Ronan Martell

If only Oscar Tillman had been born with the Tillman silver spoon. His fifth great grandfather did his duty in the Revolutionary War just as all Tillmans did with their military service before and after him. It was by great happenstance that he met the fifteen-year-old girl who became his wife. Edward Tillman was an officer in Maryland’s Eastern Shore militia. He and his men tracked a band of loyalists as far as North Carolina in 1781. Those few days ended in a small skirmish with just a few soldiers receiving minor injuries on both sides. Edward set up camp in the area around Anson, North Carolina, to rest and resupply. He needed rations to make the trip back home. He and his men needed items such as food, ale, rum or cider, and tobacco. Beef or pork, beans, rice, bread, and vegetables would be nice. Edward was accustomed to eating well. He and a sergeant rode down the road a little way to speak with the man who lived in the cabin they noticed from the hilltop.

The sergeant knocked three times on the cabin door and stepped aside, letting Edward take his spot in front of the door. The door opened and fifteen-year-old Mary Henson stood there wearing a white dress and apron and stared at the men without speaking.

“Well, good morning ma’am, Captain Edward Philemon Tillman from the Maryland Eastern Shore militia. We’ve come a long way and wonder if we could negotiate for some supplies.”

“Daddy! Daddy come here.”

Thomas Henson was a big man who filled the doorway and ignored Edward Tillman’s extended hand.

“Would it be possible, kind sir, to speak with you about acquiring a few supplies for our journey home?” Edward asked in his most gentlemanly manner.

Captain Tillman walked with Thomas around the corner of the cabin and noticed a limp on his right side.

“I’d be happy to help you with your supply needs Captain Tillman, in exchange for a little help around the farm. You see, I fell here recently, and I can’t work as much as before. The family and I are planning to move on from here. We have a plot of land promised to us in Alabama.”

The captain furrowed his brow and stroked his pointed chin hair and said, “I am sure we can stay a day or two longer and earn our passage home.”

Thomas Henson nodded and went back inside the cabin. Captain Edward Philemon Tillman mounted his horse and with his sergeant, rode to tell his men to break camp and move closer to the cabin. Mary watched Edward ride off and was waiting when he returned. The men pitched tents and started a fire while Edward milled about with an unlit pipe in his teeth. He noticed Mary leaning against a broken fence and walked over to her. She was nervous and excited and blushed when he leaned on the other side. The difference in their ages didn’t matter at that moment. They talked and laughed, late into the night. Mary was so smitten she couldn’t have slept even if she had gone to bed.

Captain Tillman’s men repaired the fence, helped patch the roof, and repaired the Henson wagon. They did a few other odds and ends while Edward spent most of the time courting Mary. Thomas was not very happy seeing his daughter spending that much time with a man he figured was married. He allowed it because he didn’t want to interrupt the work progress, plus they would be leaving soon.

Thomas was much obliged and rewarded Edward with more supplies than he could afford to let go. The two men had a conversation lasting several minutes about the journey each had in their future. The militia would be back in Maryland in a few days. Alabama was a much longer trip and Thomas wasn’t sure when they would be able to leave. The men bid each other farewell. Captain Tillman and his men rode off leaving Mary Henson at the fence crying into her apron.

At the end of the several days’ ride, Edward split off from his small army and rode up the tree lined road to Talbot House, the Tillman ancestral home. He and his wife and young son had once shared a large home with gardens and a stable on the grounds of the main house. He dismounted and tied up his horse, then went to the family plot with manicured shrubs and fragrant flowers. Edward stood in silence at the graves of his wife Anna and son Joshua. He then walked over to look for his father to tell him he would be leaving the next morning for a new beginning in Alabama.