CAPTAIN DAVID A. TAYLOR

Died at his home in Albany, Oct. 31^st, 1896. Capt. David Austin Taylor, aged 71 years and eight months. He was the last one of the five sons of the late John A. and Sarah Austin Taylor. Four sisters survive him, Mrs. Oran Lathrop of Canisteo, N.Y.; Mrs. L. P. Hulett of Sandy Hill, N.Y.; Mrs. S. N. Brown of Etna, N.Y,; and Mrs. L. T. Hayden of this place. He left a wife, a son and a daughter, who truly mourn his loss. His funeral took place at his late home on Clinton Avenue in Albany, Monday afternoon, and the burial at Fort Hill, Auburn, Tuesday afternoon.

By request of his old comrades, the casket containing his remains was tenderly carried by them into the Bradley Memorial Chapel, where they draped it with the flag he loved so well, and for which he fought so bravely, and where they and others of his friends looked upon his face for the last time. A short service was held there, Rev. Mr. Palmer officiating. Then some of his comrades, among whom were Robert L. Drummond, James M. Donohen and James Chiverton, lowered him to his resting place beside the four children who had preceded him, and there, a Christian soldier, he sleeps.

We take the following from the Albany Evening Journal of October 31^st, 1896:

Capt. David Austin Taylor, who died at his late residence in this city at an early hour this morning, had a record of active service during the civil war, which is worthy of special remark.

On April 25^th, 1861, he enlisted at Auburn, N.Y., as first lieutenant of Co. E, of Nineteenth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, of which John. S. Clark was colonel. The regiment was mustered into the service of the United States for two years and soon joined the army of the Shenandoah Valley at Martinsburg, Va. Marches were made to Bunker Hill, Charles town, Bolivar Heights, Harper’s Ferry and Sandy Hook, Md. And other places in Maryland near the Potomac.

In August, Mr. Taylor was detailed to duty in the signal service by Gen. N. P. Banks and was at Hyattstown, Sugar Loaf Mountain and Danielstown, Md. and Georgetown Heights, D.C. In November, he was detailed by Chief Signal Officer Albert J. Myers to open signal communications between Washington and Gen. Banks headquarters, which several parties had before tried and failed to accomplish. Mr. Taylor located the connecting station on the first day, at a point near Great Falls on the Potomac, and thus completed the line of signal communications, reaching all divisions of the army from the lower to the upper Potomac. In December, 1861, he joined Gen. Banks at headquarters, Frederick City, Md. And in February was the first signal officer to cross the Potomac with the Army of the Shenandoah. March 23, 1862 he was engaged in the battle of Winchester, Va. And led the charge of Sullivan’s brigade that decided the battle and defeated Stonewall Jackson and pursued the enemy to Strassburg. For service on this occasion, Mr. Taylor received special recognition from congress and the war department. Soon after this he was ordered to take command of the signal department of North Carolina. He was in the battles of Ranl’s Mills, Kingston, Whitehall, two battles of Goldsboro, the fight at Washington, N.C.

January 1^st, 1863 he was promoted to captain of the Third New York Volunteer Artillery and assigned to Co. F, but continued in the signal service until July, 1863, when he was mustered out with the company.

In June 1863, Captain Taylor was appointed signal officer in the United States army but declined it. He reenlisted in the 111^th New York Volunteer Infantry as Captain Co. C, and served as such until the close of the war, being mustered out of service June 4, 1865.

Captain Taylor came of patriotic ancestry, as his father and grandfather were in the war of 1812, as sergeant and major respectively, and his great grandfather and one of his sons were in the battle of Concord and Lexington, two sons serving through the revolution. Other ancestors were in the Colonial wars, they being among the earliest settlers of Concord, Mass.