Taylor Hotel

Taylor Hotel. “Packed with Confederate wounded”. , The Taylor Hotel was a major stopping point for travelers because of its location on the Valley Turnpike and also was the center of town life. During the war, it was the headquarters for several commanders, including Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stone­wall” Jackson, who came here in November 1861. His stay was short-lived, however. Disturbed by throngs eager to meet the celebrated “Stonewall,” he moved days later to the privacy of the Lewis T. Moore house (now the Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters Museum)., Cavalry commander Turner Ashby, “the Black Knight of the Confederacy,” received his promotion to brigadier general here on May 27, 1862, just 10 days before he was killed near Harrisonburg. He is buried at Stonewall Cemetery a few blocks east., The hotel also served as a soldiers' hospital for both sides. In May 1863, Union Gen. Robert Milroy ordered repairs “to fix the damage done to the ‘Taylor Hotel’ … by the troops of this Division, resulting from its use as a hospital.” Winchester diarist Mary Greenhow Lee wrote on July 25, 1863, “The sick and wounded Yankees, left at Taylor's Hotel, are without guard.” After the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864, Northern illustrator James E. Taylor wrote, “A yellow [General Hospital] flag fastened to one of the pillars and railing of the hotel porch proclaimed [its] present use. … I found every available space packed with Confederate wounded conveyed from the battlefield, fortunate indeed, to find such excellent quarters.”