In 2011, Gregory S. Taylor – the descendant of Private Edward A. Taylor, who served in Company A, Pittsburg Rifles, 9th Pennsylvania Reserves, reached out to us to supply our organization with supplemental information pertaining to the historical record of his ancestor. This information related to Taylor offers us some additional context to his record, from which one of our historians has managed to provide more insight.
Taylor enlisted with Company A in September of 1862, though tit is unclear if he participated in the Maryland Campaign with the regiment. According to historian Dr. James Owston, Taylor is documented as having participated in only two battles with the 9th Reserves, Fredericksburg in December 1862, and Gettysburg in July 1863. He is recorded as being wounded in both battles; being only one of five men to have been wounded at Gettysburg.
Dr. Owston says, “He abandoned his wife and children for another wife in Atlantic City in September 1864. It doesn’t appear that his first wife [Hannah] ever knew about the second one as she thought he died at Weldon Rail Road. An entry on the July/August muster rolls assumed that he died at Weldon Rail Road and that he was never heard from since – gave this indication. This provides some thought that he may have served in the 190th, but I believe that that sergeant who was commanding the company was only making a guess about his whereabouts and wasn’t totally sure. The other rolls carried over information that was in the 9th’s rolls – absent sick.”
