Our 12th President of the United States again paints the picture of one of our often-forgotten pre-Civil War Presidents. In fact, Zachary Taylor may be one of our oddest Presidents, being a man who was not interested in politics, had no strong political beliefs, and had never even voted. And despite those facts, he rose to hold the position of our nation’s highest office. His lack of rememberability lies in part to the fact that he served the 3rd shortest term of any President, only being in office for a year and four months.

​It seems with recent Presidents we have looked at, we have been flip-flopping between those that came from prominent families, and those that did not. Taylor falls into the prominent family category, from wealthy Virginian planation owners. In fact, his second cousin was our fourth President, and father of the Constitution, James Madison. So, politics did play a role in his family.

​In 1808 Taylor would join the U.S. Army, a place where he would spend the next several decades, turning him into a nationally known figure. The first part of his military career was mostly spent in the U.S. territories around places like Indiana and Louisiana. When the War of 1812 broke out 4 years later, he spent much of his time in those territories battling British allied Indians and winning some decisive battles. He would travel up and down the Mississippi River during these years commanding troops and establishing forts from New Orleans, to St. Louis, to the northern territories in Wisconsin.

​We would spend the next two decades rising in rank, and again fight Indian wars such as the Black Hawk War and the Seminole War. He led troops against the Black Hawk Indians at the northern part of the Mississippi River in present day Minnesota. He was then sent to Florida to fight in the Seminole Wars, where his troops won one of the largest U.S. vs. Indian battles to ever take place. He was promoted to brigadier general and given command of all the troops in Florida. His reputation for winning so many battles ended up giving him the nickname of “Old Rough and Ready”.

​During this period his daughter Sarah started dating an Army Lieutenant by the name of Jefferson Davis. The same Davis who would go on to become the President of the Confederate States of America. Zachary Taylor opposed this union, but Sarah and Jefferson were married despite Taylor’s wishes. Although Sarah would contract malaria, and she died in 1835 just three months after they were married. She would never know Jefferson as the President of the Confederate States.

​In 1841 Taylor was promoted to oversee most of the entire U.S. Army west of the Mississippi River. This new position put him in correspondence with President William Henry Harrison. This would be Taylor’s first step into any involvement in the political world.
​In 1844 the Mexican-American War broke out, which Taylor would have a significant role in. A few generals outranked Taylor, but they were members of the Whig Party, and President Polk was a Democrat. So, he appointed the politically unaffiliated Taylor to lead the U.S. Troops (now that’s some petty spaghetti right there). So Taylor lead the U.S. forces into disputed areas of Texas along the Rio Grande River.

​Although greatly outnumbered by the Mexican forces, Taylor’s Army crossed and forced the Mexicans back across the Rio Grande, winning major decisive battles of the war. In 1847 he even defeated Mexican General Santa Anna’s 20,000 strong force, which virtually established victory of the war to the Americans. His heroism led up to the promotion to major general and a commendment from Congress.

​In 1848, just one year later, there was no man more popular than the hero Zachary Taylor. So much so, that both the Whig party and Democratic party tried to nominate him to represent their party and run for President. This was an uphill battle, as this man had never made his political beliefs known, or even ever voted for either party. As the year went on, his beliefs did start to become known as both parties recruited him to their side. He did not support a national bank, wanted lower trade tariffs, and did not support the expansion of slavery into the new territories that he had just help win. This more aligned with the political beliefs of the Whigs.

​Finally, after much urging from the Whig leadership, which included a rising political star named Abraham Lincoln, Taylor accepted their nomination for President. As both parties knew would likely happen, Taylor did go on to win the Presidential election of 1848, still riding the wave of popularity from his military career. He would be the last Whig elected President, and the last person elected to the Presidency that would not come from either the Democratic or Republican Party to this day.

​As Taylor was taking office, the issue of slavery was taking the top political issue spot. Taylor was very anti-slavery, and saw the new territories becoming slave ones as being a needless point of controversy. He argued that the crops that many slaves were used to harvest and plant, wouldn’t even grow in the new western territories. So, Taylor allowed places like California to join the union as a state, and not a federally regulated territory, because he knew the people of California would decide to establish their state as being anti-slavery.

​Shortly after Taylor took office, he began suffering from severe gastrointestinal issues. Many members of his cabinet did as well. In July of 1850, his condition worsened, and he was diagnosed with cholera. As we discussed in the William Henry Harrison Killer White House article, the White House’s water supply had been contaminated by human waste from the White House and other D.C. residents. On July 8th, the Killer White House claimed it’s third Presidential victim. After just barely a year in office, Zachary Taylor would pass away at the age of 65. His Vice President would step in to take over the rest of his term, and we will explore him further in the next article.

​Again, Zachary Taylor, Ole Rough and Ready, is one of our least remembered Presidents. He was a man who never desired the office and wasn’t much interested in politics at all. He will always be remembered more for being one of the United State’s great military leaders over anything he was able to accomplish in his short stint as President.