Thanks for that Illinois newspaper article which I did not have. Tilghman indeed does not get to BG until October, 1861 so that part is indeed wrong.

Newspapers then, and now, get things wrong but also get things right. So I guess one has to decide to accept the value of the reporter and the informant that reporter - and possibly the same one Grant used - at face value which means that Tilghman was there with some men, supposedly getting out supplies lest they be captured as well as a company of troops. James Raab in his book states that Tilghman and a recruiting major went back to Paducah in August but he does not footnote that statement. We do know that his later passage about Grant taking Paducah after building a pontoon bridge is completely incorrect - they came by steamers.

The reporter of the St. Louis Democrat (account published in Moore's Rebellion Record, Vol. 3, Pages 67-69), while quite detailed in terms of items captured in Paducah by Grant, makes no mention of Tilghman being there.

So I guess it comes down to do you believe that Grant's source was credible; same thing with the source for the Illinois newspaper. Grant certainly reacted to reports of CS troops closing on Paducah in strength (Cheatham's troops from Columbus had marched to Mayfield I believe but no farther) and those reports came from local sources.

Too bad that Tilghman did not leave a paper trail for this.

Greg Biggs