WILLIAM HENRY TAYLOR

From the 1887 History of Vernon County, Missouri, p. 873:

William Henry Taylor

(Postmaster, Montevallo).

   One of the bravest soldiers who enlisted for service during the late war on the side of the Confederacy was the subject of this sketch, and while his experiences in that struggle may not have been the most important in his life, they are certainly of sufficient interest in this day to briefly mention them at least.  Entering the Southern army at the first call for troops to suppress invasion, he was subsequently commissioned captain, and in 1862 was taken prisoner near Montevallo, on the old Bangs’ farm.  He was removed to Fort Scott and then sent to Fort Leavenworth, from whence he was released on parole September 6, 1862, remaining on parole until in 1863.  In 1865, he surrendered at Nevada.  Away back in 1849 he had settled in this county, and in 1858 was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of James Fergus, the county sheriff, a position to which he was elected in 1860, and one that he held until his enlistment.  Mr. Taylor came originally from Boyle county, Ky., where he was born October 20, 1831.  Jesse Taylor, his father and Elizabeth (Anson) Taylor, his mother, were also Kentuckians by birth, and the parents of six children, of whom William H. was the third, though the eldest son.  When quite young he accompanied his parents to Missouri, stopping first at St. Louis, from there going to Warren county, where he grew upon a farm, and then coming here as stated.  After the close of the war he went to Illinois for a short time, visiting Nebraska the following fall, but in 1868 he returned again to Nevada.  In 1872 he was a second time elected sheriff of the county, a compliment which plainly indicated his worth and fitness for political preferment.  His term expired in 1875, and in 1876 he went to Dade county, and after awhile to Arkansas, where he remained two and a half years.  During this time he was engaged in a survey of the town of Eureka Springs.  In November, 1883, Vernon county again became his home, and in September, 1885, he received the appointment of postmaster by President Cleveland, the duties of which position he is now acceptably discharging.  In 1853, Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Emaline Gresham, who died in 1854, leaving one son, Willie S.  In 1861, Miss Sarah E. Pottorff, of Barry county, Ill., became his wife, and one son has blessed this union, Willis H.  Mr. T. is a Knight Templar in the Masonic Order.

Deepwood Cemetery

Nevada, Vernon County

Missouri

An Old Citizen Dead.

     William H. Taylor died at his home in Montevallo at an early hour this morning, of pneumonia.  He was about sixty years of age.  Mr. Taylor came to Vernon County before the war.  He was twice sheriff of this county and at the time of his death was postmaster of Montevallo.  He served in the Confederate service and was promoted to the rank of captain.  He was a brave resolute soldier and won considerable notoriety by his bold achievements.

     His second wife was a sister of Mrs. I. F. S. Nelson and Ed Pottorf of this city.  She and one of her children survive him.  He has a son by a former marriage living in Moniteau county.

     The remains will be buried at Deepwood tomorrow.

     Of the deceased, Brown's history of Vernon county says:  [see narrative above, Brown's History]. 

The Nevada Daily Mail, Nevada, MO.  February 21, 1888

A DARING PARTISAN

Incidents in the Life of Capt. W. H. Taylor.

     Under the head of "Of Some Noted Confederate Partisans," Brown's History of Vernon County has the following sketch relative to Capt. Wm. H. Taylor, who died at Montevallo Tuesday morning:

     This officer, who united the commission and authority of a Confederate soldier with the tactics and warfare of a guerrilla or bushwhacker, is yet a citizen of Vernon, and in 1861 was sheriff of the county, when he went out with the Vernon county regiment as quartermaster.

     In the fall and winter of 1861 Henry Taylor--by this name he is better known than by his initials--raised a company for the Confederate service from the neighborhood of Montevallo.  This company, numbering seventy men, was sworn into service by Col. Coffee, for whose regiment it was intended.  Before the organization was fairly perfected, Taylor took thirty men and made a raid toward Ft. Scott.  On the Kansas line he surprised and captured a picket post of fourteen men belonging to the 6th Kansas.  From these he took their horses and arms and then released them on parole.  On the return Capt. Taylor was badly wounded in the foot by an accidental shot from one of his men.  This accident happened east of Big Drywood near Judge Requa's field.

     March 26, 1862, Capt. Taylor, with his company, accompanied Col. Frazier and Capt. McMinn on a raid against Humansville, in the northern part of Polk county, where were stationed three newly formed companies of the 8th Missouri state militia, under Capts. Stockton and Gravely.  The attack was repulsed.  Col. Frazier, Capt. McMinn, and four of their men were killed, a number wounded, a few captures, and Taylor covered the retreat and saved the command from destruction.

     A few days afterward, April 11, Taylor was taken prisoner while eating breakfast at a house four miles southwest of Montevallo.  His captors were of a scouting party of the 2d Ohio cavalry from Fort Scott.  He was taken off first to Ft. Scott, and ultimately to Ft. Leavenworth, where, after having been a prisoner for six months, he was released on parole not to take up arms until regularly exchanged, and he returned to Vernon county.  In the meantime, his company had gone South after having elected Lieut. James Blanton captain.

     Soon after his return home Taylor went to Ft. Lincoln and procured the release on parole of about 30 Confederates.  Considering that the end would justify the means, he took these men to Arkansas and joined the Confederate army at Huntsville.  Subsequently he had a disagreement with Gen. Hindman and early in December came by himself back to Vernon, removed his family to Nevada City, and reported regularly to the Federal military authorities at Ft. Scott, by the conditions of his former parole!  This he continued to do until September, 1863.  His house was destroyed at the burning of Nevada, and, as detailed elsewhere, he himself was saved by the compass and square.

     In September, 1863, Taylor went to Ft. Scott and was declared exchanged by the terms of a cartel agreed upon the previous 6th of May.  Returning home he went at once upon the war path.  Reporting to Capt. Marchbanks, at the Cephas ford, in the Marmaton timber, he was given Pony Hill and five other bushwhackers, and made another foray towards Ft. Scott.  At the Widow Beale's, a mile across the Kansas line, he surprised and captured Tom Whitesides, a noted Federal scout, and six Kansas men.  The latter were paroled, but Whitesides was wanted very badly.  He was a noted jayhawker, and not long previously he had boasted to Taylor that he had killed 52 "rebels" since the war opened.   Taylor meant to take Whitesides to camp and hold him as a hostage, but when the party reached a point northeast of the Col. Douglas farm Pony Hill shot him, and he was left dead on the ground.

     A few days afterward Capt. Taylor went down into Jasper and joined Tom Livingston, on Spring river, five miles below Carthage.  He accompanied Livingston on the raid to Stockton, where Livingston himself, Capt. Vaughan, and "Bud" Elder, of Bates county, were killed, and the raiders driven back to Spring river, where they were forced to disband.

     The winter of 1863-64 was passed by Capt. Taylor at the house of Judge Andrews, four miles from Kentuckytown and twelve miles from Sherman, Texas.  In the vicinity the guerrilla bands of Quantrill and Anderson wintered.  In May he returned to Missouri, and on the 20th occurred the affair at Ury's house and the skirmishes in this county which are described on preceding pages.

     During his stay in Vernon in the summer of 1864, Taylor made a raid against Stockton, which was unsuccessful.  The militia went into a stockade and Taylor retired.  On the return trip he came upon an old Union man and his son, who lived on Alder creek, near the Cedar Springs.  These two showed fight and were instantly killed.  He also, with but 12 men, raided Lamar one night and burned the town.  The previous day, while at the house of Mrs. Mayfield, with two of his men, a Federal scout from Lamar came upon him and he had a narrow escape.  The scouting party burned Mrs. Mayfield's house and were scouring the country for Taylor while he was at Lamar busy with his torches.

     On one occasion, with but 13 men, he encountered at least four times his number of Ft. Scott troops and Greenfield militia, whom he deceived into a belief that they were confronted by a superior force and actually chased them into Obediah Keithley's barn, on the present site of Montevallo.  By displaying all his men from different points and keeping up a continual shouting in the brush, and occasionally calling out "Surrender!  Surrender!" he kept the Federals cooped up till well into the night, when both parties slipped away in the darkness. 

     One raid was made by Taylor to White's ferry on Grand river, in Henry county, where he attacked a squad of militia, but lost one of his best men, Will Clendenin, killed, and accomplished nothing important.  Except some thrilling personal adventures, the remainder of his experience in the county this year was uneventful until the country had grown too hot for comfort and he was getting ready to go south with Capt. Bill Marchbanks.

     Early one morning while he and his 32 men were preparing breakfast in their camp on the Faulkner place, in Virgil township, the Federals came upon them.  The latter had encamped the previous night at the Lancaster place, only a mile or two westward.  Some of Taylor's men had gone out early and shot a hog for breakfast.  The report of the pistol excited the suspicions of Jo Ury, the Federal scout, and taking two men with him he set out at once to investigate.  The three Federals came unperceived right into Taylor's camp and opened fire.  Believing that these three had 50 comrades with them, Taylor retreated as soon as he could mount his men, and thus the 30 fled before the three.  But in a few minutes the entire Federal company came up and there was a running fight, without serious results, down Clear Creek to a point west of Eldorado Springs, when the Federals drew off and went to Balltown, and Taylor returned to his camp of the morning.

     The next day Marchbanks came up and the two went south.  In camp on Turkey creek, near Joplin, they were fired on.  Moving on to Short creek, they were overtaken and quite a fight occurred.  Dr. Davis and Isaac Myers, of Vernon, and two others were killed.  They were cut off from their command with Joe and John Murray and paid the penalty.  Taylor himself narrowly escaped capture or death in this affair.

     Capt. Taylor himself joined Shelby's division at Batesville, Ark., in time to take part in a raid on the Little Rock railroad, about the last of July.  In the fall he joined Elliott's battalion of Shelby's division, accompanied the expedition to Missouri, and was in all the engagement of his command on the Price raid.

     Taylor passed the winter of 1865 near Sherman, Texas, and in the early spring came north with some of the most notorious Confederate guerrilla leaders and bushwhackers of Missouri, Arch Clements, Dave Pool, Bill Jackson and about 40 others.  The route lay through Vernon.  South of Nevada some of the bushwhackers robbed a Mr. Grace of a fine revolver and some other property.  Taylor and others took the part of the citizen, and there was a bitter quarrel.  The pistol was restored, but Taylor thought best to sever his connection with the party, and withdrew while at Clinton's, near where Walker now stands.

     He then organized a small squad and kept in the brush for some weeks, or until about the 1st of May, when pursuant to negotiations conducted by Judge Requa, Taylor came into Nevada City and surrendered to Col. D. C. Vittum, of the 3d Wisconsin.  He accompanied Vittum away, and soon went to Illinois, whither he had long before sent his family.  After a stay in Nebraska of some extent, he returned to this county, of which he has since been a citizen, and at present is a merchant and postmaster at Montevallo.

The Nevada Daily Mail, Nevada, MO.  Wednesday, February 22, 1888.

Elusive Capt. Taylor Run to Earth at Last!

Then and Now by Patrick Brophy

Nevada Daily Mail, Nevada, MO.  June 8, 2006

     Though they captured him once, Federal forces often found Capt. William Henry Taylor an elusive character.  After all, that tended to be the nature of Bushwhackers.

     The Federals weren't the only ones to have trouble locating this Scarlet Pimpernel of the local Civil War.  Like many other guerrilla leader, Taylor more or less drops from the record in the years after the war.  It was long assumed he'd left the neighborhood, and died and was buried elsewhere, as was true of many others.  Taylor's peer Capt. William Marchbanks, for one, settled in Paris, Texas, where he became a prosperous and respected city father.

     It was known, however, that Taylor was postmaster of Montevallo after the war, and that he was re-elected to his prewar office of sheriff, once ex-Rebels regained the right to vote.  It was even mooted he might have been buried on a Taylor property just east of Montevallo.

     In March the "lost" Capt. Taylor was triumphantly found.  While perusing old newspaper microfilm, genealogist Nancy Thompson serendipitously stumbled on an obituary dated Feb. 21, 1888, titled "An Old Citizen Dead."

     "William H. Taylor died at his home in Montevallo at an early hour this morning," began the article," of pneumonia.  He was about sixty years of age."

     There were many "abouts" it seems, in Taylor's life story.  Most of the facts revealed in the obituary, and in the followup the next day, were lifted straight out of "The History of Vernon County," published only the year before.  And they came not so much from Taylor's biography as from the section titled "Some Noted Confederate Partisans."

     Taylor was born in Kentucky in 1831, and as a child moved to Warren County, Mo., with his parents.  He came on alone to Vernon County at age 18.

     He was appointed sheriff in 1858 to fill out the unexpired term of James Fergus, and was elected to the office in 1860.  When the Civil War began, hardly a year later, Taylor resigned and was commissioned quartermaster captain in the 7th Cavalry (D. C. Hunter's regiment) of the 8th Division of the Missouri State Guard.  In late 1861 he raised a company of 70 men at Montevallo for service with Col. John T. Coffee.  This stirring beginning to his military career was cut short when he was surprised at breakfast in a house southwest of Montevallo and captured by the 1st Iowa Cavalry, which went on to burn the town before withdrawing.

     Taylor was imprisoned first at Fort Scott, then at Fort Leavenworth, but was released within six months, having given his "parole" (his promise not to fight until formally "exchanged")   He was as good as his word, moving to Nevada and reporting regularly at Fort Scott.  His house was burned, along with the rest of Nevada, on May 26, 1863.  The Federal militia firebugs were about to haul Taylor off, likely to kill him, when "he was saved by the compass and square," the commanding officer happening to notice Masonic insignia on some papers of Taylor's.

     In September 1863, Taylor was formally exchanged, and at once "went upon the warpath."  He reported to Capt. Marchbanks at Cephas Ford, north of Nevada, and was given Pony Hill and five other Bushwhackers, with whom he had the audacity to invade Kansas!

     Taylor passed the rest of the war in stirring Bushwhacker exploits, sometimes with Capt. Marchbanks, at other times independently, and like other guerrillas spending the winters in East Texas.  As the war wound down in May 1865, Taylor's little band was the last Rebel force still under arms in the area.  After negotiations through Judge J. H. Requa, he came into Nevada and surrendered to Lt. Col. D. C. Vitturn of the 3rd  Wisconsin Cavalry.

     He spent time in Illinois, where he'd sent his family, and in Nebraska, before returning to Vernon County in 1868, to be re-elected sheriff in 1872.  Following further wanderings, including a job surveying Eureka Springs, Ark., he returned to stay in 1883, opening a store in Montevallo, and two years later being named Montevallo's postmaster by president Grover Cleveland.

     Taylor married twice, first to Miss Emaline Gresham, in 1853.  She died only a year later, leaving him a son, Willie S.  In 1861 Miss Sarah E. Pottorff, of Illinois, became his second wife.  They too had a son, rather confusingly named Willis H.

     The obituary discovered by Nancy Thompson made it clear that Taylor was laid to rest in Deepwood Cemetery.  But just where in the cemetery?

     A modern-style Pottorff stone has long stood just south of Deepwood's center drive.  Less obvious is the name "Taylor" cut in the limestone coping around the lot, whose purchaser's name is indeed on record as W. H. Taylor.  But nobody ever got around to marking the graves of either Taylor or Sarah.  Odds are times were pinched for them, as for other ex-Confederates.

     The veteran marker ordered by the Col. John T. Coffee Camp No. 1934 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans arrived in record time, and was erected last Tuesday evening by SCV members UNA 17.  It will be dedicated and Taylor memorialized at 11 a.m., Saturday, in a public ceremony complete with costumed Civil War re-enactors, period music, and a rifle salute.

     It will be the third such honoring of a prominent Vernon County Confederate during this sesquicentennial year.  Capt. Alfred Cummins was saluted during Bushwhacker Days 2005, and Col. DeWitt C. Hunter on Oct. 1.  All three men were respected holders of city or county offices, as well as courageous and honorable Confederate officers.

     Taylor, notes the county history, "united the commission and authority of a Confederate soldier with the tactics and warfare of a guerrilla or bushwhacker."  "One of the bravest soldiers who enlisted for service during the late war on the side of the Confederacy," the history's account sums him up.

     Even the "politically correct" can't overlook the fact that the government-furnished stone calls Taylor both a "field and staff" officer of both the Missouri State Guard and the Confederate States Army.  Likely he wouldn't even have minded being called a Bushwhacker!  We can assume he was a modest man, too.  Sadly he never set down his own stirring wartime deeds.  He left it to the armchair warriors of our own epigone days to romanticize or demonize him and his kind, according to their particular political axe-grindings.

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