October 1, 2019 (Tuesday)
The information in this blog was found in the web site, “Biography.”
Zachary Taylor was an American president born on November 24, 1784, near Barboursville, Virginia. Known as a national war hero for his battles in the Mexican War* , Taylor was elected as the 12th president of the United States in 1849. He led the nation during its debates on slavery and Southern secession. After serving only 16 months in office, Taylor died from cholera morbus on July 9, 1850.
Taylor spent most of his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky, where he lived with his parents and seven brothers and sisters. He was born to a family of planters who by 1800 owned 10,000 acres in Kentucky and 26 slaves.
He knew from a young age that he wanted a military career. In 1808, his first officer commission was as the commander of the garrison at Fort Pickering (present-day Memphis). After marrying in 1810, he and his wife and children settled down in Louisiana, where Taylor commanded the Baton Rouge fort. Though Taylor was a military man, he was also known as a slave owner from a wealthy family with estates in Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi.
n 1845, Taylor gained prominence as an “Indian fighter” in the nation’s battle with Native Americans in present-day Wisconsin, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida and Texas. Though he fought Native Americans, he also wanted to protect their lands from white settlers and believed a strong military presence was the solution to coexistence.
Taylor earned the nickname “Old Rough and Ready” due to his openness to sharing the hardships of field duty with his troops. He gained national-hero status during the Mexican War when he won significant battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista. Supporters eyed him as a presidential candidate.
Though Taylor was a member of the Whig Party, he identified himself more as an independent or nationalist. He appealed to Northerners for his long military record and was popular with Southerners for owning slaves. The Whig Party positioned him as a war hero, a platform that allowed him more leeway when it came to sidestepping controversial issues.
In November 1848, Taylor won the election and became the nation’s 12th president, replacing President James K. Polk. Taylor narrowly defeated the Democratic Party, led by Michigan’s Lewis Cass, and the Free-Soil Party, led by former President Martin Van Buren. Thrown into the middle of the slavery debate, Taylor took on an anti-slavery slant. He urged California and New Mexico residents to write constitutions and apply for statehood, knowing that both would likely bar slavery. He was correct in his assumptions, and in doing so angered Southerners who viewed his actions as a betrayal.
In February 1850, Taylor’s heated session with Southern leaders led to their threat of secession. To daunt their efforts, Taylor told them that those “taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang … with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico.”
After only 16 months in office, Taylor died on July 9, 1850, after complaining of severe stomach pains five days prior. Physicians diagnosed him as suffering from a gastrointestinal condition then known as “cholera morbus.” Vice President Millard Fillmore succeeded him after his passing. Though during his tenure Taylor made efforts to resolve the nation’s slavery issue, his brief session in the presidential office could not prevent the looming Civil War.
Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith of Maryland on June 21, 1810. Together they raised their six children in Louisiana: Ann Margaret Mackall (1811-1875), Sarah Knox (1814-1835), Octavia Pannill (1816-1820), Margaret Smith (1819-1820), Mary Elizabeth (1824-1909) and Richard (1826-1879). After Taylor’s unexpected death on July 9, 1850, an estimated 100,000 mourners lined his funeral route in Washington, D.C. He is buried in the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery near Louisville, Kentucky.
Zachary Taylor – President 1849-1850
* The Mexican War (Wikipedia) and Rockport, Texas:
The Mexican-American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the Intervención estadounidense en México (United States intervention in Mexico), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which was not formally recognized by the Mexican government, who disputed the Treaties of Velasco signed by Mexican caudillo President/General Antonio López de Santa Anna after the Texas Revolution a decade earlier. In 1845, newly elected U.S. President James K. Polk, who saw the annexation of Texas as the first step towards a further expansion of the United States, sent troops to the disputed area and a diplomatic mission to Mexico. After Mexican forces attacked U.S. forces, the United States Congress declared war.
Just south of Hwy 1069 on Pearl Street here in Rockport, Texas, there is (was?) an old Oak tree where General Zachary Taylor and his men camped in 1845. The tree was already being propped up when Hurricane Harvey hit on the night of August 25, 2017. There was a sign on the tree, identifying it . I don’t know if the tree made it through the storm; many old trees like that were uprooted or blown away. I’ll have to drive by and see for myself. Maybe I will do that before this blog is published.
Taylor left New Orleans by ship and he with some of his men went ashore when the ship arrived in Texas just north of Cedar Bayou, took a smaller craft to the mainland and camped at the site of the old Oak tree. This was 25 years before the founding of Rockport. He and his soldiers later returned to their ship and sailed to Corpus, then marched to the Rio Grande to protect the border from Mexican invaders. The President was James K. Polk, and a war with Mexico was going on.