Zachary Taylor: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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'''Zachary Taylor''' (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th [[president of the United States]], serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the [[United States Army]], rising to the rank of [[Major general (United States)|major general]] and becoming a national hero for his victories in the [[Mexican–American War]]. As a result, he won election to the [[White House]] despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was to preserve the Union. He died 16 months into his term from a [[stomach disease]]. Taylor had the third-shortest presidential term in U.S. history.

Taylor was born into a prominent family of plantation owners who moved westward from [[Virginia]] to [[Louisville, Kentucky]], in his youth;. heHe was the last president born before the adoption of [[Constitution of the United States|the Constitution]]. He was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army in 1808 and made a name for himself as a [[captain (United States)|captain]] in the [[War of 1812]]. He climbed the ranks of the military, establishing military forts along the [[Mississippi River]] and entering the [[Black Hawk War]] as a [[colonel (United States)|colonel]] in 1832. His success in the [[Second Seminole War]] attracted national attention and earned him the nickname "Old Rough and Ready".

In 1845, during the [[annexation of Texas]], President [[James K. Polk]] dispatched Taylor to the [[Rio Grande]] in anticipation of a battle with [[Centralist Republic of Mexico|Mexico]] over the disputed [[Mexico–United States border|Texas–Mexico border]]. The Mexican–American War broke out in April 1846, and Taylor defeated Mexican troops commanded by General [[Mariano Arista]] at the battles of [[Battle of Palo Alto|Palo Alto]] and [[Resaca de la Palma]], driving Arista's troops out of [[Texas]]. Taylor then led his troops into Mexico, where they defeated Mexican troops commanded by [[Pedro de Ampudia]] at the [[Battle of Monterrey]]. Defying orders, Taylor led his troops further south and, despite being severely outnumbered, dealt a crushing blow to Mexican forces under General [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]] at the [[Battle of Buena Vista]]. Taylor's troops were transferred to the command of Major General [[Winfield Scott]], but Taylor retained his popularity.

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Almost immediately after his death, rumors began to circulate that Taylor had been poisoned by pro-slavery Southerners or [[Catholics]], and similar theories persisted into the 21st century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Willard and Marion|title=Killing the President|year=2010|page=188}}</ref> A few weeks after Taylor's death, President Fillmore received a letter alleging that Taylor had been poisoned by a [[Jesuit]] lay official.<ref name="Kennedy-2006-74">{{Harvp|Kennedy|Bailey|Cohen|2006|p=74-75}}</ref> In 1978, Hamilton Smith based his assassination theory on the timing of drugs, the lack of confirmed cholera outbreaks, and other material.<ref name="Hamilton">{{cite journal |author=Hamilton Smith |title=The Interpretation of the Arsenic Content of Human Hair |journal=Journal of the Forensic Science Society |volume=4 |date=Oct 1964 |issue=4 |pages=192–199 |pmid=14342380 |doi=10.1016/s0015-7368(64)70199-5 |postscript=,}} summarized in {{cite book |author1=Sten Forshufvud |author2=Ben Weider |title=Assassination at St. Helena |place=Vancouver, Canada |publisher=Mitchell Press |year=1978}}</ref> Theories that Taylor had been murdered grew after the [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln]] in 1865. In 1881, [[John Bingham]], well known for serving as the Judge Advocate General at the Lincoln assassination trial, wrote an editorial in ''The New York Times'' alleging that [[Jefferson Davis]] had poisoned Taylor.<ref name="Kennedy-2006-74" />

In the late 1980s, Clara Rising, a former professor at the University of Florida, persuaded Taylor's closest living relative to agree to an exhumation so that his remains could be tested.<ref name="orlando_july2593">{{cite news |last=McLeod |first=Michael |title=Clara Rising, Ex-ufUF Prof Who Got Zachary Taylor Exhumed |url=httphttps://articleswww.orlandosentinel.com/1993-/07-/25/news/9307230997_1_zacharyclara-taylorrising-arsenicex-danieluf-websterprof-who-got-zachary-taylor-exhumed/ |newspaper=Orlando Sentinel |date=July 25, 1993 |access-date=May 24, 2010 |archive-date=May 31, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531135426/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-07-25/news/9307230997_1_zachary-taylor-arsenic-daniel-webster |url-status=live }}</ref> The remains were exhumed and transported to the Office of the [[Kentucky]] Chief Medical Examiner on June 17, 1991. 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, in the mausoleum.<ref name="Marriott"/>

[[Neutron activation analysis]] conducted at [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] revealed no evidence of poisoning, as [[arsenic]] levels were too low.<ref name="Marriott">{{cite news|last=Marriott|first=Michel|title=Verdict In: 12th President Was Not Assassinated|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/27/us/verdict-in-12th-president-was-not-assassinated.html?ref=zacharytaylor17841850|access-date=October 17, 2011|date=June 27, 2011|archive-date=May 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510230831/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/27/us/verdict-in-12th-president-was-not-assassinated.html?ref=zacharytaylor17841850|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ORNL">{{cite web |url=http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev27-12/text/ansside6.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130710051721/http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev27-12/text/ansside6.html |archive-date=July 10, 2013 |title=President Zachary Taylor and the Laboratory: Presidential Visit from the Grave |publisher=Oak Ridge National Laboratory|access-date=November 2, 2010}}</ref> The analysis concluded Taylor had contracted "cholera morbus, or acute gastroenteritis", as Washington had open sewers, and his food or drink may have been contaminated. Any potential for recovery was overwhelmed by his doctors, who treated him with "[[ipecac]], [[Mercury(I) chloride|calomel]], [[opium]], and [[quinine]]" at 40 grains per dose (approximately 2.6 grams), and "bled and blistered him too."<ref name="Sampas">{{cite news|last=Sampas|first=Jim|title=Scandal and the Heat Did Zachary Taylor In|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/04/opinion/l-scandal-and-the-heat-did-zachary-taylor-in-998691.html|access-date=October 17, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 4, 1991|archive-date=May 25, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525095225/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/04/opinion/l-scandal-and-the-heat-did-zachary-taylor-in-998691.html?|url-status=live}}</ref>