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Left Panel

Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman of Paducah, Kentucky
Killed in Action May 16, 1863 at the Battle of Cahmpion Hill (Vicksburg Campaign)

In Memory
Colonel Eugene Erwin, CSA, Sixth Missouri Infantry
Born in Fayette County, Kentucky
Grandson of Statesman Henry Clay
Killed in action at Vicksburg, June 25, 1863

Center Panels

Kentucky's governor sought a position of Neutrality after the fighting began at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, but elections that summer resulted in pro-Union majorities in the state legislature and congressional delegation. On November 18, 1861, a convention of Kentucky's secessionist leaders meeting in Russellville, Kentucky, approved an ordinance of secession and petitioned the Confederate government for Kentucky's admission as a state in the Confederacy. Upon approval by the Confederate congress, Kentucky was admitted to the Confederate States of America as its 13th state on December 10, 1861. The provisional Confederate government, however, was compelled by military affairs to leave the state in 1861.

During the war, an estimated 25,000 to 40,000 Kentuckians enlisted for service in the Confederate Army. Eventually, in addition to a number of artillery batteries and numerous cavalry units, nine regiments of infantry were raised, and from six of these regiments the first Kentucky brigade was formed. The soldiers of the first Kentucky brigade, known to history as the Orphan Brigade, served throughout the Western theater of operations. In the summer of 1862 these Kentucky regiments served at Vicksburg as part of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge's division manning various positions during the defense of the city. The fourth Kentucky infantry regiment was detached for a time and sent fourteen miles south of Vicksburg to Warrenton, to guard against a possible land attack by the Federals.

The Kentuckians fought no pitched battles at Vicksburg, but were constantly on guard against bombardment particularly from the mortar boats, if the Federal river fleet attacked. The most exciting moments for the orphans came when the ironclad C.S.S. Arkansas, commanded by fellow Kentuckian Lt. Isaac Newton Brown, made a daring run through the Federal fleets and anchored at Vicksburg in mid-July. During this famous action, Kentuckian William Gilmore was killed by a 160-pound bold from a Federal boat that came through the Arkansas' armor just above the waterline and into the engine room.

A detail of Kentucky volunteers from the Orphan Brigade was assigned to the Arkansas, following its battles, to help recoal and resupply it. Some men under Lt. Rubert B. Mathews from Cobb’s Kentucky Battery of the Orphan Brigade, helped serve the Arkansas’ guns during the night battle of July 15, while others of this battery manned four 24-pounders from a land emplacement.

Breckinridge’s division received order to take Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from the Federals, and so left Vicksburg at the end of July. Following the Battle of Baton Rouge, the Kentucky brigade returned to the Army of the Mississippi. The Kentucky troops hoped to join Braxton Bragg as he advanced deep into Kentucky. Those hopes were dashed when they received orders at Maynardsville, Tennessee, when en route to Cumberland Gap literally within sight of their home state to turn around following Bragg’s retreat from Perryville, Kentucky. Though the Kentuckians had no way of knowing, this was as close as the Orphans would come to their beloved Bluegrass State for the duration of the war.

Orders came on May 23, 1863, for the first Kentucky Brigade to return to Vicksburg as part of Breckinridge’s Division to relieve the besieged river city. By the end of the month the Orphans had reached Jackson, Mississippi, where they were to remain as the siege continued into July. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s forces moved toward Vicksburg in early July, but they were too late to engage the enemy, and they fell back to Jackson. The 3rd and 8th Kentucky Regiments, brigaded at the time under Gen. Abraham Buford, were also present at the Battle of Champion Hill and in the defense of Jackson. After capturing Vicksburg, the Federal Army approached Jackson on July 10, 1863, and commenced siege actions and sharpshooting. The only general action involving the Orphan Brigade came on July 12, when Lauman’s Division of the Federal 13th Corps attacked Breckinridge’s Division and was repulsed with heavy loss. The Confederates evacuated Jackson on the night of July 13, 1863, thus ending the Kentuckians’ role in the Vicksburg campaign.

Right Panel
Major General John C. Breckinridge
Brigadier General Abraham Buford
Brigadier General George B. Cosby
Brigadier General Ben Hardin Helm