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Col Tench Tilghman Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution Highlight Their Namesake

10/03/2024

Category: County Council

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Conway Gregory, President of Col Tench Tilghman Chapter of SAR, provides an overview of Tench Tilghman's significance. Tilghman was a Talbot County native.

Conway Gregory, President of Col Tench Tilghman Chapter of SAR, provides an overview of Tench Tilghman's significance. Tilghman was a Talbot County native.

The following testimony was presented by Wesley Hagood, Col Tench Tilghman Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution, during the Council meeting on September 24, 2024. 

President Callahan, Vice-President Lesher, and Members of the Talbot County Council,

I am here to talk about why we selected the dates of October 19-24 to celebrate Colonel Tench Tilghman Week.  These two dates are historically significant.

October 19, 1781 was the date that Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered his British army to George Washington’s Continental army in Yorktown, Virginia.   Washington wanted to get the good news to the Continental Congress and chose has trusted aide-de-camp, Colonel Tench Tilghman, to carry the news to Philadelphia where the Continental Congress was meeting.

Tilghman left early the next morning and arrived in Philadelphia five days later at about 2:00 AM on October 24, 1781.

Washington chose Tilghman because Tench knew the area intimately and would find the quickest route to carry the news to Philadelphia but also because he wanted to honor and reward Tilghman, his longest serving aid-de-camp, for his hard work and faithful service to Washington and to the cause of liberty and freedom.

Although the war did not end for two more years, Yorktown was a great victory and was the beginning of the end of the Revolutionary War.

In the letter George Washing penned to the Continental Congress he said the following:

     Sir; I have the Honor to inform Congress, that a reduction of the British Army under the Command of Lord Cornwallis, is most happily effected … Col Tilghman, one of my Aids de Camp, will have the Honor to deliver these Dispatches to your excellency;  he will also inform you of every minute Circumstance which is not particularly mentioned in my Letter; his Merits, which are too well known to need my observations at this time, have gained my particular Attention, and could wish that they may be honored with the Notice of your Excellency and Congress.

 If George Washington, believed that Tilghman deserved honor due to this merits and role during the war who are we to disagree with this assessment?

Congress did choose to honor Colonel Tench Tilghman by providing him with a horse, saddle, bridle, and an elegant sword. That sword in displayed in the Maryland State House in Annapolis near a portrait of George Washington, General Lafayette, and Colonel Tench Tilghman painted by Charles Wilson Peale.

It was difficult for Tilghman to make this five-day journey because he was still recovering from a fever (probably caused by malaria) but he did not fail to do his duty and would not pass up performing this prestigious assignment for his beloved commander.

He took a boat from Yorktown to Annapolis and then a ship from Annapolis to the Eastern Shore arriving at Rock Hall and then travelled the rest of the way by horse riding day and night to take the news to Congress.  When the horse got too tired to travel further, Tilghman would stop at a farm and cry out, “A horse for the Congress.” and the farmer would oblige after he explained, “Cornwallis is taken.”

After informing Thomas Kean, the President of Congress, of the good news, bells were rung, lights went on in houses all throughout Philadelphia and the citizens began celebrating.

But Tilghman was so ill he was put to bed for several days. And because Tilghman had no money, the congressmen took up a collection to pay for his room and board.

The illness that Tilghman contracted due to the harsh living conditions he experienced during the war led to his early and untimely death at age 42. He left behind a wife, Anna Maria Tilghman, and daughter. His wife was pregnant with her second daughter, a daughter who Tench Tilgham would never meet.

Therefore, I believe it is only fitting that we should remember Colonel Tench Tilghman and honor him because he sacrificed his time, energy, fortune, family, and health in support of the cause of freedom and American independence.

As part of our mission to educate and inspire future generations about the founding principles of our country, the Colonel Tench Tilghman Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution have sponsored an educational event in partnership with the Talbot County Free Library in Easton on Saturday October 26, 2024.

Mr. Owen Lourie, a historian with the Maryland State Archives, will make a presentation titled Voices of the Maryland 400: Maryland's Revolutionary War Soldiers at the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776.  Lourie will present information about the battle and the critical role played by Maryland’s troops as well as Tilghman’s observations and any role he may have played during the battle.

Thank you for considering our request to declare October 19th - 24th, 2024 as Colonel Tench Tilghman week.

The Col Tench Tilghman Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution invited the community to celebrate and honor his accomplishments during Colonel Tench Tilghman Week, from October 19th - 24th.    

talbot 250 council highlights proclamation

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