Charles Frederick Taylor

Charles Frederick Taylor (February 6, 1840 – July 2, 1863) was an American soldier who served as colonel and commanding officer of the Union Army's 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment (known as the Bucktails), which formed part of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. He was killed in action at the Battle of Gettysburg while leading a pursuit of retreating Confederates at the edge of The Wheatfield. He was the brother of author Bayard Taylor.

Early life and family Taylor was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on February 6, 1840, to Joseph and Rebecca (Way) Taylor. His family was of English Quaker and German descent, and at the time of his death, his father was completing a three-year term as sheriff of Chester County, of which West Chester was the county seat. Shortly after his birth, the Taylors returned to their family farm called Hazeldell near Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, where Taylor grew up and attended school.

"Fred" Taylor was the youngest of six children who survived into adulthood. His three brothers included the celebrated poet and traveler Bayard Taylor, Union Army Colonel William W. Taylor, and Union Army surgeon John Howard Taylor. His sisters included Annie Taylor Carey, who stepped in to manage the family farm, and Emma Taylor Lamborn.

American Civil War

In response to Abraham Lincoln's call for three-month volunteers to suppress Southern secessionists, Taylor organized a company of Kennett volunteers on April 20, 1861. Marching to Camp Curtin near Harrisburg, they formed Company H in the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (or the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment). The 21-year-old Taylor was unanimously elected captain.

Taylor's next and final battle was the Battle of Gettysburg. The 13th deployed to defend Little Round Top on July 2, 1863. Late in the afternoon that day, Taylor, on foot, led a charge down the hill across Plum Run, drove back the Confederates from a stone wall and through the Rose Woods to the edge of The Wheatfield, with the Bucktails in hot pursuit. Taylor with twenty other soldiers got ahead of the main Union advance and halted, only to be struck suddenly by gunfire from Confederate reinforcements. A bullet pierced Taylor's heart, and he died on the spot two minutes later.

Taylor died at the age of 23. His remains were returned to Kennett Square and interred at Longwood Cemetery on July 8, 1863. At Annapolis he had become engaged to Alice Green, whose father was a slaveholder. Green attended his funeral, but Taylor's family disapproved of the engagement and destroyed their letters after his death.

Legacy Taylor was the youngest colonel in the Army of the Potomac at the time of his death. His commanding officer, Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford, praised him as "the gallant and brave leader of the Bucktail Regiment" who "fell while leading his regiment to the charge. No braver soldier and patriot has given his life for his cause."

On October 6, 1905, the Regimental Association of the Bucktails dedicated a granite marker on the exact spot where Taylor fell.