A railroad construction engineer by background, he was selected by the Confederate government to build two forts to defend the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.

Taken prisoner and exchanged, he commanded a brigade in the Vicksburg campaign, and was killed by a shell at the Battle of Champion Hill, where he was widely praised for gallantry.

He worked as a construction engineer on a number of railroads in the South and in Panama, except for a period in which he returned to the Army as a captain in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. Volunteer Artillery (August 1847 to July 1848).

The geographic placement of Fort Henry was extremely poor, sited on a floodplain of the Tennessee River, but Tilghman did not object to its location until it was too late.

He also was desultory in managing its needed construction and that of the small Fort Heiman, located on the Kentucky bank of the Tennessee, and quarreled with the engineers assigned to the task.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and gunboats under Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote attacked Fort Henry and Tilghman was forced to surrender.

Tilghman was imprisoned as a prisoner of war at Fort Warren in Boston and was not released until August 15, when he was exchanged for Union general John F. Reynolds.

Returning to the field in the fall of 1862, Tilghman became a brigade commander in Mansfield Lovell's division of Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West, following the Second Battle of Corinth.

Only a few minutes before his death we were sitting on a log near a strip of woodland discussing the line of battle we then held, comparing it with the one we had shortly before occupied.

Those of us who witnessed this distressing scene shed tears of sympathy, for the bereaved son and of sorrow for our fallen hero, the chivalrous and beloved Tilghman.

[citation needed]Private James Spencer, 1st Mississippi Light Artillery "General Tilghman and his staff rode up to Capt.

Tilghman remarked, ‘They are trying to spoil my new uniform.’ He then sighted the gun again and as he stepped back to order fire, a Parrott shell struck him in the side, nearly cutting him in twain.

Just before he dismounted, he ordered his son, a boy of about 17 years to go with a squad and drive some sharpshooters from a gin house on our left, who were annoying our cannoneers.

Upon the battlefield cool, collected, and observant, he commanded the entire respect and confidence of every officer and soldier under him, and the only censure ever cast upon him was that he always exposed himself too recklessly.

"[5] General William W. Loring: Military Report "During this time Tilghman, who had been left with his brigade upon the road, almost immediately after our parting, met a terrible assault of the enemy, and when we rejoined him was carrying on a deadly and most gallant fight.

With less than 1,500 effective men he was attacked from by 6,000 to 8,000 of the enemy with a fine park of artillery, but being advantageously posted, he not only haled them in check, but repulsed him on several occasions, and this kept open the only line of retreat left to the army.

Quick and bold in the execution of his plans, he fell in the midst of a brigade that loved him well, after repulsing a powerful enemy in deadly fight, struck by a cannon-shot.

"[citation needed] Maria I. Johnston: Novel published 1869 Describing the arrival of Tilghman's body in Vicksburg, transported in a wagon and accompanied by his teenage son: "Stark and stiff lay the brave officer, his clothing and gloves covered with blood.

The last act of a brave man was to sight a field gun and direct the cutting of a shell fuse, so as to do the best execution upon the invaders of our country.