Henry Clay Taylor, a native of Kentucky, moved to St. Louis with his family in 1832. There he was “given superior educational advantages,” including an opportunity to study at St. Louis University. When the Mexican-American War began, Taylor enlisted in Captain Richard Weightman’s artillery battery in Colonel Alexander Doniphan’s Missouri volunteers.

After the war, Taylor became financial and land agent for the North Missouri Railroad.
In January 1862 Taylor joined the Missouri State Guard as a private, but was immediately appointed a volunteer aide to General Sterling Price. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in April 1862, a captain of artillery that June, and a lieutenant colonel in August 1862, became Price’s chief of artillery.

In September 1863 Taylor was named chief of ordnance and artillery for the District of Arkansas. Relieved of his duties in September 1864, Taylor became chief ordnance officer for the district, and served in that capacity until the end of the war. He surrendered in June 1865. Following the war, he settled in Warren County, Missouri, and became a farmer.

Taylor was a veteran of Pea Ridge, Farmington, Corinth, Helena, and Little Rock, but also fought during the Seven Days battles outside Richmond, having been sent there to superintend the construction of four artillery pieces for General Price.

Carte-de-Visite by John A. Scholten, St. Louis, Mo.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31582