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Lee's Famous Staff Officer Walter Taylor Jr.
By
John A.
Miller
Courtesy of the Monterey Pass Battlefield Association
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 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.
Lt. Colonel
Taylor Returns to Pennsylvania
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The backyard
of the Cascade Inn. Photo courtesy,
Cascade Inn. |
By the late 1870's,
Cascade, Monterey, Blue Ridge Summit and PenMar became a resort of
the beautiful mansions and hotels. PenMar became a beautiful park
that had a breath taking view of the Cumberland Valley which
Waynesboro, Ringgold, and Greencastle can be seen in the
background. The area became home to many high society families
that lived in Washington, Baltimore and Norfolk, Virginia during
the summer months of July and August and used the area as a
vacation resort because of the cooler temperatures and the
mountain breeze that flowed through the air instead of the humid
living conditions of the big city. The area was popular until the
Depression of 1929. Several of these mansions can still be seen
today.
In 1890, Walter
Taylor returned to the Monterey area, where the Union Cavalry
under General Kilpatrick attacked a portion of General Ewell's
wagon train. The same area where Walter Taylor himself rode with
his beloved general after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg.
The Taylor Summerhouse at Cascade in Washington County, Maryland
once entertained the retired Colonel and his family. Mr. Taylor
would recall his Civil War days by telling guest and family about
what the area was like when they came through.
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.
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Walter
Taylor, III, Football uniform. V.M.I. Archives. |
Walter Taylor III
became close friends with Blue Ridge Summit resident Doctor Harvey
Bridgers who had moved there to practice medicine in 1916. Doctor
Bridgers was the family doctor that the Taylor's saw when they
lived in the area during the summertime. His office was located
about a block away from the Taylor property across from the Blue
Ridge Summit Library.
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.
Steele Taylor,
Walter Taylor's other daughter also lived on the Taylor property.
Her house was located to the left of the rebuilt home that
belonged to her sister Bland. Steele had funded a church for the
African-American servants for those who traveled with the
higher-class families and it was located on Church Street near the
railroad tracks. Every year the colored church held small concerts
or musicals to raise money that would go back into the their
church.
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.
Do
you have any additional information on the Taylor family? If
so, please
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