Dr. M.D.K. Taylor

Alabama physician M.D.K. Taylor came to Texas in 1847 and served Cass County in the Texas House and Senate for 24 years, earning a reputation as the ablest parliamentarian of his time. He was one of the Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives during the critical Civil War years of 1861-65, when legislators passed laws to raise, equip, and supply 90,000 Texas soldiers who fought on all fronts and to provide for defense of the state's 2000-mile frontier and coast against Indians, enemy troops, and ships. As the naval blockade reduced imports, the legislature established plants to make guns, powder, cloth, and salt. Contracts, subsidies, and land grants encouraged private industry to help meet heavy wartime demands for arms, supplies, clothing, and food. Taylor and the other lawmakers taxed property and business and required farmers to turn in tithes of produce to meet the crisis. Funds were voted to buy cotton for state exchange for goods in Mexico, to aid soldiers' dependents, and to provide hospitals and medical care for troops in and out of state. The legislature was in almost continuous session, and poor pay and inflated Confederate money caused many members to live in tents and covered wagons on the capital grounds and cook over campfires.

Texas · United States