Richard Taylor ( general ) Richard Taylor ( January 27 , 1826 – April 12 , 1879 ) was an American plantation owner , politician , military historian and Confederate general during the American Civil War . He was the son of Zachary Taylor , a general in the United States Army and later President of the United States , and his wife Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor . Following the outbreak of the Civil War , Taylor joined the Confederate States Army , serving first as a brigade commander in Virginia , and later as an army commander in the Trans - Mississippi Theater . Antebellum . Richard Taylor was born at the " Springfield " family plantation near Louisville , Kentucky . He was named after his paternal grandfather , Richard Lee Taylor , a Virginian who had served in the American Revolution . He had five older sisters , Margaret Smith , Ann Mackall , Sarah Knox , Octavia Pannell , and Mary Elizabeth Taylor . Much of his early life was spent on the American frontier , as his father was a career military officer and commanded several forts , where his family could live with him . As a youth , Richard was sent to private schools in Kentucky and Massachusetts . After starting college studies at Harvard College , he completed them at Yale , where he graduated in 1845 . He was a member of Skull and Bones , a social club . He received no scholastic honors , but spent the majority of his time reading books on classical and military history . During the Mexican - American War , Taylor served as the military secretary to his father . Having to leave the war because of rheumatoid arthritis , Richard Taylor agreed to manage the family cotton plantation in Jefferson County , Mississippi . In 1850 , he persuaded his father ( then President after being elected in 1848 ) to purchase " Fashion " , a large sugar cane plantation in St . Charles Parish , Louisiana . After his father ' s death in July 1850 , Taylor inherited " Fashion " . On February 10 , 1851 , Richard Taylor married Louise Marie Myrthe Bringier ( d . 1875 ) , a native of Louisiana and daughter of a wealthy French Creole matriarch Aglae Bringier . Taylor and Marie had five children , two sons and three daughters ; Richard , Zachary , Louise , Elizabeth , and Myrthe . Their two sons died of scarlet fever during the American Civil War , for which both Taylors suffered deeply . Steadily Taylor added to the land of the plantation . He improved its sugar works ( at considerable expense ) , and expanded its labor force to nearly 200 slaves . He became one of the wealthiest men in Louisiana for his holdings . The freeze of 1856 ruined his crop , forcing him into heavy debt with a large mortgage on the plantation . His mother - in - law Aglae Bringier aided Taylor and his wife at the time . In 1855 , Taylor entered local politics ; he was elected to the Louisiana Senate , in which he served until 1861 . First affiliated with the Whig Party , he shifted to the American ( Know Nothing ) Party , and finally joined the Democratic Party . He was sent to the Democratic Convention of 18xx in Charleston , South Carolina as a delegate from Louisiana and witnessed the splintering of the Democrats . While in Charleston , he tried to make a compromise between the two Democratic factions , but his attempts failed . Civil War . When the Civil War erupted , Taylor was asked by Confederate General Braxton Bragg to assist him , as a civilian , at Pensacola , Florida . Bragg had known Taylor from before the war , and thought his knowledge of military history could help him to organize and train the Confederate forces . Taylor had been opposed to secession , but accepted the appointment . Confederate President Jefferson Davis would later comment that the soldiers being sent from Pensacola were some of the best trained soldiers in the Confederacy . While serving there , Taylor was commissioned as a colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry , and served at the First Battle of Bull Run . The members of the 9th Louisiana voted for Taylor because they thought that with Taylor ' s connections to President Davis , widower of his late sister Sarah , the unit would be sent out sooner and see battle more quickly . 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 . when Taylor was promoted over three more senior regimental commanders , they complained of favoritism . Davis noted Taylor ' s leadership capabilities and promise , and said that he had been recommended by General Stonewall Jackson . During the Valley Campaign , Jackson used Taylor ' s brigade as an elite strike force that set a rapid marching pace and dealt swift flanking attacks . At the Battle of Front Royal on May 23 , the First Battle of Winchester on May 25 , and finally at the climactic Battle of Port Republic on June 9 , Taylor led the 9th Infantry in timely assaults against strong enemy positions . Afterward , he traveled with the rest of Jackson ' s command to the Peninsula Campaign . His brigade consisted of various Louisiana regiments , as well as Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat ' s " Louisiana Tiger " battalion . The undisciplined lot was known for its hard fighting on the battlefield , but also for its hard living outside . Taylor instilled discipline into the Tigers and , although Major Wheat did not agree with his methods , Taylor won his respect . When 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 . The historian John D . Winters wrote that Taylor was to " command all troops south of the Red River and was to prevent the enemy from using the rivers and bayous in the area . Troops were to be gathered and sent to fill up the ranks of Louisiana regiments serving in Virginia . After this , Taylor was to retain as many recruits as would be needed in the state . Light batteries of artillery were to be organized to harass passing enemy vessels on the streams . . . . The enemy was to be confined to as narrow an area as possible , and communications and transportation across the Mississippi River were to be kept open . " After his service as a recruit officer , Taylor was given command of the tiny District of West Louisiana . Governor Thomas Overton Moore had insistently requested a capable and dedicated officer to assemble the state ' s defenses and to help counter Federal forays into the state . Attacks of rheumatoid arthritis had left him crippled for days at a time and unable to command in battle . For instance , 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 the district almost completely devoid of troops and supplies . However , he did the best with these limited resources by securing two capable subordinates , veteran infantry commander ( Jean Jacques Alexandre ) Alfred Mouton , and veteran cavalry commander Thomas Green . These two commanders would prove crucial to Taylor ' s upcoming campaigns in the state . During 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 Union Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks for control of the Bayou Teche region in southern Louisiana and his ultimate objective of Port Hudson . After Banks had successfully pushed Taylor ' s Army of Western Louisiana aside , he continued on his way to Port Hudson via Alexandria , Louisiana . After these battles , Taylor formulated a plan to recapture Bayou Teche , along with the city of New Orleans , Louisiana , and to halt the Siege of Port Hudson . Operations to recapture New Orleans . Taylor ' s 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 Nathaniel P . Banks ' s army from their supplies . Although his plan met with approval from Secretary of War James A . Seddon and President Jefferson Davis , Taylor ' s immediate superior , Edmund Kirby Smith , felt that operations on the Louisiana banks of the Mississippi across from Vicksburg would be the best strategy to halt the Siege of Vicksburg . From Alexandria , Louisiana , Taylor marched his army up to Richmond , Louisiana . There he was joined with Confederate Maj . Gen . John G . Walker ' s Texas Division , who called themselves " Walker ' s Greyhounds " . 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 the Confederate objectives . After initial success at Milliken ' s Bend , that engagement ended in failure after Federal gunboats began shelling the Confederate positions . Young ' s Point ended prematurely as well . After the battles , Taylor marched his army , minus Walker ' s division , down to the Bayou Teche region . From there Taylor captured Brashear City ( Morgan City , Louisiana ) , which yielded tremendous amounts of supplies , materiel , and new weapons for his army . He moved within the outskirts of New Orleans , which was being held by a few green recruits under Brig . Gen . William H . Emory . While Taylor was encamped on the outskirts and preparing for his attack against the city , he learned that Port Hudson had fallen . He withdrew his forces all the way up Bayou Teche to avoid the risk of being captured . Red River Campaign . 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 and , for his efforts , received the thanks of the Confederate Congress . At these two battles , the two commanders whom Taylor had come to rely on : Brigadier General s Alfred Mouton and Thomas Green , were killed while leading their men into combat . On April 8 , 1864 , Taylor was promoted to lieutenant general , despite having asked to be relieved because of his distrust of his superior in the campaign , General Edmund Kirby Smith . Last days of the war . 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 , the last major Confederate force remaining east of the Mississippi , to Union General Edward Canby on May 8 , 1865 , and was paroled three days later . Postbellum life . After the war , Richard Taylor wrote his memoirs , " Destruction and Reconstruction " , which is one of the most credited reports of the Civil War . The memoir was published a week prior to his death in New York City in April 1879 . He was active in Democratic Party politics , interceded on behalf of Jefferson Davis with President Andrew Johnson , and was a leading political opponent of Northern Reconstruction policies . He died in New York City and is buried in Metairie Cemetery , New Orleans . Most of Taylor ' s contemporaries , subordinates , and fellow generals make mention many times of 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 . " " Dick Taylor was a born soldier " , asserted a close friend . " Probably no civilian of his time was more deeply versed in the annals of war . " Stonewall Jackson and Richard S . Ewell frequently commented on their conversations with Taylor . Ewell stated that he came away from his conversations with Taylor more knowledgeable and impressed with the amount of information Taylor possessed . Family . Richard Taylor was the only son of Margaret Mackall Smith and President Zachary Taylor . His sister Sarah Knox Taylor was the first wife of Jefferson Davis for three months until her death in 1835 . His other sister , Mary Elizabeth Bliss , who had married William Wallace Smith Bliss in 1848 , served as her father ' s White House hostess . Although Richard chose to serve the Confederacy , his uncle , Joseph Pannell Taylor , served on the opposite side as a Brigadier - General in the Union Army . Honors . The Lt . General Richard Taylor Camp # 1308 , Sons of Confederate Veterans in Shreveport , Louisiana , is named for General Taylor . The camp was chartered in 1971 .