Thomas Taylor

A 20 year old farmer in Assumption Parish, he enlisted as Corporal, Company K, 8th Louisiana Infantry on 19 June 1861 at Camp Moore, LA. He was promoted Sergeant, date not given.

He was severely wounded by gunshot to the knee in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862 and captured on the field.

He was treated at a field hospital near Sharpsburg and sent to US Army General Hospital #4 in Frederick, MD on 28 September. From there he was transferred to a hospital in Saratoga, NY, date not given. He was "dropped from the list of Sergeants" on 1 April 1863 and exchanged at City Point, VA on 23 May. He was absent on furlough in Watumpka, AL to August 1863, then detailed to work at the CS Treasury Department in Montgomery, AL, still only able to walk with crutches. He was paroled in Montgomery on 15 May 1865.

Service from Booth.1 Wound and hospital details from the Patient List.2 His picture from a photograph from Bill Frassanito.3

His father was Miles Taylor (1805-1873), US Congressman from Louisiana from 1855-1861. Coincidentally, Miles was both born and died in Saratoga Springs, NY.

There's a lovely full standing half-plate ambrotype of him in the collection [catalog] of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Richmond.

c. 1841; Assumption Parish, LA