Nathaniel Green Taylor (December 29, 1819 – April 1, 1887) was an American lawyer, farmer, and politician from
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
. He was
U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1854 to 1855, and again from 1866 to 1867, and
Commissioner of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...
from 1867 to 1869.
Early life and family
Taylor was born at
Happy Valley in
Carter County, Tennessee, the son of James Patton Taylor (1792–1833) and his wife, the former Mary Carter (1799–1840). His family was prominent in Carter County. His paternal grandfather, General
Nathaniel Taylor (1771–1816), a native of
Rockbridge County, Virginia
Rockbridge County is a County (United States), county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 22,650. Its count ...
, was among the area's early settlers and the county's first sheriff; he began the construction of
Sabine Hill in
Elizabethton. His maternal grandfather, Landon Carter (1760–1800), an
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
veteran, was the man for whom Carter County was named.
Nathaniel Green Taylor received his education privately before entering
Washington College near
Jonesborough, Tennessee
Jonesborough (; historically also Jonesboro) is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. Its population was 5,860 as of 2020. It is "Tennessee's oldest town".
Jonesborough is part of the ...
. He graduated from
Princeton College in 1840, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. He began his legal practice in
Elizabethton, Tennessee in Carter County.
He owned slaves.
Taylor married Emmaline (Emma) Haynes (1822–1890), the sister of Democratic politician
Landon Carter Haynes (Speaker of the Tennessee House and later a Confederate senator from Tennessee). Two of their six sons,
Alfred A. Taylor (1848–1931) and
Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor (July 31, 1850March 31, 1912) was an American politician, writer, and lecturer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served three terms as the 24th governor of Tennessee, from 1887 to 1891, and again from 1897 to 1899, and su ...
(1850–1912), were each elected to Congress and as governor of Tennessee, as Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively.
The remaining seven children who survived both parents included sons James Patton Taylor (1844–1924), Nathaniel Winfield Taylor (1852–1904), David Haynes Taylor (1858–1890) and Hugh Lawson McClung Taylor (1859–1935), and daughters Mary Eva Taylor Jobe (1855–1916), Rhoda Emma Taylor Reeves (1855–1943), and Sanna McClung Taylor Miller (1862–1941).
Political career
In 1849, Nathaniel G. Taylor was a candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the Tennessee First U.S. House, eventually losing the general election to Democrat Andrew Johnson of Greene County.
In 1853, Taylor was one of two Whig candidates for U.S. Representative in
Tennessee's 1st congressional district
Tennessee's 1st congressional district is the congressional district for northeast Tennessee, including all of Carter County, Tennessee, Carter, Cocke County, Tennessee, Cocke, Greene County, Tennessee, Greene, Hamblen County, Tennessee, Hamblen ...
. He lost to
Democrat Brookins Campbell, by only 138 votes out of 14,900 cast in a three-way race. (3,988 votes went to rival Whig
Albert Watkins, incumbent Representative from the
2nd district, who had been moved to the 1st district by reapportionment.)
Campbell never qualified to take his seat in Congress, and died on December 25, 1853. A special election was held in 1854 to fill the remainder of the term. Taylor won, and served in the
Thirty-third Congress from March 30, 1854 to March 3, 1855.
Though Taylor sought re-election in 1855, this time Watkins (now running as a Democrat), won a narrow victory, by 270 votes out of 15,292 cast. In 1857, Taylor ran as the "
American" candidate (the Whig Party having broken up) against Watkins. This proved another narrow loss, by 170 votes out of 15,118 cast.
Taylor did not run in 1859.
In 1860, Taylor served as a
presidential elector
In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...
for the
Constitutional Union ticket of
Bell
A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...
and
Everett (both former Whigs).
During the Civil War, Taylor adhered to the Union cause despite Tennessee's joining the
Confederacy. He joined a group to assist pro-Union residents of east Tennessee under Confederate rule, and also lectured on their behalf throughout the northeastern U.S.
Tennessee was readmitted to representation in Congress in 1866. Taylor was again elected Representative from the 1st district, this time as a
Unionist candidate. This was the party label adopted by the coalition that supported the
Union during the war, which included Republicans and with
War Democrats such as vice presidential candidate
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
(who was from
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 coun ...
).
Taylor served in the
Thirty-ninth Congress from July 24, 1866 to March 3, 1867.
Taylor did not run for re-election in 1867. Instead, Johnson, now President, appointed Taylor
Commissioner of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...
effective March 26, 1867. Taylor served as Commissioner for about two years, until he retired.
Meanwhile, he traveled to Kansas to attempt to settle the
Plains Wars, and took his 19-year-old son Alfred along.
[A.A. Taylor, "MEDICINE LODGE PEACE COUNCIL"]
, ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Volume 2, No. 2, June 1924, accessed 21 January 2011 As head of the
Indian Peace Commission, Taylor negotiated the
Medicine Lodge Treaty
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the Federal government of the United States and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by r ...
, by which southern Plains Indians (the
Kiowa
Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...
,
Apache
The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...
and
Comanche
The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...
), agreed to remove to a reservation in
Indian Territory
Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
and ceded their traditional lands including present-day Kansas.
Upon retiring on April 21, 1869, Taylor returned to Tennessee and devoted himself to farming and preaching in Carter County.
In 1886, when his sons Alfred and Robert ran for governor on the Republican and Democratic tickets, respectively, the
Prohibition Party
The Prohibition Party (PRO) is a Political parties in the United States, political party in the United States known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and as an integral part of the temperance movemen ...
offered its nomination to Nathaniel Taylor in hopes of making it a three-way family race, but Taylor declined.
Death
Taylor died in Happy Valley, Tennessee on April 1, 1887, and is interred alongside other family members within the Old Taylor Cemetery that is, itself, landlocked within private property and located off Sylvan Hill Road in Elizabethton, Tennessee.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Nathaniel Green
1819 births
1887 deaths
People from Elizabethton, Tennessee
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
19th-century Tennessee politicians
Tennessee Know Nothings
Tennessee Constitutional Unionists
Unionist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
1860 United States presidential electors
Southern Unionists in the American Civil War
People of Tennessee in the American Civil War
Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves
19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives