The Battles of Tilton were two one-day skirmishes in the American Civil War. The first of which was during the Atlanta Campaign, the second was during Hood's Tennessee Campaign. The battles were fought in Tilton, Georgia, in Whitfield County, located a few miles south of Dalton, Georgia, near the Conasauga River.[3]
The First Battle of Tilton was a skirmish on May 13, 1864. The Confederate side was led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler.
The Second Battle of Tilton occurred on October 13, 1864, when soldiers of Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French's Division of Lt. Gen. Stewart's Corps of the Confederate Army of Tennessee besieged a military garrison of 300 soldiers of the 17th Iowa Infantry Regiment commanded by Lt. Col. Simpson M. Archer.[4][5] The blockhouse had been constructed a few months prior to the battle, to guard the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Commanded by Archer, the 17th Iowa Regiment barricaded themselves in the blockhouse and surrendered upon exhausting their ammunition supply.
A future member of the Iowa General Assembly, Pvt. William Graham Buck, was among those captured at the battle.[6] Many Union prisoners captured at the battle were sent to Camp Lawton[7] or Camp Sumter in Andersonville.[6]
Notes
References
- ^ "The Tilton Twerk–Paddle Georgia 2016" (PDF). Georgia River Network.
- ^ "Simpson M. Archer". Civil War Soldiers. National Park Service.
- ^ Lewis, Eulalie M. (December 1958). "Tilton: Life in a Small Town". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 42 (4): 430. JSTOR 40578030.
- ^ "Battles of Tilton". The Historical Markers Database. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ "Battles of Tilton". Georgia Historical Society. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ a b "William Graham Buck". Iowa State Legislature.
- ^ "Movement of Prisoners to Savannah". Library of Congress. The New York Herald. November 20, 1864.
