From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (PIONEERS & PATRIOTS: Anderson County Military Servicemen, Revolutionary War - WWI)

William Taylor was born a slave in Anderson County about 1833. He remained a slave into adulthood; President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states openly hostile toward the Union. Late in the war, however, the government called for the enlistment of colored regiments, and all who answered the call were granted immediate freedom.

Taylor therfore stole away to freedom north of the Ohio River. He eventually made his way to Philadelphia, where he enlisted on January 27, 1865 as a private in Company B of the 24th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment. He was listed as a deserter February 5, 1865, having gained a pass from which he did not return.