DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Dr. M. D.
K. Taylor, right there in Cass County. Now, before Texas was Texas to him, he was an Alabama physician.
But in 1847, he came to Texas — and whatever he left behind in Alabama, he left it behind for good. What followed was twenty-four years of service to Cass County, in both the Texas House and the Texas Senate. Twenty-four years.
That's not a career, friends, that's a calling. And somewhere along the way, the people who watched him work gave him a title that no election can hand you: the ablest parliamentarian of his time. That's the kind of name you earn in the room, not on the ballot.
Then came the years that tested everyone. Eighteen sixty-one to eighteen sixty-five — the Civil War years — and Taylor was serving as one of the speakers of the Texas House of Representatives right in the thick of it. You want to talk about pressure?
Consider what that Legislature had to do. Ninety thousand Texas soldiers. Raised, equipped, supplied.
Fighting on all fronts. And while those men were gone, somebody had to defend two thousand miles of frontier and coast — against Indians, enemy troops, and enemy ships all at once. That job fell to the lawmakers back home.
And then the naval blockade hit. When a blockade cuts off your imports, you don't just do without — not if you're the Texas Legislature. They established plants to make guns.
Powder. Cloth. Salt.
Things people had been buying, they now had to build. Contracts went out, subsidies were arranged, land grants were offered — all to pull private industry into the war effort, to meet the heavy wartime demands for arms, supplies, clothing, food. Taylor and his fellow lawmakers taxed property and business.
They required farmers to turn in tithes of their produce to meet the crisis. They voted funds to buy cotton — cotton to exchange across the border in Mexico for goods to aid soldiers' dependents back home. They funded hospitals.
They arranged medical care for troops both in and out of state. The Legislature was in almost continuous session. Just think on that for a moment.
Almost. Continuous. Session.
And here's where the story gets a picture worth carryin' with you. The pay was poor and the money was Confederate — which is to say the money was inflated nearly to worthlessness. So many of those lawmakers, the men deciding the fate of ninety thousand soldiers and two thousand miles of frontier, ended up living in tents and covered wagons on the Capitol grounds.
Cooking over campfires. The ablest parliamentarian of his time, making war policy by day and sleeping under canvas by night. That's the Legislature Dr.
M. D. K.
Taylor kept in order. And that's the Texas that kept going because of it.
What the marker says
Alabama physician. Came to Texas, 1847. Served Cass County in Texas House and Senate for 24 years. Was called the ablest parliamentarian of his time. Served as one of the speakers of Texas House of Representatives in critical Civil War years, 1861-65. Legislators passed laws to raise, equip and supply 90,000 Texas soldiers who fought on all fronts and provided for defense of state's 2000 mile frontier and coast against Indians, enemy troops and ships. As naval blockade reduced imports, the Legislature established plants to make guns, powder, cloth, salt. Contracts, subsidies and land grants were provided to encourage private industry to help meet heavy wartime demands for arms, supplies, clothing, 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. Poor pay and inflated Confederate money caused many members to live in tents and covered wagons on the Capitol grounds, and cook over campfires.