The New International Encyclopædia/Taylor, Zachary
TAYLOR,  (1784-1850). The twelfth
President of the United States. He was born in
Orange County, Va., on November 24, 1784, and
was the son of Col. Richard Taylor, an officer of
the Revolutionary War and one of the first
settlers of Louisville, Ky., whither Zachary was taken
in early childhood, and where he lived until his
twenty-fourth year, working on a plantation and
receiving only an elementary education. His
elder brother, who had received a lieutenancy in
the army, died in 1808, when Taylor was
appointed to the vacant commission. In 1810 he
was promoted to a captaincy; and in 1812, with
50 men, two-thirds of whom were ill of fever, he
defended Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, against
a large force of Indians led by Tecumseh.
Promoted to the rank of major for his gallantry,
he was employed during the war in fighting the
Indian allies of Great Britain. In 1822 he built
Fort Jesup; in 1832 he served as colonel in the
Black Hawk War; and in 1830 was ordered to
Florida, where he gained an important victory
over the Seminole Indians at Okeechobee, for
which he was appointed brigadier-general, and
was made commander of the United States forces
in Florida. In 1840, having been appointed to the
connnand of the Southwestern Department, he
purchased a plantation near Baton Rouge, La.
On February 28, 1845, Congress passed the
resolution for the annexation of Texas, formerly a
province of Mexico, and for some time an
independent republic. Texas claimed the Rio Grande
for her southwestern boundary; Mexico insisted
that there could be no claim beyond the Nueces,
and prepared to defend the disputed territory,
even if she could not reconquer the whole of
Texas. General Taylor was ordered to Corpus
Christi. This point he occupied in November
with a small force which was increased by
reenforcements to 4000 men. On March 28, 1846,
he had moved to the Rio Grande, across the
disputed territory, and had begun to build Fort
Brown, opposite and commanding the Mexican
port of Matamoros. General Ampudia, the Mexican
commander, on April 12th, demanded that he
should retire beyond the Nueces, pending negotiations;
and on the refusal of General Taylor, his
successor, General Arista, crossed the Rio Grande
with a force of 6000 men and 10 pieces of
artillery. On May 8th he was defeated at Palo
Alto by General Taylor, with a force of 2300;

and on the next day was driven from a
new position at Resaca de la Palma across the
Rio Grande. War was declared first by the
President, and later by Congress, to exist by the
act of Mexico; and 50,000 volunteers were called
for, Taylor was made major-general, was
reenforced, and ordered to invade Mexico. On
September 9th, with 6600 men, he attacked
Monterey, which was defended by about 10,000 regular
troops. After ten days' siege and three
days' hard fighting, it capitulated. General
Scott, having been ordered to advance on the City
of Mexico by Vera Cruz, withdrew a portion of
the troops of General Taylor, leaving him only
5000 volunteers and 500 regulars, chiefly flying
artillery, to meet an army of 20,000, commanded
by Santa Anna. He took a strong position at
Buena Vista, fought a desperate battle, on
February 22 and 23, 1847, and won a decisive
victory. (See .) This victory,
against enormous odds, created the utmost
enthusiasm. General Taylor, popularly called ‘Old
Rough and Ready,’ was nominated by the Whigs
in 1848 for President of the United States, and
was elected, receiving 163 electoral votes, while
General Cass, the Democratic candidate, received
127 electoral votes, and Martin Van Buren, the
Free Soil candidate, received none. Entering
upon the Presidency in 1849, he found a
Democratic plurality in Congress, with a small but
vigorous Free-Soil Party holding the balance of
power, while the most exciting questions
connected with the extension of slavery, as the
admission of California, the settlement of the
boundaries of Texas, the organization of the other
newly acquired Mexican territories, etc., were
agitating the country, and threatening a disruption.
On July 4, 1850, sixteen months after his
inauguration, he was attacked with bilious colic,
and died on the 9th. Consult Howard, General
Taylor (New York, 1892), in the “Great
Commanders Series.” See .