Richard Taylor (Confederate general)

For the Canadian Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, see Richard E. Taylor.

For the British mathematician, see Richard Taylor (mathematician).

Richard Taylor (January 27, 1826 – April 12, 1879) was an American plantation owner, politician and Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was born in 1826 in Kentucky. His father was Zachary Taylor, who was a U.S. general and later a U.S. president. Richard Taylor graduated from Yale University in 1845. When his father died in 1851, he inherited a sugar cane plantation in Louisiana.

When the Civil War started, he became colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry. He fought in Virginia. He became a brigadier general in October 1861. In July 1862, he became a major general. After that, he was made the commander of the District of West Louisiana. He fought against several Union armies trying to invade western Louisiana, including during the Red River Campaign in 1864.

While he was in western Louisiana, Taylor often disagreed with Edmund Kirby Smith. Smith commanded the Confederates west of the Mississippi River. Because they disagreed so often, Taylor was sent east of the Mississippi in April 1864. He commanded Confederates in Mississippi and Alabama until the end of the war in May 1865.

Taylor died on April 12, 1879 in New York City.