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Show Mom! t6ng Memory of r "OLD ROUGH and READY" i ; V'J At., . - - " '-..'3 -'' V' , ;: h w ' - y v ' C li. Taylor's Autobiography t-O Taylor's Letter About the Presidency i By ELMO SCOTT WATSON PEAK of "Virginia, the Mother of Presidents," and the average Amer-riypr Amer-riypr lean thinks Immediately of the famous "Virginia Dynasty" V George Washington, Thomas Jef-ff Jef-ff ' ferson, James Madison and James ra Monroe which ruled the nation X In the early days of the Republic. And yet these four were only half of the number of Presidents which the Old Dominion gave to the nation, even though the average American does not remember so readily that William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson were also born In Virginia. Perhaps one reason for this is because the outstanding events in the careers of at least three of them took place in other parts of the country and that they lie buried elsewhere than In the soil of their native state. In the case of Zachary Taylor, for instance, Kentucky has quite as much claim upon him as has Virginia and we commonly think of him as a Kentuckian rather than as a Virginian. There Is justification for that In the fact that he was taken to Kentucky (then a part of Virginia) as a baby, grew up with that state, from it started on the military career which was to lead him to the White Uouse and found his last resting place there. But recently Virginia has begun to assert her claims to Taylor as one of her sons. A year or so ago a bust of him was unveiled in the old House of Delegates in the state capitol at Richmond Rich-mond and this year finds Virginia observing the sesqui-centennial of his birtli with the celebration celebra-tion coming to a climax on the anniversary of his birthday. Born In Orange county, Va., November 27, 17S-I. he was the son of Richard Taylor who fought In the Continental army during the Revolution and came out of the war as a lieutenant-colonel, a fact which undoubtedly influenced the careers of two of his three sons and more particularly that of the second, known in his youth as Znch.iriuh. Taken to Kentucky at the age of six months young Zachariah grew up on a frontier farm and was largely self-educated. At the age of twenty-four his elder brother, then a lieulenant In the regular army, died and President Jefferson Jeffer-son appointed the younger brother a lieutenant In the Seventh infantry in his place. The next year he was sent to New Orleans, then under the command of Gen. James Wilkinson, Wilkin-son, who had been deeply Involved in the Aaron Burr conspiracy but who had succeeded in escaping es-caping with a coat of whitewash. In 1S10 Taylor was promoted to captain and celebrated this advancement ad-vancement by marrying Margaret Smith of Maryland. Then the threat of an Indian uprising In the Ohio valley and of an impending war with Great Britain took the young captain to what is now the state of Indiana. There he had his first baptism of fire. Placed In command of Fort Harrison, Har-rison, built on the Wabash river to protect the romantic old town of Vincennes, which had figured fig-ured so largely in the exploits of that other Virginian, Vir-ginian, George Rogers Clark, Taylor with a garrison gar-rison of only 50 men successfully beat off an attack at-tack by several hundred of Tecumseh's warriors and won for himself the brevet of major. At the close of the War of 1S12 congress reduced re-duced the army aud Taylor was cut to the grade of captain. Disgusted at this, he resigned from the army and went back to Kentucky "to raise a crop of corn." But friends interceded for him and he was reinstated as a major and in 1S1G advanced to lieutenant-colonel. His first command as lieutenant-colonel was Fort Snelllng in Minnesota, then the most advanced ad-vanced outpost in the Old Northwest, and in July, 13-J, he took command at Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin. While there the new Fort Crawford Craw-ford was completed under his direction and the old fort abandoned because the Mississippi was Inundating it. He was there In 1S32 at tiie outbreak out-break of the Sac and Foxe Indians, known as the Black Hawk war. and took part In the campaign cam-paign which ended In the defeat and capture of that ill-fated chieftain. It was during Taylor's service at Fort Crawford Craw-ford that there occurred an Incident which has been the subject of much romantic writing, not all of It strictly accurate. One of Taylor's subalterns sub-alterns was a young Mississippian fresh from West Point, Lieut. Jefferson Davis, who fell In love with Sara Knox Taylor, the daughter of his commander. But when the subject of marriage mar-riage was broached, Taylor refused to give his consent. The only thing wrong with that story Is that it isn't true. Old letters in the possession of de scendants of Taylor, now living in Kansas City. Mo., prove that, contrary to the legend, there was no elopement. Sara Knox Taylor was sent to the home of the colonel's sister. Mrs. John Gibson Taylor, in Louisville. Ky., and a year later, when Taylor learned that the young cou pie still wanted to get married, he wrote to his sister that he would no longer withhold his con sent. They were married in Louisville in June. 1S.T), and went immediately to Mississippi where Davis had a cotton plantation. In September both were stricken with miliaria and Davis' young bride died. But to return to the career of Taylor himself after the Black Hawk war, Taylor's next service serv-ice was agaisst the Seminoles in Florida and in he won a victory over them at the Battle of Okechobee which won for him the brevet of brig- Gen. Taylor at Monterey adier-general. In 1838 he was given the chlei command In Florida and two years later he was put in charge of the southern division of the western department of the regular - army and transferred his family home from Louisville to Baton Rouge, La. Then came the Mexican war and with it Taylor's Tay-lor's chance for winning the glory that was to make him President of the United States. His victories at Palo Alto, Itesaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista made him a national hero, even though most of the credit for those victories belong to some of his subordinates West Pointers mostly, who were destined for future fame as generals In the Union and Confederate Con-federate armies during the War Between the k Ctnfoo fho nfiHnn whtph hnrl ipnt- -Tnpksnn and Harrison to the White House because of their fighting records began talking of another military hero President. At first Taylor would have none of it. When a visitor to his camp ventured ven-tured to toast him as the next President, the bluff old general exclaimed "Stop your nonsense and drink your whiskey I" More than that, when a friend, General Young of Newcastle, Del., wrote to him urging him to accept the honor If It were offered him, Taylor replied in part: "Your remarks in relation to my being a candidate can-didate for the President are very flattering, but I think you will know without the necessity of saying so to you, that I am not and shall never be an aspirant for that honor. My opinion has always been against the elevation of a military chief to that position. We must choose a statesman states-man able to control the people at home and elevate ele-vate the credit of the country abroad. The Ill-advised Ill-advised manner in which my name has been used in New York in reference to this matter I fear will do me injury and embarrass me in my military capacity. My best energies I shall, however, devote to the prosecution of this campaign cam-paign and which I sincerely hope will tend to peace." But despite this attitude, the talk persisted and Taylor seems to have become receptive toward to-ward the Idea. The Whigs, anxious to regain power from the Democrats by using the prestige of Taylor's military record, nominated him without with-out knowing where he stood on any political questions and to cap that formulated no platform plat-form for him. In fact, for some time after the nomination they did not know whether or not he would accept. By a curious mistake he had not received his letter of notification. They had forgotten to prepay the postage on the letter and at that time the post office carried letters flnd collected from the receiver. Taylor, on his plantation plan-tation in Louisiana, to which he had retired after the Mexican war, not knowing the contents of the letter which came to him, refused to ac-rept ac-rept the letter and pay the postage on it. But eventually he learned that he was the nominee and somewhat to the amusement of the country stated that "he was a Whig, but not an Ultra Whig." Whether he was or not didn't seem to make much difference and In the election of IS-l'J lie was the victor over Lewis Cass of Michigan, Michi-gan, the Democratic candidnte. He was Inaugurated Inaugu-rated in March, lS'iO, but he did not live long to enjoy the highest honor that had been conferred upon him. On the Fourth of July he took part in the ceremonies connected with laying the cornerstone cor-nerstone of the Washington monument in the National Na-tional Capital. It was a hot day and in an effort to cool off the President drank a great deal of cold water and iced milk followed by a substantial substan-tial dinner. An hour later he fell violently 111 and five days later, July 9, ISoO, he died. bl Western Newspaper Union- |