REELY'S POETRY BLOG

On today’s date in 1850, the 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor (known by the nickname “Ol’ Rough and Ready), died of gastroenteritis, after serving for 16 months. At the time, only William Henry Harrison had served a shorter time, dying a month after taking office.

Commemorating the occasion of his death, the Prosecuting Attorney of Logan County, Ohio, William Hubbard, penned these lines:

ZACHARY TAYLOR

Not where the spicy breezes
Of a tropic climate fann’d,
The star-illumined banner
Of the hero’s idol-land:
Not in the storm of battle,
Where the bayonet gleamed high,
‘Mid the drum and trumpet’s clangor
Was the patriot to die!

When the cannon stilled its thunder,
When the saber hid its sheen,
When the turf by blood encrimsoned
Reassumed its garb of green:
When the worn and weary soldier
Laid his plume and helmet by,
And the battle-horse unharnessed
Paled the lightning of his eye;

When the swart and stalwart plowman
From the field of strife and blood,
Sought the brookside in the valley,
Where his natal cottage stood;
When the nation all was festal
At the ghastly war’s surcease,
When the people were reposing
In the radiant light of peace;

When a grateful nation bade him
Lay the plume and helm aside,
Then the scarred and stricken hero
Of the many battles died !
He is sleeping with the greatest
And the bravest of the dead.
With his country’s blessing o’er him
And her laurels on his head!

Interesting facts about Zachary Taylor: he and his wife, Margaret, had five daughters and one son. Two daughters, Octavia and Sara, died very young in 1820. Their oldest daughter, Ann, was married to Dr. Robert C. Wood, who would later be the Acting Surgeon General of the Union Army.
Their second oldest daughter, Sarah, was the first wife of Jefferson Davis who later became President of the Conferedate States of America. The marriage ended 3 months after it began when Sarah died of malaria. During the short time the Taylors lived in the White House, their youngest daughter, Betty, assumed the role of official hostess, since her mother had no desire to do so. Mrs. Taylor left the capitol nine months after her husband’s death, and never mentioned the White House again. She passed away a little over two years after her husband.

There are still assassination theores floating around concerning Zachary Taylor’s death. In fact, his body was exhumed in 1991 to check for poisons but no evidence was found to support the poison postulation. If you want to look into it, a good place to start would probably be on his medical history page at www.doctorzebra.com.

More Links:
The Three Kentucky Presidents: Lincoln, Taylor, Davis
Unsolved History ~ Forensics in the White House