Richard Taylor Research Paper

Richard Taylor was a Confederate soldier. He followed after his dad’s footsteps and became a great man and one that many will remember. He made the Confederates proud by leading them to a lot of victories.

Richard Taylor was born on January 27th, 1826 near Louisville, Kentucky (Dictionary of American Biography). He was the son of Zachary Taylor, who was the 12th President of the United States, and he was the brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis, who was the one and only president of the Confederate states (Civil War Trust). He spent most of his childhood in Louisville but since his father was in the military, it required them to move a lot. He received great education while being sent to different private schools in Kentucky and Massachusetts. He then went on to study at Harvard and Yale and then he graduated from Yale in 1845. He read a lot about military and classical history (American Civil War). During the Mexican-American war, he joined his father’s army on the border, where he served as his father’s secretary. He was apart of campaigns that helped in the capture of Monterrey and victory at Buena Vista. He

There his friend asked him to help train soldiers for the war (Civil War Trust). He was elected Colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry, which was fought at Bull Run (Civil War Trust). After that battle, he was promoted to brigadier general on October 21st. They then fought in the Seven Days’ Battles. But Taylor found out that he suffered from serious rheumatoid arthritis, and that limited the time he could do (Civil War Trust). From May to June, he served at battles like Front Royal, First Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic (American Civil War). Taylor’s arthritis conflicted a lot with all the battles and he started to miss some like Battle of Gaines’ Mill. While missing a lot of battles, he was still promoted to to Major General on July