Zachary Taylor

I

Introduction

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), 12th president of the United States (1849-1850). He was a career army officer who was elected on the strength of the victories he won in the Mexican War (1846-1848). As a soldier he was a courageous and inspired leader who could always be found where the fighting was thickest. He never lost a battle. His men admired him and called him Old Rough and Ready. He was disdainful of military pomp and formal dress and was known for his plainness of manner and appearance.

Taylor was president for little more than a year. Although he lacked political experience, he resolutely faced up to the principal issue of the day, the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Although he was a Southern slaveholder, he was first and foremost a supporter of the Union, upholding the national interest over sectional interests. Like President Andrew Jackson, Taylor refused to compromise his principles to appease the South. His death paved the way for a succession of issue-straddling presidents whose attempts to mollify both sides at best delayed, and did not prevent, sectional conflict.

II

Early Life

Taylor's ancestors settled in Virginia about 1640 and were prominent in the affairs of that state. His father was Richard Taylor, who had served as an officer in the American Revolution. His mother was Sarah Dabney Strother. Zachary was born on November 24, 1784, the third of nine children.

As an officer in the American army, Richard Taylor received a war bonus of 2,400 hectares (6,000 acres) of land from the state of Kentucky. Shortly after Zachary was born, the Taylor family moved from Virginia to a plantation on the Muddy Fork of Beargrass Creek, near the present-day city of Louisville. Richard Taylor soon became an influential citizen in Kentucky. In 1792 he was a delegate to the territorial constitutional convention, and he later served in the state legislature. President George Washington appointed him collector of customs for the Port of Louisville.

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Despite the family wealth and position, Zachary had little formal education. For a brief period he had a private tutor, but his education consisted primarily of the practical knowledge gained from living on a frontier plantation. As a boy, Zachary helped his father run the plantation, but he did not decide on farming as a career.

Taylor's first experience with military discipline came in 1806, when he joined the militia to defend Kentucky when President Thomas Jefferson sent out an alert about the so-called Burr conspiracy. Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr had assembled a small private army, apparently to seize land somewhere in the West. However, Burr's army was dispersed and Taylor's unit was disbanded. In 1808, Secretary of State James Madison, a second cousin of Taylor's, secured for him an appointment as lieutenant in the Seventh Infantry. Taylor spent the next 40 years in the service.

A

Marriage

In 1810, Zachary Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith, the daughter of a Maryland planter. The Taylors had five daughters and a son. Two of the girls died in infancy. The eldest daughter, Sarah, married Jefferson Davis, an officer in Taylor's command, but died three months after her marriage. In the American Civil War (1861-1865), Davis joined the Southern side and became president of the rebel Confederate States of America. Taylor's son Richard also joined the South and became a Confederate general. Mary Elizabeth, Taylor's favorite daughter, married Colonel William W. S. Bliss, Taylor's private secretary during the Mexican War and during his presidency. Mary Elizabeth served as hostess in the White House in place of her mother, who was a semi-invalid and shunned public appearances. Although Mrs. Taylor was a devout Episcopalian, Taylor himself never joined a church.

III

Early Career

Taylor rose slowly through the ranks and, until the Mexican War, held a succession of minor commands, mostly on the frontier. In the War of 1812, between the United States and Britain, he successfully defended Fort Harrison in the Indiana Territory with only 50 men against an attack of 400 Native Americans led by Shawnee Chief Tecumseh. For this feat he received widespread publicity and was made a major. For most of the years between the War of 1812 and 1831, Taylor served at military posts in Wisconsin, Louisiana, and Minnesota. In 1832 he was promoted to colonel and sent to Fort Crawford (now Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin), where he commanded a detachment of 400 men in the Black Hawk War, a conflict with the Sac (Sauk) and Fox alliance of Native Americans.

In 1837 Taylor was sent to Florida to pacify the Seminole people. With a force of almost 1100 soldiers he pursued the Seminole from Fort Gardner into the Everglades. He finally caught up with them near Lake Okeechobee and defeated them in battle on December 25, 1837. He was then made a brigadier general and given command of the entire Florida district. It was during his service in Florida that his men nicknamed him Old Rough and Ready.

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