On August 6, 1848, Susie King Taylor, a nurse, educator, and author, and the first and only black woman to publish her recollections of the Civil War, was born in Liberty County, Georgia

On August 6, 1848, Susie King Taylor, a nurse, educator, and author, and the first and only black woman to publish her recollections of the Civil War, was born in Liberty County, Georgia.

Taylor’s book, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, vividly described her experiences teaching and nursing the 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry during the war.

Born enslaved, Taylor was sent to live with her free grandmother at age 7, and was encouraged to learn to read and write, despite its illegality in Georgia at the time. Taylor’s education blessed many others besides herself. After she escaped from slavery as a child, she was tasked (at the age of 14!) by a Union commander with teaching children at a freedmen’s school: [They] came to me nights, all of them so eager to learn to read, to read above anything else.”

While still just a teenager, she married a black Union officer and became a nurse for his regiment, tending to the men suffering from wounds and deadly illness and continuing to teach reading and writing in her off hours.

Susie King Taylor, 1902

-Written by Anna Zemaitaitis, Communications and Design Officer