USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 3
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I also wish, though it is more a matter of private than of public con- sideration, that the business could be taken up on account of Mr. Tilgh- man, whose appointment seems to depend on it; for if there are men in the army deserving of the commission proposed for him, he is one of
5 Hamilton's History of the Republic of the United States, vol. I, p. 173.
5 In speaking of this military family, of which he at one time formed a part, General Lafayette says: "During a familiar association of five years, that no instance of disagreement occurred, is evidence of the tone of feeling which pre- vailed."-Hamilton's History of the Republic of the United States, vol. I, p. 172.
Such control could have been maintained only where there was mutual respect between the members, and where each was dominated by the same feeling of devotion to a common cause.
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them. This gentleman came out a captain of one of the light infantry companies of Philadelphia, and served in the Flying Camp in 1776. In August of the same year he joined my family, and has been in every action in which the main army was concerned. He has been a zealous servant and slave of the public, and a faithful assistant to me for nearly five years, a great part of which time he refused to receive pay. Honor and gratitude interest me in his favor, and made me solicitous to obtain his commission. His modesty and love of concord placed the date of his expected commission at the first of April, 1777, because he would not take the rank of Hamilton and Meade, who were declared aids in order (which he did not choose to be), before that period, although he had joined my family and done all the duties of one from the first of September preceding.7
This letter, considering the source from which it emanated, the senti- ments which it expressed, and the character of the actions which it indicated and commended, is as high an encomium as was ever bestowed upon any man. It would appear from this and other evidence, that although he entered upon the duties of secretary to Gen. Washington in August, 1776, and was from the September following discharging the functions of an aid-de-camp, with the title, by courtesy, of colonel, his rank had not been definitively established or declared. With an abnegation which is almost incredible, and a magnanimity almost beyond praise, in applying for his commission, instead of demanding that it should date from the time when he took position upon the staff, he consented that it should date from the first of April, 1777, that he might not outrank Colonels Hamilton and Meade, who had been recog- nized as aids, anterior to that period. It is felt that any comment upon this action, would be derogatory. Let it stand, therefore, in all its simple majesty and beauty. His commission was issued in accordance with his own wishes, and dating from 1st April, 1777, but issued May 30th, 1781. The rank thus formally and authoritatively bestowed, as well as his position of assistant secretary to the commander-in-chief, he continued to hold until the close of the war, and the disbanding of the army, without seeking or desiring promotion. His ambition seemed to have been fully gratified by the possession of the confidence and approbation of his chief. There is a tradition, however, in the family, which has probability in its favor, that promotion was offered, but uni- formly declined. This refusal may have been founded upon a con- sciousness of his own greater aptitude for the quasi civil duties of secre- tary at head quarters, than for independent military command; or,
7 Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. VIII, p. 37.
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LIEUT. COLONEL TENCH TILGHMAN
as is more probable, upon a very natural unwillingness to be separated, which promotion involved, from his honorable commander, with whom his relations were of a more intimate kind than usually subsist between a superior and inferior officer, and for whom his attachment was stronger than such as could be severed by a simple dissolution of official connec- tion.
To follow the career of Col. Tilghman during the war would be to write the whole history of the army under the immediate command of General Washington. In the letter already quoted, it is stated explicitly, "he has been in every action in which the main army was concerned." He was one of those who earliest embarked in the cause of independence, having been commissioned, probably in the year 1775, a captain of one of those independent companies which made up that body of troops called the Flying Camp. In that capacity he served until August, 1776, when he surrendered his captaincy for a place upon the personal staff of the commander-in-chief, as has been before stated. No record remains to indicate whether he participated in any of the operations of the army up to the latter date, though it is presumable that he did; but soon after this time, indeed immediately, he was called upon to take part in the disastrous battle of Long Island, and to share with Washington the mortification of the defeat which was there en- countered, and his indignation at the conduct of some of the troops in the subsequent precipitate retreat from New York to Harlem Heights. 8 In the successful affair at Manhattanville, which did so much to en- courage the disspirited army, history records his active participation. There, it is said, "he joined in the action to animate the troops, who charged with the greatest intrepidity."9 Some of these troops that behaved so handsomely on this occasion were of his native Maryland. From this time onward, until he stood beside Washington at Annapolis, when he surrendered his commission to congress, Col. Tilghman followed the fortunes of his commander and his army. He suffered in the dis- aster at White Plains; with pain he witnessed the fall of Forts Lee and Washington; he followed in the sad retreat of the apparently dis- solving army through the Jerseys into Pennsylvania; he made one of those who, amid storm, darkness and floating ice, embarked in frail
8 In a letter to his father dated Aug. 13, 1776, he thus speaks of the Maryland troops in this action: "No regular troops ever made a more gallant resistance than Smallwood's regiment. If the others had behaved as well, if Gen. Howe had obtained a victory at all, it would have been dearly bought."
9 Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. Ix, p. 127.
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boats to cross the Delaware on the famous Christmas night of 1776 with Washington-a deed that has furnished a theme to the poet and a subject to the painter; he claims a part of the glories of Trenton and Princeton; he equally claims a part in the humiliation, without shame, of the defeat at Brandywine, and of the repulse at Germantown; he shared with the army the terrible sufferings at Valley Forge, where indeed he contracted the disease which finally terminated his life; he also bore with that army what is less tolerable than cold and hunger, that long inactivity which resulted from its reduction in numbers that other armies might be filled; he was present aiding and directing that masterly movement by which the army was transferred to the south to form a junction with its lately arrived allies: and finally, he was at Yorktown, actively participating in all the operations of that ever memorable seige and surrender, which was the virtual end of the war.
A few incidents in his military career of a nature almost purely per- sonal, or at least having only an indirect relation to the war, may be noticed. The disastrous battle of Long Island had resulted in the abandonment of New York City by the American forces, and its occu- pancy by the British. Washington with his army had moved up the Manhattan island and taken post at Haarlem Heights. The convention of the state of New York had become, as it were, a roving body, meeting at various places according to circumstances, and was compelled to adopt unusual means to keep itself informed of the movements of the enemy, domestic and foreign, for, as is known, the lower portion of the state was infested with tories of the most determined and violent character. The convention accordingly appointed a committee of correspondence constituted of these gentlemen: Messrs. William Allison, R. R. Livingston, Henry Wesner, and William Duer, for the purpose of obtaining intelligence, and communicating the same to that body. Overtures were made to Col. Tilghman, in a letter of Col. Duer, from Fishkills, of the date of 22nd Sept., 1776, for furnishing a daily letter from headquarters, giving all intelligence that might be received by the commander-in-chief, and all incidents which he thought might be interesting or serviceable to the convention. Col. Tilghman consented to furnish these letters, having the approval of Gen. Wash- ington. An express was provided by the committee for the regular and prompt transmission of the communications. This correspondence continued from September 22nd, to October 21st, 1776. A very con- siderable number of the letters of the committee to Col. Tilghman and
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some of his relics are in the hands of his family, and they furnish a most interesting and minute history of the short period which they cover, as well as reveal the feelings of the patriots of the time, both in and out of the army. With reference to the subject of this memoir, they are valuable as indicating his readiness to perform extra official duty to the cause he had espoused, and his ability to perform that duty with credit to himself and acceptance to the committee of the convention. It was of these letters that Gen. Washington is thought to have referred in his letter of condolence to his father, when he said:
If they stand single, as they exhibit a trait of his public character, and like all the rest of his transactions will, I am persuaded, do honor to his understanding and probity, it may be desirable, in this point of view, to keep them alive by mixing them with mine, which, undoubtedly, will claim the attention of the historian.
The following taken from his letter of October 3rd, may serve to give an insight into the feelings at headquarters towards those who were serving secretly or openly the royal cause in that part of New York.
I am sorry your convention do not feel themselves legally authorized to make examples of the villains they have apprehended. If that is the case, the well-affected will hardly be able to keep a watch on the ill. The general is determined, if he can bring some of those in his hands under the denomination of spies, to execute them. General Howe hanged a captain of ours, belonging to Knowlton's Rangers, who went to New York to make discoveries.1ยบ I do not see why we should not make retaliation.
To this Col. Duer replied with equal warmth: "In the name of justice hang two or three of the villains you have apprehended. They will certainly come under the denomination of spies." This correspondence in which Col. Harrison occasionally took part, in the absence, or pre- occupation of Col. Tilghman, on the one hand, and in which Mr. Living- ston participated when Mr. Duer was prevented from writing, on the other part, was interrupted by the important movements of the opposing forces, which took place in the autumn of the year, resulting in the trans- ferring of the American army into New Jersey, and later into Pennsyl- vania. In all these movements, of course, Col. Tilghman was an active agent and participant; but, as has been before stated, as these are matters of familiar history, they need not be noted in this memoir.
10 This was Captain Nathan Hale, who uttered these heroic words just before his execution: "My only regret is, I have but one life to lay down for my coun- try."
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The letters of Col. Tilghman which remain rarely make any reference to himself-his wants, his services, his sacrifices or his sufferings. There is admirable reticence about all personal matters. But there is one exception in a letter addressed to the Hon. Robert Morris, and dated Dec. 22, 1780. It would seem that the state of Pennsylvania, from which state he had been appointed to the army, had been negligent in making proper provision for his support-that it had granted him nothing but rations which he did not need, as with these he was "supplied in the family of his excellency." It seems that his greatest want was personal clothing, for the supply of which his own private means had thus far been used. He says:
I feel a consciousness of speaking the truth when I say that no man has devoted more of his time, and sacrificed more in proportion to his abilities, than I have done in the contest. Whether that time has been well or ill employed I leave it to those who have been acquainted with my services, to determine.
His "abilities," that is to say his private fortune, was never large, and the "proportion" of this which he "sacrificed" was very nearly the whole. It is a tradition of his family, but having a more substantial foundation than such orally transmitted accounts of ancestors usually possess, that Col. Tilghman's services for a large part of the time he was in the army were rendered without recompense from congress; for Washington in the letter to Mr. John Sullivan, already quoted, says: "He has been a zealous servant, and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me for nearly five years, a great part of which time he refused to receive pay." Admirable devotion! with which no meaner motive mingled, not even that of the applause of his countrymen, so freely bestowed upon his great exemplar. In this letter to Mr. Morris, Col. Tilghman, after dismissing his own private affairs, speaks of the embar- rassments of the army, and the dangers which were threatening the coun- try; and as this letter has never been published, the following extracts may be a small contribution to the historic literature of the times, which, if it do not reveal anything new, may confirm what is known. Com- menting on the policy of enlisting men for short terms of service, which had proved so disastrous, he says:
Instead of securing an army when our money was good, and the people were willing, we have lavished immense sums upon men of an hour, whose terms of service have been spent in marching to and from the army, and in their way devouring like locusts all before them.
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Two things will save us and that speedily; a sufficient permanent army, and a foreign loan in aid of our resources. We may amuse ourselves with plans of specific requisitions from the states, and a thousand idle projects; but until the army can be paid and fed by the means of a substantial medium, we are only lingering out the time of our dissolu- tion. Can men be expected to serve without provision-without clothing-without pay. Of the last we have had none since March, and no prospect of any. * * Perhaps there is no man less apt to despond, and I am sure there is none who will oppose longer than I will; but when I see the glorious prize, for which we have been contend- ing, within our reach, if we would but embrace the means of acquiring it, I am sick to death of our folly.
With the year 1781 the war was evidently approaching its conclu- sion. Washington suddenly withdrawing the army from before New York, which he was threatening, and forming a junction with the French forces under Lafayette on the south, laid siege to Yorktown, Virginia, where Cornwallis was entrenched. Beside his commander was his faithful secretary and aid, Col. Tilghman, who, having gone through the whole contest, was now present at its conclusion. As if prescient that this was to be the decisive and final conflict, immediately upon the American army's taking position, he commenced a daily journal of the siege, which has been preserved to the present, a most interesting memorial of this ever memorable battle, and perhaps, the only one of the kind extant. Time was wanting to him, during the days so filled with stirring events, and active duty, to do more than jot down in fewest words each transaction as it occurred. Elaboration was impossible. Comment out of place. An event, which measured by its results, was one of the most notable in the annals of time, was recorded in this journal with a brevity which is almost sublime. On the 17th October, the British army under Cornwallis virtually, and on the 19th actually and formally, capitulated. Immediately upon the signing of the arti- cles of surrender the commander-in-chief selected one of his staff to be bearer of dispatches to congress, then in session in Philadelphia, that that body might be placed in possession of the joyous intelligence at the earliest moment. Col. Tench Tilghman was selected for this pleas- ing duty, and he was charged with a letter to the president of congress, Thomas Mc Kean, which, while it announced the great result of the operations before Yorktown, contained these highly complimentary words relating to the bearer:
Sir, * * Col. Tilghman, one of my aids-de-camp, will have the honor to deliver these dispatches to your excellency. He will be
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able to inform you of every minute circumstance which is not particu- larly mentioned in my letter. His merits, which are too well known to need my observations at this time, have gained my particular attention, and I could wish that they may be honored by the notice of your excel- lency and congress.
This intimation of the commander-in-chief that the services of his aid should have some recognition by the supreme powers, was neither forgotten nor neglected, as will be seen in the sequel. The bearer of such intelligence as that with which Col. Tilghman was charged, was not likely to prove a laggard upon his journey. He arrived in Phila- delphia on the 23rd of the month, having traversed the distance from Yorktown, in about four days.11 As this courier sped along, he spread the happy tidings among an anxious people, who had been long eagerly awaiting intelligence from the scene of operations. He reached his destination in the middle of the night, when the whole city was wrapped in slumber. Impatient to communicate the news, he lost no time in finding the house of the president of congress, whom he aroused, and with him the whole neighborhood, by his vigorous knock at his door, The watchmen of the city taking him to be some roistering young fellow who had bided too long at his cups, were about to arrest him as a dis- turber of the peace, and confine him in the watch-house till morning. He, however, quickly made known his character and his business, and soon Mr. McKean was in communication with the welcome intruder upon his rest. The news spread with the greatest rapidity through the city, for the watchmen who were ready to arrest him now made the purport of his message the burden of their cry, and as they announced the hour of the night, as was the custom of the day, instead of adhering to the customary formularies respecting the weather, they proclaimed, "Cornwallis is taken." The whole population was soon astir, every one being anxious to have a confirmation of the news by hearing a
11 From a letter of Col. T. to Gen. W. dated Phila., Oct. 29, 1781, it is learned that Col. T. embarked on board a vessel of some kind, passed up the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, crossed the bay to Rock Hall, and thence passed on by land to Phila. The news of the surrender had preceded him, by a letter of Count de Grasse, to Governor Lee, but Congress receiving no despatches were in doubt as to the correctness of the information conveyed in this letter, which doubt the arrival of Col. Tilghman dispelled. Col. Tilghman represents himself as suffering from ague and fever, brought back by the fatigue of the journey.
The letter is published in Spark's Correspondence of the Revolution-Letters to Washington.
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recital of all the details. Lights appeared at the windows of the houses, so there was a kind of impromptu illumination. The state house bell tolled a joyous peal, like that it sent forth when it proclaimed "liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," in July, '76: and at the dawn of day, which came as the dawn of peace, cannon were fired in honor of the victory, and in exultation over the prospect of inde- pendence achieved. Congress met at an earlier hour than usual. The dispatches from Washington were read by the secretary, congratulatory speeches were delivered, and every other expression, comporting with the dignity of such a stately body, was given to the joy which filled every breast. Of these expressions not the least significant was the going in procession to church, in order to return thanks for the "crowning the allied armies of the United States and France with success." It is not difficult to imagine Col. Tilghman as at once wearied and flattered by the assiduities of the people of Philadelphia-wearied by the frequent repetition of the pleasing story of the surrender, with all the details which the official dispatches omitted, and flattered by the attention and courtesies to which the bearer of such agreeable intelligence was thought to be entitled, and which were so readily and lavishly bestowed. Nor were the compliments and favors confined to the citizens of Phila- delphia. A committee of congress, appointed on the 24th of October, and consisting of Messrs. Randolph, Boudinot, Varnum and Carroll, reported on the 29th of that month, a series of resolutions expressive of the thanks of congress to Washington and Lafayette, and to the officers and soldiers under their command; but, in addition, it was ordered that a horse with his caparisons, and a sword, be presented by the board of war to Lieut. Col. Tilghman.
Colonel Tilghman was made so ill by the exposure and fatigue in- cident to his exciting and hazardous voyage in an open boat from Yorktown to Rock Hall, Kent County, Md., (via Annapolis), and by his hundred mile ride on horseback post-haste from Rock Hall to Phil- adelphia that he was unable to write to General Washington for sev- eral days after his arrival, and to report to his Commander-in-Chief the delivery by him to the Secretary of Congress of the important despatches of which he had been the honored bearer. The prosaic account of his journey as contained in the following letter to General Washington, will suffice to show that he must have been a very sick man.
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Philadelphia, 27th Oct., 1781.
Sir : I
I arrived at this place early Wednesday morning. Although I lost one whole night's run by the stupidity of the skipper, who got over on Tangier shoals, and was a whole day crossing, in a calm, from Annapolis to Rock Hall. The wind left us entirely on Sunday evening, thirty miles below Annapolis. I found that a letter from Count De Grasse to Governor Lee, dated the 18th, had gone forward to Congress, in which the Count informed the Governor that Cornwallis had sur- rendered. This made me the more anxious to reach Philadelphia, as I knew both Congress and the public would be uneasy at not receiving dispatches from you; I was not wrong in my conjecture, for some really began to doubt the matter.
The fatigue of the journey brought back my intermittent fever, with which I have been confined almost ever since I came to town. I shall set out, as soon as I am well enough for Chestertown. I beg you to be assured that I am with the utmost sincerity your excellency's Obedient servant, TENCH TILGHMAN.
The above letter may be found in Spark's correspondence of the Revolution.
After the battle of Yorktown there were faint gleams which gave prom- ise of the dawn of peace. These continued to increase in brightness until the long wished for orb arose. The army was placed in quarters on the Hudson, and melted gradually away. Respite from labor was given to the officers, many of whom returned to their homes. How Col. Tilgh- man employed his furloughs, will immediately appear. He still held his connection with the military family, and during his absence from his home in the camp he wrote, not so frequently as was desired, to his friend and commander, receiving in return most kind and affectionate replies. In one of these letters of Gen. Washington to Col. Tilghman, written January 7th, 1783, he uses these words:
I receive with great sensibility your assurances of affection and regard. It would be but a renewal of what I have often repeated to you, that there are few men in the world to whom I am more attached by inclina- tion than I am to you. With the cause, I hope-most devoutly hope --- there will soon be an end to my military services-when, as our places of residence will not be far apart, I shall never be more happy than in your company at Mt. Vernon. I shall always be glad to hear from, and keep up a correspondence with you.
A man who could win such words from such a man must have had qualities of mind and heart, principles of thought and action, singularly
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