Marker will be dedicated Oct. 8 at Hillside for soldier killed at Gettysburg
File photo by Tom Rivers: Herbert Charles Taylor is buried at Hillside Cemetery. This photo shows his grave, which is in the historic section of the cemetery.
HOLLEY – A historical marker will be dedicated at 11 a.m. on Oct. 8 at Hillside Cemetery for Herbert Charles Taylor, the only Orleans County resident believed to have been killed in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Seventh-graders from Albion in Tim Archer’s service learning class took the lead on getting the marker, which is funded with a grant from the Pomeroy Foundation.
The 30-minute dedication ceremony will include an Abraham Lincoln impersonator and Civil War re-enactors.
Taylor was killed on July 2, 1863 during the Battle of Gettysburg. He was a member of New York’s 140th Volunteer Infantry, which made a daring charge at Little Round Top.
During the battle, soldiers from the 4th and 5th Texans released a volley of fire, sending bullets into the 140th, including a bullet that pierced O’Rorke’s neck killing him instantly, Orleans County Historian Matthew Ballard wrote Oct. 3, 2015 in his local history column for the Orleans Hub.
“With every step, the men stumbled and tripped along the face of the rocky hill,” Ballard wrote. “Coming within close distance of the enemy line, many Confederates chose to surrender rather risk the possibility of death from Union gunfire and bayonet. The sudden fury of Union bayonets halted the Texans dead in their tracks.”
Without the aid of the exhausted men of New York, the outcome of July 2nd could have been far different, Ballard wrote.
“It was during this act of bravery that Pvt. Taylor of Holley was killed,” Ballard wrote.
Hillside Cemetery on Route 237 is owned by the Town of Clarendon. The cemetery will also host a Ghost Walk beginning a 7 p.m. on Oct. 8, and will feature many prominent residents in the cemetery. Proceeds from the Ghost Walk will go towards the restoration of the Hillside chapel.
