The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-10-22
HIS WAS THE GRUELING
RIDE TO TELL OF
CORVALLIS CAPTURE
By BEN H. MILLER in the Baltimore
Sunday Sun, Oct, II

| Sunday Sun, Oct. IL
When Yorktown a few days ago
looked backward hundred and fifty
years to commemorate the final bat
tie of the Revolution, Maryland's part
in the epic conflict was recalled by a
number of incidents, but perhaps none
more picturesque than the ride of
Lient.-Col. Tench Tilghman when Of
ficially bringing north the word that
Washington and the French troops,
with the indispensable cooperation of
the French fleet, had struck the blow
which terminated King Georges in1u-
ence in the colonies and foreran the
birth of a new nation.
Even as the flying feet of Paul Re-
vere's horse additionally set off the
sparks which famed into the War for
independence, the hoof beats of Thigh
mans galloping mount sounded the
knell of British rule and brought re-
lief to the harried nerves of an expec-
tant but irresolute countryside. Ac-
quaintance with the state of the colo
MES confederation demonstrates that
the ride was something more than a
merely spectacular feat.
| H*%
In this day of rapid communication,
when the radio links continents in
simultaneously and hourly editions of
the newspapers are commonplace, it
is difficult to picture the suspense of
the sparsely settled seaboard while
Washington's too-often defeated
forces laid siege to Yorktown. Yet
one can readily understand the ex-
element which must have followed in
the wake of Tilghman, Washington's
aide, as he whipped his horse through
the dark night of October %, 1881,
ending the uncertainty at those sleep
ing hamlets where he paused to rouse
the inmates with the shout: "a fresh
horse for Congress! CORVALLIS is
taken!"
| SOlOIlCl 1llS was INV IIlC Oll1y
Marylander on the field when Lord
CORVALLIS laid down his arms, but he
became one of the most noted. And
his claim to distinction in the annals
of Maryland's participation in the war
arises not only from his famous ride,
which after all took place actually
when the serious fighting was, over,
but from his service throughout the
conflict.
That he occupied an important place
in Washington's immediate circle,
which the general had found difficulty
in filling, is borne out by Washing
toms letters evidencing the high re-
gard in which the commander-in-
chief held him both during and after
the war. 1t is useless to speculate
on what civil recognition Washing
ton, as President, might have given
Tilghman had not the latter died prior
to the beginning of constitutional gov
eminent in the United States.
Tilghman's fame is not we'll known
except in Maryland, and it is only
since the beginning of the present
century that the story of his feat has
received general circulation here. Paul
Revere Jared better, thanks to Long
fellow, but his companion (who actu-
ally completed the ride which Revere
failed to completely remained unsung
and hence unknown until late years,
when his descendant, Charles G..
Dawes, brought him to attention.
$50
Tilghman was born on Christmas
Day of 1744 at Faulsey, his fathers
plantation on the Miles River, not
far from Canterbury Manor, where
some seventy-fve years previous the
English surgeon, Richard Tilghman,
had established the family seat in this
country. Tench's father, James Thigh
man, was a barrister who moved from
Talbot county to Chestertown, and
thence to Philadelphia, where he be-
came secretary of the Proprietary
Land Office and enjoyed other high
and confidential commissions under
the Penns. Tench's mother was the
daughter of Tench Francis, an Irish
emigrant to Talbot, who also later
moved to Philadelphia and gained re-
nown as a lawyer, subsequently be-
coming attorney general of the prov
ince.
In the schools of Easton, Tench, the
eldest of six brothers and six sisters,
acquired the rudiments of an educa-
ton which later was completed under
the supervision of his maternal grand
father, who saw to it that his protege
received the best in tutoring that the
facilities of the era supplied. His
studies ended, young Tilghman Joined
his uncle, Tench Francis, in business
in Philadelphia. The business thrived
and he pursued an even existence. until
the turbulent pre-Revolutionary per-
iod caused a breakdown in commerce
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