Peter A. Taylor's Home Page

Tag: military

  • SHORT!

    For most soldiers, sailors and marines who were assigned to Vietnam our tour of duty was one year or 365 days. In some cases it was longer than that but for most of us that anniversary of our arrival in Vietnam was also the anniversary of our departure one year later. Some basic facts about →

  • The Telegraph in the US Civil War

    Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph made an interesting discovery in 1844. When he was trying to lay his first telegraph line from Washington DC to Baltimore Maryland he tried to lay the wire inside of a pipe. During the construction process it appears that they got some bad wire. Morse was →

  • WEST POINT?

          When I enlisted in the army in 1968, I had to take an extensive preinduction physical, in the words of Arlo Guthrie, in his classic song “Alice’s Restaurant”, “they left no parts untouched”. There were also scores of mental examinations that had to be taken as well. These mental tests determined what area soldiers →

  • My Recollections as an Intelligence Officer in Vietnam

    Based upon my writings you can probably easily tell that I was a Military Intelligence officer serving in Vietnam during my three tours over there. So, what was it like? I had no intention of becoming a Military Intelligence officer. I enlisted in the United States Army in the US infantry, 11-Bravo. When I was →

  • Garrison Commander, Captain Charles Leib!

    A Short Story Captain Charles Leib Captain Leib took a seat in the outer office and waited for Lieutenant Goff to summons him into the office of the Clarksburg Garrison commander, Colonel Stanley “Ah, Good morning Captain Leib. Thank you for coming to my office so quickly. I’m sorry to have interrupted your morning routine. →

  • The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster – Part Three

    Part Three The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster In the previous post Leonard Lancaster had been tried before a court martial and convicted of mutiny against his commanding officer and had been condemned to death by a firing squad. He had refused to retract his statement calling for the resignation of Lieutenant Colonel Dale, the regimental →

  • The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster – Part Two

    The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster Part Two In our previous post we read about the terrible news that the men of the Second Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Cavalry received in April of 1865. Rather than going home they were being forced to remain in the US Army. Since officers could resign their commissions without regards to →

  • The Saga of Lieutenant Lancaster

    Sergeant Leonard L. Lancaster sat in his tent outside Memphis, Tennessee early in the morning of April 13th, 1865. He had just finished breakfast in the mess with his ‘pards’ when a rider roared into camp with fantastic news. Headquarters had just received a telegram from the War Department that General Grant had received the →

  • Unhorsing the “Wizard of the Saddle”

    This short story is based on an actual event at the end of the US Civil War involving the notorious “Wizard of the Saddle,” General Nathan Bedford Forrest,  and Sergeant Hugh Longstaff. It involved a small detachment of cavalry soldiers from the First Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and a large detachment of General Forrest’s Cavalry →

  • The Harrowing Adventure of Captain Charles Leib

    To My readers: this short story is based upon my book “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg” I hope that you enjoy the story! By Peter Taylor It was April 1862, and it had been an exhausting week in Washington DC. Captain Charles Leib had been ordered to Washington City to appear before a congressional →

  • The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg – Tour

    In conjunction with the Clarksburg History Museum, I have been asked to put together a tour of Clarksburg, West Virginia during the Civil War. The tour is based upon my historical novel “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg” and showcases the city as it existed in May 1861 when Captain Charles Lieb first arrived in →

  • A Horse of Many Colors

    In one of my early Blogs, I discussed some of the unpublished writing that I’ve done over the years. This is one of the interesting stories that came from the Regimental History of the Second Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, “Washburn’s Own”. I’ve rewritten the story as a piece of historical fiction for my readers. The →

  • The Ambush at Nhon-Nhin-Three; Command Decision (Part Two)

    Previously, we found Second Lieutenant, Sargant First Class Bennett and a platoon of South Vietnamese soldiers outside the small village of Nhon-Nhin-Three preparing to ambush a group of high-ranking Việt Cộng political cadre and their guards. Due to an unforeseen delay, they had gotten into position after the VC had entered the village. They now →

  • Happy 162 Birthday West Virginia

    On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state in the Union. It is a state that was born out of the Civil War. It’s also the only state that separated itself from its parent-state, in our case the State of Virginia. West Virginia has a complicated history. Formerly, we were a part of →

  • “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg”; historical Civil War fiction

    So how could someone be called or become the most hated man in a small town like Clarksburg Virginia? What could cause a man from Philadelphia, a doctor, a newspaper editor, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln to be so reviled in a small town? The answer to this question is to be found in →

  • The Civil War in My Hometown

    My recent blogs have dealt with some Vietnam War stories from my first book in the Advisor series, “The Advisor; Kien Bing, South Vietnam 1969-1970”,  (available on Amazon.com). What I’ve tried to do is to expand upon what I’ve written in my novel about my time in Vietnam during my first assignment there. For someone →

  • Enlisted Training

    I did my basic combat training at Fort Benning, Georgia, “Home of the Infantry”. Since I was on an Officer Candidate School (OCS) track I was appointed as the “Platoon Goon”, or acting Platoon Sergeant. My job was basically to prepare my 44-man platoon for formations and to attempt to march them to and from →

  • The Brown Water Navy

    “Brown Water Navy” In my books I talk a lot about the relationship that we had with the US Navy River Division that we dealt with at Ap Bac (aka Ap Bing) and at Moc Hoa (aka Moc Loi) When I arrived at Ap Bac (Ap Bing in “The Advisor”, we were heavily involved with →

  • Colonel David “Hack” Hackworth, 44th Special Tactical Zone Commander

    Another senior officer mentioned several times in my books is Colonel David Hackworth. Colonel David ‘the Hack’ Hackworth, like John Paul Vann, was a controversial figure during the Vietnam War and had a military career spanning World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam Conflict. David Hackworth joined the US Merchant Marine at the →

  • Mr. John Paul Vann

    10 February In my books I often refer to my professional relationship with two men, John Paul Vann and Colonel David Hackworth.  In this week’s blog I’ll discuss my relationship with Mr. John Paul Vann. My recollections of Mr. Vann are nothing like those expressed by Neil Sheehan in his book “A Bright and Shining →