Lee's Famous Staff Officer Walter Taylor Jr.

By John A. Miller, Emmitsburg Historical Society

Special note: I would like to thank the Warner Family and the owners of the Cascade Inn for their help whom without this article would not have been finished.

Did you know this 1/4th Plate Melainotype of Walter H. Taylor sold for $44,812.50 in December of 2006.

Walter Herron Taylor Jr. who was named after his father Walter Sr. was born on June 13th, 1838. He was one of several children of a very prominent Virginia family. Walter Taylor attended the Norfolk Military Academy. He then entered the V.M.I. in 1854 at the age of 16. However, he would depart from the V.M.I. following his fathers' death a year later.

After his fathers' death, Walter started his business career until it was interrupted by the onset of the Civil War. Prior to his enlistment in the Confederate Army, he served in Company F, of the Norfolk Volunteer Militia where in 1860; he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. This organization would become Company G of the 6th Virginia Infantry. He joined the Confederate Army on the day Virginia announced her secession in 1861. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed as a staff officer serving with General Robert E. Lee, whom he was very fond of. Lee had been a big influence in young Walter Taylor's life.

After the Confederate defeat during the Mountain Campaign in Western Virginia in June and July of 1861, General Lee was sent to western Virginia to oversee the armies under the command of Generals Loring, Floyd and Wise and try to regain the western counties of Virginia that were under Federal control of General George B. McClellan's Army of the Ohio.

General Lee left Richmond on July 28th, with two military aides, Colonel John A. Washington and Lieutenant Walter Taylor. Lieutenant Taylor noted that they left Richmond by rail and at Staunton, they traveled to Monterey, Virginia by horse. Lieutenant Taylor remembered the horse ride through the mountains and claimed it to be the most enjoyable ride he had taken.

This became one of the major campaigns that took place in western Virginia. This also turned out to be General Lee's biggest failure, not because of a poor strategy but rather the weather conditions and the condition of the men under his command. To make matters worse, General Lee lost one of his staff officers Colonel John Washington who died on September 13th. This made Lieutenant Taylor, General Lee's right hand man.

With failure at Cheat Summit Fort, General Lee left for the Kanawha Valley to over see the two armies under Generals Henry Wise and John Floyd. The two generals were to busy arguing with each other and didn't to cooperate as a single force. This is where General Lee first saw Traveler his famous horse and later was presented to him. General Lee established his headquarters at Big Swell Mountain in late September. Lieutenant Taylor noted the camp where he was headquartered. General Lee shared his blankets with Lieutenant Taylor and every camp utensil was made of tin. They shared a tent that barley kept the elements of the foul weather at bay.

On September 30, 1861, General Lee and Lieutenant Taylor took reconnaissance of the Federal troops from a top Big Swell Mountain. Lack of coordination between General Lee and General Floyd caused the campaign to stall. The battle of Big Swell Mountain was nothing more than an artillery duel that lasted for six days. Another part of the failure was the weather that fell on his army. Many men were sick and unable to serve in the ranks of a pending battle. General Lee and Lieutenant Taylor fell back to Fayette-Greenbrier County as a result; this led to a signal of a Confederate defeat. Lieutenant Taylor stated that General Lee could not be held responsible. The conditions in the Alleghanies was the blame as it was unfit for a campaign.

After another failure in the valley at Swell Mountain, General Lee was sent to South Carolina to inspect fortifications along the Charleston Harbor and to lead a new army known as the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. General Lee arrived in Charleston on November 6, 1861. During his stay in South Carolina, General Lee and his staff stayed at Coosawhatchie located midway between Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. Captain Taylor as Lee called him wasn't officially a Captain yet. It was a title General Lee gave him. While in South Carolina, Taylor visited Savannah, but loved the southern city of Charleston.

On March 2nd, 1862, General Lee who was at Savannah received a telegram from Jefferson Davis requesting his presence at Richmond. General Lee left Savanna the next day. Jefferson Davis had appointed General Lee to act as military adviser. A law that was enacted and it also call for General Lee to have a staff of one military secretary with rank of colonel, four aides ranking as major, and not more than four clerks. General Lee told Taylor that he could either remain with the adjutant general's department or become part of his staff. Taylor chose to take the staff position that General Lee offered him and was promoted to Major.

When General Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862, Taylor became the assistant adjutant general. Upon taking command, General Lee selected his new staff. Among his staff was Major Walter Taylor who was an Aid-de-camp. Lee had beaten back General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac from the gates of Richmond. After a major victory at the battle of Manassas, General Lee moved northward into Maryland where the battles of South Mountain and Sharpsburg were fought in mid September.

Shortly after the return to Virginia, General Lee had learned of his daughter's death. Major Taylor accustomed to freedom entered General Lee's tent without announcement and he was overcome by what he saw. General Lee was grieving as he held the letter in hands of the news. However duty came first and on one occasion Taylor noted that General Lee looked at him telling to never get angry with him when he lost his temper. It wasn't directed toward him.

During the early spring of 1863 Walter Taylor, General Lee's aide de camp became the Assistant Adjutant General of the Army of Northern Virginia. On March 19th, Major Taylor written for General Lee, Special Orders No. 82 to John Mosby. Taylor had witnessed first hand, the creation of Mosby's Rangers when he wrote special instructions from General Lee that all soldiers serving with the newly promoted Captain John Mosby would muster unconditionally into Confederate service for the duration of the war and that the men were to elect it's Lieutenants. Mosby's Rangers would earn their glory for a job well done during the Civil War. Captain John Mosby would later become the commanding Colonel of the 43rd Virginia Partisan Rangers that had grown considerably in a short amount of time from its creation to the close of the war.

Later that evening, General Lee and his staff traveled down the mountain to Rouzerville. He came to a tavern owned by George Stephey, who was then proprietor of the place. The Confederate officers had dinner at Stephey's Tavern. After dinner, General Lee addressed his staff in front of the house. Before leaving the tavern General Lee gave his call bell and campstool to Mr. Stephey for the graciousness and hospitality that he bestowed to himself and his men. In May of 2007, Stephey's Tavern, one of the oldest buildings in Rouzerville was torn down for an additional parking lot.

Major Taylor was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on December 12th, 1863. Lt. Colonel Taylor had plans of being married after the war was over. His fiancée was Elizabeth Selden "Bettie" Saunders who worked at the Confederate Mint and for the Surgeon General of the Confederate Medical Department.

During the late summer of 1864, as General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia dug in at Petersburg, it was a matter of time before the Union Army prevailed and the South would fall. Taylor must have realized the war had been lost. His job wore him down and he wished that General Lee had a much wiser more levelheaded officer in his place. Taylor began to question his ability to serve on General Lee's Staff. General Lee and Taylor were still temperamental toward each other, a position that Taylor didn't want to be in.

During the last days of the Siege of Petersburg in March of 1865, Taylor received special permission from General Lee to go to Richmond to give Miss Saunders "the protection of his name." Miss Saunders was the love of Taylor's life. They had first met in 1850 and ever since he was deeply in love with her. She would make the arrangements with Reverend Dr. Charles Minnigerode, the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. After midnight of April 3rd, 1865, Taylor and Sanders were married in the parlor of the Crenshaw house. One week after the surrender at Appomattox Court House, Taylor returned to Richmond with General Lee, picked up his bride, and drove her back to Norfolk in a buggy.

During the four years of the Civil War, Chief Aide-de-camp Taylor carried an enormous burden trying to relieve the stress of General Lee's over-worked staff. He preformed many duties such as writing dispatches, orders, and announcing visitors to General Lee when he thought it was important and often preformed reconnaissance duties. Among his duties, he would personally inform various commanders of General Lee's orders or requests on the battlefield.

After the Civil War had ended, a series of photographs were taken at General Lee's home in Richmond on April 16, 1865 by Mathew Brady's firm. As General Lee wore his uniform for the last time, his staff stood by his side forever associating Walter Taylor with General Lee. The photograph was simply called General Lee and his Staff. When General Lee passed away on October 12, 1870, among those who attended his funeral was Colonel Walter Taylor. Taylor had now said his last good bye to a man he had come to love and respect.

During the years following the Civil War, Walter Taylor and his wife had four sons and four daughters and his family came first in every aspect of his life. His sons were Walter Taylor III, Richard C. Taylor, J. Saunders Taylor and Robert E. Lee Taylor. His daughters were Bland, Thomlin, Steele, and Elizabeth Taylor. He devoted his life to God and family. He lived the life of a Virginia gentleman and businessman, serving as Senator in the Virginia General Assembly, and attorney for the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Virginian Railway. He engaged in the hardware business for a few years with his partner Andrew S. Martin and the business eventually operated as the W.H. Taylor and Company. In 1870, the V.M.I. announced that Walter Taylor was honorary graduate of his class.

Walter Taylor was interested in the banking business and his interest had grown considerably and in 1877, he became president of the Marine Bank, a post he held with distinction until his death. He later wrote about his experiences in the Confederate Army as a member of General Lee's Staff that is simply called "Four Years with General Lee" and another called "General Lee 1861-1865". This book covered every campaign that General Lee was engaged in from Cheat Summit Fort, in West Virginia to the surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. He wrote numerous articles about the Civil War. He even kept in contact with many Confederate officers and answered questions when they too were writing about their experiences.

Folklore has it that he came back to the area because he had fell in love with Monterey after observing the scenery during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg. However, one of Walter Taylor's daughters was treated at the Victor Cullen Center for various breathing disorders. This maybe why Taylor had a summer residents at Cascade. Victor Cullen is located just outside of Sabillasville and was once called the Hilltop State Hospital. After being built in 1907, Victor Cullen was the first state funded tuberculosis sanatorium in Maryland and later would become a state hospital until 1965 when the Department of Juvenile Services took it over.

The Taylor Summer House located on Taylor Avenue (Eyler Avenue today) was still occupied by the Taylor family until the 1950's when it was sold. Following the year after the purchase of a summer home, Walter Taylor's son Walter Taylor III, a V.M.I. Cadet served as captain and coach of the first football team in 1891 in the Virginia Military Institute and was honored as the Founder of V.M.I. Football adding another sport for cadets to participate in. The V.M.I. was among the first schools to have a football program in the south. Before football, the V.M.I. Baseball had started a year following the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox.

Lt. Colonel Walter Taylor died on March 1, 1916 from cancer and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery at Norfolk, Virginia. All four of his sons and three of his son-in-laws were the pallbearers. Four months later his wife Bettie died. A year later his older brother died after leading a successful life as a Railroad Official and a teacher. Following the death of their parents, five of Taylor siblings continued to live in and around Blue Ridge Summit during the summer months. Lt. Colonel Taylor's two sons Walter Taylor III of Norfolk, Virginia (who may locals recall him as Walter Jr.) and Robert E. Lee Taylor of Baltimore, Maryland, and three of his daughters Bland Taylor, Steele Taylor and Thomlin Taylor. The Taylor families were very prominent citizens in the area and were respected by all who knew them.

Walter Taylor's daughter, Bland owned her parents' former summer home. Two other houses also occupied the property in which Walter Taylor III, lived in one and his sister Steele lived in the other. During the 1930's, Bland's summer home caught on fire and she had it rebuilt on the same foundation where it stands today, the exact way she remembered it. She moved in with her brother next door, while construction took place. Bland never married.

One day, they took a ride along the Old Waynesboro and Emmitsburg Turnpike. Walter III showed Doctor Bridgers, a series of rocks. He told Dr. Bridgers that one day his father Colonel Taylor took him here and showed him the same rocks. Walter III then recalled, the story that during the retreat from Gettysburg his father and General Lee had a small repast early during the day as the weary soldiers marched by. The large four rocks were perfectly flattened and resembled a table. He soon dubbed the term "Lee's Rocks".

Walter Taylor's other son, Robert E. Lee Taylor bought a home located on Chairmian Lane that he lived in during the summer. During the late 1940's Robert E. Lee Taylor was a member of the Monterey Country Club, where he socialized with other patrons who were also members. The Monterey Country Club is one of the oldest Country Clubs in the country. One story that is about Robert E. Lee Taylor that is told to me is the fact that he owned a coup. He always drove up and over the mountain in second gear.

Today, many Mountaintop residents are unaware that General Lee's most valued Staff Officer made his summer residence in the Blue Ridge Summit area. Many who knew them respected the Taylor family. After the 1950's, the Taylor roots seem to have faded with time. Many of the summer homes that the Taylor family once called home are still there. Many who came in contact with Taylor's children never knew that their father was a famous man known for his connection with Robert E. Lee. The present day Taylor house still stands to this day and is now called the Cascade Inn.