The fate Of A Soldier

Confederate Brigadier General John Adams was one of six Confederate officers killed November 30^th 1864 during the Battle of Franklin.

John Adams was born July 1^st 1825 in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of Irish immigrants.  He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated in 1846 ranked 25^th in the class.  Adams’ first posting was under Captain Philip Kearny in the United States 1^st Dragoons.  He served in the Mexican American War, and was brevetted for action during the Battle of Santa Cruz de Rosales.  After which he served mostly in the western frontier, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1853 when he served as the aide-de-camp for the Governor of Minnesota.

When Tennessee seceded in 1861 Adams resigned his commission and joined the Confederacy.   He was commissioned Colonel in 1862 and in December of that year became Brigadier General taking command of the late Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman’s Mississippi brigade.  Adams’ service was entirely preformed in the Western Theater of the war.

When Confederate John Bell Hood broke off from Union General William T Sherman and the Atlanta Campaign, Adams’ brigade led the advance into Tennessee.  During the Battle of Franklin on November 30^th 1864 Adams was killed while at the head of his men.  His death was described in June 1897 by an Indiana Colonel, who witnessed the action, “General Adams rode up to our works and, cheering his men, made an attempt to leap his horse over them. The horse fell upon the top of the embankment and the general was caught under him, pierced with [nine] bullets. As soon as the charge was repulsed, our men sprang over the works and lifted the horse, while others dragged the general from under him. He was perfectly conscious and knew his fate. He asked for water, as all dying men do in battle as the life-blood drips from the body. One of my men gave him a canteen of water, while another brought an armful of cotton from an old gin near by and made him a pillow. The general gallantly thanked them, and in answer to our expressions of sorrow at his sad fate, he said, 'It is the fate of a soldier to die for his country,' and expired.”

If you are interested in reading more, check out BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN ADAMS, CSA

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

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.