John C. Tidball

Tidball served all through the Civil War, receiving five brevet commissions for gallant and meritorious conduct on the field, and being complimented personally by President Abraham Lincoln for his work at the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was in command of the Second Brigade Horse Artillery under Major General Alfred Pleasonton.[3] With slow advancement in the ranks of the Regular Army (United States) (especially in the artillery branch), Tidball sought higher responsibilities elsewhere, by accepting a commission in the U.S.[2] Tidball commanded the artillery of the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Overland Campaign, including the Battle of the Wilderness, April 1864–July 6, 1864.Tidball commanded a brigade of horse artillery as a captain, fought in most of the major battles and campaigns of the war, and was frequently cited for efficiency, reliability and military professionalism.Artillery: Joining his battery in December 1862, as a second lieutenant, I was led to believe by some of my brother subalterns that our captain was very exacting, of choleric temperament and much of a martinet.Above the average height, his dark piercing eyes with a far-off thoughtful expression, handsome regular features, dark-brown wavy hair, beard and mustache, and in the prime of manhood, he reminded me of a picture I once saw, of the "Knight in Search of the Holy Grail."Alfred Pleasonton, commander of the Cavalry Corps at Gettysburg, mentioned Tidball and James M. Robertson, each commanding a brigade of horse artillery batteries, in his battle report: [Tidball and Robertson] are now performing the duties of general officers with only the rank of captain, and I most urgently recommend that they be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.One of Tidball's mentors, Henry Jackson Hunt, added the following to Pleasanton's recommendation: They have seen their juniors passed over their heads, and have been compelled to serve when they were entitled by their experience to command.Upon his arrival to the 4th New York, Private James Hildreth (of Battery F) was not happy, writing home that: The colonel is as mean now as he was good when he first took command.He died on May 15, 1906, at the age of 81 in his residence in Montclair, New Jersey, and was buried in the post cemetery at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.He was, besides, a handsome fellow with a personality that attracted attention upon all occasions; and his rollicking, off-hand effrontery carried him through with applause where one of less assurance would have been a mere figurehead.His manly proportions and devil-may-care airishness were attractive to women, and aroused in them that admiration for masculine qualities so natural to the female sex.Free and easy in manner and with but little regard for the nicer conventionalities of society he floated along, light hearted and gay, upon the flood tide of enjoyment, seemingly regardless of what the ebb might have in store for him.The very abandon with which he threw himself into whatever was going on exercised a captivating influence and caused him to be sought as one who could always be relied on to give animation to any occasion… [his] trick of self-abnegation seemed not only to help him along but to cover over shortcomings, as it did when dismal failure followed many of his enterprises… There was no one like Burnside.There were occasions, as I observed, when his actions appeared strangely affected; as, for instance, when a drenching shower caught sections returning from recitations, of the shelter to the barracks, Jackson would continue his march, solemnly, at the usual pace, deviating neither to the right nor to the left.However much the southern mind may be divided as to whether Beauregard, or Joe Johnston or Lee were the greater of their generals, one thing is certain: they all unite in worshiping the memory of "Stonewall" Jackson, and the entire world joins them in admiration of his wonderful career.He was exceedingly punctilious in points of etiquette, and I well recall that although we officers were quartered around in the buildings in the most inconvenient places, he took special pains to seek us all out and make a friendly call upon each one.Maury was reaping harvests of renown for the compilation of his wind and current charts and was beginning to feel that the entire Atlantic was his special reserve upon which he would not tolerate any poaching....With strangers – in fact with all – he was noted for the directness of his questions, and this led at once to familiar conversation, in which he always took the lead, thus enabling him to soon discover all that was worthy of being known about his visitor.He was exceedingly fond of the society of ladies, and took as much delight in dancing and such pleasures as a youth just entering manhood, and with them he was as much a lion as he was a hero with his old soldiers.As with Burnside, Tidball looked on the Mexican War veteran Thomas with the awe of a new recruit: I was attracted to him by the fatherly interest he seemed to take in me, and got (from) him many hints that I found most sound and practical in my subsequent career as an officer.