Beachlover56 retweetledi
On this date in 1865 (May 4), Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor surrendered the last major Confederate army east of the Mississippi at Citronelle, Alabama. His Department of Alabama,
Mississippi & East Louisiana had around 9,000–12,000 men at the time.
Son of President Zachary Taylor, the Louisiana planter rose from colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry to lieutenant general. He excelled under Stonewall Jackson in the 1862 Valley Campaign and led the victorious Red River Campaign in 1864.
The war devastated Taylor personally: Union troops plundered and destroyed his Fashion sugar cane plantation in St. Charles Parish in spring 1862 — ruining his home, extensive library, sugar works, and fields. He lost two young sons to scarlet fever while they were wartime refugees, and his wife Myrthe’s health declined sharply, leading to her death in 1875. Left penniless, he never fully recovered his fortune.
Postwar, Taylor wrote the classic memoir Destruction and Reconstruction (1879). In it he sharply criticized Radical Reconstruction as vindictive and corrupt: carpetbaggers and scalawags looting the South and military rule undermining recovery. He condemned Northern radicals like Stevens and Sumner for prolonging division rather than fostering true reconciliation. Taylor also interceded with President Johnson to help secure the release of Jefferson Davis.
Although Taylor had no previous military experience, he earned high praise from notable Generals such as Stonewall Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest. A gifted soldier, Taylor died in 1879.
English
