[1] As a young man, he enlisted for duty in the American Civil War and served as a corporal in Company D of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.

[2] By the end of the war, he was commissioned a first lieutenant and appointed adjutant to the colonel of the regiment.

[1] At the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, he was a colonel and served in the Cuban Campaign in and around Havana.

[5] After his retirement, he and his wife toured the world, before settling down at Cottonwood, California.

[1] In 1872, Taylor married Mary Jane Branagan, whose family were pioneer settlers of California.