army.

Jackson raised a company of cavalry that became the Union 3^rd Kentucky Cavalry.  He was elected their Colonel on December 13^th 1861.  He led the 3^rd in the Battles of Shiloh and Corinth.  He received a promotion to Brigadier General of Volunteers July 16^th 1862 and was placed in commanding a Brigade in the Union Army of the Ohio.

Jackson was shot in the chest and killed during the Battle of Perryville October 8^th 1862.  He was buried originally in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, but his body was moved and reburied March 24^th 1863 in the Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

The President's Brother-In-Law

Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm was killed during the Battle of Chickamauga  September 21^st 1863; he was the brother-in-law of President Abraham Lincoln.

Benjamin Hardin Helm was born June 2^nd 1831 in Bardstown, Kentucky, the son of John L and Lucinda (Barbour) Hardin.  In 1846 he enrolled in the Kentucky Military Institute at the age of 15, just three month later he left for the United State Military Academy at West Point.  Helm graduated 9^th out of a class of 42 in 1851.  He served at the cavalry school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and at Fort Lincoln, Texas before being discharge do to being diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis.  Helm went on to study the law at the Universities of Louisville and Harvard; graduating in 1853 he began practicing law with his father in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.  He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives and served as Hardin County State’s Attorney.  In 1856 Helm married Mary Todd Lincoln’s half-sister Emilie.

In 1861 with Kentucky remaining neutral President Abraham Lincoln offered Helm the job of Union Army Paymaster.  Helm turned the job down and raised the Confederate 1^st Kentucky Cavalry.  He was commissioned their Colonel October 19^th 1861, and they marched south under Confederate Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner.  On March 14^th 1862 Helm received the assignment to raise the 3^rd Kentucky Brigade and was promoted to Brigadier General.  They saw action at the Battle of Shiloh, guarding the flanks.  In January 1863 Helm was placed in command of the First Kentucky Brigade, known as the “Orphan Brigade” and was assigned to the Confederate Army of Tennessee.  With the Orphan Brigade Helm saw action at the Battles of Chickamauga and Vicksburg.

The Orphan Brigade was a part of Confederate fight against Union Major General William Rosecrans’ offensive during the Battle of Chattanooga on September 20^th 1863.  Striking near the center of the Union line and moving against heavy fire the men under Helm made it to within 40 yards of the Union line.  In less than an hour the Orphan Brigade lost a third of its men.  Helm, on horseback was shot in the chest by a member of the Union 15^th Kentucky Infantry.  Helm fell from his saddle and was carried to the rear, where it was determined his wound was mortal.  He died September 21^st 1862.  Confederate General John Cabell Breckinridge wrote to Helm’s wife, saying "Your husband commanded them [the men of the Orphan brigade] like a thorough soldier. He loved them, they loved him, and he died at their head, a patriot and a hero."

A Railroad Builder

Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman an engineer of railroads was killed May 16^th 1863 at the Battle of Champion Hill.

Lloyd Tilghman was born at Rich Neck Manor in Claiborne, Maryland January 18^th 1816, the son of James and Ann C (Shoemaker) Tilghman.  He received an appointment to West Point Military Academy, graduating in 1836 near the bottom of his class.  Tilghman was commissioned second lieutenant in 1^st United States Dragoons.  He resigned after three months of service.  Tilghman went to work in Panama and areas of the south constructing a number of railroads.  He settled in Paducah, Kentucky.

After the Civil War began Tilghman joined the Confederacy and became the Colonel of the 3^rd Kentucky Infantry.  He was promoted to Brigadier General on October 18^th 1861.  Tilghman took on the engineering work of building Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.  He didn’t choose the location for the forts which he stated in his report were in a “wretched military position”.  Tilghman was captured February 6^th 1862 when Fort Henry fell to Union General Ulysses S Grant, and was sent to Fort Warren in Boston, Massachusetts as a POW.  He was exchanged August 15^th 1862 for Union General John F Reynolds.  Tilghman returned in the fall and took command of a brigade in Confederate General Earl Van Dorn’s Army of the West.  He commanded artillery at the Second Battle of Corinth.

Tilghman was hit by a shell fragment and killed May 16^th 1863 at the Battle of Champion Hill.  He is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.

A great web site, if you like to more about Lloyd Tilghman is Paducah's General Lloyd Tilghman