Zachary Taylor (1849- July 1850)
Twelfth President of the United States. Born in Orange County, Virginia, Sept. 24, 1784. Died at Washington, D. C, July 9, 1850. He entered the Army as First Lieutenant 1808. Served in the War 1812, attaining rank of Major. Made Major for defense of Fort Harrison against the Indians. Served in Black Hawks War 1832, with rank of Colonel. Was brevetted Brigadier-General Commander-in-Chief in Florida 1838. Later, Commander in Southwest. In 1845 took command of the Army in Texas. Was in command in Northern Mexico during Mexican War, capturing Palo Alto May 8, 1846, and Monterey Sept. 24. Appointed Major General June 29, 1846. Elected as President of the United States by the Whigs 1849, with Millard Fillmore as Vice-President. Buried near Louisville, Ky.
Born in Virginia in 1784, Zachary Taylor was just a baby when his family moved to a 400-acre farm on Muddy Fork of Beargrass Creek just east of the village of Louisville, Kentucky. His planter father built the earliest part of the two and one-half story brick house, named Springfield, c. 1790. Richard Taylor prospered, and by the 1830s increased his farm to 700 acres and doubled the size of the house.
Zachary Taylor received an elementary education from tutors. At Springfield, he learned to ride, shoot, and hunt-practical skills that would later prove useful in his military career. As a teenager, he joined the Kentucky militia, and in 1808 entered the United States Army. Two years later on leave, he returned to Springfield to marry Margaret Mackall Smith. Five of their six children were born at his childhood home. Taylor probably returned periodically to visit his father, who continued to live at Springfield until his death in 1829, when the family sold the plantation.
Taylor served in the Northwest Territory through both of William Henry Harrison's Indian campaigns and the War of 1812. At the end of the war, he left the army and returned to Kentucky to farm a 324-acre plantation not far from Springfield that he had received as a wedding present. Soon after, Taylor rejoined the army. For the next 20 years, Taylor served at various garrison posts from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. He fought in the Black Hawk War and the Second Seminole War, gaining the nickname “Old Rough and Ready.”
In 1845, under President Polk’s directives, Taylor defended Texas prior to and during the war with Mexico, winning victories at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterrey. President Polk was unhappy with Taylor’s independence and well aware of his growing popularity with the public and his potential as a presidential candidate. Polk ordered Taylor to remain in northern Mexico and sent General Winfield Scott to capture Mexico City. In 1847, Taylor triumphed again at Buena Vista, even after Polk stripped him of most of his Regulars. Near the end of the year, with the escalating tension between the two men, Taylor retired from the military.
The only individual to receive three Gold Medals, Taylor received the awards in the span of two years for service in the Mexican–American War. On 07 February 1848, Representative Alexander Stephens of Georgia introduced the measure to thank Taylor and his men, who withstood an assault by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s Mexican Army at the Battle of Buena Vista. Greatly outnumbered, the American force held its position and halted the advance of General Santa Anna. The resolution to honor Taylor passed the House 181 to 1.
At the time of its passage, there was no adulation or objection to Taylor’s receipt of a third gold medal. The Congressional Gold Medal was originally given as a national expression of appreciation for distinguished military achievements or to commemorate life saving heroics (particularly water rescues). The medal evolved to include recipients who have made major contributions to society. Besides Taylor, seven other individuals who served as U.S. President also received a Congressional Gold Medal: George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Harry S. Truman, Gerald R. Ford, and Ronald Reagan.
Taylor’s standing as a military hero and his reputation as a political non-partisan convinced the Whigs that he would make an excellent presidential candidate, appealing to both Northern and Southern sentiments. He asserted that he would be a national rather than a partisan president and that principle would prevail over party and politics. Ever independent, upon winning the 1848 election, Taylor promptly began pursuing his own ideals.
Although a slaveholder himself, Taylor rejected a congressional compromise on the extension of slavery into the territories taken from Mexico. His most serious problems were California and New Mexico. In 1848, the California gold rush began, increasing the urgency to establish government in the west. In order to avoid bitter debates over the status of slavery in Federal territories, Taylor encouraged California and New Mexico to bypass territorial status and enter the Union as states as soon as possible. He sent word to residents of the two areas that they should decide the slavery issue for themselves. When southerners objected to admission of California as a free state, Taylor threatened to use military force if necessary to uphold the law and the union.
Taylor fell ill in 1850 after attending a July 4 celebration at the Washington Monument and died five days later. He and his wife lie buried in the family burial grounds at Springfield, now part of the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.
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