The John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History is proud to launch our new blog and announce our latest initiative, a digital project researching the lives of African American men, from Albemarle County, who served in the Union Army or Navy during the American Civil War. We have identified over 200 such men already, and hope to share our ongoing findings with you through a project website next year. Although recent debates and the public memory of the Civil War in Charlottesville and the University of Virginia has been dominated by reminders of its Confederate past, our project seeks to show that Albemarle County's Civil War story is much more diverse and significant than previously realized. To inaugurate our work, today we present our first blog piece written by Jonathan W. White, a professor at Christopher Newport University and Nau Center board member. We hope you enjoy his research on James T. S. Taylor, a veteran of the 2nd USCT Infantry and an important activist in post-war black politics in Charlottesville.