Joseph Taylor

Alone, He Captured Three Confederate Soldiers

Alone in unfamiliar woods near the Weldon Railroad, Private Joseph Taylor unexpectedly encountered three armed Confederate soldiers and forced them to surrender. On August 18, 1864, while serving as a mounted orderly with the Union Army near Petersburg, Virginia, Taylor demonstrated remarkable courage and quick thinking during an assignment that placed him beyond immediate support from his comrades. His successful capture of three enemy soldiers, despite being wounded during the encounter, eventually earned him the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration for valor.

Joseph Taylor was born in Leeds, England. Historical accounts provide conflicting dates for his birth, although the history of the 7th Rhode Island Infantry records December 16, 1847. His parents brought him to the United States while he was still an infant, and the family settled in Burrillville, Rhode Island.

Little reliable information survives about Taylor's childhood and education. His documented military history begins during the American Civil War, when he enlisted in the Union Army.

On August 11, 1862, Taylor enlisted in the 7th Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry. He entered service as a Private in Company E, joining a regiment that was being organized for three years of Federal military duty.

If the birth date recorded in the regimental history is correct, Taylor was only fourteen years old when he enlisted and had not yet reached his fifteenth birthday when the regiment entered Federal service. Accounts of his enlistment indicate that he joined with his father's permission.

The 7th Rhode Island Infantry was organized at Camp Bliss in Providence during the summer of 1862. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Zenas Randall Bliss, an officer who would later receive the Medal of Honor for his own distinguished conduct during the Civil War.

The regiment entered Federal service in September 1862 and was assigned to the Union Army operating in Virginia.

Its first major engagement occurred at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. During the fighting, the regiment advanced toward Confederate positions near Marye's Heights and suffered substantial casualties.

The regiment subsequently served in the Ninth Army Corps during operations in several theaters of the Civil War. Its documented history included service in Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Taylor remained associated with Company E during his wartime service. A regimental history published in 1903 preserves several incidents involving him, including his eventual Medal of Honor action.

By the summer of 1864, the 7th Rhode Island Infantry was serving with Union forces during the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign.

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant had directed sustained operations against General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Union forces sought to weaken the Confederate defenses around Petersburg by attacking the transportation routes supplying Lee's army.

One of the most important Confederate supply connections was the Weldon Railroad, which linked Petersburg with Wilmington, North Carolina.

The railroad carried supplies toward Confederate forces defending Petersburg and Richmond. Its destruction or occupation would interfere with Lee's ability to sustain his army.

After an unsuccessful effort to sever the railroad in June 1864, Grant ordered another operation in August.

On August 18, Major General Gouverneur K. Warren's Fifth Corps advanced toward the railroad near Globe Tavern, south of Petersburg. Elements of other Union corps supported the operation.

Federal soldiers reached the tracks during the morning and began destroying sections of the railroad.

Confederate troops responded with attacks intended to drive the Union forces away from this important transportation route.

The fighting continued over several days and became known as the Battle of Globe Tavern, or the Second Battle of the Weldon Railroad.

During the opening day of the operation, Private Joseph Taylor received an assignment that unexpectedly placed him in direct contact with Confederate soldiers.

One of the mounted orderlies serving at brigade headquarters had been killed outside the Union picket line earlier that morning.

Taylor was selected to replace him.

He was assigned to accompany Peleg E. Peckham, an assistant adjutant general, during movements through the heavily wooded terrain near the railroad.

The assignment required Taylor to remain close to the officer while traveling through areas where enemy soldiers might be present.

The weather and terrain made the journey difficult. Heavy rain had left portions of the ground wet, and dense vegetation obstructed movement through the woods.

Taylor followed Peckham along a route bordered by thick undergrowth.

According to the account preserved in the regiment's history, the branches repeatedly sprang backward as Peckham passed, striking Taylor and his horse.

To avoid the branches, Taylor began leaving more distance between himself and the officer.

Eventually, he lost sight of Peckham.

Separated from the man he had been assigned to accompany, Taylor attempted to locate him while continuing through the woods.

During this search, he unexpectedly came upon three armed Confederate soldiers serving as pickets.

The men were later identified in historical accounts as belonging to the 16th Georgia Infantry.

Taylor found himself alone and facing three enemy soldiers who were armed and capable of resisting him.

The encounter required an immediate decision.

Rather than attempting to withdraw, Taylor drew his revolver and demanded their surrender.

His sudden response surprised the Confederate soldiers.

With his weapon trained upon them, Taylor ordered the three men to lay down their resistance and accompany him toward the Union position.

He then used a deception to reinforce his demand.

Taylor warned the prisoners that Union cavalry was preparing to charge across the area and that they needed to move immediately to avoid the approaching troops.

He later acknowledged that he did not actually know whether cavalry was operating nearby.

Nevertheless, the warning succeeded.

The three Confederate soldiers complied with his instructions and began moving toward the Union lines.

Taylor directed them forward while maintaining control of the prisoners with his revolver.

The situation remained dangerous because the wooded terrain limited visibility and other Confederate soldiers could have been concealed nearby.

As Taylor escorted the three men away, another Confederate soldier suddenly emerged from behind a thicket.

The fourth soldier attacked Taylor with a bayonet, striking him in the arm.

Taylor responded by firing his revolver and wounding the attacker in the chest.

The gunshot increased the danger of the situation because it could alert other Confederate troops to their location.

Despite his injury, Taylor continued escorting the original three prisoners toward the Union camp.

He urged them to move faster and used his horse to keep them advancing in the direction he had chosen.

The prisoners remained under his control.

Taylor eventually reached the Union position and delivered the three captured soldiers to Brigadier General John I. Curtin of Pennsylvania.

Curtin was surprised to see a single Private returning with three enemy prisoners.

He asked Taylor where and how he had captured them.

Taylor began explaining the circumstances of his assignment, his separation from Peckham, and his unexpected encounter with the Confederate pickets.

During the conversation, the brigade surgeon noticed that Taylor had been wounded.

Blood was running down his arm and dripping from the revolver he still held.

The surgeon moved to examine and treat his injury.

Peckham returned to camp shortly afterward and confirmed the circumstances under which Taylor had become separated from him.

The officers recognized the extraordinary nature of Taylor's achievement.

Acting alone in an area where enemy troops were present, he had confronted three armed Confederates, compelled their surrender, survived a bayonet attack by a fourth soldier, and brought his prisoners safely into the Union lines.

Curtin praised Taylor's bravery and indicated that his conduct deserved recognition through the Medal of Honor.

The successful capture became the defining incident of Taylor's military service.

The official Medal of Honor citation later recognized him for compelling the surrender of three enemy pickets while acting alone as an orderly to a general officer on the battlefield.

Although the citation itself was brief, the regimental history preserved a detailed account of the encounter, including the deception Taylor used to secure the prisoners and the wound he received during their return to camp.

The larger Battle of Globe Tavern continued through August 21, 1864.

Confederate counterattacks inflicted serious losses upon Union forces, including thousands of soldiers killed, wounded, or captured.

Nevertheless, Federal troops maintained control of an important section of the Weldon Railroad.

The Union position prevented Confederate forces from continuing to use the railroad directly into Petersburg.

The loss forced Confederate supply movements onto less efficient routes, increasing the logistical pressure upon Lee's army during the continuing siege.

Taylor's individual achievement occurred during the opening day of this operation, on August 18, 1864.

His military distinction did not result from commanding a large formation or capturing a fortified position. Instead, it came from his ability to react decisively when unexpectedly confronted by several armed opponents without immediate assistance.

The capture required personal courage, composure, and the ability to maintain control of the prisoners even after suffering an injury.

After the Civil War, Taylor returned to civilian life.

He eventually settled in Lowell, Massachusetts, a city with a substantial textile industry.

Historical research into his later life identifies his occupation as a wool sorter, a trade associated with the processing of wool for textile manufacturing.

On April 29, 1868, Taylor married Mary Francis Chapman in Waverly, Rhode Island.

The couple had a daughter, Frances Taylor, who was born in Rhode Island.

Taylor and his family subsequently lived in Lowell, where he continued his civilian occupation.

He also maintained connections with former Union soldiers through veterans' organizations and regimental reunions.

Taylor was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization established by Union veterans following the Civil War.

His participation in veterans' activities helped preserve his connections with men who had served in the 7th Rhode Island Infantry.

Although General Curtin had recommended recognition for his bravery in 1864, Taylor did not receive the Medal of Honor until more than three decades after the event.

On July 20, 1897, Joseph Taylor was formally awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary conduct at Weldon Railroad, Virginia, on August 18, 1864.

The decoration recognized his courage in confronting and capturing three Confederate soldiers while serving as a mounted orderly.

The Medal of Honor had been established during the American Civil War to recognize exceptional military valor. Authorized for the United States Army in 1862, it became the nation's highest decoration for bravery in military service.

Taylor's award came during a period when surviving Civil War veterans were receiving formal recognition for acts of courage performed many years earlier.

His Medal of Honor was presented at a reunion of the 7th Rhode Island Infantry.

The presentation was made by General Zenas R. Bliss, who had commanded the regiment during the Civil War and had himself received the Medal of Honor.

The ceremony connected Taylor's individual achievement with the history of the regiment in which he had served.

Receiving the decoration more than thirty-three years after the battle provided formal acknowledgment of the courage he had demonstrated as a young Private.

By 1897, Taylor was living at 28 South Whipple Street in Lowell, Massachusetts.

He continued participating in veterans' reunions and maintained an interest in the history of his wartime regiment.

His first wife, Mary Francis Chapman Taylor, died on June 24, 1907.

On January 20, 1909, Taylor married Alice Cram in Lowell, beginning another chapter of his personal life.

He remained associated with the Lowell community during his final years.

Joseph Taylor died in 1914 in Lowell, Massachusetts.

He was buried in Edson Cemetery in Lowell, where his final resting place has been identified and confirmed through Medal of Honor historical research.

His military service and decoration continue to be recorded by the United States Army and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

The regimental history of the 7th Rhode Island Infantry also preserves his account of the remarkable encounter near the Weldon Railroad.

Joseph Taylor's legacy rests upon the events of August 18, 1864.

While carrying out an assignment as a mounted orderly, he became separated from the officer he was escorting and unexpectedly encountered three armed Confederate soldiers.

Alone and without immediate support, he drew his revolver, demanded their surrender, and used a warning about approaching cavalry to persuade them to comply.

Even after a fourth Confederate attacked and wounded him, Taylor continued escorting his prisoners until he reached the Union camp.

His Medal of Honor stands as a lasting tribute to the courage, determination, and presence of mind he demonstrated during that extraordinary encounter.

Through his actions near the Weldon Railroad, Private Joseph Taylor earned a distinguished place among the Medal of Honor recipients of the American Civil War.