Destruction and
  Reconstruction

   By:
   Richard Taylor

ABOUT THE BOOK

Written by the only son of President Zachary Taylor, this book is the story of the War Between the States and its aftermath as seen through the eyes of a Confederate General. When it first appeared in print, it was tauted by such leading Southern organizations as the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Southern Historical Society as a valuable resource for future historians. Even the New York Herald described Taylor's memoirs as "the most credible attempt by a Southerner" to interpret the war.

Taylor's recollections focus on his service in Virginia under Stonewall Jackson and later as commander of the department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana.

PREFACE
THESE reminiscences of Secession, War, and Reconstruction it has seemed to me a duty to record. An actor therein, accident of fortune afforded me exceptional advantages for an interior view. The opinions expressed are sincerely entertained, but of their correctness such readers as I may find must judge. I have in most cases been a witness to the facts alleged, or have obtained them from the best sources. Where statements are made upon less authority, I have carefully endeavored to indicate it by the language employed.

R. TAYLOR. December, 1877.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


      Richard Taylor , (1826-1879) , the only son of President Zachary Taylor, was born at his father's plantation, Springfield, outside Louisville, Kentucky, in 1826. His early years were spent largely on frontier army posts, including an eightyear stint at remote Fort Crawford in what is now Wisconsin. He was sent to a private school in Louisville and graduated from Yale in 1845. He spent most of the succeeding years in Mississippi and Louisiana, where he became a sugar planter and earned a reputation as a politician, gentlemanscholar and raconteur.
A delegate to the Democratic convention in Charleston in 1860, he worked to avert the disruption of the Northern and Southern wings; failing that he attended the rump Southern Democratic convention in Baltimore which nominated John C. Breckinridge for President.

Although a pessimist about the prospects of Southern secession, he was a delegate to the Louisiana secession convention. After the outbreak of war in 1861 he first attached himself to the staff of General Braxton Bragg at Pensacola, then accepted a commission from the governor of Louisiana as colonel of the Ninth Louisiana Infantry Regiment and was sent to the Virginia front. He commanded the Louisiana Brigade under Stonewall Jackson in the 1862 campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Afterwards he was transferred to the TransMississippi Department, where he led outnumbered Confederate forces to victories in the Red River Campaign. In the waning days of the war he was transferred to command in Alabama and Mississippi, surrendering only after the surrenders of Lee and Johnson and the capture of Jefferson Davis.

After the war Taylor returned to Louisiana, living in New Orleans and participating in the politics of the Reconstruction era.

Richard Taylor died in 1879 while on a trip to New York City, and was buried in New Orleans. His memoir, completed before his death, was published a few days later.