Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1283

Rh Virginia, however, made it necessary for Mr. Davis to send Lee to that section, and taking with him as his aides, Col. John A. Washington and Captain Taylor, he sought to recover the advantages already lost to the Confederacy. Immediately on arriving in western Virginia, Lee, with Washington and Taylor, traversed that rough region, unsparing of themselves, rode daily through the wild woods and ascended the mountains, climbing to the highest peaks in order to get views of the Federal positions. In one of these reconnoissances to gain greatly needed knowledge, Colonel Washington lost his life. After this arduous personal scouting a battle was planned which would have resulted in a decided victory, but failure occurred from unfortunate miscarriage of orders. Taylor returned with Lee to Richmond and accompanied him to the south Atlantic coast in November, 1861. The staff of Lee at this time contained Captain Taylor, Capt. Thornton Washington, Captain Manigault, Capt. Ives Walker, and Major Long, chief of artillery. Having been recalled from the command of this department in March, 1862, Lee entered on his duties as the president's military adviser, his aides being Taylor, Talcott, Venable and Charles Marshall, each of whom was commissioned major. At this period McClellan's army was closing around Richmond, and the demands were incessant upon the staff of Lee, at the head of which was Taylor, whom Colonel Long calls "Lee's trusted adjutant." The severe wounding of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston devolved upon Lee the command in the field of the Confederate forces, and there followed that splendid fighting and remarkable generalship which drove McClellan from the coveted capital of the Confederacy. From this date through all the triumphs and defeats of the army of Northern Virginia, the courageous and "trusted adjutant" shared with his comrades the rigors of all campaigns, the glories of every victory and the sorrows of each defeat. His war history cannot be followed without recounting the story of the army of Northern Virginia. His official record appears as follows: Captain C. S. A., aide-de-camp, November 8, 1861-March 27, 1862; major and aide-de-camp, August, 1862; lieutenant-colonel and assistant adjutant-general, November 4, 1864. Colonel Taylor's life since the war has enhanced the esteem which he gained as a soldier. To him our history is indebted for his supervision of the reports of the campaigns of the army of Northern Virginia. He has often contributed, by addresses and articles to the press, to valuable Confederate literature, but the work for which the South is most greatly indebted to him is the small compact volume called, "Four Years with General Lee," which is rich in description of campaigns and incidents in the life of his commander.

Charles Lewis Teaney, of Pulaski City, shared throughout the Confederate war the faithful service of the Fourth Virginia regiment of infantry, and the Stonewall brigade, of which it was a part. He was born in Pulaski county January 19, 1843, and when a little past eighteen years of age, early in July, 1861, enlisted as a private in the Pulaski Guards, which was then a part of the Fourth regiment, under Johnston's command in the lower Shenandoah valley. Private Teaney marched thence to the field of Manassas with that gallant little army of the Shenandoah, which had for its