Zachary Taylor was the twelfth president of the United States. Taylor was the first professional soldier to become President, being elected as a result of his military victories in the Mexican War. His Presidency was brief (sixteen months) and his accomplishments were few. However, he took a strong stand against the slavery question, though a southerner and a slaveholder himself.
While not considered a brilliant general, Taylor was an able commander, highly respected by his troops. They affectionately referred to him as “Old Rough and Ready,” alluding both to his careless, informal style of dress and his cool courage and iron determination in battle. In stature, he appeared short and squat because of his rather undersized legs and a large head. He was five feet eight inches tall and weighed about 170 pounds.
Zachary Taylor was born in Orange County, Virginia, on November 24, 1784. He was the third child of eight surviving children. He was born to Colonel Richard Taylor and Sarah Strother Taylor. In 1785 the family moved to Ken- tucky. There young Taylor grew up on the family plantation near Louisville. Like Andrew Jackson, he received little formal education. He spent his early adult years working on the plantation, except for brief service with the Kentucky militia in 1806.
Taylor was married in 1810 to Margaret Mackall Smith (1787-1852), the daughter of a Continental Army major. The Taylors had six children, four that survived to adulthood – Ann, Sarah, Mary Elizabeth, and Richard. During her husband’s long army career, Mrs. Taylor followed him from one frontier post to another. As First Lady, she rarely made public appearances.
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In 1808, when he was 24, Taylor received a commission as a first lieutenant in the Seventh U.S. Infantry Regiment. Two years later, he was promoted to captain.
During the War of 1812, Taylor, with only fifty men, successfully defended Fort Harrison in the Indian Territory from attack by 400 Indians. For this, he was brevetted major. (Brevet rank was a restricted higher rank usually conferred for gallantry in action).
Because of an army reorganization at the end of the war, Taylor was returned to the rank of captain. Rather than accept the lower rank, he resigned. In 1816 he was reinstated with a regular major’s commission by President Madison.
Taylor gained a reputation as a tough Indian fighter on both the northwest and southwest frontiers. In 1819 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Taylor was a colonel in the Black Hawk War of 1832 and helped win a decisive victory in the battle at Bad Axe in Wisconsin. He was brevetted brigadier general for his triumph in a desperate battle at Lake Okeechobee in Florida (1837) during the Second Seminole War.
In 1845, as relations with Mexico deteriorated, General Taylor and his southwest district command were ordered to Texas. He moved his troops to the Rio Grande, into the disputed territory claimed by both Texas and Mexico. In the first battle of the Mexican War, on May 8, 1846, at Palo Alto, Taylor defeated an attacking Mexican force three times as large as his. The following day, he won the engagement of Resaca de la Palma. President Polk brevetted him major general after these victories.
Applying the direct offensive tactics that he had used so successfully against the Indians, Taylor led his troops to victory in battle after battle. In September, 1846, Monterrey was captured. In February, 1847, Taylor won a notable victory at Buena Vista, defeating a superior force led by General Santa Anna. Polk, viewing these successes as a future political threat, restricted Taylor to northern Mexico and sent General Winfield Scott to take Mexico City.
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The American Revolution was the course by which numerous American colonies became an autonomous nation. It involved novel ideas grounded on republicanism and needed success in a long battle with Britain. Following the fighting that raged for nearly a year, the United States declared independence in 1776, as an autonomous country and established a coalition with France that leveled the naval and ...
Polk’s fears proved well grounded. Even before the war was over, Whig politicians were promoting Taylor as a Presidential candidate. Taylor, who had previously shown little interest in politics (in fact, he had never even voted), responded avidly. The Whigs nominated him at their 1848 convention.
In an extremely close election, Taylor and his running mate, Millard Fillmore, defeated the Democratic candidates, Lewis Cass and William O. Butler, 1,360,967 popular votes to 1,222,342. Taylor received 163 electoral votes; Cass 127. The Free Soil party’s candidate, former President Martin Van Buren, took enough votes away from Cass in New York to give the state and the election to Taylor.
As President, Taylor conducted himself much as he had as a general, placing great reliance on his own common sense. However, he was handi- capped by his lack of experience in politics.
In foreign affairs, Taylor’s Whig administration generally followed a cautious policy. The President withdrew all protection from Americans engaging in filibusters (privately organized attempts to conquer foreign soil) in Cuba. He gave Secretary of State John M. Clayton a free hand to negotiate with Great Britain over joint rights to any canal across Central America. The result was the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, the major foreign-policy achievement of the administration.
The great question of Taylor’s administration, overshadowing all other foreign or domestic matters, was whether slavery would be permitted in the territory acquired by the United States after the Mexican War. Taylor recommended that California and New Mexico be admitted as states, with the citizens of each deciding whether or not to allow slavery. This solution was acceptable to the North but aroused the South, and controversy raged.
In an attempt to conciliate both sides, Henry Clay introduced compromise legislation, which eventually became the Compromise of 1850. Taylor sternly opposed these measures, and they were still under bitter debate in Congress when, on July 9, 1850, he died. The cause of death was cholera morbus (acute inflammation of the linings of the stomach and intestines).
Vice President Fillmore succeeded to the presidency. Taylor was buried near Louisville, in what is now the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.
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