HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Gen. Lloyd Tilghman Monument

Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Marker Inscription

Gen. Lloyd Tilghman. Heroic statue of this Confederate erected in 1909 by his sons and United Daughters of Confederacy. Born in Maryland. Chief engineer, 1855-56, New Orleans and Jackson Railroad, first to enter Paducah. Joined Confederates July 5, 1861. Killed in battle near Vicksburg, Miss., on May 16, 1863. Sculptor was Henry H. Kitson of Boston, Mass. Marker presented by Tilghman Class of 1929.

Erected by Kentucky Historical Society

The Story

This heroic statue honors General Lloyd Tilghman, a Maryland-born engineer who laid out the first railroad to reach Paducah before casting his lot with the Confederacy in 1861. He was killed leading troops near Vicksburg in May 1863. His sons and the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected the monument in 1909, sculpted by the noted Boston artist Henry H. Kitson.

Why it matters

Erected decades after the war by memorial groups, the statue is as much a document of early-twentieth-century Confederate commemoration as of the general it depicts.

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Related people

  • · Lloyd Tilghman
  • · Henry H. Kitson

Themes & tags

Civil WarMonument

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