Robert Tarleton was a member of a wealthy Mobile, Ala., family. He was educated at Princeton University and later studied medicine in New York City. On the eve of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private and served as clerk in Gen. Braxton Bragg's headquarters. He was commissioned lieutenant in Smith's Battery and stationed at Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay. Tarleton was captured with the fort's surrender in 1864, but escaped. He turned to cotton farming in Louisiana before returning to Mobile (1868) to enter the produce business. He married his fianceé, Sallie Lightfoot, shortly after his escape in 1864.
From the description of Sallie Lightfoot Tarleton papers, 1861-1868 [manuscript]. (East Carolina University). WorldCat record id: 47887800
