Taylor's long military career began in 1808, when he became a first lieutenant
in the United States Army's 7th Infantry. Nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready," Taylor
was assigned to frontier posts during the War of 1812 and remained there during much of his army service. As a colonel, he
took part in the Black Hawk War and later won wide popularity as a general in the Mexican War (1846-1848). Despite his successes in the Mexican campaign, he was often in conflict with the administration of President
James Polk. In 1847, Taylor disobeyed orders by going on the
offensive against the Mexican leader Santa Anna, whom he defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista. A popular hero, Taylor was nominated for president in 1848 by the Whigs on the first ballot (over Henry Clay, Daniel
Webster, and Winfield Scott).
In 1845,
Texas was granted statehood (see The Republic of Texas). Mexico disputed lands along the new state border, and President James
K. Polk ordered Taylor and his troops into the contested area.
After winning two decisive encounters, Taylor triumphed over overwhelming odds in a battle
against the Mexican Gen. Santa Anna at Buena Vista. "Old Rough and Ready" as Taylor was known, became a national hero.
On May
8, 1846, General Zachary Taylor defeated a detachment of the Mexican army in a two-day battle at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma on May 8, 1846. The Battle of Buena Vista was won by the
United States on February 23, 1847. General
Zachary Taylor was the commander of American troops in this victory over Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Santa
Anna was well-known for his Alamo conquest of 1836.
Unlike Taylor’s
contemporary and fellow Mexican-American War hero, Gen. Winfield Scott, Taylor was known as the soldier’s soldier. While
not in battle, Gen. Taylor often wore civilian clothes, mingled with the common soldier, and was known for his sense-of-humor.
While in military camp during the Mexican-American War and dressed in common clothes, a soldier, thinking that Taylor was a servant, asked him: “Can you tell me where I may
find General Taylor?” Taylor replied, “I
don’t know, but let me know when you find him.” As the soldier wondered away, Taylor
displayed "a rather kindly smile."
Like
his rider, Zachary Taylor’s horse became a national hero. Praised for his bravery in battle, “Old Whitey”
became the subject of portraits, poetry, and music. When Taylor
became President in 1850, the horse was allowed to graze on the White House lawn.
After his victory, clubs sprang to support his presidential candidacy.
By then, Taylor was a wealthy slave-owner and the South hoped he would support states' rights
and the expansion of slavery into the new areas won from Mexico.
The North pointed to his service on the nation's behalf and hoped he would side with the Union.
At its 1848 nominating convention, the Whigs named Taylor a candidate for
president, and he won the election that November. Also, during the era of great sectional discord regarding the extension
of slavery, Taylor defeated Lewis Cass in the general election
and became president. Despite the objections of Southern Whigs, Taylor, inflexible in the face
of secessionist threats, favored a Union plan that would result in the admission of California
and New Mexico as free states.
The outstanding achievement of his administration was the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, which gave Great
Britain and the United States joint control over canal
rights at the mouth of the San Juan River in Central America. Taylor died in office before passage of the Compromise of 1850.
On July 4, 1850, after attending
celebrations in Washington, Taylor
contracted a virulent stomach ailment that may have been cholera or typhoid fever, and he died five days later on July 9,
1850. More than 100,000 people lined the funeral route to see their hero laid to rest. Millard Fillmore, subsequently, was inaugurated
as the thirteenth President of the United States.
In 1850, the United States
also witnessed: Fifty-five thousand emigrants move west along the Oregon Trail, most bound for the gold fields of California. Levi Strauss creates the first pair of "bibless" overalls
in California. Seventh Census: U.S. population - 23,191,867.
The president's remains, and those
of his wife, who died in 1852, were initially interred in the Taylor
family burying ground. In 1883, the state of Kentucky erected a granite shaft surmounted
by a life-size figure of Taylor. The United States erected a new limestone neoclassical-style building with a marble
interior 43 years later. Over double glass-paneled bronze doors is the inscription "1784 Zachary Taylor 1850." A 50-foot granite monument topped with the life-size figure of former president Zachary
Taylor was erected by the state of Kentucky in 1883.
Each year on Nov. 24, Taylor's birth date, military personnel from Fort
Knox conduct a wreath-laying ceremony there. Zachary Taylor National
Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Zachary Taylor's son, Richard,
was a well-respected Confederate general. Renowned Confederate cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest stated that if
the South had more generals like Richard Taylor, “We would have licked the Yankees long ago!”
Sources: Library of Congress,
senate.gov, Department of Veterans Affairs; Zachary Taylor
National Cemetery (Louisville, Kentucky); National
Archives.
