Everything about Robert H Chilton totally explained
Robert Hall Chilton (
February 25,
1815 –
February 18,
1879) was an officer in the
U.S. Army and then a
brigadier general in the
Confederate States Army during the
American Civil War. He served as
Chief of Staff for the
Army of Northern Virginia under
Robert E. Lee for much of the war.
Chilton was born in
Loudoun County, Virginia, to a prominent family. He was the son of William and Sarah (Powell) Chilton. He secured an appointment to the
United States Military Academy and graduated 48th out of 57 cadets in the Class of 1837.
Brevetted as a
second lieutenant, he served in various administrative posts. On
September 25,
1845, he married Laura Ann Thomson Mason (1829–1911) in New York City. The couple would have three children—Laura Mason, Emily Virginia, and Robert Lee Chilton. He was assigned to a
regiment of
dragoons for western
frontier duty and fought in a series of skirmishes with
Osage Indians. He served in
Kansas,
Texas, and the
Indian Territory.
Chilton fought in the
Mexican-American War, winning the brevet rank of
major for gallantry in action at the
Battle of Buena Vista. Under severe Mexican fire, he picked up the wounded Colonel
Jefferson Davis and carried him to safety. Chilton was promoted to
captain of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. He was assigned in 1854 to administrative duty as a paymaster with the rank of major, serving in various posts in
Washington, D.C.,
New York City,
Detroit, Michigan, and
San Antonio, Texas.
Chilton was in Texas when he received word of the bombardment of
Fort Sumter. He resigned his commission in the U.S. Army on
April 29,
1861, and traveled home to Virginia. He enrolled in the Confederate service as an
adjutant general with the rank of
lieutenant colonel. He served on the staff of fellow Virginian Robert E. Lee, rising to Chief of Staff. He penned the famous
Lost Order during the
Maryland Campaign. Although nominated for brigadier general in October 1862 and despite firm support from General Lee, Chilton's appointment wasn't officially confirmed by the
Confederate Congress until
February 16,
1864, most likely due to repeated clashes with the Confederate Senate and with fellow officers, most notably
John B. Magruder.
Following the
Gettysburg Campaign, he served as
Inspector General for the Army of Northern Virginia for the rest of the war, with his headquarters in
Richmond, Virginia. He rarely led troops in the field, with the exception of a successful attack in May 1864 when he led a small force of Virginia troops in routing Federal troops from the
Army of the James that were raiding the important
Richmond & Petersburg Railroad.
Following the cessation of hostilities in early 1865, Chilton returned to civilian life. He moved to
Columbus, Georgia, where he became president of a local manufacturing company. He died of
apoplexy in Columbus in 1879. He is buried in
Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
The Major Robert H. Chilton monument in Chilton Park in
Dodge City, Kansas, was unveiled
May 28,
1931.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Robert H Chilton'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://robert_h__chilton.totallyexplained.com">Robert H. Chilton Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
