Witness for the Prosecution: The Civil 
War Letter of Lieutenant George Taylor
Author: Kim Allen Scott
“This is the final version of record of an article that originally appeared in 
Arkansas Historical Quarterly in 1989."
Scott, Kim Allen. "Witness for the Prosecution: The Civil War Letter of Lieutenant George 
Taylor." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 48, no. 3 (1989): 260-271.
Made available through Montana State University’s ScholarWorks 
scholarworks.montana.edu 
Witness for the Prosecution: 
The Civil War Letter 
of Lieutenant George Taylor 
By KIM ALLEN SCOTT* 
Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries 
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701 
/X prosecutor must present the jury with evidence against the defend- 
ant which is believable beyond a reasonable doubt. Testimony based on 
hearsay or the recollections of a witness several years after the crime are 
always subject to damaging critique by the defense. To bolster a case 
based on a stale reminiscence, the prosecution may use corroborating evi- 
dence: the same story told by two different parties. However, if a sharp 
defense attorney can show that both sources are of equal antiquity, the 
corroboration strategy can still be easily defused. The best testimony for 
substantiating old stories is a witness deposition taken immediately after 
the crime was committed. The introduction of such evidence can confirm 
the truth of the dated accounts and win the case for the prosecution. 
The sacking of Fayetteville, Arkansas, by Confederate forces in Feb- 
ruary 1862, is the "crime" we wish to examine in this paper. Before the 
jury of our readers, we shall present a brief narrative of the event, 
examine four eyewitnesses which have been questioned by many investi- 
gators over the years, and finally introduce new testimony from Lieu- 
tenant George Taylor of the Seventeenth Arkansas Infantry, who, until 
the publication of this paper, has been keeping his version buried in an 
Oklahoma attic. While Taylor's story adds little which is new to our 
understanding of Fayetteville's unfortunate plight, it will prove to be an 
*The author is processing archivist for the Special Collections Department, University 
of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville. 
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CIVIL WAR LETTER OF LT. GEORGE TAYLOR 261 
eloquent version of the incident which substantiates another source that 
some historians have felt to be most biased. 
Confederate forces occupied the town of Fayetteville shortly after the 
secession convention voted Arkansas out of the Union on May 10, 1861. 
The first troops to reach the prosperous Ozarks town were the "Hemp- 
stead Rifles," a band of volunteer infantrymen from Washington, Arkan- 
sas. Shortly after the Rifles set up camp, the Third Louisiana Infantry 
also arrived to pitch their tents on the grounds of Arkansas College. 
Aside from brief forays into the Indian Territory and Missouri (most 
notable being the Wilson's Creek campaign in August 1861), southern 
troops remained in the Fayetteville and Washington County area until 
February 1862, when the advancing Union army caused them to with- 
draw south of the town to the safety of the Boston Mountains. Fayette- 
ville had become quite a supply center by this time and to prevent the 
yankees from capturing the quartermaster's stores, Brigadier General 
Benjamin McCulloch decided to turn his army loose to carry away what 
foodstuffs they could. There followed a brief period of riotous anarchy 
among the rebel soldiers as they looted not only their own commissary 
supplies, but also the homes and shops of Fayetteville civilians. Once the 
Confederates made their safe withdrawal, a party of cavalrymen returned 
to Fayetteville and set fire to many of the town's principal buildings. 
When Union troops under the command of Brigadier General Alex- 
ander Asboth arrived on February 23, they found a smoldering set of 
ruins and a handful of loyalist citizens who welcomed the yankees as 
liberators.1 
Almost every secondary account of Fayetteville's sacking is based on 
the recorded impressions of four people who were present at the time: 
Marian Tebbetts Banes, an eleven-year-old girl; Washington Lafayette 
Gammage, a surgeon with McNair's Brigade; William H. Tunnard, 
sergeant of Company K, Third Louisiana Infantry; and William Baxter, 
a preacher and president of Arkansas College.2 Each one of these people 
1 United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion; A Compilation of the 
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, D. C, 1880-1901), 
Ser. I, Vol. VIII, p. 70, cited hereinafter as O. R. 
2 Marian Tebbetts Banes, The Journal of Marian Tebbetts Banes (Fayetteville, Ark., 
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262 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 
told his version of the story to different audiences years after the event 
occurred. 
The testimony of Marian Tebbetts Banes is the easiest to discount. 
Written in 1941, nearly eighty years separate this written record from the 
child's experience.3 Marian did not record anything about southern 
soldiers sacking the town, but she did state firmly that the fires were 
started directly on the orders of General McCulloch. She even insisted 
that General Sterling Price tried to reason with McCulloch over the 
burning order, but she neglected to explain how she became privy to this 
high-ranking consultation. 
The next two witnesses called to the stand are Confederate soldiers ; 
Dr. Washington L. Gammage and Sergeant William H. Tunnard. 
Gammage, an Arkansan, wrote his version in 1864, just two years after 
the event and while addressing an audience still at war with the United 
States. He stated that on the morning of February 19, 1862, he saw 
southern troops breaking into stores, smokehouses, and private residences 
to plunder. He added that Fayetteville citizens also helped in the carnival 
atmosphere when they joined the soldiers in stealing the quartermaster 
stores. While Gammage called the looting "one of the most disgraceful 
scenes I ever saw," his assertion of civilian participation at least helped 
soften the condemnation of his comrades and he neglected to mention 
anything about the subsequent burning of the town.4 Sergeant Tunnard 
1977) ; Washington Lafayette Gammage, The Camp, The Bivouac, and the Battlefield 
(Selma, Ala., 1864) ; William H. Tunnard, A Southern Record: The History of the Third 
Regiment of Louisiana Infantry (Baton Rouge, La., 1866) ; William Baxter, Pea Ridge and 
Prairie Grove, or, Scenes and Incidents of the War in Arkansas, reprint of the original 
volume published in 1864, ed. Hugh Park (Van Buren, Ark., 1957). An additional eye- 
witness source which has not been examined in this paper can be found in William Wat- 
son, Life in the Confederate Army, Being the Observations and Experiences of an Alien 
in the South during the American Civil War (London, 1887). Watson, who also served 
in the Third Louisiana Infantry, has not been quoted as often as the other sources, prob- 
ably due to the obscurity of the publication and the relative lack of significant detail in his 
description. 
3 Banes, Journal, 88-89. When one considers the uncertainty of an octogenarian's mem- 
ory, coupled with the fact that the original manuscript of Banes's reminiscence is no 
longer available for comparison against the published version, it is amazing how much 
weight historians still place on this apocryphal source. 
4 Gammage, The Camp, 23. 
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CIVIL WAR LETTER OF LT. GEORGE TAYLOR 263 
documented his version of the sacking in 1866, writing to a public already 
infected with the "Lost Cause" romanticism so prevalent among Recon- 
struction-era southerners. He also claimed that what he saw in Fayette- 
ville on February 20 "beggared all description" as the soldiers broke into 
stores and unoccupied houses, but he actually described only the distri- 
bution of commissary stores among the rebels rather than household 
goods.5 Tunnard dismissed the burning of Fayetteville as a "military 
necessity no one could question . . . who at all comprehended the situa- 
tion of affairs."6 
The most damaging witness against the Confederates is William 
Baxter, an ardent Unionist and resident of Fayetteville in 1862. Like 
Gammage, Baxter wrote his version just two years after the event but 
Baxter published his account for northern readers. His version is so 
blatantly biased toward the Union cause that even when it was reprinted 
in 1957, editor Hugh Park felt compelled to advise the reader: "We are 
aware that this volume may still stir some feeling of strife in those who 
yet feel the pangs of the Southern conflict; and no doubt it will be met 
in some quarters by charges of 'Yankee propaganda'."7 
How did Baxter describe the looting of Fayetteville ? Apparently with 
complete honesty. He blamed the Confederates entirely for throwing 
open the town for plunder, but did not fail to indict his own neighbors 
for joining with the soldiers in stealing the commissary stores. Once the 
attention of the mob turned to private residences and shops, however, the 
preacher's accusations settled entirely on the military participants: 
So general had the work of destruction and plunder become that 
it was impossible to find a single soldier who did not possess some 
evidence of being carried away with the spirit of the hour. Here 
was one with a cigar box half filled with sugar, another with a 
5 Tunnard, A Southern Record, 125-126. 
*lbid. 
7 Hugh Park, introduction, Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove, by William Baxter, p. iii. For 
another historian's assessment of Baxter's prejudice see Conaly Bedell, "The Terror in 
Fayetteville," unpublished manuscript: Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1966 (University of Arkan- 
sas Libraries, Fayetteville), 38-40. Bedell asserts that Baxter's version is the least biased of 
any available, but still admits that the educator's partisan viewpoint heavily influences his 
testimony. 
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264 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 
pair of lady's gaiters sticking out of his pocket; this had a pair of 
baby's shoes, that, some fine lace. . . . Some contented themselves 
with what really belonged to them - the army stores . . . but what 
could others want with fine articles of ladies' wear and, as I 
noticed in one case, a thermometer ? 
8 
Baxter's graphic picture of soldiers running amok in Fayetteville can 
finally be validated with contemporary eyewitness testimony from Lieu- 
tenant George Taylor, Company H, Seventeenth Arkansas Infantry. 
Taylor wrote down what he saw in a letter to a friend just a few days 
after the sacking while the event was still fresh in his memory, and his 
version stands alone as the only contemporary statement on Fayetteville's 
sad misfortune.9 
George Taylor was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, on March 12, 
1838. He received a good education in the Old Dominion, and by age 
eighteen he worked as a clerk in an Alexandria business firm.10 He 
drifted west the next year and settled in Washington, Arkansas, where 
he found another clerk's position at the drygoods firm of J. S. Britt. He 
quickly established a reputation for honesty and integrity among the 
Hempstead County business community and gained competence as a 
skillful accountant.11 As the crisis of 1861 approached, George enlisted 
with a local militia group, the Hempstead Rifles, and accepted a com- 
mission as third lieutenant of the unit. On May 4, 1861, the Rifles traveled 
to Little Rock, and then to Fayetteville where they were mustered into 
the Third Arkansas State Troops as Company B.12 A splendid looking 
8 Baxter, Pea Ridge, pp. 49-50. 
9 George Taylor, letter to Rebecca Stirman, March 3, 1862, Rebecca Stirman Davidson 
Papers (Special Collections Department, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville). 
While it is reasonable to suppose that out of the thousands of soldiers who passed through 
Fayetteville on February 20, 1862, many wrote letters home, none have appeared in print 
to date. 
10 W. Hyde and H. L. Conard, eds., Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis (St. Louis, 
1899), Vol. IV, p. 2222-2223. 
11 Sam Williams, Sam Williams; Printer's Devil (Hope, Ark., 1979), 277. "A better- 
hearted man, a more square dealing business man, or a more thorough gentleman than 
George Taylor never walked upon two legs," is the assessment given by Sam Williams 
who knew Taylor both before and after the war. 
12 Donald Montgomery, "Far From Home and Kindred; The History of Confederate 
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CIVIL WAR LETTER OF LT. GEORGE TAYLOR 265 
body of soldiers, the Rifles, along with the Third Louisiana Infantry, 
created quite a stir among the ladies of Fayetteville with their neat gray 
uniforms and plumed officers' hats.13 One young woman, Miss Rebecca 
Stirman, particularly caught the eye of Lieutenant Taylor and between 
drilling and picket duties the soldier used his free time to visit with the 
girl as much as possible. 
By the late summer of 1861 the Hempstead Rifles found themselves 
in southwest Missouri with other southern troops commanded by gen- 
erals Benjamin McCulloch and Sterling Price. At their encampment 
along Wilson's Creek just southwest of Springfield, Lieutenant Taylor 
and his comrades faced the fire of Union troops for the first time on 
August 10. The Hempstead Rifles suffered horribly as they defended an 
artillery unit commanded by Captain William E. Woodruff, Jr., taking 
casualties not only from the enemy, but also from excited southern forces 
who fired accidentally into their ranks.14 Following the battle of Wil- 
son's Creek, the Third Arkansas State Troops voted to disband rather 
than enter the regular Confederate army. Some of the Hempstead Rifles 
went back home, but others, including George Taylor, reenlisted in 
other Confederate units. At a reorganization of troops at Fort Smith in 
December, Taylor and his comrades from the Hempstead Rifles were 
placed in Company H, Seventeenth Arkansas Infantry and sent back to 
the northwest corner of Arkansas for the winter.15 
Bentonville, Arkansas, became the next garrison for the Seventeenth, 
and George's merchandising talents were tapped by Colonel Frank Rec- 
tor when he appointed the former clerk as quartermaster for the regi- 
Companies Raised in Hempstead County," Journal of the Hempstead County Historical 
Society, Vol. XII (Spring 1988), 15-16. 
13 Banes, Journal, 89; Baxter, Pea Ridge, 38-39. Both of these sources comment on the 
elegance of the southerner's uniforms. While Banes's testimony may be discounted on 
other points, a childhood memory of colorful uniforms is plausible enough to cite here. 
14 Montgomery, Far From Home, 15. 
15 U. S. War Department, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who 
Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas, M311, George Taylor, Company H, 
Seventeenth (Griffith's) Arkansas Infantry, Record Group 109 (National Archives, Wash- 
ington, D. C.) . This source lists Taylor's enlistment with the Seventeenth Arkansas to be 
at Fort Smith on December 4, 1861. 
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266 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 
ment.16 Taylor's duties kept him in Bentonville during the opening 
weeks of 1862, but he still found time to visit Fayetteville in order to call 
on Miss Stirman. The rapidly unfolding events of the war put an early 
end to Taylor's residence in Bentonville, however. A sudden advance by 
Union troops under the command of Brigadier General Alexander 
Asboth arrived at the town on February 18, forcing a hurried evacuation 
by the rebels. Taylor himself barely escaped capture before the Yankees 
surrounded the town, losing his horse, his office papers, and his account 
books in the process.17 The Seventeenth Infantry fared no better: they 
suffered the humiliating capture of the regimental colors along with 
many sick and wounded left behind in Bentonville hospitals. Asboth 
continued his dogged pursuit of the Confederates, and when George 
arrived at Fayetteville on February 20, he found many of the town's 
inhabitants had fled in response to the invasion, including Rebecca Stir- 
man who had gone to the relative safety of Van Buren. The rebel high 
command chose not to hold Fayetteville, and as quartermaster for the 
Seventeenth Infantry, Taylor had the responsibility of distributing the 
commissary stores to the troops as they prepared to evacuate the town. 
He remained at his post until the morning of February 23, scrupulously 
recorded the disbursement of a dozen pairs of shoes to members of Com- 
pany D, and again narrowly avoided capture when Asboth's men 
arrived shortly after 11 :00 a.m.18 He rejoined the southern army at their 
camp in the Boston Mountains south of town and, while a new offensive 
was being planned from this stronghold, Lieutenant Taylor took pen in 
hand to write a letter to his friend Rebecca. 
16 U. S. War Department, Compiled Service Records, George Taylor, Company H, 
Seventeenth (Griffith's) Arkansas Infantry; Frank Rector, Seventeenth (Griffith's) Arkan- 
sas Infantry. Taylor's first appointment as quartermaster in his service record is dated 
February 13, 1862, but in the service record of Col. Frank Rector is a clothing requisition 
form, dated Bentonville, January 13, 1862, signed by Taylor in the capacity of quarter- 
master to the regiment. 
17 O. R., Ser I, Vol. VIII, p. 63-64. 
18 U. S. War Department, Compiled Service Records. Frank Rector, Seventeenth 
(Griffith's) Arkansas Infantry. An additional requisition form in Rector's file, signed by 
George Taylor and dated Fayetteville, February 23, 1862, documents the disbursement of 
the shoes. Taylor could not have lingered in the city for more than a few hours that day 
since General Asboth reported taking the town by 11:20 a.m. See O. R., Ser. I, Vol. VIII, 
p. 69. 
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CIVIL WAR LETTER OF LT. GEORGE TAYLOR 267 
Rebecca saved Taylor's letter, along with dozens of others she re- 
ceived from her brother Erasmus, who also served in the southern army. 
The letters were kept in the family for generations until 1985 when they 
were offered for sale to the Special Collections Department of the Uni- 
versity of Arkansas Libraries by descendants living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 
The letters of Erasmus Stirman were published almost immediately, but 
for some reason Taylor's note to Rebecca was not deemed relevant to the 
collection and excluded from the work.19 Now, after keeping his silence 
for 127 years, it is time to call Lieutenant George Taylor to the stand and 
hear his testimony: 
Camp on Boston Mountain 
March 3, 1862 
Miss Becca, 
I have determined to write you a few lines this morning, and I have 
no excuse to make, or apology to offer for troubling you, other than what 
some little boy might say - "Just because I want to" - But I am not 
entirely sure that the permission you once gave me to write you just one 
letter has been countermanded or withdrawn, and so I'll take it for 
granted that it has not - Tell me if you are a little displeased or vexed 
somewhat when you receive this letter, and as I used to promise a grim 
old Virginia schoolmaster, - "I'll never do so again" - But if you knew 
how cold it is up here in these dismal mountains, and how that I can 
hardly hold my pen in my fingers, you would readily believe that I was 
not writing to-day for a mere pastime or a particular fancy to put my 
sundance thoughts on paper. 
I have thought of you often, since you have become a Refugee, if I 
may so call it. (not much before you Jyioui) I called at your old home in 
Fayetteville a few minutes when our regiment passed through. Mrs. 
19 Pat Carr, In Vine Spirits: The Civil War Letters of Ras Stirman (Fayetteville, 
Washington County Historical Society, 1986). All letters in Carr's book were addressed to 
Rebecca Stirman, and one from a soldier in a Kentucky prison camp was included with 
those written by Ras. As a result, it is somewhat puzzling why George Taylor's letter was 
excluded from this publication. We should point out that we have also excluded a letter 
written by Taylor found in the same collection. A short note, dated January 25, was sent 
by the young lieutenant to Rebecca, but it is nothing more than a formal request to con- 
tinue their friendship by exchanging letters. 
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268 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 
Pollard told me that you and Miss Annie20 had gone to Ft. Smith, but she 
was determined to brave the storm - Not many ladies had remained. 
Mrs. Lee and I think Mrs. Davidson21 among the few. I am very glad 
that you are safely away, and I doubt not having as near a pleasant time 
as possible, until your home shall be restored, as it certainly soon 
must be - 
Fayetteville presented indeed a sad spectacle when we passed through 
on the 20th. I could not but contrast the beautiful quiet little town of last 
May when we were so heartily welcomed to the then devastation and 
waste and ruin manifest all around. Heaven help a country where an 
army must linger, be it friend or foe. What Citizens now left in Fayette- 
ville, seemed perfectly panic-stricken - seemed to be utterly regardless 
of anything like protection of property. Stores all along Main Street were 
thrown open to the Missouri and Arkansas soldiers. 
Amid the destruction it could not but be amusing to see great heavy- 
bearded fellows carrying around fancy little toys - rattlers, made to 
amuse very small juveniles. Bonnet frames - old French flowers - 
nearly every man had a looking-glass. 
While the disastrous results of this unexpected invasion are incalcul- 
able, yet it will prove doubtless in many respects beneficial. It has thor- 
oughly aroused Arkansas, and she has been sleeping in fancied security 
too long. Thousands are now rallying to the standard to protect our 
20 "Mrs. Pollard" was the wife of Dr. Thomas Pollard, a Kentucky physician and 
prominent local secessionist. "Miss Annie" was Annie Pollard, their sixteen-year-old 
daughter. Rebecca Stirman lived with this family to whom she and her brothers were 
related. The Pollards were very active in equipping southern soldiers. Mrs. Pollard pre- 
sented the flag to Ras Stirman's company on May 2, 1861, and Dr. Pollard purchased a 
large supply of lead from a Missouri mercantile firm a few days afterwards. William 
Baxter mentions a violent argument in the Fayetteville telegraph office with an unnamed 
physician that was probably Pollard. See Baxter, Pea Ridge, 22-23; "A Flag Presentation," 
Flashback VIII (March 1958), 15; B. K. Hersey & Co., receipt issued to W. T. [sic] Pol- 
lard, May 19, 1861, Mcllroy Family Papers (Special Collections Department, University of 
Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville) . 
21 "Mrs. Lee" was most likely Mrs. Hanson Lee, the wife of a Prairie Township farmer. 
These are the only Lees listed as living in Washington County in the 1860 census. "Mrs. 
Davidson" was Mrs. Nancy Murphy Davidson, wife of Elijah Davidson, a carpenter from 
Kentucky who settled in Fayetteville around 1859. Davidson's son, Benjamin R. Davidson, 
would eventually marry Rebecca Stirman in 1876. 
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CIVIL WAR LETTER OF LT. GEORGE TAYLOR 269 
frontier. The delusive self-assurance that Arkansas is secure, has been 
alas, suddenly and terribly destroyed. 
"The Invaders foot is on her shore, 
His hand is at thy temple door, 
- Dear Fayetteville." 
But I cannot think it will be so for long. The Federal army has made 
but little advance for a week past. The signs of the times indicate a speedy 
forward movement of the Southern army. Just wait now to hear of the 
Dutch and Yankees being run to the St. Louis. Otherwise you'll see us 
coming on the double quick through Van Buren. 
Our old garrison, Bentonville, is one heap of ashes. Every few days 
one of the boys of the regiment left at the hospital there comes straggling 
in, frightened and forlorn, with a monstrous story of a hair breadth 
escape. Over in Prices camp a few days ago, I saw Clay Robards22 - 
wouldn't you like to have seen him? He told me that one of "Brother 
Raz's" Lieutenants had been so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of 
the Dutch. He had gone to see his sweetheart - poor fellow. Such noble 
daring deserved a better fate. But I think just to get to see my sweetheart 
now I would submit to most anything. (// / had one) 
Col. Rector told me yesterday that he had seen "Miss Beck" in Van 
Buren, and had some talk with her. But he is so bewildered, so com- 
pletely lost to the recollection of everything save the fact of being mar- 
ried, as to have forgotten what she said. You know I enquired. 
But I'm afraid I'm trespassing too much on your patience. I hope you 
will not think I have taken an undue liberty in writing to you - even 
though I have had nothing of particular interest to you to communicate. 
I have tried not to lose sight of the relations I sustain towards you - will 
it ever be so? Somehow, somehow, I cannot but hope and believe that it 
will not. 
It may be a happy delusion - so let it be. 
I have but little fear of the result of the approaching struggle, come 
when it may. Van Dorn, McCulloch, Price and Mclntosh are all here - 
22 Two officers by the name of Robards served in the First Battalion (Stirman's) 
Arkansas Cavalry; Capt. George C. Robards of Company E, and Capt. H. C. Robards, 
Company F. See U. S. War Department, Compiled Service Records. 
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270 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 
It may cost much, and many a brave true southern heart may sleep cold 
in its bosom. 
"But dearer the grave or the prison, 
Illumed by one patriots name, 
Than the trophies of all who have risen, 
On Liberty's ruins to fame." 
Goodbye 
I hope I may see you soon 
Truly your friend 
George Taylor 
Just a few days after writing his letter to Rebecca, Taylor and his 
regiment again faced the enemy, this time on the western portion of the 
Pea Ridge battlefield, but their luck proved no better than it had been at 
Bentonville the previous month. In rapid succession, General McCulloch 
and Colonel Mclntosh died from enemy fire, and the third ranking 
officer on the field, Colonel Louis Hebert, fell prisoner to the yankees. 
In the confusion following these disasters, Brigadier General Albert Pike 
took command but was unable to sustain the attack. The southerners 
were cut off from their supply train and, unable to determine conditions 
on the eastern portion of the field, retired from the battle on March 8. 
They scattered across the northwest Arkansas countryside, and when 
Colonel Rector conferred with Pike later that day they decided to dis- 
band the Seventeenth Arkansas and let the men shift for themselves.23 
Taylor and his comrades hid their rifles in a cave and continued their 
retreat from the pursuing Union forces in small groups.24 The regiment 
did not reassemble until later that spring in Mississippi where they 
fought with other units under the command of General Sterling Price. 
As late as September 1862, members of the Seventeenth still felt com- 
pelled to answer critics for the regiment's inglorious action after Pea 
Ridge.25 
23 O. R., Ser. I, Vol. VIII, p. 292. 
24 The rifles that Rector's men hid were discovered by the enemy on March 15. See 
ibid., p. 618. 
25 Little Rock Arkansas Gazette, September 6, 1862. 
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CIVIL WAR LETTER OF LT. GEORGE TAYLOR 271 
Taylor stayed with the rebel army until the bitter end. He apparently 
figured his romance with Rebecca did not look promising because he 
married Miss Sarah Conway, the daughter of a prominent Washington, 
Arkansas, physician in 1863. By that time, the quartermaster lieutenant 
was in charge of the supply depot at Fulton, Arkansas, and working 
towards a promotion to captain. Following the war, George Taylor drew 
on his vast mercantile experience to operate his own business in Wash- 
ington until 1880, when he moved to St. Louis to pursue a career as a 
cotton broker. He died there in 1893.26 
The witnesses have spoken, the case has been presented. Now it is 
time for the jury to retire to their deliberations. Regardless of the verdict, 
it must be admitted that this simple letter from a lovesick Confederate 
officer to his lady friend has certainly amplified the testimony that has 
gone before, and perhaps helped us to better understand what really 
happened in Fayetteville during the terrible days of February 1862. 
26 Hyde and Conard, Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, pp. 2222-2223. 
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