Tench Tilghman letters

This collection consists of 38 letters from Tench Tilghman (1744-1786), a native of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and aide-de-camp to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Tench wrote 35 of the letters to his father, James Tilghman, from 1768 to 1779. The remaining three letters Tench wrote to his brother, William Tilghman, from 1780 to 1781. Each letter is filed in a separate folder and titled with the date, author and recipient of the letter, followed by the location from which the letter was sent. As Tench was a member of Washington's staff, the location of his letters generally reflect the main hubs of Revolutionary War activity. All of the original manuscript letters are filed in the folders with a typed transcription.

Three of the letters from Tench Tilghman to James Tilghman are dated from 1768, before the outbreak of the Revolution when Tench was based in Philadelphia and James was on business in Albany, New York. These letters reflect family news and local events.

The next letter from Tench to his father is dated August 13, 1776, just days after he accepted a position as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Tench writes, "You can have no idea of the General's merit and abilities without being with him, few words serve him, but they are to the purpose, and an order once given by him is implicitly obeyed thro'every Department. His civilities to me have been more than I had a right to expect, but I endeavour to make it up by my assiduity in executing his commands, in some of which I have given him very particular satisfaction." Tench frequently praises Washington, admiring the General's work ethic and discipline.

Along with news of military engagements and strategies, a central theme of Tench's letters are the divisions of loyalty within his own family. On October 7, 1776, Tench writes how having Loyalists in his family affects how he may be perceived in his role. "Was I to leave him [Washington] now...would not my conduct appear suspicious to him, would it not look as if I had ingratiated myself with him purposely to make myself master of his secrets, and then to take advantage." With a Loyalist father under house imprisonment, one brother in England and another brother in service to the British, Tench was accutely aware of the optics of his situation. Even so, he continued to express affection and care for his family, despite their divisions. In 1777, his younger brother Philemon, incensed at the arrest of their father, had ran away to join the British Navy. On February 27, 1778, Tench writes of Philemon, "But thank God he has chosen a service that will never throw him in my way as an Enemy..."

The final three letters from Tench are addressed to his brother, William Tilghman, who is attempting to secure passage to England and has evidently asked Tench for assistance. Tench replies on June 12, 1781, citing his delicate situation as a person close to General Washington. "I am, from my station, Master of the most valuable Secrets of the Cabinet and the Field, and it might give cause of umbrage and suspicion were I, at this critical Moment, to interest myself in procuring the passage of a Brother to England." He urges William to defer the matter until the following spring, when it is likely that hostilities will cease.

The final folder in the collection contains two letters to William Tilghman dated May 8, 1790 and August 4, 1790, regarding a portrait of Tench Tilghman. The letters are pasted into a small booklet and prefaced with five pages on the provenance of the collection and biography of Tench Tilghman written by William McMurtrie Tilghman in 1868.