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Left
Out, or What Happened
to
Zachary Taylor?
Several
sharp-eyed readers noticed a missing president in
our recent column, “A
Heartbeat Away: Vice Presidents From Virginia”
(Bacon’s Rebellion, September 25, 2006). For some
reason, we skipped over our 12th president, Zachary
Taylor, when listing the various Virginians who had
occupied the White House.
To
make up for this grievous oversight, we thought
we’d devote some copy to “Old Rough and
Ready,” born in 1784 near Barboursville in Orange
County. It’s true his family moved to what is now
Kentucky (a part of Virginia until 1792) while he
was still an infant, but Taylor’s Virginia roots
went deep. (Zachary
Taylor -- Wikipedia). His second cousin was
James Madison, and Robert E. Lee was a fourth cousin
once removed. Taylor’s daughter, Sarah, even
married Jefferson Davis (although her father
objected and she died of malaria three months
later).
Taylor
was elected president in 1848 after a 40-year career
in the military. At the age of 64 when elected, he
is among the oldest to serve as president. (In the
20th century, only Ronald Reagan and George H.W.
Bush were older when they came to office.) Taylor
fought in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the
Seminole War – where he earned his nickname “Old
Rough and Ready” due to his preference for rumpled
clothes and straw hat, rather than a uniform – and
the Mexican War.
It
was his reputation as a war hero that attracted the
Whigs to his candidacy. Taylor, himself, seemed
fairly apolitical. He had never even registered to
vote and did not even vote in his own election.
Taylor ran against Lewis Cass, who favored letting
those who lived in territories decide if they wanted
slavery – a major political issue as the nation
grew during pre-Civil War days. A third group, which
opposed Taylor because he owned slaves and Cass’
position on territories, nominated Martin Van Buren.
As in most third-party elections, Van Buren’s
candidacy took votes from Cass and Taylor won.
Inauguration
Day fell on Sunday, March 4, 1849. Taylor and his
vice president Millard Fillmore both refused to be
sworn in on a Sunday, so the ceremony was postponed
a day. Constitutional scholars still argue whether
the presidency was vacant for a day. As president,
Taylor attempted to run the White House in the same
rough and tumble way he had led troops in the Indian
Wars (whitehouse.gov/presidents).
At a contentious meeting in 1850 about slavery in
the territories, southern leaders threatened
secession. Taylor told them he would lead the Army
personally and any persons “taken in rebellion
against the Union, he would hang … with less
reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in
Mexico.”
His
determination helped initiate the Compromise of
1850, which postponed the Civil War for 11 more
years. Taylor, however, seemed ready to fight it
then and there.
On
July 4, 1850, while laying a cornerstone for the
Washington Monument, Taylor fell ill and died five
days later. The day was hot. He had snacked on iced
milk, cold cherries and pickled cucumbers. Some
believe it was cholera, others attribute it to
complications from heat stroke.
There
was even a theory he had been poisoned. In the
1980s, an author convinced Taylor’s closest living
relative to allow him to be exhumed (Find
a Grave -- Zachary Taylor). In 1991, an autopsy
was performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
While traces of arsenic were found, they were
attributed to the faint amounts naturally found in
the human body ("President
Taylor and the Laboratory," Oak Ridge
National Laboratory Review).
Whatever
the reason, Taylor seemed to realize his fate. One
author wrote that the president awoke briefly and
said, “I should not be surprised if this were to
result in my death.”
Taylor
is buried in Louisville, Ky., in what is now known
as Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. This is
actually his third burial spot. He was held in a
public receiving vault in Congressional Cemetery in
Washington, D.C., from July 13, 1850 – October 25,
1850, then shipped to Louisville where his remains
lay in a family vault before he and his wife were
moved to a mausoleum in 1926. A memorial at the site
identifies him as “Maj. Genl. Zachary Taylor, 12th
President of the U.S.” First a soldier, then a
president.
So,
are we back in our readers’ good graces?
NEXT:
Is Virginia Really a State? What the Heck is a
Commonwealth?
--
October 23, 2006
(Got
a question? Check out Ask
a Librarian Live.)
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