Miles Taylor family papers, 1821-1954 (bulk 1821-1890).

ArchivalResource

Taylor, Miles, 1805-1873. Miles Taylor family papers, 1821-1954 (bulk 1821-1890).

Miles Taylor family papers, 1821-1954 (bulk 1821-1890).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/244252250

The collection consists of family letters, photographs, manuscript writings, and artifacts that include Civil War mementos. Additionally, papers contain genealogical and biographical material of the Taylor family of Assumption Parish, Louisiana. Included is the correspondence of Eliza Breeden Taylor with her mother and sister in Thibodaux and Carrollton, Louisiana. Letters from Eliza prior to her marriage relate social life and events in Natchez. Later letters relate local events, social activities, family matters, sickness, including yellow fever outbreaks in New Orleans and Natchez, and Miles' political career, business dealings, and farming success. The personal papers of Miles Taylor include a copy of his will, reprints of speeches he made in Congress (1856-1857) regarding Preston Brooks' caning of Charles Sumner, the Kansas question, and tariffs, and letters to his son Thomas concerning his own financial situation and family matters. The Civil War letters of Thomas Taylor relate his unit's withdrawal from winter quarters at Manassas, his participation at the Battle of Gaines's Mill and Cold Harbor, the election of officers in his unit, and casualties. He also reports his convalescence as a prisoner of war at Saratoga Springs, New York (1863). Additional letters from Thomas describe the rescue of passengers from the collision of the two steamers "Dixie" and "Folly," his trip from New Orleans, via Cuba, to Baltimore prior to his marriage, and social life at Sarasota Springs during his wedding trip (1866). Letters to Thomas from his uncle, Julius Taylor, relate financial problems with his Virginia farm and additional family news. Thomas's manuscript writings of "A Canticle of the Canes" and "The Trial of Greenhow, A Memory of Alexandria," are also present. An autobiographical sketch of General Thomas Thomson Taylor, nephew of Miles Taylor and a member of the 47th Ohio Volunteers during the Civil War, is also present, as are numerous photographs and family portraits.

200 items.

Louisiana State University, LSU Libraries