Indiana Men

The Union 44^th Indiana Infantry was organized October 24^th 1861 at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A Fort Wayne, Indiana druggist, Hugh B Reed was made the Colonel of the 44^th Indiana when it was organized October 22^nd 1861.  The 44^th was made up of volunteers mostly from Indiana’s Tenth Congressional District in the northeastern part of the state.  They left for Henderson, Kentucky in December 1861 and went into camp at Calhoun, Kentucky.  In February 1862 they were moved to the Fort Henry area and then onto Fort Donelson, Tennessee, where the 44^th took heavy casualties during the siege of the fort.  Following this action they moved onto the Battle of Shiloh taking 210 casualties.  The men of the 44^th would also take part in the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi, and the Battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Stones River.  They finished up their duty on provost guard duty at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The 44^th was mustered out of Union service September 14^th 1865.  During their service the 44^th lost 80 killed and 229 who died from disease.

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

Also Known As

Confederate Captain Marcellus Jerome Clarke, who was thought to also be known as Sue Mundy, was hung March 15^th 1865.

Marcellus Jerome Clarke was born in Franklin, Kentucky August 25^th 1845.

Clarke was 17 when the Civil War started and he enlisted in the 4^th Kentucky Infantry, a part of the Confederate 1^st Kentucky “Orphan” Brigade.  When Fort Donelson fell Clarke was taken prisoner, but escaped.  He also saw action while with the 4^th Kentucky at the Battle of Chickamauga.  Clarke was promoted to Captain and place under the command of Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan.

Morgan was killed September 1864, and Clarke returned to Kentucky where he formed a band, raiding, destroying supplies and skirmishing with Union soldiers.  Clarkes’ raids were given credit by the Louisville Journal as the Mundy Gang, and they joined forces with William Quantrill.  On February 2^nd 1865, Clarke and Quantrill burned freight cars and the depot at Lair Station, Kentucky.  A week letter they killed three Union soldiers and took four others prisoner.

On March 12^th 1865 the 30^th Wisconsin Infantry under command of Union Major Cyrus Wilson surrounded Clarke in a tobacco barn south of Brandenburg, Kentucky.  They captured Clarke along with two other men, Henry Medkiff and Henry C Magruder.   The men were taken to Louisville where Clarke was tried in secret as a guerrilla.  Clarke was told on March 15^th 1865 by the Reverend JJ Talbott that he was to be hung that afternoon.  Clarke asked the Reverend to write four letters for him and to see that his body was sent to his family in Franklin, Kentucky for burial in his Confederate uniform.

One Battle As General

Roger Weightman Hanson the commander of the Orphan Brigade was wounded at the Battle of Murfreesboro and died January 4th 1863.

Roger Weightman Hanson was born in Clark County Kentucky August 27th 1827, the son of Samuel and Matilda [Calloway] Hanson. When he was 18 Hanson was elected Lieutenant of a volunteer company serving in the Mexican American War, where he received a citation for bravery at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. After returning from the war he study law in Lexington Kentucky, before traveling to California. Hanson returned to Kentucky and married in 1853 to Virginia Peters.

Hanson established a law practice in Lexington, and entered politics. When the Civil War started Kentucky stayed in the Union. Hanson raised a regiment of Confederate troops in Lexington and was named their Colonel. Hanson’s 2nd Kentucky Infantry were taken prisoner when Fort Donelson fell. After being exchanged he was promoted to Brigadier General and placed in command of his old unit along with the 4th, 6th, and 19th Kentucky Infantries, the 41st Alabama and Cobb’s Battery. The Battle of Murfreesboro was his first as a general. Hanson was wounded on January 2nd 1863, struck above the knee by an artillery shell. He died two days latter at the age of 35 on January 4th 1863. He is buried in Lexington Cemetery in Lexington Kentucky.

He was First In His Class

A career United States army officer James Birdseye McPherson was born November 14th 1828.

James Birdseye McPherson was born November 14th 1828 near Clyde, Ohio. He began his education at the Norwalk Academy in Ohio, before going on the graduate first in his class at West Point in 1853. His roommate at the Military Academy was John Bell Hood. McPherson was appointed to the Corps of Engineers, and taught for a year after his graduation at West Point.

At the beginning of the Civil War he was stationed in San Francisco, California. McPherson requested a transfer to the east, and received a position on the staff of Major General Henry W Halleck. McPherson was the Chief Engineer for Brigadier General Ulysses S Grant when the Union Army captured Forts Donelson and Henry. Following the Battle of Shiloh he was promoted to Brigadier General. In 1862 McPherson was given command of the XVII Corps in the Army of the Tennessee, and in 1864 he got command of the whole of the Army of the Tennessee when Major General William Tecumseh Sherman was promoted.

On July 22nd 1864 Union troops noticed that the Confederate soldier had pulled out of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman felt the Confederates where evacuating, but McPherson argued that they were moving to attack the Union’s right flank. While this was being discussed four divisions under Confederate General William J Hardee flanked the Union XVII Corps. McPherson was riding toward his old Corp when he was confronted by a line of Rebels yelling for him halt. He turned his horse in an attempt to escape but was mortally wounded.

Four days after McPherson’s death Sherman wrote to his wife, telling her, "I lost my right bower in McPherson."

Opening The Tennessee River

In western Tennessee on February 6th 1862 the Battle of Fort Henry was fought.

Fort Henry was a Confederate earthen fort located on the Tennessee River. February of 1862 found the fort partly under water from the flooded river. General Ulysses S Grant began to land his troops north of the Fort, in two places, one on the east bank of the Tennessee River and the other on the higher ground on the Kentucky side of the river, on February 4th and 5th . On February 6th 1862 the Battle opened with Flag-Officer Andrew Hull Foote’s gunboats bombing the fort. Grant’s plan was to attack at the same time, however it turned out to be primarily a naval battle.

The commander of Fort Henry, General Lloyd Tilghman, knew it would be just a matter of time before the fort fell. There were only nine big guns above the water and usable. He left artillery at the fort to hold off the Union fleet, while the rest of the garrison went the ten miles to the safety of Fort Donelson. Tilgman returned to Fort Henry and surrendered to the fleet. The whole battle lasted only about 75 minutes. The fall of Fort Henry opened up the Tennessee River for shipping all the way to Muscle Shoals, AL.