Taylor, Richard
Taylor, Richard,
1826–79, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. near Louisville, Ky.; son of Zachary Taylor. A Louisiana planter, he attained some political prominence and was a member of the Louisiana secession convention. In the Civil War he was made a brigadier general (Oct., 1861) and fought under Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley and in the Seven Days battles of the Peninsular campaign. He was made commander in Louisiana in 1862. His victory at Sabine CrossroadsSabine Crossroads, locality, De Soto parish, NW La., near Mansfield. There in the Civil War, Union forces under Nathaniel P. Banks, advancing on Shreveport, were defeated and driven back by Gen. Richard Taylor on Apr. 8, 1864.
..... Click the link for more information. (Apr. 8, 1864), although followed by a repulse at Pleasant Hill the next day, induced Gen. Nathaniel P. BanksBanks, Nathaniel Prentiss,
1816–94, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Waltham, Mass. After serving in the Massachusetts legislature (1849–53), Banks entered Congress as a Democrat, was returned in 1855 as a Know-Nothing and became speaker of
..... Click the link for more information. to abandon his Red River expedition. In Aug., 1864, Taylor was promoted to lieutenant general and made commander in the lower South. The collapse of the Confederate armies in the East led him to surrender in May, 1865. In 1879 he wrote Destruction and Reconstruction (ed. by R. B. Harwell, 1955).