Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States

Zachary Taylor (1784-YYYY) - Born 24 Nov 1784 in Orange County, Virginia, Died 9 Jul 1850 in Washington D.C. while President of the United States.

Zachary Taylor was born in a log cabin to Richard Taylor and Sarah Strother, near Barboursville, Virginia. He was taken as an infant to Kentucky and raised on a plantation. He was a career officer in the Army, but his talk was most often of cotton raising. His home was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and he owned a plantation in Mississippi.

He spent a quarter of a century policing the frontiers against Indians. In the Mexican War he won major victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista. President Polk kept him in northern Mexico and sent an expedition under Gen. Winfield Scott to capture Mexico City. Taylor, incensed, thought that "the battle of Buena Vista opened the road to the city of Mexico and the halls of Montezuma, that others might revel in them."

"Old Rough and Ready's" homespun ways were political assets. His long military record appealed to northerners; his ownership of 100 slaves to the south. He had not committed himself on these issues. The Whigs nominated him to run against the Democratic candidate and he was elected the 12th President of the United States in 1848.

Although Taylor had subscribed to Whig principles of legislative leadership, he was not inclined to be a puppet of Whig leaders in Congress. He acted at times as though he were above parties and politics. As disheveled as always, Taylor tried to run his administration in the same rule-of-thumb fashion with which he had fought Indians.

In 1850 he got sick after eating cherries and milk at a July 4 celebration. He died on 9 Jul 1850. He was the second president to die in office.

Zachary Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith (1788-1852) on 21 Jun 1810.

Children:

• Ann Mackall Taylor (1811-1875)
• Sarah Knox Taylor (1814-1835) - married Jefferson Davis
• Octavia P. Taylor (1816-1820)
• Margaret Smith Taylor (1819-1820)
• Mary Elizabeth Taylor (1824-1909)
• Richard Taylor (1826-1879) - became a Confederate Lieutenant-General

Assignments:

• (1808) 1st Lt. Commissioned
• (1808-????) Command of Fort Harrison
• (1832-1832) Black Hawk War
• (1835-1842) Second Seminole War
• (1846-1848) Mexican War
• (1849-1850) President of the United States

Personal Description:

• Height: 5' 8" -or- 5' 9"
• Build: long arms, short, stubby legs and a thick torso.
• Hair Color:
• Eye Color:

Links:*White House Biography

• Zachary Taylor State of the Union Address
• Inaugural Address of Zachary Taylor

Sources:

• Bauer, Jack K. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. Louisiana State University Press: 1993. ISBN 0807118516
• Smith, Elbert B. The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. University Press of Kansas: 1988. ISBN 070060362X.