Although Gideon Pillow had opposed secession, Governor Isham Harris appointed him the senior major general in the Tennessee Militia as of May 9, 1861. In July, Jefferson Davis appointed him as brigadier general in the Confederate States Army. He commanded the troops...
We continue the discussion of Confederate generals at Fort Donelson to escape the surrender with the second-in-command, Gideon J. Pillow, who had himself and his chief-of-staff rowed across the Cumberland River after being placed in command by the fleeing John B....
This month, I’d like to take another story from Statesmen of the Confederate Cause by Burton J. Hendrick to tell the tale of the $15,000,000 in Confederate bonds. Having failed to gain English and French recognition in the first year of the American Civil War, the...
One element of the Battle of Fort Donelson which should surprise modern readers is the fact that the most senior Confederate officer present, John B. Floyd, elected to escape rather than share the fate of the soldiers under his command. Brigadier General John B. Floyd...
This time, I offer comments about a great reference book which I recently completed: Blue, Gray, and Red: Two Nurses’ Views of the Civil War. I received this book as a gift from my good friend, John P., whom also gave me the book Statesmen of the Lost Cause, a...
Early LifeLloyd Tilghman was born in “Rich Neck Manor”, Claiborne, Maryland, great-grandson of a Maryland representative to the Continental Congress and grand-nephew of a man who had served on George Washington’s staff during the American Revolution. He attended the...
As I wrote Harper’s Donelson, I wanted to get an accurate description of the weather during the months of January to March, 1862 in the vicinity of western Kentucky and western-central Tennessee. Of course, I had descriptions available from writers of the histories of...
Much of Harper’s Donelson and all of Harper’s Rescue take place in the town of Paducah, Kentucky. Because the city sits near the junction of the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Ohio Rivers, Grant designated Paducah to be the supply depot for his operations up the...
There is a tendency among potential readers to skip past books of war fiction in the belief that such books are male-dominated and devoid of interesting female characters. I am pleased to note that this is not the case with my works. With multiple female protagonists...
While planning to write a series of historical novels set in the American Civil War (ACW) I needed to decide what would be the firearm of choice for the main character, James (Jamie) Harper. Although he serves in an infantry unit, I wanted Harper and his battalion to...
