Happy Birthday Old Rough and Ready
On November 24, 1784 (228 years ago today), Zachary Taylor, the 12th President of the United States, was born in Barboursville, Virginia. Taylor is another somewhat obscure president that I quite like, mainly because he was unpretentious and when he was elected, the Whigs in congress thought that he was a weak leader and they expected him to do as they told him. He surprised them by being his own man. If he hadn't died less than two years into his term, I think he would have actually been a strong president.
Taylor was initially uninterested in politics. But he was a successful general in the Mexican War, winning battles at Palo Alto and Monterrey against greater odds. In total he had a 40-year military career in the United States Army, serving in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War, before gaining notoriety in Mexico. He wasn't much for fancy military dress and he became known as "Old Rough and Ready."
Taylor ran for presient as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election. He defeated Democrat Lewis Cass. At the time he was a planter and slaveholder based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Northerners expected him to be a moderate on the issue of slavery while southerners expected that, as a southerner and a slaveholder, Taylor would be on their side on the issue of expansion of slavery into the territories. He surprised them on that issue. As president, Taylor angered many Southerners by taking a moderate stance on the issue. 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 July 9, 1850, 16 months after his inauguration. The cause of death is believed to be gastroenteritis. Conspiracy theorists believed that Taylor may have been poisoned and on June 17, 1991 his remains were exhumed and transported to the Office of the Kentucky Chief Medical Examiner for examination. Samples of hair, fingernail, and other tissues were removed, and radiological studies were conducted. The remains were returned to the cemetery and reinterred, with appropriate honors.
Analysis conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory revealed no evidence of poisoning, as arsenic levels were too low. The analysis concluded he had contracted "cholera morbus, or acute gastroenteritis". The report added that the cure may have been worse than the disease. His doctors treated him with "ipecac, calomel, opium and quinine (at 40 grains a whack), and bled and blistered him too."
Taylor's daughter Sarah was the first wife of Confederate States President Jefferson Davis. Sarah died at the age of 21 from malaria. Taylor's youngest son Richard was a Confederate general during the civil war.
Taylor was initially uninterested in politics. But he was a successful general in the Mexican War, winning battles at Palo Alto and Monterrey against greater odds. In total he had a 40-year military career in the United States Army, serving in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War, before gaining notoriety in Mexico. He wasn't much for fancy military dress and he became known as "Old Rough and Ready."
Taylor ran for presient as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election. He defeated Democrat Lewis Cass. At the time he was a planter and slaveholder based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Northerners expected him to be a moderate on the issue of slavery while southerners expected that, as a southerner and a slaveholder, Taylor would be on their side on the issue of expansion of slavery into the territories. He surprised them on that issue. As president, Taylor angered many Southerners by taking a moderate stance on the issue. 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 July 9, 1850, 16 months after his inauguration. The cause of death is believed to be gastroenteritis. Conspiracy theorists believed that Taylor may have been poisoned and on June 17, 1991 his remains were exhumed and transported to the Office of the Kentucky Chief Medical Examiner for examination. Samples of hair, fingernail, and other tissues were removed, and radiological studies were conducted. The remains were returned to the cemetery and reinterred, with appropriate honors.
Analysis conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory revealed no evidence of poisoning, as arsenic levels were too low. The analysis concluded he had contracted "cholera morbus, or acute gastroenteritis". The report added that the cure may have been worse than the disease. His doctors treated him with "ipecac, calomel, opium and quinine (at 40 grains a whack), and bled and blistered him too."
Taylor's daughter Sarah was the first wife of Confederate States President Jefferson Davis. Sarah died at the age of 21 from malaria. Taylor's youngest son Richard was a Confederate general during the civil war.