Letters, September 1862 through October 1864, from Captain William Taylor, a soldier in the Pennsylvania Regiment during the American Civil War. The letters were written from camps in Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana, and Maryland to his wife Jane McKnight Taylor. Included are his descriptions of the Battle of Fredericksburg, the shelling of Vicksburg, the fighting, retreat, and siege outside of Knoxville, the siege of Petersburg, and the Petersburg mine explosion and assault.

Ralph G. Poriss transcribed the letters prior to 1997. According to the processor of the collection, there are small errors in the transcriptions and users should verify items of crucial evidence against the original letters. Further information from the transcriber is available in the finding aid/inventory linked below. The transcriptions are available online with links to PDF versions (below) and Taylor's letters are arranged on a map available at:

A note included with the collection of letters from Taylor's nephew notes that these letters were written to Jane Morrison Taylor, William's wife. In another place, her maiden name is denoted as McKnight. The note also states that John Wallace Morrison started a book from these letters, but never finished it.

Taylor often numbered his letters in order to keep track of them. Number 114 (Box 3, Folder 4, letter 142) is dated March 22, 1864, but probably dates from April 22, 1864. Had this letter been written on March 22, it logically would have been numbered No. 109. Taylor also dated several letters 1865, but their context and content indicate that they were written in 1864.

Additionally, in a letter written on July 4, 1864 (Box 3, Folder 5, letter 147), Taylor indicates that he is in Fredericksburg, Virginia. However, he also states that his position has not changed since his last letter (Box 3, Folder 5, letter 146), which was written in Petersburg, Virginia.