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Zachary Taylor
(1849-1850)
Interesting
Dates
February 22, 1847 - During the Mexican-American War,
Mexican General Santa Anna surrounds the outnumbered forces of
U.S. General Zachary Taylor at the Angostura Pass in Mexico
in the Battle of Buena Vista;
demands an immediate surrender. Taylor refused, allegedly
replying, "Tell him to go to hell";
February 23, 1847
- Santa Anna dispatched some 15,000 troops to move against the
5,000 Americans. The superior U.S. artillery was able to halt one
of the two advancing Mexican divisions, while Jefferson Davis'
Mississippi riflemen led the defense of the extreme left flank
against the other Mexican advance. By five o'clock in the
afternoon, the Mexicans begin to withdraw. Also at Monterrey in
September, Taylor proved a brilliant military commander, earning
the nickname "Old Rough and Ready" while emerging from the war a
national hero. He won the Whig presidential nomination in 1848 and
defeated the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, in November. The
other hero of the Battle of Buena Vista, Jefferson Davis, became
secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce in 1853 and
president of the Confederate States of America in 1861.
March 5, 1849 - Zachary Taylor sworn in as 12th
president.
January 29, 1850 - Henry Clay introduced in the
Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of
California into the Union as a free state.
March 7, 1850 - In a three-hour speech to the U.S.
Senate, Daniel Webster endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a means
of preserving the Union.
July 9, 1850
-
Zachary Taylor,
12th president of the United States,
died after four days of suffering from
symptoms that included severe cramping, diarrhea, nausea and
dehydration. His personal physicians concluded that he had
succumbed to cholera morbus, a bacterial infection of the small
intestine. He had served only 16 months in office.
K. Jack Bauer (1985).
Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter,
Statesman of the Old Southwest. (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana
State University Press, 348 p.). Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850;
United States. Army -- Biography; Presidents -- United States --
Biography; Generals -- United States -- Biography; Mexican War,
1846-1848 -- Campaigns.
Elbert B. Smith
(1988).
The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor & Millard Fillmore.
(Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 302 p.). Professor of
History (University of Maryland). Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850;
Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874; United States--Politics and
government--1849-1853. |
