Mrs. Taylor (of whom we had previously been warned to beware, because
she had not yet forgiven the "Yankees" for their sins) was also present:
a beautiful old lady of unquenchable spirit, in whose manner, though she
received us with politeness, we detected lurking danger.
And why not? Do not women remember some things longer than men remember
them? Do not the sweethearts who stayed at home remember the continual
dull dread they suffered while the men they loved faced danger, whereas
the absent lovers were at least in part compensated for the risks they
ran, by the continual sense of high adventure and achievement?
Mrs. Taylor was Miss Elizabeth Selden Saunders, daughter of Captain John
L. Saunders of Virginia, who died in 1860, in the service of his
country, a commander in the United States Navy. When the war broke out
Miss Saunders, wishing to serve the Confederate Government, became a
clerk in the Surgeon General's office, at Richmond, and there she
remained while Colonel Taylor, whose training at the Virginia Military
Institute, coupled with his native ability, made him valuable as an
officer, followed the fortunes of General Lee, part of the time as the
general's aide-de-camp, and the rest of the time as adjutant-general and
chief of staff of the Army of Northern Virginia, in which capacities he
was present at all general engagements of the army, under Lee.
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