Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor , 1784-1850, 12th President of the United States (1849-50), b. Orange co., Va. He was raised in Kentucky. Taylor joined the army in 1808, became a captain in 1810, and was promoted to major for his defense of Fort Harrison (1812) in the War of 1812. He became a colonel (1832) and served in the Black Hawk War and in the campaigns against the Seminole in Florida, winning the nickname of "Old Rough and Ready." Sent to the Southwest to command the army at the Texas border, Taylor began (1845) to prepare for hostilities with Mexico regarding the annexation of Texas, pushing into disputed territory S of the Nueces River. In the Mexican War he defeated the Mexicans at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma , drove them across the Rio Grande, and took Matamoros. Later he forced the surrender of the Mexican stronghold at Monterrey. In 1847 he won the decisive battle of Buena Vista in the face of great odds. A popular hero, Taylor was nominated for President on the Whig ticket, was elected, and assumed office in 1849. His nonpartisan tendencies were changed under the influence of Senator William H. Seward, and Taylor was soon a strong supporter of Whig policy. As President, he supported the Wilmot Proviso , which excluded slavery from all the territory acquired as a result of the Mexican War. He favored rapid admission of both California and New Mexico to the Union and strict limitation of Texas boundary claims. His free-soil views put him in opposition to the measures that were to become the Compromise of 1850 . After charges of corruption were lodged against members of his cabinet, he promised a reorganization, but was stricken with cholera morbus and died on July 9, 1850. He was succeeded by Millard Fillmore .

Bibliography: See biographies by H. Hamilton (2 vol., 1941 and 1951; repr. 1966), B. Dyer (1946, repr. 1967), and S. B. McKinley and S. Bent (1946); E. J. Nichols, Zach Taylor's Little Army (1963).

Taylor, Zachary (1784–1850), Mexican War general and U.S. president.Elected president in 1848, Zachary Taylor served only sixteen months in office before his death in 1850. Despite holding the highest office in the land, Taylor is best remembered as a general in charge of the first campaign by the American forces against Mexico during the Mexican War.

Born in Virginia, the son of a prosperous landowner, Taylor grew up in Louisville. In 1808, he gained a commission and served in the War of 1812. For the next three decades he participated in Indian wars and gained the rank of general with the nickname “Old Rough and Ready” during the Seminole Wars. As commander of the U.S. troops on the Mexican frontier with Texas, Taylor directed a series of battles near the Rio Grande. After victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in May 1846, he pressed on into Mexico, eventually capturing Monterrey in September after a vigorous fight. In February 1847, his army barely repelled a powerful attack at Buena Vista.

A hero throughout the United States, Taylor was passed over as commander for the invasion of Mexico at Veracruz. In 1848, Taylor ran for president as a Whig and was elected, only to die early in his term.

Bibliography

Henry B. Montgomery , The Life of Major‐General Zachary Taylor, Twelfth President of the United States, 1847.
Edward J. Nichols , Zach Taylor's Little Army, 1963.
K. Jack Bauer , Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest, 1985.

John M. Hart

Taylor, Zachary (1784–1850) US Whig statesman, 12th President of the USA (1849–50). He became a national hero after his victories in the war with Mexico (1846–48). As President, he came into conflict with Congress over his desire to admit California to the Union as a free state (without slavery). He died in office before the problem could be resolved.