William Stowell Tilton

  General Notes:

William Stowell Tilton born 1828 and died 1889 is a native of Massachusetts and the Commander of the other brigade of Barnes division to fight in the wheat field. Like Sweitzer, he had been wounded and captured previously, for Tilton the event occurred at Gaines Mill during the seven days.

Note - William S Tilton was imprisoned in Richmond.
- was a Civil War Brigadier General.
- He was in the 22 Mass Infantry.
- He was a Commander 1st Brigade, Sykes 5th Corps at Gettysburge.

Information on the Tilton Family taken from History of the Tilton Family In America by Francis Theodore Tilton Vol-1, 1927.
On may 14th 1861, Kenelm Henry Digby, E.S.Q, of England In a letter to General William S Tilton, of Boston, Says: we have a Parchment In our Family which states that Tilton Church was founded by our Family 1190....the Digbies who fell at Towton (1461) were called De Tilton and Sir Everard Digby of Tilton and Drystoke, who died 1509, Is the last who bears the Name of Tilton."
The early Norman Tower of Tilton Church was built In 1190; the spire In 1380; the South Aisle In 1390 and the Clerstory In 1490. The Church was built by the Family In the Sixteenth Centry. It Is Now High Episcopalian.
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Note for: William Stowell Tilton, 1 Feb 1828 - 23 Mar 1889 Index

Individual Note:
Name7 from letter and history from John Fredrick Hagaman. In possessionof compiler. Civi l War Brigadier General, no children, Cmdr 22nd MassInf, Cmdr 1st Brigade, Sikes Corps at Gettysburg. imprisoned at Richmond.
Cambiidge Births , Vital Records of Cambridge Mass to the Year 1850, Vol1, Births, Boston Massachusetts SS 1914
birth Eggen, Cheryl, comp. Essex County, Massachusetts Birth Records to 1850: Newburyport. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000-. Original data: Vital Records of Newburyport MA to the End of the year 1849. Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1911.
Thomas W. Herringsaw, Herringshaw's National Library of AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, AMERICAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, CHICAGO, 1914., PAGE 468.
/Tilton enlisted in the army and became a first lieutenant in the 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on September 12, 1861. He was promoted to the rank of major on October 2 of that year. Tilton served in the Peninsula Campaign in the army of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, serving in the First Brigade, First Division, V Corps. He was wounded in the shoulder and captured on May 27, 1862, at the Battle of Gaines Mill. Tilton was exchanged circa August 15 of that year. In the meantime, he had become lieutenant colonel of the regiment on June 28. At that rank, he led the regiment in the First Brigade, which was led by Col. James Barnes at the Battle of Antietam.
Tilton was made colonel of the 22nd Massachusetts on October 17, leading the regiment at the Battle of Fredericksburg. In 1863, Tilton continued leading the regiment in First Brigade, First Division, under Barnes, who had recently become a brigadier general, including at the Battle of Chancellorsville. When Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin went on leave following Chancellorsville, Barnes became acting division commander. Tilton, by seniority, took charge of the First Brigade.
He led the brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg. His command was deployed on the right flank of Col. Jacob B. Sweitzer’s Second Brigade in between the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield on July 2, 1863. What followed has remained controversial. When Barnes’ division was under attack, he told both brigade commanders they could retreat. Sweitzer saw this as a peremptory command, but Tilton described this in his report as discretionary.[1] Whatever the truth of this, Tilton said he reconnoitered and discovered a large Confederate force coming up on his left flank. This led him to order a retreat. This left a gap in the Federal line, and other veterans later criticized the actions of Tilton and Barnes.
On July 3, the First Brigade relieved Col. Strong Vincent’s Third Brigade, which had passed to Col James C. Rice after Vincent had fallen in the defense of Little Round Top. Tilton reported only 474 soldiers present for duty at Gettysburg and a loss of 109 from that number. Another estimate is that Tilton lost 125 of 655 men, a loss of 19.1%, a low percentage compared to Sweitzer’s 30% reported by the same author.[2]
After Gettysburg, Tilton retained brigade command until August 18, 1863. He returned to regimental command until November 19, when he again resumed brigade command. When the Army of the Potomac was reorganized in 1864 for the Overland Campaign of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Tilton was assigned to lead his regiment in Jacob Sweitzer’s brigade of Griffin’s division. He served in that role in the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Spotsylvania, and the Battle of Cold Harbor, as well as in the early stages of the Siege of Petersburg. Tilton remained in regimental command to June 18, 1864, when he again became acting brigade commander until August 22. During this time he was engaged in action at the battles of Jerusalem Plank Road and Globe Tavern.
Tilton was mustered out of volunteer service on October 17 of that year. He later received brevet rank of brigadier general to date from September 9, 1864.

William married Elizabeth Loring on an unknown date. (Elizabeth Loring was born in 1831 in Newburyport Mass and died in 1902 in Newtonville Massachusetts.)