Robert C. Tyler - Last General Killed in the Civil War

In the southwest corner of Pinewood Cemetery in West Point, Georgia, a small plot of ground has been set aside to provide a resting place for Confederate soldiers who died in the town.

Known as the Fort Tyler Cemetery, it notably contains the remains of Southern soldiers who fell in the defense of Fort Tyler on April 16, 1865. It was on that day, one week after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, that Brigadier General Robert C. Tyler fell in action at the Battle of West Point, Georgia.

He was the last general officer of either side killed in action in the Civil War.

A remarkable individual who grew up in Tennessee and Maryland, Robert C. Tyler was part of William Walker's filibustering expedition to Nicaragua in 1856. He was among the men who returned to New York at the end of that armed incursion as a mere skeleton.

Grave of Gen. Robert C. Tyler

In 1861, then a resident of Memphis, Tyler enlisted as a private in Company D, 15th Tennessee Infantry. He quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded his regiment at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, while fighting against the forces of General Ulysses S. Grant.

Tyler fought against Grant's men again at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. He had three horses killed from under him in that battle and was severely wounded. Due to his wounds he served in a staff capacity during Braxton Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, but was back in the field by 1863 when he fought at the brutal battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. He lost a leg in that campaign, but was also credited with heroism on the field.

Fort Tyler in West Point, Georgia

By early 1865, Tyler had been promoted to brigadier general and was commanding the small force posted to defend the Chattahoochee River railroad bridge at West Point, Georgia. When news reached the town that a large Union force was approaching, he assembled what men he could and took up a position in Fort Tyler. The earthwork redoubt overlooked both the bridge and the town, the approaches to which it commanded with its three pieces of artillery.

Local legend in West Point holds that General Tyler was presented with a flag by the ladies of the community prior to the battle. He supposedly remarked that he would stand beneath the flag with honor and either prove victorious or die in the attempt.

Despite the small size of his own force and the overwhelming size of the attacking Federal command, Tyler held out courageously in Fort Tyler. With Union soldiers moving on his defenses from all four sides and the battle clearly lost, Tyler is said to have recklessly exposed himself to enemy fire.

Along with his aide, Captain Celestine Gonzales of Florida, he was shot down in the final moments of the battle. The two men are buried side by side at Fort Tyler Cemetery.

To learn more about Tyler's grave, Fort Tyler and the Battle of West Point, please visit the following:

• Fort Tyler Cemetery
• Fort Tyler in West Point, Georgia
• Battle of West Point, Georgia

Fort Tyler - West Point, Georgia

Often overlooked by those who spend time visiting sites associated with Georgia's Civil War history, Fort Tyler in West Point preserves a fascinating Confederate fort that was a key objective during one of the last battles of the war.

Commanded by Brigadier General R.C. Tyler, a wounded veteran with a reputation for courage, and manned by a force variously estimated at from 12o to 265 Confederate regulars, militia, volunteers and wounded soldiers from local hospitals, the little fort held out against 3,750 Union soldiers for the better part of a day.

The Battle of West Point took place on April 16, 1865, an Easter Sunday. General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his forces in Virginia seven days earlier, but Tyler was not so inclined. When the ladies of the area presented him a flag on the eve of the battle, he swore that he would prevail or die in the effort. He kept his word.

As Fort Tyler came under fire from all directions, the Confederate troops within its walls fought bravely. A Union cannon shot cut the flag halyard, but a 17-year-old volunteer climbed the pole and put the flag back in place. In the end, though, General Tyler knew that the fall of the fort was inevitable. His cannon had been dismounted by Union shelling and his men were falling around him. In a final show of defiance, he exposed himself to the fire of the attacking Federals, walking in clear view until he was shot down.

Tyler was the last general on either side killed during the War Between the States. Fort Tyler surrendered not long after his death, its defenders sustained a loss of 19 killed and 28 wounded.

The earthworks of the fort were eventually destroyed to make way for a city reservoir, but in a remarkable restoration project the underground remains of Fort Tyler were discovered by archaeologists, who provided the information necessary to rebuilt the fort on its original site.

Today Fort Tyler stands again in a beautifully maintained park in West Point. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/forttyler.

The Last Major Battle of the Civil War - Columbus, Georgia

What can rightfully be called the last major battle of the Civil War took place on April 16, 1865, an Easter Sunday, for control of the industrial city of Columbus, Georgia.

Robert E. Lee had already surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia and Columbus was one of the last remaining centers for the production of military supplies in the Confederacy. Factories in the city produced weapons, swords, uniforms and other supplies and one of the largest ironclad warships undertaken by the Confederate Navy was floating in the Chattahoochee River and nearing completion. Time, however, was running out.

The Union army of General James Wilson was storming across Alabama aiming to take both Columbus and Macon. The massive Union raid had already disrupted and destroyed much of the iron industry in Alabama, demolished the Confederate facilities at Selma and captured the state and former Confederate capital of Montgomery. Wilson was now closing in on the line of the Chattahoochee.

One wing of his army, led by Colonel O.H. LaGrange, stormed Fort Tyler at West Point on the afternoon of the 16th, even as Wilson with the main body closed in on the Columbus bridges.

The primary fortifications of Columbus were located on the ridges surrounding Girard (today's Phenix City), a small community on the Alabama side of the river. The Confederates under Major General Howell Cobb did not have enough men to man the entire line, so Cobb concentrated on the forts, batteries and breastworks along the most likely avenues of attack.

Wilson tried to bypass this force by sending a column of cavalry dashing forward at around 2 p.m. in a desperate effort to seize one of the bridges. The attack failed and he was forced to bring up his full command for an assault on the Confederate defenses along the Summerville Road.

It was dark before Wilson's main attack began. At around 9 p.m., the 3rd Iowa and 10th Missouri Cavalry regiments stormed an advanced Confederate line, but came under a heavy fire from artillery and small arms in the main Southern defenses. A second charge up the Summerville Road, however, sliced through Cobb's main line and rolled over the hill and down to the Chattahoochee. Union troops became so mixed in with retreating Confederates that Southern artillerymen on the Georgia side of the river could not fire without hitting their own men.

The Federals stormed across the bridge and into Columbus. His lines in shambles, Cobb withdrew. The last major battle of the Civil War was over, but continues to be studied today because it is a classic example of confused night fighting. More fighting would still take place in Georgia, Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, but the Battle of Columbus was the last major battle of a major campaign.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/battleofcolumbus.