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The SAR鈥檚 Colonel Tench Tilghman Chapter honored its namesake after receiving proclamations from Easton and Talbot County for the inaugural Tench Tilghman Week from Oct. 19 to 24.

Tilghman, born in Talbot County in 1744 and educated there during his youth, was a primary aide-de-camp for Washington during the Revolutionary War. Wes Hagood, chapter president, has deeply researched Tilghman and his critical role as one of Washington鈥檚 right-hand men.

In 1776, Tilghman joined Washington鈥檚 staff. Washington often referred to him as 鈥渇amily鈥� in written letters, Hagood said.

鈥淗e became, in a lot of ways, like a son to Washington,鈥� Hagood said. 鈥溾�� They carried on a relationship until Tilghman died.鈥�

Tilghman鈥檚 calling card was his duty of delivering the notice of British surrender following the Battle of Yorktown. Surrender came on Oct. 19, 1781, and Tilghman arrived in Philadelphia on Oct. 24 to confirm the news to the Continental Congress.

鈥淚t鈥檚 probably one of his most recognizable accomplishments,鈥� Hagood said.

Hagood described Tilghman as 鈥渉ard working鈥� and smart, adding that he 鈥減robably would have had a role in the future government had he lived.鈥� He provided leadership to patriot soldiers and often was responsible for finding food to sustain the troops, Hagood said.

In a to Continental Army General John Sullivan in 1781, Washington spoke highly of Tilghman.

鈥淭his gentleman came out a captain of one of the light infantry companies of Philadelphia, and served in the flying camp in 1776,鈥� Washington wrote. 鈥淚n August of the same year he joined my family, and has been in every action in which the main army was concerned. He has been a zealous servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me for nearly five years, a great part of which time he refused pay.鈥�

Following the victory, a portrait of Washington was commissioned in 1781, depicting Tilghman and Marquis de Lafayette. Maryland-born Charles Willson Peale painted the portrait, which is displayed today in the Maryland State House.

Tilghman died in 1786, leaving behind his spouse, who spent many decades thereafter in Oxford on Tilghman鈥檚 father鈥檚 plantation. Today, Tilghman is buried at the Oxford Cemetery after being reinterred in 1971 from his original burial site in Baltimore.

MARYLAND 400

Hagood, who has read all of the letters Tench Tilghman wrote to his father during the war, pointed out the Talbot County native鈥檚 critical role in the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776. At that battle, a larger and more experienced British army posed a significant threat to patriot troops.

Owen Lourie, 鈥溾�� project director at the Maryland State Archives, calls that the 鈥渇irst major battle.鈥� Lourie says the troops known as the Maryland 400, along with some from Pennsylvania and Delaware, reformed to attack the enemy after a damaging British charge.

While there were massive casualties, Lourie says the Maryland 400 鈥渂ottled up鈥� the British and prevented them from delivering a 鈥渇inal death blow鈥� to the other continental soldiers that were escaping.

鈥淚t is probably not too much of an exaggeration to say that they saved the Continental Army,鈥� Lourie said.

Witness to the heroic efforts, Tilghman applauded the Col. William Smallwood鈥檚 1st Maryland Regiment, Lourie notes. 鈥淣o Regular Troops ever made a more gallant Resistance than Smallwood鈥檚 Regiment,鈥� Tilghman wrote in a .

Lourie and the Maryland State Archives are working to identify and write biographies on as many of those soldiers as possible. There were more than 1,000 Maryland troops, and his historian work has helped identify over 800. He says he鈥檚 focused on 鈥渢elling the small stories鈥� of those Marylanders that may not have been thought of in hundreds of years.

Lourie is presenting a history of the Maryland 400 at the Talbot County Free Library on Saturday at 11 a.m., an event sponsored by the Tench Tilghman Chapter which wraps up Tench Tilghman Week.

Dana Newman, library director, says registration is open online at , with limited spots remaining. It will also be on Talbot Library’s YouTube channel.

Hagood is excited for Tench Tilghman Week to return next October and for years to come.

鈥淲hat better way would there be for us as a chapter to fulfill our mission of educating current and future generations about all of this than to have a week dedicated to Colonel Tench Tilghman,鈥� Hagood said. 鈥淎nd this year, just start with one event. But the idea is, we鈥檒l do this every year.鈥�

Following the Maryland 400 presentation on Saturday, a free program on how to join the Sons of the American Revolution and Daughters of the American Revolution will be held at the Talbot County Free Library from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Frederick Douglass Room.