Richard Taylor (1826-1879) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and First Lady Margaret Taylor. Although starting his college studies at Harvard University, he graduated from Yale in 1845. He received no scholastic honors, but spent the majority of his time reading books on classical and military history. During the Mexican-American War, Taylor served as the military secretary to his father. After Zachary Taylor's untimely death in July 1850, Taylor inherited Fashion. Steadily he increased its area, improved its sugar works and expanded its labor force to nearly 200 slaves. But the freeze of 1856 ruined his crop, forcing him into heavy debt with a large mortgage on the plantation. After the war, Richard Taylor wrote his memoirs, Destruction and Reconstruction (1879), which is one of the most credited reports of the Civil War. He was active in Democratic Party politics, interceded on behalf of Jefferson Davis with President Andrew Johnson, and was a leading political opponent of Northern Reconstruction policies.