This Mighty Scourge

1826

• CS Lieutenant General Richard Taylor was born at the family estate near Louisville, Kentucky.  Taylor was the son of Mexican War general, and president, Zachary Taylor.  With the outbreak of sectional hostilities, Taylor would become an aide to CS general Braxton Bragg, and would help recruit and train soldiers.  He would rapidly be promoted to colonel.  He would later serve as a brigadier general, in the east, under CS Major General Richard S. Ewell, during “Stonewall” Jackson’s 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.  Taylor would be sent to Louisiana, after being promoted major general, on July 28, 1862.   He would oppose US Major General Nathanial Banks throughout Louisiana.  After the destruction of CS Major General John Bell Hood, in central Tennessee, in late 1864, Taylor who had been promoted lieutenant general would take over the Department of Alabama and Mississippi.  Taylor would be the last general, east of the Mississippi, to surrender, on May 8, 1865, to US Major General Edward Canby, at Mobile, Alabama.

1862

• President Abraham Lincoln, determined to move his lethargic ground, and naval forces, issues General War Order Number 1.  This order commanded all U.S. ground, and naval forces, to move on the Confederate forces on February 22, 1862.  Unfortunately, it would not produce the desired results – a joint movement into the Confederacy.