CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY: R. E. B. BAYLOR - Smith County, TX

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Submitted by Mary Love Berryman - marylove@tyler.net
20 August 2001
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson

R. E. B. BAYLOR.

R. E. B. Baylor, of Independence, was horn in the state of Kentucky in 
the year 1793. He had the prestige of a distinguished family. His 
father, Walker Baylor, commanded General Washington's life-guard at 
the battle of German­town.  His mother was Jane Bledsoe, sister of the 
celebrated Jesse Bledsoe of the Kentucky bar.

Col. R. E. B. Baylor himself had the advantage of a ulitary record. He 
was with Gen. W. H. Harrison (afterw­ards president of the United States) 
in the Northwest, fought at the battle of the River Raisin, and was 
present at the death of Tecumseh. In the year 1819 he was a member the 
Kentucky legislature, but soon thereafter removed to Tuscaloosa, Ala., 
where he soon attained fame as a lawyer.  When Lafayette on his last 
tour of America visited Alabama young Baylor was of the reception 
committee that officially welcomed him to Catawba then the seat of the 
government. Gen. Lafayette was a warm friend of Col. Baylor's father 
during the Revolutionary war. In 1829 Col. Baylor was elected to 
Congress and made an enviable reputation in that body.  In 1839 he 
removed to the Republic of Texas, and from 1841 until the annexation 
of Texas to the union was a Justice of the Supreme Court. He was a 
member of the convention of 1845 that framed the first Constitution of 
the state. He was a judge of the court thereafter for many years and 
was also a minister of the gospel of the Baptist denomination. He died 
at his residence in Independence, Texas, in December 1872, and the 
Baptists have perpetuated his name and fame by "Baylor University" 
called in his honor.  Col. Baylor served the Confederacy in both the 
military and civil departments, and was devoted to the cause.