Presidents' Children: Richard Taylor
As President, Zachary Taylor sought to keep his nation united in the face of the divisive issue of slavery. Just over a decade after his death, his youngest son Richard Taylor would fight to divide it, serving as a Brigadier General in the Army of the Confederate States of America.
Zachary Taylor and his wife Margaret (known as Peggy) had six children. Their second oldest child, Sarah Knox Taylor, was the first wife of Jefferson Davis, who later became the President of the Confederate States of America. Sarah died at age 21 from malaria shortly after her marriage. The Taylor family would have another connection to the Confederacy when son Richard joined the Confederate Army in 1861.
Richard Scott Taylor (known as Dick) was born on January 27, 1826 at the Taylor family's plantation near Louisville, Kentucky known as "Springfield". He was named for his father's father, Richard Lee Taylor, a Virginian who had served in the Revolutionary War. Dick Taylor was the only son in the family. He had five older sisters, two of whom had died in infancy before he was born. Sarah Taylor died when he was nine years old. Much of his early life was spent living away from home in army camps and forts. His father was a career military officer and commanded several forts and General Taylor's family lived with him. As a youth, Richard was sent to private schools in Kentucky and Massachusetts.
Richard Taylor began college at Harvard, but he completed his studies at Yale, where he graduated in 1845. He was a member of Skull and Bones, a social club. He spent the majority of his time studying classical and military history. During the Mexican-American War, Taylor served as military secretary to his father. But he left Mexico during the war because he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis.
Not yet twenty, Richard Taylor agreed to manage the family cotton plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi. In 1850, when his father was President, he persuaded his father to purchase a large sugar cane plantation in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana called "Fashion". After his father's death in July 1850, Taylor inherited Fashion.
On February 10, 1851, Richard Taylor married Louise Marie Myrthe Bringier, a native of Louisiana. She was the daughter of a wealthy French Creole woman named Aglae Bringier. Richard and Marie had five children: two sons and three daughters. The children's names were Richard, Zachary, Louise, Elizabeth, and Myrthe. Their two sons both died of scarlet fever during the Civil War.
Taylor was a successful plantation operator. He expanded its size, improved its sugar production and expanded its labor force to nearly 200 slaves. He became one of the wealthiest men in Louisiana until 1856, when a cold spell known as "the freeze of 1856" ruined his crop. He went heavily into debt with a large mortgage on the plantation. His mother-in-law Aglae Bringier helped Taylor and his wife at the time.
In 1855, Taylor began his political career. He was elected to the Louisiana Senate, where he served until 1861. Like his father, he was elected as a member of the Whig Party, but he later shifted to the American Party (the "Know Nothing" Party), and finally joined the Democratic Party. He was sent to the Democratic Convention of 1860 in Charleston, South Carolina, as a state delegate, the convention at which the Democrats split into two factions. While at the convention, he tried to work out a compromise between the two Democratic factions, but his attempts failed.
When the Civil War broke out, Taylor was asked by Confederate General Braxton Bragg to help him, as a civilian, at Pensacola, Florida. Bragg had known Taylor from before the war, and knew that Taylor was knowledgeable in military history. He asked Taylor to help him to organize and train the Confederate forces. Taylor had been opposed to secession, but accepted Bragg's offer. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had served under Zachary Taylor, said that the soldiers being trained in Pensacola by Richard Taylor were among the best trained soldiers in the Confederacy.
While training the soldiers, Taylor was commissioned as a colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry. His soldiers fought at the First Battle of Bull Run. It was the custom for the soldiers to elect their commanders and the members of the 9th Louisiana voted for Taylor because they believed that with Taylor's connections to President Davis, the unit would see more action in the field.
On October 21, 1861, Taylor was promoted to brigadier general. He commanded a Louisiana brigade under Richard S. Ewell in the Shenandoah Valley campaign and during the Seven Days. Taylor's promotion over three more senior regimental commanders, aroused jealousy as the three complained of favoritism. Davis responded by stating that Taylor's promotion was based on merit. He said that Taylor had shown leadership capabilities and promise, and that he had been recommended by General Stonewall Jackson.
During the Valley Campaign, Jackson used Taylor's brigade as an elite strike force. It was praised for its rapid marching pace and ability to mount swift flanking attacks. Taylor led his men in successful assaults at the Battle of Front Royal on May 23, the First Battle of Winchester on May 25, and at the Battle of Port Republic on June 9, 1862. Afterward, he traveled with the rest of Stonewall Jackson's forces during the Peninsula Campaign.
Taylor was praised for his ability to instill discipline in unruly forces. His brigade consisted of various Louisiana regiments, including Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat's "Louisiana Tiger" battalion, a group of undisciplined soldiers known for their hard fighting on the battlefield, and hard living outside. Taylor instilled discipline into the Tigers and after some initial conflict, he developed a friendship with Major Wheat.
Richard Taylor was promoted to the rank of major general on July 28, 1862. He was the youngest major general in the Confederacy. He was ordered to Opelousas, Louisiana, to conscript and enroll troops in the District of Western Louisiana, part of the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was given command of all troops south of the Red River and was to prevent the enemy from using the rivers and bayous in the area. Taylor was given command of the tiny District of West Louisiana. Governor Thomas Overton Moore had insisted on Taylor's appointment to assemble the state's defenses and to help counter Federal forays into the state.
But attacks of rheumatoid arthritis left him crippled for days at a time and unable to command in battle. During the Seven Days battles, Taylor was unable to leave his camp and command his brigade. He missed the Battle of Gaines Mill, and Col. Isaac Seymour, commanding the brigade in his absence, was killed in action.
Before Taylor returned to Louisiana, Federal forces in the area had raided throughout much of southern Louisiana. During the spring of 1862, Union forces came upon Taylor's Fashion plantation and plundered it. Taylor found recruiting troops in the district difficult and even more challenging was finding supplies for those troops. He did remarkably well, considering the resources available to him.
In 1863, Taylor directed an effective series of clashes with Union forces over control of lower Louisiana, most notably at Battle of Fort Bisland and the Battle of Irish Bend. These clashes were fought against troops under the command of Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. Banks successfully pushed Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana aside. Taylor formulated a plan to recapture a number of prominent Louisiana cites, including the city of New Orleans. His plan was to move down the Bayou Teche, capturing the lightly defended outposts and supply depots, and then capturing New Orleans, which would cut off Banks' army from their supplies. His plan met had the approval of Secretary of War James A. Seddon and President Jefferson Davis, but Taylor's immediate superior, Edmund Kirby Smith, felt that operations on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi across from Vicksburg would be the best strategy to halt the Siege of Vicksburg.
Taylor marched his army up to Richmond, Louisiana where he was joined with Confederate Maj. Gen. John G. Walker's Texas Division. Taylor ordered Walker's division to attack Federal troops at two locations on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi. The ensuing Battle of Milliken's Bend and Battle of Young's Point failed to accomplish their goals. Federal gunboats began shelling the Confederate positions.
After the battles, Taylor marched his army down to the Bayou Teche, Louisiana. From there Taylor captured Brashear City (Morgan City, Louisiana), gaining a large amount of supplies and weapons for his army. He moved to the outskirts of New Orleans, preparing for his attack against the city. While there, he learned that Port Hudson had fallen, causing him to withdraw his forces to Bayou Teche to avoid the risk of being captured.
In 1864, Taylor defeated Union General Nathaniel P. Banks in the Red River Campaign with a smaller force, commanding the Confederate forces in the Battle of Mansfield and the Battle of Pleasant Hill. He pursued Banks back to the Mississippi River. At these two battles, the two commanders whom Taylor had come to rely on: Brigadier Generals Alfred Mouton and Thomas Green, were killed.
On April 8, 1864, Taylor was promoted to lieutenant general, despite having asked to be relieved because of a lack of confidence in his superior in the campaign, General Edmund Kirby Smith. Taylor was given command of the Department of Alabama and Mississippi and commanded the defenses around the city of Mobile, Alabama. After John Bell Hood's disastrous campaign into Tennessee, Taylor was given command of the Army of Tennessee. He surrendered his department at Citronelle, Alabama on May 8, 1865 (150 years ago tomorrow). This was the last major Confederate force remaining east of the Mississippi. He was paroled three days later.
After the war, Richard Taylor wrote his memoirs, entitled Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War. The memoir was published a week prior to his death in New York City in April 1879. Taylor was active in Democratic Party politics. He interceded on behalf of Jefferson Davis with President Andrew Johnson, and was a leading political opponent of Northern Reconstruction policies.
Richard Taylor died in New York City on April 12, 1879 at the age of 53 from dropsy (edema related to congestive heart failure). He was buried in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. He was eulogized for his military prowess. Nathan Bedford Forrest commented that, "He's the biggest man in the lot. If we'd had more like him, we would have licked the Yankees long ago." Richard S. Ewell said that he came away from his conversations with Taylor more knowledgeable, impressed with the amount of information Taylor possessed.
Zachary Taylor and his wife Margaret (known as Peggy) had six children. Their second oldest child, Sarah Knox Taylor, was the first wife of Jefferson Davis, who later became the President of the Confederate States of America. Sarah died at age 21 from malaria shortly after her marriage. The Taylor family would have another connection to the Confederacy when son Richard joined the Confederate Army in 1861.
Richard Scott Taylor (known as Dick) was born on January 27, 1826 at the Taylor family's plantation near Louisville, Kentucky known as "Springfield". He was named for his father's father, Richard Lee Taylor, a Virginian who had served in the Revolutionary War. Dick Taylor was the only son in the family. He had five older sisters, two of whom had died in infancy before he was born. Sarah Taylor died when he was nine years old. Much of his early life was spent living away from home in army camps and forts. His father was a career military officer and commanded several forts and General Taylor's family lived with him. As a youth, Richard was sent to private schools in Kentucky and Massachusetts.
Richard Taylor began college at Harvard, but he completed his studies at Yale, where he graduated in 1845. He was a member of Skull and Bones, a social club. He spent the majority of his time studying classical and military history. During the Mexican-American War, Taylor served as military secretary to his father. But he left Mexico during the war because he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis.
Not yet twenty, Richard Taylor agreed to manage the family cotton plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi. In 1850, when his father was President, he persuaded his father to purchase a large sugar cane plantation in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana called "Fashion". After his father's death in July 1850, Taylor inherited Fashion.
On February 10, 1851, Richard Taylor married Louise Marie Myrthe Bringier, a native of Louisiana. She was the daughter of a wealthy French Creole woman named Aglae Bringier. Richard and Marie had five children: two sons and three daughters. The children's names were Richard, Zachary, Louise, Elizabeth, and Myrthe. Their two sons both died of scarlet fever during the Civil War.
Taylor was a successful plantation operator. He expanded its size, improved its sugar production and expanded its labor force to nearly 200 slaves. He became one of the wealthiest men in Louisiana until 1856, when a cold spell known as "the freeze of 1856" ruined his crop. He went heavily into debt with a large mortgage on the plantation. His mother-in-law Aglae Bringier helped Taylor and his wife at the time.
In 1855, Taylor began his political career. He was elected to the Louisiana Senate, where he served until 1861. Like his father, he was elected as a member of the Whig Party, but he later shifted to the American Party (the "Know Nothing" Party), and finally joined the Democratic Party. He was sent to the Democratic Convention of 1860 in Charleston, South Carolina, as a state delegate, the convention at which the Democrats split into two factions. While at the convention, he tried to work out a compromise between the two Democratic factions, but his attempts failed.
When the Civil War broke out, Taylor was asked by Confederate General Braxton Bragg to help him, as a civilian, at Pensacola, Florida. Bragg had known Taylor from before the war, and knew that Taylor was knowledgeable in military history. He asked Taylor to help him to organize and train the Confederate forces. Taylor had been opposed to secession, but accepted Bragg's offer. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had served under Zachary Taylor, said that the soldiers being trained in Pensacola by Richard Taylor were among the best trained soldiers in the Confederacy.
While training the soldiers, Taylor was commissioned as a colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry. His soldiers fought at the First Battle of Bull Run. It was the custom for the soldiers to elect their commanders and the members of the 9th Louisiana voted for Taylor because they believed that with Taylor's connections to President Davis, the unit would see more action in the field.
On October 21, 1861, Taylor was promoted to brigadier general. He commanded a Louisiana brigade under Richard S. Ewell in the Shenandoah Valley campaign and during the Seven Days. Taylor's promotion over three more senior regimental commanders, aroused jealousy as the three complained of favoritism. Davis responded by stating that Taylor's promotion was based on merit. He said that Taylor had shown leadership capabilities and promise, and that he had been recommended by General Stonewall Jackson.
During the Valley Campaign, Jackson used Taylor's brigade as an elite strike force. It was praised for its rapid marching pace and ability to mount swift flanking attacks. Taylor led his men in successful assaults at the Battle of Front Royal on May 23, the First Battle of Winchester on May 25, and at the Battle of Port Republic on June 9, 1862. Afterward, he traveled with the rest of Stonewall Jackson's forces during the Peninsula Campaign.
Taylor was praised for his ability to instill discipline in unruly forces. His brigade consisted of various Louisiana regiments, including Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat's "Louisiana Tiger" battalion, a group of undisciplined soldiers known for their hard fighting on the battlefield, and hard living outside. Taylor instilled discipline into the Tigers and after some initial conflict, he developed a friendship with Major Wheat.
Richard Taylor was promoted to the rank of major general on July 28, 1862. He was the youngest major general in the Confederacy. He was ordered to Opelousas, Louisiana, to conscript and enroll troops in the District of Western Louisiana, part of the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was given command of all troops south of the Red River and was to prevent the enemy from using the rivers and bayous in the area. Taylor was given command of the tiny District of West Louisiana. Governor Thomas Overton Moore had insisted on Taylor's appointment to assemble the state's defenses and to help counter Federal forays into the state.
But attacks of rheumatoid arthritis left him crippled for days at a time and unable to command in battle. During the Seven Days battles, Taylor was unable to leave his camp and command his brigade. He missed the Battle of Gaines Mill, and Col. Isaac Seymour, commanding the brigade in his absence, was killed in action.
Before Taylor returned to Louisiana, Federal forces in the area had raided throughout much of southern Louisiana. During the spring of 1862, Union forces came upon Taylor's Fashion plantation and plundered it. Taylor found recruiting troops in the district difficult and even more challenging was finding supplies for those troops. He did remarkably well, considering the resources available to him.
In 1863, Taylor directed an effective series of clashes with Union forces over control of lower Louisiana, most notably at Battle of Fort Bisland and the Battle of Irish Bend. These clashes were fought against troops under the command of Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. Banks successfully pushed Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana aside. Taylor formulated a plan to recapture a number of prominent Louisiana cites, including the city of New Orleans. His plan was to move down the Bayou Teche, capturing the lightly defended outposts and supply depots, and then capturing New Orleans, which would cut off Banks' army from their supplies. His plan met had the approval of Secretary of War James A. Seddon and President Jefferson Davis, but Taylor's immediate superior, Edmund Kirby Smith, felt that operations on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi across from Vicksburg would be the best strategy to halt the Siege of Vicksburg.
Taylor marched his army up to Richmond, Louisiana where he was joined with Confederate Maj. Gen. John G. Walker's Texas Division. Taylor ordered Walker's division to attack Federal troops at two locations on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi. The ensuing Battle of Milliken's Bend and Battle of Young's Point failed to accomplish their goals. Federal gunboats began shelling the Confederate positions.
After the battles, Taylor marched his army down to the Bayou Teche, Louisiana. From there Taylor captured Brashear City (Morgan City, Louisiana), gaining a large amount of supplies and weapons for his army. He moved to the outskirts of New Orleans, preparing for his attack against the city. While there, he learned that Port Hudson had fallen, causing him to withdraw his forces to Bayou Teche to avoid the risk of being captured.
In 1864, Taylor defeated Union General Nathaniel P. Banks in the Red River Campaign with a smaller force, commanding the Confederate forces in the Battle of Mansfield and the Battle of Pleasant Hill. He pursued Banks back to the Mississippi River. At these two battles, the two commanders whom Taylor had come to rely on: Brigadier Generals Alfred Mouton and Thomas Green, were killed.
On April 8, 1864, Taylor was promoted to lieutenant general, despite having asked to be relieved because of a lack of confidence in his superior in the campaign, General Edmund Kirby Smith. Taylor was given command of the Department of Alabama and Mississippi and commanded the defenses around the city of Mobile, Alabama. After John Bell Hood's disastrous campaign into Tennessee, Taylor was given command of the Army of Tennessee. He surrendered his department at Citronelle, Alabama on May 8, 1865 (150 years ago tomorrow). This was the last major Confederate force remaining east of the Mississippi. He was paroled three days later.
After the war, Richard Taylor wrote his memoirs, entitled Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War. The memoir was published a week prior to his death in New York City in April 1879. Taylor was active in Democratic Party politics. He interceded on behalf of Jefferson Davis with President Andrew Johnson, and was a leading political opponent of Northern Reconstruction policies.
Richard Taylor died in New York City on April 12, 1879 at the age of 53 from dropsy (edema related to congestive heart failure). He was buried in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. He was eulogized for his military prowess. Nathan Bedford Forrest commented that, "He's the biggest man in the lot. If we'd had more like him, we would have licked the Yankees long ago." Richard S. Ewell said that he came away from his conversations with Taylor more knowledgeable, impressed with the amount of information Taylor possessed.