The swords were turned over to the Maryland State Archives on January 7, 1998, and were installed in the Old Senate Chamber in a ceremony held today by the Maryland Senate to mark George Washington's birthday. State Comptroller and Hall of Records Commission Chairman Louis L. Goldstein was the principal speaker at the ceremony and Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, Maryland State Archivist unveiled the swords with Governor Parris N. Glendening, Comptroller Goldstein, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.

Tench Tilghman was born on December 25, 1744 in Talbot County on his father’s plantation. He was educated privately until the age of 14, when he went to Philadelphia to live with his grandfather, Tench Francis. In 1761, he graduated from the College and Academy of Philadelphia, which later became the University of Pennsylvania, and then went into business with his uncle Tench Francis, Jr. until just before the Revolutionary War.

Tilghman joined George Washington’s staff as aide-de-camp and secretary in August 1776. He served without pay until May 1781, when Washington, calling him a “zealous servant and slave to the public, and faithful assistant to me for nearly five years,” procured for him a regular commission in the Continental Army. Following the victory at Yorktown, Washington rewarded him with the honor of carrying the Articles of Capitulation to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

After the War, Tilghman returned to Maryland where he resumed his career in business in Baltimore and married his cousin, Anna Marie Tilghman. They had two daughters, Anna Margaretta and Elizabeth Tench. Tilghman died on April 18, 1786 at the age of 41. George Washington said of his long-time assistant: “None could have felt his death with more regret than I did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his worth or had imbibed sentiments of greater friendship for him than I had done…”

The swords form Maryland State Archives Special Collection 4873 (MSA SC 4873), and can be seen in the Old Senate Chamber during regular State House visiting hours, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. For further information, please call Mimi Calver (410) 974 3914. .