Arthur Shrader Taylor was the fourth of ten children of Robert A. and Susanna M. (Robinson) Taylor. His birth occurred on September 13, 1844 in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

About 1854-56, the family left Westmoreland County and settled in Dubuque County, Iowa. Here they remained about five or six years until they moved to Bremer County, Iowa.

On July 25, 1862 Arthur S. Taylor enlisted as a Private in the U.S. Army. He was mustered into Company B, 38th Iowa Infantry on September 11, 1862.

Tad Campbell at Arthur Taylor’s grave

The regiment was organized at Dubuque and mustered in on December 4, 1862. They moved to Benton Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri on December 15. From there they boarded the steamer Platte Valley and proceeded down the Mississippi to Columbus, Kentucky where they arrived on December 30th. They were attached to the District of Columbus, Kentucky, 16th Army Corps, Department of Tennessee.

The regiment participated in an expedition to Union City, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 through January 1, 1863. They were then ordered back to Columbus and thence down the river to New Madrid, Missouri, where they were stationed until June 1863.

Sometime during this period, Private Taylor became ill. He was sent back to Horton, Bremer County, Iowa, presumably to recuperate, but died there on March 5, 1863 at the age of only eighteen years, five months, and twenty days.

The story of this regiment is short and melancholy. As an organization it never saw a battle, and yet no other Iowa regiment lost so many soldiers in such a short time. Out of a full strength of 910, not less than 311 were dead of disease within a year and a half, and another 110 had been discharged as being too “broken down” to serve. It is doubtful if any command in all the Union suffered as this regiment did.

By August 1864 so many of the men were down with the fever that the morning report showed only eight officers and twenty men fit for duty. Shortly thereafter, those that remained were merged into the 34th Iowa Infantry.

Arthur S. Taylor’s older brother, William S. Taylor, served in the same company and succumbed to disease as well. Their only other brother, John B. Taylor, served with the 13th Illinois and was killed in a charge at Chickasaw Bayou.