Susie King Taylor
Susie King Taylor (1848-1912) was a significant figure in American history, known for her military service as an African American woman during the Civil War. Born into slavery in Georgia, she defied the laws of her time by gaining an education through clandestine efforts. At the age of fourteen, she joined the Thirty-Third U.S. Colored Troops as a laundress, where her skills in nursing, reading, and writing quickly made her an essential member of the regiment. Taylor's experiences during the war were documented in her diary, "Reminiscences of My Life in Camp," published in 1902, which stands out as one of the few memoirs by an African American woman from this period.
After the war, Taylor became an educator, opening schools in Georgia, but faced challenges as her students began transitioning to public schools for freed slaves. In the 1870s, seeking better opportunities, she relocated to Boston, where she continued her advocacy and community work, including founding the Women's Relief Corps in 1886. Taylor's life exemplified resilience and commitment to education and service, and her contributions remain an important part of African American history. She passed away in Boston in 1912, leaving behind a legacy of courage and determination.
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Susie King Taylor
- Born: August 8, 1848
- Birthplace: Liberty County, Georgia
- Died: 1912
- Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts
Biography
Susie King Taylor’s diary provided an important account of an African American woman’s military service during the Civil War. She published her diary, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops, Late First S. C. Volunteers, in 1902. Her account of her times made a unique contribution to United States history, as few other published memoirs of African American women in Civil War military service were known to exist.
Taylor was born a slave in Liberty County, near Savannah, Georgia, in 1848. She was permitted to move to Savannah with her brother to live with their grandmother around 1854. In Savannah, Taylor and her brother were tutored to read and write, even though Georgia law explicitly prohibited blacks from receiving a formal education. Taylor exhausted her teacher’s knowledge and stopped her studies for a while. She later studied surreptitiously with a white playmate who offered to teach her in secret.
In 1862, when she was fourteen, an uncle took Taylor and his family aboard a federal gunboat near Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast. Taylor became a laundress for the Thirty-Third U.S. Colored Troops, the first black regiment mustered by the Union army. Taylor’s nursing, reading, and writing abilities soon made her indispensable to the regiment. While she was with the regiment, Taylor met and married Sergeant Edward King.
The educated Taylor was the logical person to be appointed as the teacher for children on Union-controlled St. Simon’s Island. Her efforts as a nurse were put to the test in 1863, when she began caring for the wounded men who came back from maneuvers on the St. Mary’s River. It was then that Taylor met and worked with nurse Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross.
After the war, Taylor opened schools in Georgia. She supported herself with tuition she occasionally was able to collect from students. Taylor and King made their home in Savannah. Taylor became pregnant but King died in 1866, before their child was born. Many of Taylor’s students began leaving her school to attend public schools for freed slaves. In need of a new source of income for herself and her child, Taylor left Savannah in the 1870’s and moved to Boston to work as a servant for a prosperous white family.
Although she occasionally visited the South, she lived the rest of her life in Boston. She married Russell Taylor in Boston in 1879. The socially active Taylor founded the Women’s Relief Corps in 1886. She died in Boston in 1912.