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He was placed in command of the siege train of the Army of the Potomac and then promoted to brigadier general of
volunteers on November 29, 1862. The Union army went through multiple reorganizations, and he was in charge of the Artillery
Reserve of the Army of the Potomac starting in May of 1862 , and his command played a significant role at Chancellorsville. At the Battle of Gettysburg, his
men and guns played an important role in stopping the Confederate assaults, including repelling the “high water mark of the Confederacy” during Pickett’s
Charge. Cullum’s Register notes: “General Tyler, in this battle of the giants, had two horses shot under him, and his coolness, skill, and intrepidity contributed
greatly to the success of the final struggle.” His service on the battlefield ended at Cold Harbor where he led a brigade and was shot through the ankle the
following year. One of his friends is said to have remarked, “although he long survived the war, he was killed at Cold Harbor.” He never fully recovered, but
he remained in administrative roles until the end of the war and received a brevet to major general of volunteers in March 1865. After Cold Harbor, the
citizens of Hartford presented him an Ames sword and accoutrements valued at $1,000 (a considerable sum in the 1860s). The sword and its presentation
were detailed in the Hartford Courant articles, including one on September 27, 1864, following the presentation listing among the presenters E. K. Root
of Colt. The state legislature also passed a resolution thanking him for his distinguished service in July 1865. The Grand Army of the Republic’s Robert O.
Tyler Post #50 in Hartford was also named in his honor. He returned to the regular army with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1866 and served as Chief
Quartermaster of the Department of the Carolinas, then the Department of the South, and then the Second Military Division, and later served as
the Depot Quartermaster at Charleston, South Carolina. He was on a leave of absence in Europe from Sep. 15, 1868, to July 15, 1869, as part of
an effort to improve his health. After returning he was Chief Quartermaster of the Division of the South and then the Division of the Pacific.
He is listed on a leave of absence for “making the tour around the world” from Aug. 1, 1872, to June 30, 1873, and traveled to Japan, China,
Singapore, and India. He wrote home of seeing arms and armor for sale that had belonged to Indian rulers, including “a flintlock revolver
working on a similar principle to that of Colt...”, presumably a Collier pattern. After returning, he was the Chief Quartermaster of Division
of the Atlantic as well as the Department of the East and finally the Chief Quartermaster of the First District and Second District of the
Division of the Atlantic. He died at the young age of 42 and is buried in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford in the same section as
Samuel Colt’s own grave. The preface of his memoir published in 1878 note: “Wedded only to his country,
with none left to bear his name or transmit his noble characteristics, he lives in the history of a most
eventful period, and in the hearts of numberless surviving friends.”
As pictured & described in The Colt Engraving
Book Vol. 1 by Wilson & The Colt Model 1860
Army Revolver by Pate
238