(November 24, 1784–July 9, 1850), was the 12th President of the United States, 1849–50, famed as a national military hero; Major General during Mexican War, 1846–48; fought General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at Buena Vista, 1847; fought at Monterrey, Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Matamoros, 1846; commanded Army of Occupation on Mexican border, 1845; took command of Fort Jesup, 1844; commanded Department of Florida, 1838; Brigadier General in Seminole War, 1836–37, fighting in the Battle of Okeehobee, 1837; Colonel in the Black Hawk War, 1832; took command of Fort Crawford, 1832, Fort Snelling, 1829; established Fort Jesup in Louisiana, 1822; Major during War of 1812; defended Fort Harrison against Indians, 1812; and as a Captain, took charge of Fort Knox, 1811; married Margaret Mackall Smith, 1810; and commissioned a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, 1808.
On February 14, 1849, a delegation of ladies from Frankfurt, Kentucky, presented General Zachary Taylor with a beautifully bound Bible and a copy of the Constitution of the United States. He sent a message acknowledging their kindness, which was printed in the Frankfort Commonwealth, February 21, 1849:
I accept with gratitude and pleasure your gift of this inestimable Volume. It was for the love of the truths of this great Book that our fathers abandoned their native shores for the wilderness. Animated by its lofty principles they toiled and suffered till the desert blossomed as a rose.
The same truths sustained them in their resolutions to become a free nation; and guided by the wisdom of this Book they founded a government under which we have grown from three millions to more than twenty millions of people, and from being but a stock on the borders of this Continent we have spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
I trust that their principles of liberty may extend, if without bloodshed, from the northern to the southern extremities of the Continent. If there were in that Book nothing but its great precept, “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them,” and if that precept were obeyed, our government might extend over the whole Continent.
Accept … my sincere thanks for the kind manner in which you have discharged this duty; and expressing again my hearty gratitude to the ladies for their beautiful gift, I pray that health, peace, and prosperity may long be continued to them.1849
Refusing to be inaugurated on the Sabbath, Zachary Taylor was sworn into office the following day, Monday, March 5, 1849. In the close of his brief Inaugural Address, President Zachary Taylor stated:
In all disputes between conflicting governments it is our interest not less than our duty to remain strictly neutral, while our geographical position, the genius of our institutions and our people, the advancing spirit of civilization, and, above all, the dictates of religion direct us to the cultivation of peaceful and friendly relations with all other powers. …
In conclusion I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, upon the high state of prosperity to which the goodness of Divine Providence has conducted our common country. Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care which has led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy.1850
On Tuesday, July 3, 1849, President Zachary Taylor issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Prayer so people of all denominations could pray for the health of the nation, as an epidemic of cholera had begun to spread:
At a season when the providence of God has manifested itself in the visitation of a fearful pestilence which is spreading itself throughout the land, it is fitting that a people whose reliance has ever been in His protection should humble themselves before His throne, and, while acknowledging past transgressions, ask a continuance of the Divine mercy.
It is therefore earnestly recommended that the first Friday in August be observed throughout the United States as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. All business will be sustained in the various branches of the public service on that day; and it is recommended to persons of all religious denominations to abstain as far as practical from secular occupations and to assemble in their respective places of public worship, to acknowledge the Infinite Goodness which has watched over our existence as a nation, and so long crowned us with manifold blessings, and to implore the Almighty in His own good time to stay the destroying hand which is now lifted up against us.1851
On Wednesday, July 4, 1849, in an address delivered at a Sabbath-school celebration in the city of Washington, President Zachary Taylor stated:
The only ground of hope for the continuance of our free institutions is in the proper moral and religious training of the children, that they may be prepared to discharge aright the duties of men and citizens.1852
On Tuesday, December 4, 1849, in his First Annual Message to Congress, President Zachary Taylor stated:
During the past year we have been blessed by a kind Providence with an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and although the destroying angel for a time visited extensive portions of our territory with the ravages of a dreadful pestilence, yet the Almighty has at length deigned to stay His hand and to restore the inestimable blessing of general health to a people who acknowledged His power, deprecated His wrath, and implored His merciful protection.
While enjoying the benefits of amicable intercourse with foreign nations, we have not been insensible to the distractions and wars which have prevailed in other quarters of the world. It is a proper theme of thanksgiving to Him who rules the destinies of nations that we have been able to maintain amidst all these contests an independent and neutral position toward all belligerent powers. …
By holding the representative responsible only to the people, and exempting him from all other influences, we elevate the character of the constituent and quicken his sense of responsibility to his country. It is under these circumstances only that the elector can feel that in the choice of the lawmaker he is himself truly a component part of the sovereign power of the nation. … With the strict observance of this rule and the other injunctions of the Constitution, with a sedulous inculcation of that respect and love for the Union of the States which our fathers cherished and enjoined upon their children, and with the aid of that overruling Providence which has so long and so kindly guarded our liberties and institutions, we may reasonably expect to transmit them, with their innumberable blessings, to the remotest posterity.1853
On July 9, 1850, after an illness of only 5 days, President Zachary Taylor, who had been a member of the Episcopalian Church, died. Millard Fillmore, who had been Vice-President under President Taylor, informed Congress, July 10, 1850:
I have to perform the melancholy duty of announcing to you that it has pleased Almighty God to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States. He deceased last evening at the hour of half-past 10 o’clock, in the midst of his family and surrounded by affectionate friends, calmly and in the full possession of all his faculties. Among his last words were these:—“I have always done my duty. I am ready to die. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me.”
Having announced to you, fellow-citizens, this most afflicting bereavement, and assuring you that it has penetrated no heart with deeper grief than mine, it remains for me to say that I propose this day at 12 o’clock, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in the presence of both Houses of Congress, to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution, to enable me to enter on the execution of the office which this event has devolved on me.1854
On July 11, 1850, Secretary of War, George W. Crawford, issued General Orders No. 21, relaying President Millard Fillmore’s instructions:
The following order of the President of the United States announces to the Army the lamented death of the illustrious General Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States. …
The officers of the Army, of the Navy, and Marine Corps will, as a manifestation of their respect for the exalted dead, and of their sense of the calamity the country has sustained by this afflicting dispensation of Providence, wear crape on the left arm and upon the hilt of the sword for six months.1855
On July 11, 1850, the U.S. Senate passed the Resolution:
Whereas it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, the Senate, sharing in the general sorrow which this melancholy event must produce, is desirous of manifesting its sensibility on this occasion.1856
On July 11, 1850, the House of Representatives passed the Resolution:
Whereas it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, the House of Representatives, sharing in the general sorrow which this melancholy event must produce, is desirous of manifesting its sensibility on the occasion.1857
On July 13, 1850, the Daily National Intelligencer printed the official arrangements for the funeral:
The religious services to be performed by the Rev. Dr. Pyne at the Executive Mansion, according to the usage of the Episcopal Church, in which church the deceased most usually worshiped.1858
In a Resolution of Condolence for Mrs. Margaret S. Taylor, the Senate and House of Representatives stated:
That the President of the United States be requested to transmit a copy of the proceedings of the United States on 10th instant in relation to the death of the late President of the United States to Mrs. Margaret S. Taylor, and to assure her of the profound respect of the two Houses of Congress for her person and character and of their sincere condolence on the late afflicting dispensation of Providence.1859