Thanks for the further information. I suppose there must be a record somewhere of Tilghman's whereabouts during the first week of September 1861. It's just a matter of finding it. No luck so far, but good detectives are looking.

As you no doubt know, it was Polk's written intention to be ahead of the Federals in occupying Columbus and Paducah. Beyond that, he had a grand plan to cross the Ohio into Southern Illinois, and he wanted to take St. Louis. When he occupied Hickman and Columbus, Davis responded that the necessity justified the action. Walker, on the other hand, independently told Polk to get out of Kentucky.

Grant moved to take Paducah on word from Fremont's spy who, from Sep 4 to Sep 5, rode from Union City to the Ohio River, then went by boat to Cairo where he reported to Grant in lieu of Fremont because he thought the information he carried was too important to wait to get to Fremont in St. Louis. Grant verified the spy's ID with Fremont, then took it on himself to follow the spy's recommendation, which was to take Paducah before the Confeds got there. He asked Fremont for permission twice but didn't hear back. Grant and McClernand organized a force of about 1,800 men, three transports and two gunboats on Sep 5, left Cairo that night, lay overnight in the Ohio River, and entered Paducah on Friday morning Sep 6 at about 8:30.

As far as the spy knew when he left Union City on Sep 4, Polk was headed for Paducah because that was Polk's stated intention. Between the time the spy left Union City and Grant got to Paducah on Sep 6, Polk either changed his mind or a superior told him not to go to Paducah. Communication was not good or fast enough for Grant to find that out, so as far as Grant knew, Polk was headed to Paducah because that was the latest and best information he had from the spy. Fremont and Grant wanted to take Columbus, but Polk beat them to it. Grant's response was to take Paducah, which was OK'd by Fremont before Grant left Cairo, but Grant didn't find that out till he got back to Cairo midday on Sep 6.

When Grant landed in Paducah, saw Confederate flags flying and looks of consternation on people's faces upon seeing Union troops in town, that reinforced his belief that Confeds were on their way, that belief having been instilled in him by Fremont's spy. Grant went to his grave believing he had beat the Confeds to Paducah because by 1885 no information to the contrary had emerged.

Somebody in Paducah must have given the information about Tilghman escaping by rail ahead of Grant's landing to Grant, he accepted it as fact and put it in his report to Fremont. I seriously doubt that Grant invented the Tilghman information he reported to Fremont. Doing that is not characteristic of Grant, nor would he have had anything to gain by it.

Doug Fiske