Appalachian Center Event Honors Late Friend, Colleague
Candice Brogan, O&B Staff Writer
Issue date: 10/17/08 Section: Features
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Taylor, former director of Academic Support at Carson-Newman, wrote a book about his enthusiasm for the history of the Civil War called "A Fit Representation of Pandemonium: East Tennessee Confederate Soldiers in the Campaign for Vicksburg" but before this book could be published he was killed in an automobile accident in May of 2007.
Dr. Charles Moffat, a friend and colleague of Dr. Taylor's, help to get the book published by Mercer University Press. The evening was planned to honor Dr. Taylor's accomplishment and to remember him as a dear friend. The Appalachian Center was packed with people who had came to celebrate Dr. Taylor and his book including Dr. Taylor's wife, Darby and many of Dr. Taylor's friends and colleagues.
Darby Taylor described how much Dr. Taylor loved to learn about the Civil War and to visit the battle sites of the war. She told about how their daughters had never been to Disneyland but any Civil War site they had. She laughed about a time she, Dr. Taylor and their daughters went on a trip to find an old railroad bridge. She said she was driving trying to find this bridge when all at once Dr. Taylor wanted to get out. She let him out thinking he had found something and after many minutes had past he returned to the car and all he said was nature called. Darby finished her remembrance saying "life with Doug was never boring."
Dr. Charles Moffat recounted a time when he and Dr. Taylor were reenacting a battle of the Civil War and the passion that Dr. Taylor had for it. Dr. Moffat said that he wondered what Dr. Taylor would want him to speak about and he said that Dr. Taylor would say "Bubba don't talk about me talk about the book and the people in it."
Dr. Moffat read a piece from Dr. Taylor's book about life in the trenches through the soldier's eyes. He read about the soldiers getting mule meat for the first time and having close friends losing everything from arms to lives. He read about a certain time during the war where the two opposing sides actually met together and traded some items like they were friends. Dr. Moffat ended by telling again of the love and passion Dr. Taylor had for this book and the history of the Civil War.
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