Nathaniel Green Taylor
Encyclopedia
Nathaniel Green Taylor was an American
lawyer, farmer, and politician from Tennessee
. He was U.S. Representative
from Tennessee from 1854 to 1855, and again from 1866 to 1867, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs
from 1867 to 1869. He was a Whig
, and then an "American
" (Know Nothing
), before the American Civil War
, and became a Unionist
during and after the war.
on December 29, 1819. He was educated in private schools and Washington College Academy
near Jonesborough, Tennessee
. He graduated from Princeton College in 1840, studied law, and was admitted to the bar
in 1841. He commenced practice in Elizabethton, Tennessee
in Carter County.
, the oldest, and Robert
, were each elected to Congress and as governor of Tennessee, as Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively.
. 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 resulting vacancy for the remainder of the term. Taylor won, and served in the Thirty-third Congress from March 30, 1854 to March 3, 1855. Taylor sought re-election in 1855, but was narrowly defeated by Watkins (now running as a Democrat), by 270 votes out of 15,292 cast. Taylor challenged Watkins again in 1857, (as an "American" candidate, the Whig Party having broken up). He again lost narrowly: 170 votes out of 15,118 cast. He was not a candidate in 1859.
In 1860, Taylor served as a presidential elector for the Constitutional Union
ticket of Bell
and Everett
(both former Whigs).
During the Civil War, Taylor adhered to the Union cause despite Tennessee's joining the Confederacy
.
He was a member of a society to relieve the sufferings of pro-Union residents of east Tennessee under Confederate rule. He lectured on behalf of this society 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 Union
candidate. This was the party label adopted by President Lincoln
and the Republicans in 1864, along with Unionist Democrats such as Vice-Presidential candidate Andrew Johnson
(who was from east Tennessee). Taylor served in the Thirty-ninth Congress from July 24, 1866 to March 3, 1867. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1867.
Instead, Johnson, now President, appointed Taylor Commissioner of Indian Affairs
. Taylor served as Commissioner from March 26, 1867 to April 21, 1869, when he retired. He took the 19-year-old Alfred along when he went to present-day Kansas in 1867 to try to settle the Plains Wars. Elected chair of the Indian Peace Commission, Taylor negotiated the Medicine Lodge Treaty
, by which southern Plains Indians, the Kiowa
, Apache
and Comanche
, agreed to remove to a reservation in Indian Territory
in exchange for ceding their traditional lands in present-day Kansas and the region.
Taylor returned to Tennessee and devoted himself to farming and preaching in Carter County. He died in Happy Valley, Tennessee on April 1, 1887, and was interred in the Taylor private cemetery. Nathaniel Green Taylor was the father of two Tennessee politicians, Alfred Alexander Taylor and Robert Love Taylor
, both of whom served as U.S. Representative and Governor of Tennessee.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer, farmer, and politician from Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. He was U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Tennessee from 1854 to 1855, and again from 1866 to 1867, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
from 1867 to 1869. He was a Whig
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
, and then an "American
American Republican Party
The American Republican Party was a minor nativist political organization that was launched in New York in June 1843, largely as a protest against immigrant voters and officeholders. In 1844, it carried municipal elections in New York City and Philadelphia and expanded so rapidly that by July,...
" (Know Nothing
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing was a movement by the nativist American political faction of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by...
), before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and became a Unionist
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
during and after the war.
Early life
Taylor was born in Happy Valley, Tennessee in Carter CountyCarter County, Tennessee
Carter County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 57,424. Its county seat is Elizabethton.Carter County is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined...
on December 29, 1819. He was educated in private schools and Washington College Academy
Washington College Academy
Washington College Academy is a private Presbyterian-affiliated educational institution located in Limestone, Tennessee. Founded in 1780 by Doctor of Divinity Samuel Doak, the Academy for many years offered accredited college, junior college and college preparatory instruction to day and boarding...
near Jonesborough, Tennessee
Jonesborough, Tennessee
Jonesborough is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The population was 4,168 at the 2000 census...
. He graduated from Princeton College in 1840, studied law, and was admitted to the bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
in 1841. He commenced practice in Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton is the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is also the historical site both of the first independent American government located west of both the Eastern Continental Divide and the original thirteen British American colonies.Elizabethton is also the...
in Carter County.
Marriage and family
A Whig, Taylor married Emma Haynes. She was the sister of the Democratic politician Landon Carter Haynes, who was elected Speaker of the Tennessee House and later a Confederate senator from Tennessee. Politically involved, the couple founded a political family: their sons AlfredAlfred A. Taylor
Alfred Alexander Taylor, nickname Alf Taylor , was a lawyer and politician, serving as United States Congressman from 1889–1895, and later elected the Governor of Tennessee, serving from 1921 to 1923. Notably, in 1886 he lost the gubernatorial race to his younger brother Robert, a Democrat.- Early...
, the oldest, and Robert
Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1879 to 1881, Governor of Tennessee from 1887 to 1891 and from 1897 to 1899, and subsequently a United States Senator from that state from 1907 until his death. He is notable for winning the governor's office in an election against...
, were each elected to Congress and as governor of Tennessee, as Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively.
Political career
In 1853, Taylor was one of two Whig candidates for U.S. Representative in Tennessee's 1st congressional districtTennessee's 1st congressional district
The Tennessee 1st Congressional District is the congressional district of northeast Tennessee, including all of Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties and parts of Jefferson County and Sevier County...
. He lost to Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Brookins Campbell
Brookins Campbell
Brookins Campbell was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 1st congressional district of Tennessee.-Biography:...
, by only 138 votes out of 14,900 cast in a three way race. (3,988 votes went to rival Whig Albert Watkins
Albert Galiton Watkins
Albert Galiton Watkins was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:He was born near Jefferson City, Tennessee on May 5, 1818. He graduated from Holston College in Tennessee and studied law. He was admitted to the bar and began private practice at...
, incumbent Representative from the 2nd district
Tennessee's 1st congressional district
The Tennessee 1st Congressional District is the congressional district of northeast Tennessee, including all of Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties and parts of Jefferson County and Sevier County...
, 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 resulting vacancy for the remainder of the term. Taylor won, and served in the Thirty-third Congress from March 30, 1854 to March 3, 1855. Taylor sought re-election in 1855, but was narrowly defeated by Watkins (now running as a Democrat), by 270 votes out of 15,292 cast. Taylor challenged Watkins again in 1857, (as an "American" candidate, the Whig Party having broken up). He again lost narrowly: 170 votes out of 15,118 cast. He was not a candidate in 1859.
In 1860, Taylor served as a presidential elector for the Constitutional Union
Constitutional Union Party (United States)
The Constitutional Union Party was a political party in the United States created in 1860. It was made up of conservative former Whigs who wanted to avoid disunion over the slavery issue...
ticket of Bell
John Bell (Tennessee politician)
John Bell was a U.S. politician, attorney, and plantation owner. A wealthy slaveholder from Tennessee, Bell served in the United States Congress in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He began his career as a Democrat, he eventually fell out with Andrew Jackson and became a Whig...
and Everett
Edward Everett
Edward Everett was an American politician and educator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State...
(both former Whigs).
During the Civil War, Taylor adhered to the Union cause despite Tennessee's joining the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
.
He was a member of a society to relieve the sufferings of pro-Union residents of east Tennessee under Confederate rule. He lectured on behalf of this society 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 Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
candidate. This was the party label adopted by President Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
and the Republicans in 1864, along with Unionist Democrats such as Vice-Presidential candidate Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
(who was from east Tennessee). Taylor served in the Thirty-ninth Congress from July 24, 1866 to March 3, 1867. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1867.
Instead, Johnson, now President, appointed Taylor Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
. Taylor served as Commissioner from March 26, 1867 to April 21, 1869, when he retired. He took the 19-year-old Alfred along when he went to present-day Kansas in 1867 to try to settle the Plains Wars. Elected chair of the Indian Peace Commission, Taylor negotiated the Medicine Lodge Treaty
Medicine Lodge Treaty
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed between the United States government and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by relocating the Native Americans to reservations in Indian Territory and away from European-American...
, by which southern Plains Indians, the Kiowa
Kiowa
The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...
, Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
and Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
, agreed to remove to a reservation in Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
in exchange for ceding their traditional lands in present-day Kansas and the region.
Taylor returned to Tennessee and devoted himself to farming and preaching in Carter County. He died in Happy Valley, Tennessee on April 1, 1887, and was interred in the Taylor private cemetery. Nathaniel Green Taylor was the father of two Tennessee politicians, Alfred Alexander Taylor and Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1879 to 1881, Governor of Tennessee from 1887 to 1891 and from 1897 to 1899, and subsequently a United States Senator from that state from 1907 until his death. He is notable for winning the governor's office in an election against...
, both of whom served as U.S. Representative and Governor of Tennessee.