Lewis Tillman (August 18, 1816 – May 3, 1886) was an American politician and a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for the 4th congressional district of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Biography

Tillman was born near

Shelbyville, Tennessee Shelbyville is a city in and the county seat of Bedford County, Tennessee, United States. The town was laid out in 1810 and incorporated in 1819. Shelbyville had a population of 20,335 residents at the 2010 census. The town is a hub of the Tenness ...

in Bedford County. He attended the

common schools A common school was a public school in the United States during the 19th century. Horace Mann (1796–1859) was a strong advocate for public education and the common school. In 1837, the state of Massachusetts appointed Mann as the first secretary ...

and pursued an academic course.

Career

Tillman served in the

Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were three related military conflicts in Florida between the United States and the Seminole, citizens of a Native American nation which formed in the region during the early 1700s. Hostilities ...

as a private and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a circuit court clerk of Bedford County from 1852 to 1860. He was a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

of the state militia before the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and the editor of a newspaper in Shelbyville. From 1865 to 1869, he was a clerk and master of the chancery court. Elected as a member of the Republican Party to the Forty-first Congress, Tillman served from March 4, 1869, to March 3, 1871, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1870. He returned to agricultural pursuits.

Death

Tillman died in Shelbyville on May 3, 1886. He was

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

in Willow Mount Cemetery. His uncle, Barclay Martin, also served as a U.S. congressman. His son James Davidson Tillman was a Confederate colonel and postwar served in the Tennessee Senate and was appointed U.S. Minister to Ecuador by President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

. His son Brigadier General

Samuel Escue Tillman Samuel Escue Tillman (October 2, 1847 – June 24, 1942) was an astronomer, engineer, military educator, and career officer in the United States Army who spent 30 years teaching at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. In a ...

was a West Point graduate who served as the Academy's Superintendent during World War I.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillman, Lewis 1816 births 1886 deaths Southern Unionists in the American Civil War Clerks Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians People from Shelbyville, Tennessee United States Army personnel of the Seminole Wars 19th-century American newspaper editors Farmers from Tennessee