College Tutor and Revolutionary Colonel

Abstract

John Taylor, tutor of Queen's College during the American Revolution, shifted from civilian to military life with a frequency
which characterized the record of many colonial soldiers. Whenever the security of New Jersey was threatened by British invasion, Taylor deserted his students. But as soon as the immediate danger was at an end, he would return to his college duties until a new occasion for military action arose. The story of Taylor's war-time activities revealed by documents in the Rutgers University Library, therefore, not only provides an interesting account of the services of an individual soldier but also contributes considerable incidental information regarding the history of Queen's College in Revolutionary days.