Author documents area soldiers

After documenting the rich history and impact of the Civil War in southeastern Kentucky through his first book in 2004, a Corbin man attempts to detail the travels of local Union soldiers in his second book entitled “Fighting for Old Glory.”
Forty-year-old Wayne Taylor, an author and Civil War enthusiast, said he penned “Fighting for Old Glory” in an effort to placate curiosity regarding what happened to local people who joined the Union army.
“Most Union soldiers were sent other places,” Taylor said. “A few of the regiments were spawned here initially, but they took off and went down to Tennessee or Georgia to fight.”
Checking in at about 440 pages, “Fighting for Old Glory” breaks down the travels and events surrounding 13 regiments of soldiers. Each chapter is devoted to a regiment and gives casualty reports and death totals at the end.
Taylor said the book is a summary of what happened to the regiments based on voluminous war records, which he said provide sometimes surprising detail about battles, and even more mundane things. Commanders’ accounts and quartermaster reports give camp locations, food distributed, deployment of skirmishers, details raids and even describes the types of uniforms issued.
“They go into astonishing detail sometimes,” Taylor said. “It would actually mention people that were wounded and how they were hurt. A lot of times, they were very thorough.”
Majors and Captains during the war would often write many pages about battles, Taylor said. Records regarding the 7th Division, made up of four regiments of eastern Kentuckians, detail how soldiers charged with slowing a Confederate advance to Lexington “ate green corn and drank from stagnant ponds.”
Taylor researched 120 volumes of Civil War records at the Laurel County Public Library, as well as official Union Army reports in Frankfort.
Taylor said he had difficulty, on some occasions, finding out exactly what kind of ordinance and weaponry was used, but deeper investigation was revealing.
The invention of the rifle shortly before the war added significantly to death totals. Taylor said infantry units, trained to use tactics developed in Europe, had not accounted for the increase in accuracy rifled ammunition would bring.
“The Civil War was considered the first modern war,” Taylor said. “They still fought the same, but they didn’t realize the effect these bullets … these rifles would have. That’s why so many men died.”
Taylor said records also show that more soldiers died of disease than direct fighting.
Contrary to some popular opinion, Taylor says eastern Kentucky was a Union army stronghold. About 100,000 soldiers were conscripted in the state, which was officially neutral during the war. Taylor said about 10,000 Union soldiers came from eastern Kentucky, and said it is likely that several thousand served in the army from the more immediate area.
“They raised whole companies from these counties,” Taylor said. “Many people will tell me they had ancestors that served in the Confederate army, then when I start looking into it, I find out they were really Union soldiers. It’s surprising to some people.”
A Union army recruiting and training camp saw thousands of local soldiers pass through it until 1861 when it was attacked and burned by Confederate forces.
Taylor is an avid amateur historian of the war and said he participates in many reenactments of local battles.
“Fighting for Old Glory” can be purchased through www.lulu.com, at the Cumberland Inn, through local historical societies and at many war reenactments. The book can also be purchased directly from Taylor at 526-7842.