Zachary Taylor 1 Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor 12th President of the United States In office [1] March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850 Vice President Millard Fillmore Preceded by James K. Polk Succeeded by Millard Fillmore Born November 24, 1784Barboursville, Virginia Died July 9, 1850 (aged 65)Washington, D.C. Nationality American Political party Whig Spouse(s) Margaret Smith Taylor Children Ann Mackall Taylor Sarah Knox Taylor Octavia Pannill Taylor Margaret Smith Taylor Mary Elizabeth (Taylor) Bliss Richard Taylor Occupation Soldier (General) Religion Episcopal Signature Military service Nickname(s) Old Rough and Ready Allegiance United States of America Service/branch United States Army Years of service 1808–1848 Rank Major General Zachary Taylor 2 Battles/wars War of 1812 Black Hawk War Second Seminole War Mexican–American War *Battle of Monterrey *Battle of Buena Vista Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was the 12th President of the United States (1849-1850) and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass. Taylor was the last President to hold slaves while in office, and the last Whig to win a presidential election. Known as "Old Rough and Ready," Taylor had a forty-year military career in the United States Army, serving in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War. He achieved fame leading American troops to victory in the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Monterrey during the Mexican–American War. As president, Taylor angered many Southerners by taking a moderate stance on the issue of slavery. He urged settlers in New Mexico and California to bypass the territorial stage and draft constitutions for statehood, setting the stage for the Compromise of 1850. Taylor died just 16 months into his term, the third shortest tenure of any President. He is thought to have died of gastroenteritis. Only Presidents William Henry Harrison and James Garfield served less time. Taylor was succeeded by his Vice President, Millard Fillmore. Early life Zachary Taylor was born on a farm[2] on November 24, 1784, in Orange County, Virginia, to a prominent[3] family of planters.[4] He was the youngest of three sons in a family of nine children.[2] His mother was Sarah Strother Taylor,[5] and his father, Richard Taylor, had served with George Washington during the American Revolution.[3] Taylor was a descendant of Elder William Brewster,[6] [7] [8] [9] the Pilgrim colonist leader and spiritual elder of the Plymouth Colony, and passenger aboard the Mayflower and one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact; Isaac Allerton Jr.,[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] the son of Mayflower Pilgrim Isaac Allerton and Fear Brewster. He was a 1650 graduate of Harvard College and was a merchant in Colonial America; first in business with his father in New England, and after his father's death, in Virginia. He was a Burgess for Northumberland County and a Councillor of Virginia. He became a member of the Virginia militia and ultimately rose to the rank of colonel; James Madison was Taylor's second cousin, and both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Robert E. Lee were kinsmen.[17] During his youth, he lived on the frontier in Louisville, Kentucky, residing in a small cabin in a wood during most of his childhood, before moving to a brick house as a result of his family's increased prosperity.[4] He shared the house with seven brothers and sisters, and his father owned 10000 acres (40 km2), town lots in Louisville, and twenty-six slaves by 1800.[4] Since there were no schools on the Kentucky frontier, Taylor had only a basic education growing up, provided by tutors his father hired from time to time.[2] He was reportedly a poor student; his handwriting, spelling, and grammar were described as "crude and unrefined throughout his life."[4] When Taylor was older, he decided to join the military.[4] Zachary Taylor 3 Military career On May 3, 1808, Taylor joined the U.S. Army, receiving a commission as a first lieutenant of the Seventh Infantry Regiment from his cousin James Madison. He was ordered west into Indiana Territory, and was promoted to captain in November 1810. He assumed command of Fort Knox when the commandant fled, and maintained command until 1814.[18] During the War of 1812, Taylor successfully defended Fort Harrison in Indiana Territory, from an attack by Indians under the command of [2] Zachary Taylor led the defense of Fort Harrison Shawnee chief Tecumseh. As a result, Taylor was promoted to the near modern Terre Haute, Indiana. temporary rank of major,[2] and led the 7th Infantry in a campaign ending in the Battle of Wild Cat Creek. Taylor was also commander of the short-lived Fort Johnson (1814), the last toehold of the U.S. Army in the upper Mississippi River Valley until it was abandoned[19] and Taylor's troops retreated to Fort Cap au Gris. Reduced to the rank of captain when the war ended in 1814, he resigned from the army, but reentered it after he was commissioned again as a major a year later.[2] In 1819, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was promoted to full colonel in 1832.[2] In late 1821, stationed with what was remaining of the 7th Infantry , Lieutenant Colonel Taylor, received orders from General Gaines to "take his troops up the Red River to the vicinity of Natchitoches, Louisiana for the purpose of locating a new post more convenient to the Sabine River frontier. In March 1822, Colonel Taylor took command of Fort Jesup, a small point—originally called Shield's Spring—of high ground some twenty-five miles south-southwest of Natchitoches. Charged with maintaining an American presence in the former Neutral Strip between Louisiana and Spanish Texas. Later, in 1845, Fort Jesup held Colonel Taylor's "Army of Observation" and provided a staging ground for the coming Mexican-American War[20] [21] Taylor led the 1st Infantry Regiment in the Black Hawk War of 1832, personally accepting the surrender of Chief Black Hawk.[2] In 1837, he was directed to Florida, where he defeated the Seminole Indians on Christmas Day, and afterwards was promoted to brigadier general and given command of all American troops in Florida.[2] He was made commander of the southern division of the United States Army in 1841.[2] Mexican-American War In 1845, Texas became a U.S. state, and President James K. Polk directed Taylor to deploy into disputed territory on the Texas-Mexico border,[4] under the order to defend the state against any attempts by Mexico to take it back after it had lost control by 1836.[2] Taylor was given command of American troops on the Rio Grande,[22] the Army of Occupation, on April 23, 1845. When some of Taylor's men were attacked by Mexican forces near the river, Polk told Congress in May 1846 that a war between Mexico and the United States had started by an act of the former.[4] That same month, Taylor commanded American forces at the Battle of Palo Alto, using superior artillery to defeat the significantly larger Mexican opposition.[4] In September, Taylor was able to inflict heavy casualties upon the Mexican defenders at the Battle of Monterrey.[4] The city of Monterrey was considered "un-destroyable".[4] He was criticized for not ensuring the Mexican General Zachary Taylor in uniform Zachary Taylor 4 army that surrendered at Monterrey disbanded.[4] Afterwards, half of Taylor's army was ordered to join General Winfield Scott's soldiers as they besieged Veracruz.[4] Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna discovered, through a letter written by Scott to Taylor that had been intercepted by the Mexicans, that Taylor had only 6,000 men, many of whom were not regular army soldiers, and resolved to defeat him.[4] Santa Anna attacked Taylor with 20,000 men at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, inflicting 672 American casualties at a cost of 1,800 Mexican.[4] As a result, Santa Anna left the field of battle.[4] Buena Vista turned Taylor into a hero, and he was compared to George Washington and Andrew Jackson in the American popular press.[4] Stories were reportedly told about "his informal dress, the tattered straw hat on his head, and the casual way he always sat on top of his beloved horse, "Old Whitey," while shots buzzed around his head".[4] Election of 1848 In his capacity as a career officer, Taylor had never reportedly revealed his political beliefs before 1848, nor voted before that time.[23] He thought of himself as an independent, believing in a strong and sound banking system for the country, and thought that Andrew Jackson should not have allowed the Second Bank of the United States to collapse in 1836.[23] He believed it was impractical to talk about expanding slavery into the western areas of the United States, as he concluded that neither cotton nor sugar (both were produced in great quantities as a result of slavery) could be easily grown there through a Taylor/Fillmore campaign poster plantation economy.[23] He was also a firm nationalist, and due to his experience of seeing many people die as a result of warfare, he believed that secession was not a good way to resolve national problems.[23] Taylor, although he did not agree with their stand on protective tariffs and expensive internal improvements, aligned himself with Whig Party governing policies; the President should not be able to veto a law, unless that law was against the Constitution of the United States; that the office should not interfere with Congress, and that the power of collective decision-making,