Figure 1. Samuel Shaver portrait of Emmaline, Mary Eva, and Rhoda Emma.
I am for Abraham Lincoln- I am Union to the core.’ At another time there came into her presence several rebel officers who had taken from her six fine farm horses – all her farming utensils – six good milk cows – 100 head of blooded sheep – then, came to her garden and destroyed her beautiful vegetables – and everything else they could find. After all this robbery they came into the house – and she said Gentlemen; there are two things you cannot take – my piano and land; they requested she give them some music- she sat down like a queen and ran her fingers gracefully over the keys – and said to them this is my own composition – “Jeff Davis’es [sic] destruction” – they replied that they did not admire that kind of music. Then she sang them a song, “Do they miss me at home” this brought them all to tears, and two of them refused to aid in the robbery – she gave them money to take them through the lines and they joined the Union Army.
After several months of contending with such occurrences, Nathaniel Taylor was able to send a flag of truce through the lines in order for Emmaline and their children to rejoin him in the North. For the rest of the war, the Taylor family lived in Camden County, New Jersey and helped raise $266,000 for East Tennesseans affected by the war. At the conclusion of the war, the family moved back to Tennessee.
Figure 2. This Taylor family photograph was taken sometime during the Civil War. From left to right: Alfred, Mary Eva, Nathaniel, Emmaline holding Sanna, Robert, Hugh, Nathaniel, David, James, and Rhoda Emma.
 Rhoda Emma Taylor Reeves, handwritten ledger, owned by May Joe Craig.
Taylor family: Correspondence, research notes, genealogical information (1990-1992 and undated). William G. Cooper Collection. Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site, Johnson City, Tennessee.