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 [decorative delimiter] Class of 1893

Vol. IV
p563
3558

(Born Ill.)

Edward Taylor

(Ap'd Ida.)

47

Born Apr. 6, 1868, Boone County, IL.​a

Military History. — Cadet at the U. S. M. A., from June 15, 1889 to June 12, 1893, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

(Second Lieut. of Infantry, 12th Infantry, June 12, 1893)

Served: In Department of Dakota from Oct. 1, 1893 to Nov. 20, 1894; in Department of the Platte from Nov. 20, 1894 to April 19, 1898. — With General Shafter's expedition against Santiago de Cuba, June, July, and Aug., 1898; participated in the battles of El Caney, San Juan Hill, and in all operations leading to the capture of Santiago.

(First Lieut. of Infantry, 12th Infantry, April 26, 1898)

— Served in the Department of the Missouri from Sept. 19, 1898 to Jan., 1899. — En route to and in the Philippine Islands to Dec. 26, when he

Died Dec. 26, 1899, at Bautista, P. I., from injuries received at the Agno River, where he was run over by a railway train: Aged 32.

Headquarters, 12th U. S. Infantry, Panique, Luzon, P. I.,

December 31, 1899.

[General Orders, No. 158.]

The regiment again mourns the loss of a tried and valued officer. First Lieutenant Edward Taylor, 12th Infantry, died at Bautista, Luzon, at 4:45 P.M.,  p564 Dec. 26, 1899, from the shock following a railroad accident, in which his right arm was severed at the elbow.

In company with a brother officer he was riding along the railroad embankment, near Bautista, the morning of Dec. 26, when suddenly, from the rear and without due warning, the train was upon them. They were dismounting, when Lieutenant Taylor's horse jumped across the track, pulling the rider along, but too late to prevent the catastrophe which followed. Kind friends at Bautista were quick to do all that skill and attention could do, but in vain.

Dec. 27, 1899, the remains were taken to Manila, and on the 29th appropriate services were held at the First Reserve Hospital, in the presence of a number of the officers of the regiment, after which they were taken to the transport Thomas, en route to their last resting-place at home.

Lieutenant Taylor was born in Boone County, Ill., Mayº 6, 1868, and appointed to the Military Academy from Idaho in 1889. He graduated in 1893, and joined the 12th Infantry at Fort Sully, S. D., during the fall of that year, since which time he has served with the regiment in post and field wherever duty has called.

He participated with honor in the campaign against Santiago de Cuba, 1898, taking part in all the fighting in which the regiment was engaged. He was nominated for a brevet commission in recognition of his gallant conduct at the battle of El Caney, Cuba, July 1, 1898. He contracted fever in Cuba, and for many weeks was critically ill, but returned to the U. S. with the regiment, and later was able to help prepare the regiment for service in the Philippines.

In the campaign against the Insurgents he has been constantly in command of Company E, and has been conspicuous for attention to duty and gallantry on every occasion that his company has been engaged.

He was a man of unusual repose of manner and great reticence, born of a gentle and unassuming yet cheerful temperament; but he was quick to act when occasion demanded, and always with good judgment, nobly justifying the confidence with which superior and subordinates alike regarded him. Of him it can be most truly said that he never spoke ill of others, or harbored hate or resentment in the slightest degree, and of him no one would wittingly speak ill, because there was none to tell. A superb horseman, it seems the sadder that, after undergoing the many vicissitudes and dangers of devoted service with the colors in Cuba and Luzon, he should lose his life in the manner in which he did.

He was an affectionate and attentive husband and father. The bereaved wife and child will be prostrated with grief; but it will be some comfort for them to know that they have in an unusual degree the sympathy of the officers and men of the regiment.

The officers will wear, so far as may be practicable in the field, mourning for thirty days.

By order of Lieut.‑Colonel Bubb.

Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1886: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.Frank L. Winn, Captain 12th U. S. Infantry, Adjutant.

Buried, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.


Thayer's Note:

a I supply Lt. Taylor's birthplace from the General Orders quoted in the Register, although with misgivings since his birthdate in them is given incorrectly; the correct date I take to be that given on his tombstone, q.v.


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