During the Civil War Taylor served as Washington correspondent for the Tribune until, in May 1862, he was appointed secretary of legation under the U.S. minister to Russia at St. Petersburg--a post he resigned in 1863, after serving with some distinction. He was influential in persuading Russia to extend support and friendship to the Union but not specific aid. He returned home to publish Hannah Thurston (1863), the first of four competent but unremarkable novels.