Brigadier General Robert C. Tyler, P.A.C.S.
Brigadier-General Robert C. Tyler, a highly heroic office, was a native of
Maryland, born and reared in the city of Baltimore. Being of a naturally
enterprising disposition and imbued with the idea that American destiny
pointed to the control by the United States of all the North American
continent, he joined the Nicaraguan expedition of Gen. William Walker in
1859. After the unsuccessful issue of that enterprise he went to Memphis,
Tenn., and there the war of 1861 found him. He entered the Confederate
service as quartermaster of the Fifteenth Tennessee; in the autumn of 1861
he was promoted to major on the staff of General Cheatham, in the same
department, and in a few months was made lieutenant-colonel of the
Fifteenth. He commanded it at the battle of Shiloh, was soon promoted to
colonel, and led it with distinction in all the engagements of the Southwest
until, on the promotion of General Bate, he was made brigadier-general. At
Missionary Ridge he was dangerously wounded and permanently disabled,
and was not in the field again until Major-General Wilson, with 10,000
cavalry was sent to Alabama and Georgia to lay waste and destroy the
country. General Tyler, still on crutches, was sojourning near West Point,
Ga., when Col. O. H. LaGrange, commanding a brigade of Wilson's cavalry
entered that place on the 16th of April and made an easy capture of a lot
of quartermaster and commissary stores. Hearing of the approach of
LaGrange, General Tyler organized a lot of convalescents and Georgia
militia, and undertook the defense of a little earthwork provided for the
protection of a railroad bridge and called that day "Fort Tyler." Colonel
LaGrange reported that it was defended by two field pieces and a 32-
pounder, and "265 desperate men." There were no trained gunners in the
garrison, so no one of the attacking force was injured by the artillery. This
fort, said Colonel LaGrange, was "a remarkably strong earthwork, 35 yards
square." He assailed it with a brigade composed of the Second and Fourth
Indiana, First Wisconsin and Seventh Kentucky regiments, dismounted, and
the Eighteenth Indiana battery, and reported that the assault was made
"under a scathing fire;" and his chief, Major-General Wilson, in his report to
Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, said the assault was made "under a withering
fire of musketry and grape." but in this large attacking column, Colonel
LaGrange stated his loss was only 7 killed and 29 wounded. He reported
the loss of the defenders of the fort at "18 killed and 28 seriously wounded,
mostly shot through the head." General Thomas reported the affair to
General Grant on the 1st of June, and stated that the defense was
"stubborn" and that LaGrange had captured 300 prisoners. Colonel
LaGrange, in a dispatch to General Upton, dated the day of the capture,
reports the number of prisoners at 200. On the 17th of April, in a dispatch
to General Canby and in one dated the 21st to General Sherman, General
Wilson claimed for LaGrange the capture of the same number. No exact
information has been obtainable from Confederate sources, but the
importance of the unfortunate affair and the strength of the garrison were
exaggerated by the Federal commanding general through all grades down
to Col. A. S. Bloom, of the Seventh Kentucky, who reported to the brigade
commander that "after a fight raging furiously for over two hours, I
prepared to charge the fort and helped to carry it," and naively added that
he had a second lieutenant and two men slightly wounded. The gallant
Tyler, two captains, and one lieutenant were killed early by sharpshooters.
It was honorable to the little garrison that in spite of the fall of their leader
they displayed no white flag, but maintained the defense of the earthwork
until they were overrun and captured by a force ten to fifteen times their
own strength. The men around General Tyler were representatives of
Tennessee, Georgia, and other States, imperfectly armed and organized at
a moments notice; the garrison lost 48 killed and wounded; the shots were
received in the head, showing the men did not take cover; it was the last
fight east of the great river; it was a brave one, and a memorial stone
should mark the place where Tyler and his heroes fell.
Source: Evans, Clement, ed. Confederate Military History, Vol.
XII, Confederate Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA, 1899
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