Friendly Fire Part Two

Confederate General Micah Jenkins died from a wound May 6^th 1864, received during the Battle of the Wilderness.

Micah Jenkins was born December 1^st 1835 on Edisto Island, South Carolina, the son of John and Elizabeth Jenkins.  He graduated in 1854 from the South Carolina Military Academy [the Citadel], first in his class.  Jenkins was a member of the Yorkville Episcopal Church.  He worked to organize, and founded along with Asbury Coward in 1855, the King’s Mountain Military Academy.

As the Civil War got started Jenkins recruited and became the Colonel of the 5^th South Carolina.  They were present for the First Battle of Manassas.  During the Battle of Seven Pines, Jenkins took command of Richard Anderson brigade after Anderson was wounded, leading it with distinction until he wounded in the knee.  He was promoted to Brigadier General July 22^nd 1862.  Jenkins was wound again at the Second Battle of Manassas in the abdomen and chest, which kept him out of the Battle of Antietam.  He was back with the army in time for the Battle of Fredericksburg, serving in Confederate Major General George Pickett’s division, but wasn't engaged.  Jenkins brigade went with Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet to Tennessee, taking part in the second day of the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20^th 1863.  On January 16^th 1864, he led his men in a victory against Union cavalry at the Battle of Kimbrough’s Crossroads.

At the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6^th 1864, Jenkins was riding with Longstreet and some other staff officers at about 1pm when they were hit with friendly fire coming from the 12^th Virginia.  It occurred very near the place where Confederate General Thomas J Jackson was struck down a year before.  Jenkins was hit in forehead, with the ball entering his brain.  He remained semiconscious, but unknowing, dying of his wounds six hours later.  He was buried first in Summerville, South Carolina, but in 1881 was moved to the Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina.

Only One Battle

Union Colonel Alfred M Wood enlisted on April 4^th 1861 in the 84^th New York Infantry, also known as the 14^th Brooklyn.

Alfred M Wood was born April 19^th 1825.  On April 13^th 1858 he was made the Colonel of the 14^th New York Militia.

When the Civil War started Wood enlisted in Brooklyn, New York on April 4^th 1861 for three years’ service in the 84^th New York Infantry, which is better known as the 14^th Brooklyn.  He was wounded and captured at the First Battle of Manassas; where Wood led his regiment in two attempts to capture Henry Hill.  It was during this attack that Confederate General Thomas J Jackson, whom the 14^th was charging against, gave the Regiment its nick name of the “Red Legged Devils”.  Wood would be exchanged and returned to duty.  Do to the wounds he received at Manassas, Wood was discharged on October 18^th 1861.

Wood became the Mayor of the city of Brooklyn in 1864.  After the war ended he spent a great deal of time helping the veterans of his old regiment the 14^th Brooklyn.  Wood died July 28^th 1895, and is buried in the Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale, Nassau, New York.

If you would like to read more about the life of Alfred M. Wood this is a good site.

A Medical Department

The Confederate Army Medical Department was created February 26^th 1861 by the provisional government.

The Confederacy moved faster than the Union in establishing a medical corps.  The Confederate Medical Department was created within the structure of the army on February 26^th 1861.  Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed David C DeLeon as the Surgeon General.  There was an error in the military regulation, which omitted the section for creating medical officers.  Many of the physicians who enlisted in the service did so as privates and were used as regimental surgeons.

DeLeon had a staff of 25, and they created the armies medical standards.  They developed field service shortly after the Battle of First Manassas.  The early field hospitals couldn’t handle the amount of wounded, and many had to be sent to southern cities for care.  Davis replaced Deleon with Samuel Preston Moore, who had more experience in medical administration.  He started by reviewing and replacing none qualified surgeons.  In August 1861 the Confederacy began building their own hospitals, and by 1862 they were providing regiments with medical supplies including surgical instruments and medicines.

If you’re interested in reading more about the Confederate Medical Department this is a good web site.

Exposed His Life

Thomas Saltus Lubbock a Texas Ranger and Confederate Colonel, died January 9^th 1862.

Thomas Saltus Lubbock was born November 29^th 1817 in Charleston, South Carolina the son of Henry T and Susan Ann (Saltus) Lubbock.  He moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1835 to work in a cotton factory.  When the Texas revolution started Lubbock marched with a company raised by Captain William G Cooke to Nacogdoches, Texas, and took part in the siege of San Antonio de Bexar.  He took work on the upper Brazos River on a steamboat before joining the Santa Fe Expedition.  When captured with his company in New Mexico, he escaped and made his way back to Texas.  He was elected First Lieutenant in the Texas Rangers and was at the head of a company that drove the Mexicans back across the Rio Grande.

Lubbock was a firm secessionist.  At the beginning of the Civil War Lubbock traveled with Thomas J Goree, James Longstreet, Benjamin Franklin Terry and John A Wharton from Galveston, Texas to Richmond, Virginia, where he petitioned Confederate President Jefferson Davis for permission to raise a company.  While in Virginia Lubbock and Terry along with about 15 other Texans organized into a band of scouts to work for the Confederate Army.  He was still a civilian during the First Battle of Manassas where he "exposed his life in bearing messages during the contest."

Lubbock and Terry finally received authority to raise a regiment of cavalry, and they returned to Texas where they raised the 8^th Texas Cavalry known as “Terry’s Texas Rangers”.  Lubbock was made the Lieutenant Colonel of the 8^th.  Finding himself in failing health Lubbock traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to recover.  When Terry was killed at the Battle of Rowlett’s Station on December 17^th 1861, Lubbock was promoted to Colonel of the 8^th.  He never took command of the regiment however, as he died from typhoid fever in Nashville, Tennessee January 9^th 1862.  He is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, Texas.

A Defensive Engineer

Colonel David Bullock Harris died from yellow fever October 10^th 1864 at Summerville, South Carolina.

David Bullock Harris was born September 28^th 1814 at Fredericks Hall, Louisa, Virginia, the son of Frederick and Catherine Snelson (Smith) Harris.  He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, seventh in his class of 1833.  He served for two years in the artillery and as an engineering instructor at the Academy.  Resigning in 1835 as a Second Lieutenant, Harris went to work for the James River and Kanawha Canal Company as an engineer.  In 1845 he bought a plantation in Goochland County, Virginia known as “Woodville”.

When the Civil War began Harris was made a Captain of engineers for the Virginia Militia.  By July 1861 he was serving on the staff of Confederate Brigadier General Philip St George Cooke.  Following the First Battle of Manassas, where he planned and constructed works for its defense.  He moved to the staff of Confederate General PGT Beauregard.  Harris was made a Captain in the Confederate engineers, where he planned the defenses of many of the Southern port and river cities.  While with Beauregard in Charleston, South Carolina he had the defenses brought up so strong they withstood a Union siege.  On October 8^th1863 Harris was promoted to Colonel.  In the summer of 1864 he was in Virginia, where he planned the defenses of Petersburg.

Harris was sent back to Charleston where he was placed in the post of Chief Engineer of the Department of South Carolina.  It was while serving there that he contracted Yellow Fever.  Harris died October 10^th 1864 in Summerville, South Carolina.  He is buried in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

To The Memory Of Patriots

The Henry Hill Monument built by the 5^th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery on the Manassas battlefield, was dedicated June 11^th 1865.

Just eight weeks after Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S Grant, Lieutenant James M McCallum of the 16^th Massachusetts Battery received orders to oversee the building of a monument.  He oversaw soldiers from the 5^th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery in the building of two monuments on the Bull Run battlefield.   The monument located on Henry Hill would be twenty feet tall, topped with a two hundred pound shell.  There are pedestals on each corner which are also topped with shells.  It is built from local sandstone, and took the men just four days to construct the monument.

Union General Samuel P Heintzelman, Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs and Major General Orlando B Wilcox attended the dedication of the monument held on June 11^th 1865.  There were speeches given by chaplains from Illinois and Kentucky, followed by a firing of artillery located on Henry Hill.  The inscription on the monument reads, “To the memory of the patriots who fell at Bull Run, July 21st, 1861.”

A New Commander

At the Battle of Seven Pines [also called the Battle of Fair Oaks], Confederate General Joseph Eggleston Johnston was wounded, and the command of the Army of Northern Virginia was turned over the next day June 1^st 1862 to General Robert E Lee.

Confederate General Joseph Eggleston Johnston was criticized by Confederate President Jefferson Davis for a lack of aggressiveness.  He was the senior commander at the First Battle of Manassas, and was defending the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia in 1862 against a superior number of Union troops commanded by Major General George B McClellan.  Facing greater numbers Johnson wanted to concentrate his force in fortifications around Richmond, but was overruled by Davis.  First he prepared for a siege at Yorktown, but then withdrew to Williamsburg where he fought a battle on May 5^th 1862.  On May 7^th 1862 Johnson’s men turned back an amphibious attack at Eltham’s Landing.  Each movement however placed Johnson’s army closer to Richmond, until he was only about six mile away.

A part of the Peninsula Campaign, at the Battle of Seven Pines Johnson was operating on the offensive.  Seeing that McClellan’s army was divided by the flooded Chickahominy River, he attacked on May 31^st 1862.  The battle was a tactical draw, but it halted McClellan’s advance.  Johnson was wounded about dusk, in the right shoulder and chest by an artillery shell.  He was evacuated to Richmond, Virginia.  That day, June 1^st 1862 the command of the Army of Northern Virginia was turned over to his West Point classmate Robert E Lee.

He Was Burried Near The Field

Confederate Colonel James Barbour Terrill was killed May 30^th 1864 during the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek; he was made Brigadier General posthumously the next day.

James Barbour Terrill was the son of William H and Elizabeth (Pitzer) Terrill and was born February 20^th 1838 in Bath County, Virginia.  He was an 1858 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute ranking 16^th in his class of 19.  After graduation Terrill moved to Lexington, Virginia to study law at Washington College with Judge John W Brockenbrough.  Virginia Governor Henry A Wise gave him an appointment to the state militia as Major of the cavalry.  He began practicing law in Warm Springs, Virginia in 1860.

Terrill was elected Major of the 13^th Virginia Infantry in May 1861 when the Civil War started.  He served under the then Colonel AP Hill.   Terrill's first action at the Battle of First Manassas, in Jackson’s Valley Campaign, and all the other major battles in the Eastern Theater.  Following the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 15^th 1863 Terrill was promoted to Colonel of the 13^th Virginia.

Terrill was killed in action May 30^th 1864 at the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek [aka the Battle of Bethesda Church].  Union troops buried Terrill at Bethesda Church, Hanover, Virginia near the battlefield.  He had been nominated for promotion to brigadier general, and the appointment was confirmed the next day.

Hung As A Confederate Spy

John Yates Beall was hung in New York City February 24^th 1865 as a Confederate spy.

John Yates Beall was born January 1^st 1835 on his family’s farm; Walnut Grove, in Jefferson County, Virginia the son of George Brooke and Janet (Yates) Beall.  He began the study of law at the University of Virginia, but after his father’s death in 1855 he left school to take up farming.  Beall joined the militia company known as “Bott’s Grays”.  They would be present at the hanging of John Brown December 2^nd 1859.

When the Civil War started “Bott’s Grays” became Company G of the 2^nd Virginia Infantry.  Beall was wounded in chest at the Battle of First Manassas, and deemed unfit for service.  Beall then took up the roll of privateer.  He tried to talk the Confederate government into giving him a commission to operate on the Great Lakes, but they declined fearing its effect on relations with England.  So with two boats and 18 men as crew he operated on the Potomac River and in the Chesapeake Bay.  Beall was captured in November of 1863 and after being exchanged in May 1864, he moved to the north shore of Lake Erie in Canada where he plotted to release Confederate Prisoners of War being held on Johnson’s Island.

When that plan failed Beall moved onto a plan to free some Confederate officers by derailing a train they were on.  This time Union authorities captured him and his companion George S Anderson at Niagara, New York on December 16^th 1864.  Anderson agreed to testify against Beall for a lesser sentence.  Union General John Adams Dix ordered Beall’s trail to begin on January 17^th 1865.  He was found guilty of guerrilla activities and spying against the Union by the military commission on February 8^th 1865, and transported to Fort Columbus on Governors Island in the New York Harbor.  Appeals were made to save his life all the way up to Abraham Lincoln but no stay of execution was coming Beall’s way.  He was hung February 24^th 1865.  He is buried in the Zion Episcopal Churchyard, in Charlestown, West Virginia.

The First In New Jersey

Union General George William Taylor died August 31^st 1862 from wounds received a few days earlier at the Second Battle of Manassas.

George William Taylor was born November 22^nd 1808 at his family home “Solitude” in High Bridge, New Jersey, the son of Archibald Stewart and Nancy Ann (Bray) Taylor.  He graduated from Partridge's American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in Middletown, Connecticut.  After graduation Taylor went to work at his father’s company Taylor Iron & Steel Company.  In 1827 He joined the United States Navy, serving until 1831, when he went back into family business.  When the Mexican American War started Taylor served under General Zachary Taylor in the 10^th US Infantry.  Following his service in the Mexican American War, he spent a time looking for gold in California, before returning to New Jersey and the iron company.

When the Civil War started Taylor help recruit what would become the 3^rd New Jersey Infantry.  He would be their Colonel.  The 3^rd would become a part the famed “First New Jersey Brigade” and Taylor and the 3^rd would see action at First Bull Run and many battles during the Peninsula Campaign.  Taylor was promoted May 9^th 1862 to Brigadier General and given command of the 1^st New Jersey Brigade.  On August 27^th 1862 while Taylor’s Brigade was deployed at Manassas Junction near Bull Run Bridge, he was wounded in leg by an artillery shell.

Taylor died August 31^st 1862 in the Washington, DC area.  His body was sent by train to Clinton, New Jersey.  He is buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Clinton, New Jersey.

Before He Was The Stonewall

A part of the Manassas Campaign the Battle of Hoke’s Run or the Battle of Falling Waters as it is also known was fought July 2^nd 1861 in Berkeley County, Virginia by Confederate then Colonel Thomas J Jackson’s and Union General Robert Patterson’s forces.

Union General Robert Patterson’s division crossed the Potomac marching for Martinsburg, Virginia on July 2^nd 1861.  Two of his Brigades under the command of Colonel John Joseph Abercrombie and Colonel George Henry Thomas ran into some of Colonel Thomas J Jackson’s men near Hoke’s Run.  The Union troops slowly pushed Jackson’s men back.  Jackson’s orders were to delay any Union advances, which he accomplished in the face of Patterson’s much large force.

Patterson continued his move toward Martinsburg, occupying the city on July 3^rd 1861.  This small battle produced about 23 Union casualties and about 91 Confederate ones.

Another web site about this battle can be found at Falling Waters Battlefield Association

Lowest Rate Of Mortality

Located in Richmond, Virginia, the Robertson Hospital treated wounded soldiers from the First Battle of Manassas until the last soldier was discharged June 13^th 1865.

The Robertson Hospital was a small private hospital located in Judge John Roberts donated home and was financially supported by the Confederate government.  The hospital was run by Captain Sally Louisa Tompkins; she was the only women to have a commission from the Confederate government.

Sally Louisa Tompkins was born November 9^th 1833 in Poplar Grove, Mathews County, Virginia the daughter of Christopher and Maria (Patterson) Tompkins.  She took an active role in restoring her neighborhood Episcopal Church, and nursed many locals, both black and white as a young woman.  After her father died, Tompkins and her mother moved to Richmond, Virginia.

After the First Battle of Manassas on July 21^st 1861 the Confederate capital wasn’t ready for the hundreds of wounded soldiers who arrived there.  Tompkins responded to this influx by opening the home of Judge John Robertson as a hospital.  Once the first rush of wounded had passed Confederate President Jefferson Davis had military hospitals set up, but the Robertson Hospital had done such a good job that Tompkins was given a military commission so she could continue to work.  The Hospital treated 1,333 wounded during the four years of the war with only 73 deaths reported.  It had the lowest mortality rate of any military hospital during the Civil War.  The last of these patients was discharged on June 13^th 1865.

Following the war Tompkins continued to serve in charitable work.  She never married and eventually she lived in the Richmond Home for Confederate Women in 1905.  She died July 26^th 1916 and was buried with full military honors at the Christ Church in Mathews County, Virginia.

A Blockade Of The Potomac

A part of the Potomac River blockade, the Battle of Cockpit Point took place January 3^rd 1862 in Prince William County, Virginia.

The Confederate Army established a defensive line after the Battle of First Manassas from the Occoquan to the Potomac River.  They used the rivers to set up gun positions to stop Union boats.  By December 1861 they had 37 heavy guns along the river.

On January 3^rd 1862 the Union ships the USS Anacostia and USS Yankee shelled the Confederate location at Cockpit Point.  Neither side made any headway.

Union ships would again approach the point on March 9^th 1862, only to find the Confederates had left the area.  But the Confederates had sealed off the Potomac River for almost five months.

The Castle Fell

Castle Pinckney was the first Union military position seized on December 27^th 1860 by a Confederate state government.

Castle Pinckney was built in 1810 on Shutes’ Folly Island about a mile off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.  The fort was started in 1797 as a stick and earth structure to protect the city from naval attack and was named for American Revolutionary War hero Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.  It was replaced in 1809 by a brick structure that reminded people of a castle.  The fort was garrisoned in the War of 1812 and during the Nullification Crisis of 1832.  The rest of the time the fort was used as a storehouse for military supplies.

As the country closed in on Civil War, Castle Pinckney was a part of the Union defense of Charleston harbor which included Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter.  Pinckney was protected by 28 guns of various sizes in 1860.  Once week after South Carolina seceded from the Union, on December 27^th 1860 the Castle was stormed by a small force using ladders to climb over the parapet.  The Union soldiers garrisoned at Pinckney turned it over to a South Carolina militia without firing a shot and joined Union Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter.  This move made Castle Pinckney the first Union holding to fall to a Confederate force.

Castle Pinckney was manned after Fort Sumter fell by the Charleston Zouave Cadets.  After the First Battle of Manassas, Pinckney was used to hold 154 Union prisoners of war.  Although Pinckney was bombed heavily during the war it stayed in Confederate hands until after Charleston fell.  The Union reoccupied the fort February 18^th 1865.

The Man Who Fired The First Shot

The ardent slave holder, supporter of the Confederacy and the man who fired the first shot of the Civil War, Edmund Ruffin was born January 5th 1794.

Edmund Ruffin was born January 5th 1794 in Price George County, Virginia. He was educated at home with a private tutor until he entered the College of William & Mary in 1810. He was dismissed form the school in 1812 as he showed more interest in outside activities then school work. He saw military service in the War of 1812. Ruffin became a farmer and edited the “Farmers Register”. He was interested in bogs and swamps and ways to improve the for agriculture.

In the 1859 Ruffin made a point of attending the execution of John Brown, obtaining some of the pikes Brown had used to arm slaves to send to southern Governors. Ruffin left Virginia as sectional hostilities grew, and moved to South Carolina. It is claimed that Ruffin fired the first cannon shot on Fort Sumter in April 1861, he was one the first to enter the Fort after it fell into Confederate hands. He was present at the Battle of First Manassas, but was to old to fight.

In 1865 following General Robert E Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Ruffin wrote in his diary, “I here declare my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule—to all political, social and business connection with the Yankees and to the Yankee race. Would that I could impress these sentiments, in their full force, on every living Southerner and bequeath them to every one yet to be born! May such sentiments be held universally in the outraged and down-trodden South, though in silence and stillness, until the now far-distant day shall arrive for just retribution for Yankee usurpation, oppression and atrocious outrages, and for deliverance and vengeance for the now ruined, subjugated and enslaved Southern States! And now with my latest writing and utterance, and with what will be near my latest breath, I here repeat and would willingly proclaim my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule--to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, and the perfidious, malignant and vile Yankee race.” On June 18th 1865, shortly after writing these words Ruffin draped himself in the Confederate flag and shot himself in the head.

Stonewall And Lee Called For Him

Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, most commonly called AP Hill was born November 9th 1825.

Ambrose Powell “A. P.” Hill was born November 9th 1825 in Culpeper, Virginia. He graduated 15th out of 38 from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1847. He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the 1st US Artillery, and served in the Mexican American War. Hill married Kitty Morgan McClung a young widow in 1859, making him the brother-in-law of cavalry Confederate General John Hunt Morgan.

With the coming of the Civil War, Hill resigned his United States Army commission. He accepted an appointment of Colonel in the 13th Virginia Infantry. He showed talent on the field at the Battle of First Manassas. Hill was promoted to Major General following the Battle of Williamsburg. As a division commander in General Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Hill’s men distinguished themselves at the Battles of Seven Days, Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg. After the Battle of Chancellorsville, Hill took over command of Thomas J Stonewall Jackson’s corps in May 1863 following Jackson’s wounding. After Jackson’s death Hill received a promotion and command of the Third Corp, which he led for the first time at Gettysburg, although he was sick at the time with some unidentified illness.

Seven days before Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, on April 2nd 1865, Hill was shot and killed as he road the Petersburg line possibly by Union Corporal John W Mauck of the 138th Pennsylvania. He is buried in Richmond Virginia.

The First Confederate Victory

The Battle of Scary Creek in today’s West Virginia was fought July 17th 1861.
Just four months into the beginning of the Civil War and a few day before the Battle of First Manassas the Battle of Scary Creek occurred. Fought July 17th 1861 near present day Nitro, Putnam, W Virginia about ten miles north of Charleston WV. Union troops under General Jacob Cox moved into the Kanawha Valley from Ohio. Confederate General Henry A Wise had a couple thousand soldiers near present day St Albans, West Virginia.
Confederate Captain George S Patton had command of a line along Scary Creek, a few miles in front of the main camp. Several Union regiments under Colonel John W Lowe advanced on them. In a heated five hour fight the Union forces attempted to charge across a bridge near the mouth of the creek, but were forced to withdraw. Captain Patton was wounded during the action and Captain Albert Gallatin Jenkins took over the Rebel command.

For some reason the Confederates thought the Union troops were being reinforced, and retreat as well. They soon realized their mistake and returned to take control of the battlefield. Casualties were light on both sides, with the Federals loosing about 44 killed and wounded, and Confederates about 17. This Confederate victory was quickly overshadowed by First Bull Run.

The Surrender House

The Wilmer McLean house known as the “Surrender House” as it was the house in which Ulysses S Grant excepted Robert E Lee’s surrender, was sold at auction on November 29th 1869.

The house was built in 1848 by Charles and Eliza D Raine. In 1863 the Raine estate was sold to Wilmer McLean. The first major battle of the Civil War; the Battle of First Manassas took place on the Wilmer McLean farm in Virginia. After that battle McLean decided to move south in an attempt to avoid the war. He bought the house at Appomattox, Virginia.

McLean made a nice fortune during the war smuggling sugar, however most of it was in Confederate money. With the end of the war the currency was worthless. In 1867 McLean left Appomattox and returned to his wife’s estate in Prince William County, Virginia. The bank in Richmond, Virginia obtained a judgment for the default of loans made to McLean. The house known as the “Surrender House” was sold on November 29th 1869 at auction to recover money owed on loans. It was purchased by John L Pascoe, who rented the house to the Ragland family of Richmond, Virginia.

Son of a President

Richard Taylor the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and Lady Margaret was born January 27th 1826 on the family estate near Louisville, Kentucky. He spent most of his childhood on the frontier with his father before attending private schools in Kentucky and Massachusetts. Richard began college at Harvard, but graduated in 1845 from Yale. When his father died in 1850, he inherited the families Sugar Plantation “Fashion” in Louisiana, and soon had about 200 slaves.

At the start of the Civil War, Confederate General Braxton Bragg asked Taylor to be his assistant in Pensacola, Florida. While serving in Florida he was appointed the Colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry, and served at the Battle of First Manassas. In October of 1861 Taylor was promoted to General and given command of a Louisiana brigade under General Richard Ewell. He was promoted over more senior officers which caused of cries of favoritism, as he was the brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis. He proved his capability as a leader at many battles including the First Battle of Winchester. In July 1862 at the age of thirty-six, he became the youngest Major General in the Confederacy and was given command of the District of West Louisiana. After John B Hood’s failures in Tennessee, Taylor was placed in command of what was left of the Army of Tennessee. Union General Edward Canby excepted Taylor’s surrender on May 8th 1865; the last of the Confederates east of the Mississippi to give up.

After the war Richard was active in democratic party politics and was a leading opponent of the policies of Reconstruction. He published a memoir of the war in 1879the year he died in New York City. He is buried in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.