TAYLOR, ZACHARY, 12th president of the United States, was born in Orange co., Va., Nov. 24, 1784, son of col. Richard Taylor, an officer of the war of independence, and oue of the first settlers of Louisville, Ky., where Taylor was taken in early child hood, and grew up to his 24th year, working on a plantation, with only the simplest rudiments of education. His elder brother had received a lieutenancy in the army, and 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 the famous chief Tecumseh. Promoted to the rank of maj. 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 col. in the Black Hawk war; and in 1836 was ordered to Florida, where he gained an important victory over the Seminole Indians at Okeechobee, for which he was appointed brig.gen., and made commander of the United States forces in Florida. In 1840, having been appointed to the command of the s.west ern department, he purchased an estate at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On March 1, 1845, the U. S. 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 s.western boundary; Mexico insisted that there could be no claim beyond the Nueces, and prepared to defend the disputed, if she could not reconquer the whole, ter ritory. Gen. Taylor was ordered to Corpus Christi, which point he occupied in Nov. with a force of 4,000. On Mar. 8, 1846, he moved toward the Rio Grande. across the disputed territory, and built fort Brown, opposite and commanding the Mexican port of Matamoras. Gen. Ampudia, the Mexican commander, demanded that he should retire beyond the Nueces, pending negotiations; and on the refusal of gen. Taylor. his suc cessor, gen. Arista, crossed the Rio Grande with a force of 6,000. On May 8, he was
defeated at Palo Alto by gen. Taylor, with a force of 2,300; and a few days after, driven from a new position at Resaca de In Palma, across the Rio Grande. War was declared by congress to exist by the act of Mexico; 50,000 volunteers were called for, Taylor made maj.gen., re-enforced, and ordered to invade Mexico. On Sept. 9. with 6,625 men, he attacked Monterey, which was defended by about 10,000 regular troops. After 10 days' siege and 3 days' hard fighting, it capitulated. Gen. Scott having been ordered to advance on the city of Mexico by Vera Cruz, withdrew a portion of the troops of gen. Taylor, leaving him only 5,000 volunteers and 500 regulars, chiefly flying artillery, to meet an army of 21,000, commanded by president Santa Anna. He took a strong posi tion at Buena Vista, fought a desperate battle, and won a decided victory. This victory, against enormous odds, created the utmost enthusiasm; and gen. Taylor, popularly called "old rough and ready," was nominated for president of the United States over Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and gen. Scott; and this "ignorant frontier col., who had not voted for 40 years," and was a slaveholder, was triumphantly elected over gen. Cass, the democratic, and Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams, free soil candidates. Entering upon the presidency in 1850, he found a democratic majority 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 admis sion of California, the settlement of the boundaries of Texas, the organization of the newly-acquired Mexican territories, etc., were agitating the country, and threatening a disruption, postponed by the compromises introduced by Mr. Clay. Worn down by the unaccustomed turmoil of politics, the rough, good-natured old soldier did not long enjoy his honors. On July 4, 1850, four months after his inauguration, he was attacked with bilious colic, and died on the 9th.