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The Civil War and Chicago: Memorialization, Commemoration, and Remembrance at Rosehill Cemetery

Taylor's Battery

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Taylor's Battery Monument

 
The Taylor’s Battery Monument honors Company B, 1st Regiment of the Illinois Light Artillery.  The battery, organized in Chicago in 1861, served in the western theater under Generals William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant.
 
Although an exact date for installation of the monument is not available, Chicago Tribune articles place the installation between 1864 and 1869.  The monument, constructed of marble, is topped with a marble recreation of the barrel of an artillery piece.
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Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1869

Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1869

Taylor’s Battery, that lies on the brow of the hill, the spot being marked by a heavy marble obelisk, bearing on its sides the names of the following battles, in which the battery participated: Frederickstown, Belmont, Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta.

Wreaths and flowers were hung around the obelisk, and each grave was decorated with crosses, wreaths, and flowers. 

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Inscription on Taylor's Battery Monument

Inscriptions on the monument list battles participated in and deceased soldiers of the battery.  A quote is also inscribed in the monument: “I die for liberty boys – go back and man the gun.” The quote, credited to O.B., is from the Battle of Fort Donelson. 
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Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1887

Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1887

Col. Taylor’s Battery, Bridge’s Battery, the Board of Trade Battery, and other are represented by very handsome and appropriate monuments, around the bases of which lie the remains of many who bravely manned the guns till stricken down in death – a notable instance of which was that of O.E. Becker of Taylor’s Battery, who was killed in the terrible fight during Gen. Grant’s attack and capture of Fort Donelson.  When he fell mortally wounded beside his gun, and was picked up by his comrades to be borne to the rear, he exclaimed: “I die for liberty, boys!  Go back and man the guns.”

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Enlisted Soldier Markers near Taylor's Battery

Near the Taylor’s Battery Monument are six enlisted soldier grave markers denoting members of Taylor’s Battery who died after the war and are buried in the vicinity.  The markers were installed in November 1998.