Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. He began his Civil War service when he was mustered in as a Sergeant in Company A, 23rd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry on September 13, 1862. He served with his unit, one of 11 seven-month enlistment units from New Jersey raised in the summer of 1862, through the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, where it took a number of casualties. In the winter inactivity in the days and weeks after the battle he was promoted three times: first on December 26, 1862 to 2nd Lieutenant, of Company G, then to 1st Lieutenant of Company D on February 13, 1863, and finally to Captain and commander of Company H on April 18, 1863, replacing the resigned Captain David S. Root. He was in command of his company during the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville. There the 23rd New Jersey, part of the famed "First New Jersey Brigade", took part in an assault on Confederate positions in and around Salem Church west of Fredericksburg. The assault was repulsed with the brigade receiving heavy casualties, but in the withdrawal Captain Taylor braved enemy gunfire to retrieve two wounded men - Company H's 2nd Lieutenant Richard J. Wilson and Corporal Joel Wainwright. Despite the intense Confederate fire and the swirling confusion of the battle, he succeeded in bringing off both men, and barely missed getting blown up by Union returning artillery fire. For this act of bravery he would be awarded the CMOH 33 years later. He continued in command of Company H after the battle, and was honorably mustered out on June 27, 1863 when his enlistment expired by law. Rejoining the Union war effort a few months later, he receiving a commission of Captain and commander of Company H, 34th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry on October 6, 1863. He served with the 34th New Jersey as it did its field duty in Kentucky and Tennessee until he was discharged on December 2, 1864. On March 13, 1865 he was brevetted Major, US Volunteer "for gallant conduct at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va." His official Medal of Honor citation reads "At great risk voluntarily saved the lives of and brought from the battlefield two wounded comrades." The Medal was awarded to him on November 2, 1896. He was one of only two men from New Jersey's seven-month enlistment units to be awarded the Medal of Honor with the other being Sergeant Major Amos J. Cummings of the 26th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. His grave lay unmarked until April 2007, when a new monument was dedicated on his burial site.