From the spring of 1861 into early 1862, Taylorstown was situated on the front lines of the American Civil War. With Union army garrisons in Point of Rocks, Brunswick, and along the river, Confederate forces would heavily patrol the area along the river, using Taylorstown as a stop on their patrol routes. Confederate garrisons in Waterford and Leesburg would conduct frequent sorties into the area. This entry from the wartime reports of the Richmond Howitzers (confederate artillery) notes one such jaunt to Taylorstown:
This knapsack belonged to John Henry Vest of Louisa County, VA. Vest was a member of the 1st Virginia Volunteer Howitzers, 1st Company Richmond Howitzers.
Courtesy of the American Civil War Museum, Richmond, Virginia 1987.007.00001
“According to orders on the following day at 12 o’clock found themselves on their way to Point of Rocks with instructions once more to annoy the enemy. Our march towards this place was a most disagreeable one being over a rough road taxing much of our horses and strength. About 2 PM we reached Taylortown, a very sparse village smothered in hills within one and a half miles of the opposite shore. Our Captain spent some five hours in reconnoitering the roads and mountains in this region with the view of placing our guns in position masked so that we could with comparative safety fire upon the enemy’s camp on the other side. After a long and careful observation of the localities at the base and on the top of the mountain, Captain Shields upon consultation with his officers reluctantly determined that it would be inexpedient and worse than useless to make any demonstration at that point. Night had now come on and caught our section in a narrow road where it became necessary to unlimber the pieces and caissons to change the front of the column. We were in dangerous proximity to a superior force of the enemy and for aught we knew in the midst of traitors. But so great was the darkness that it was impossible to attempt to move the wagon train and artillery except at great risk. Accordingly the command halted until the moon should come to our assistance. During this time the men sought repose and refreshment on the bare ground and where else they could. At midnight the column moved off and arrived at daybreak near Waterford and continued on to near Colonel Hunton’s camp having taken leave of our infantry and cavalry supports. After a short halt to partake of breakfast we returned to Leesburg where we arrived about 12 o’clock on Wednesday the 29th. This like all such expeditions had no other effect than to insure our men to hard service which they uniformly bore with cheerfulness and alacrity. It may be proper to remark here that the enemy had at Point of Rocks a full battery of rifled guns and as we had but one twelve pound howitzer and one six pound piece it would have been folly to have aroused his attention to us at all. Again had we mounted upon the steep summit of the neighboring hills his sharp shooters could have so annoyed our cannoneers that it would have been impossible to have retired safely from so perilous a position.”
Source: Contributions to a History of The Richmond Howitzer Battalion, by Lee A. Wallace Jr.
Taylorstown Community Association 