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CHAPTER XIII.

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

TWELFTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

F the thirteen presidents in the first sixty years of the United States government, seven were born in Virginia; so it became common to call Virginia the "Mother of Presidents." No state was more forward in the revolution and for independence; no state furnished. more soldiers, officers, and statesmen; no state gave more patriotic or brilliant talents to the councils of the colonies; no state had more weight in the whole movement that inaugurated the republic, than Virginia. Massachusetts and Virginia stood together at the front. Different in the manner of settlement, class of people and style of life, they were yet one in political sentiment and national aspiration. Massachusetts was the first to suffer; yet Virginia, in a noble sympathy, made the suffering her own. Massachusetts nominated the great son of Virginia as commander-in-chief of the American forces. Though far away, her quick judgment saw his great worth, and begged to trust her all to his wise leadership. When appointed, Washington hastened to Massachusetts, as though it were his home, and left it not till he had delivered it from the oppressor. Henry, in Virginia, sounded one of the first notes of the war of independence, which rang through all the colonies like the clarion of deliverance; and Jefferson's quick pen wrote the immortal Declaration of Independence. Massachusetts, with a wisdom

and fortitude half divine, worked out the patterns of nationality, while she fought off the oppressor. These two great

colonies must ever be held the two elder sisters that led all the rest to the achievements of state and national existence.

The seven Virginia presidents, in their order, were: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, Tyler and Taylor.

Virginia has long been called, the "Old Dominion." In her old estate she was grandly productive of great talent, particularly talent for statesmanship.

It is to be hoped that in her new estate, she may be nourishing the scions of the old stock, which shall give the country more and still more, through all the generations, such men as honored her and the nation in the past.

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD.

Zachary Taylor was born November 24, 1784, in Orange county, Virginia. He was the third child of Colonel Richard Taylor, who was an active patriot and soldier of the revolution. Little is given of his father's history, only that he became colonel in the army under Washington. This indicates something of his ability and standing.

Like many other Virginians, Colonel Taylor turned his face westward, soon after the revolution, to help settle up the rich lands occupied only by the wild animals and savage Indians. Washington did much to promote this westward movement. In his early life he had become familiar with much of the territory on the Ohio and Lake Erie, and saw the possibilities for civilization there opened to the human tides that would soon flow that way. While Zachary was an infant, Colonel Taylor, in 1785, moved with his family to Kentucky, a few miles out from what is now the city of Louisville, and there built his cabin and founded his home. This year, 1884, is the hundredth anniversary of Zachary's birth; next year, the hundredth of his removal to the western wilds. Did his father, did Washington, did any of the men of that time, foresee, or even dream of, what a hundred years would bring to these lands of the forest, the wild animals and the Indian? Did they conceive of Louisville, Cin

cinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans, and all between and beyond them in the brief period of one century? Were any so fanatical on American development, as to anticipate what has really, come to pass? The American revolution and American respect for humanity, gave such an impetus to men's desire for improvement, that the eyes of millions of Europe's cramped and oppressed people were turned to the room and freedom and comfort offered to them in America. How much greater was the work of Washington and his compatriots, than they conceived! May it not be as true that the good work of this generation may be as much greater than we conceive? Who can fathom the efficiency that Providence gives to the good works of men?

Zachary Taylor grew up in the wilderness. He was educated to the use of the axe, the hoe and the plow; to the use of the rifle, the capture of the wild beast and the defense against the Indians. This education of the forest is far greater than many suppose. It develops strength, resolution, fortitude, shrewdness, sagacity, courage, foresight, independence of judgment, promptness of action, anticipation of danger; in a word, all the qualities of mind necessary to a frontiersman, to a remarkable degree.

To a quick, bold, hardy, clear-headed boy like Zachary Taylor this education of the woods was not without its grand results. If it did not give polish, it gave strength; if it did not acquaint him with the world, it gave him a knowledge of the forces of nature and of himself, and of that part of mankind that he came in contact with. It was an education that made him a man mighty in his field of action. When about six years old he had a private teacher by the name of Ayers, who instructed him in the rudiments of English learning. Something, no doubt, was gained from the rude schools of his neighborhood, while a youth. The help of his parents added something, and the books brought from Virginia contributed something; but, in the main, his was the education of face to face contact with things. The work and business of his father's large plantation and the contact with the wild world around him were his principal schools.

ZACHARY TAYLOR THE SOLDIER.

His elder brother, Hancock, a lieutenant in the United States army, died in 1808, when Zachary was twenty-four years of age. His father secured the commission for him.

His father's military career, his reminiscences of the revolutionary war, Hancock's interest in the army, followed by Zachary's desire to take his place after his death, indicate a military tendency in the family.

He soon joined the army at New Orleans as lieutenant in the seventh regiment of United States infantry.

In 1810 he was married to Miss Margaret Smith, of Maryland. The next November he was promoted to the rank of captain. In 1811 he was given the command of Fort Knox, on the Wabash, in the vicinity of Vincennes. This was at the time Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, were seeking to arouse and ally all the Indian tribes in opposition to the further advance of the whites upon Indian territory. The Prophet had established his headquarters on the Tippecanoe, a branch of the Wabash, and formed there an Indian town, where the chiefs and leading warriors gathered for consultation and action. The threatening danger from this Indian gathering and hostility made it important that all the outposts which had been planted should be firmly held. Captain Taylor was sent out on this mission against the Prophet, to watch him and hold him in check.

In 1812 the war with England broke out, and the Indians were made all the more bold and determined. There was still a more advanced post which General Harrison had established the year before, and was called by his name, seventy-five miles from Vincennes and fifty beyond any white settlement. It was hastily made, and consisted of a row of log huts as one side of a square, the other three sides being defended by rows of high pickets. At each end of the row of huts was a block-house. To this fort Captain Taylor was ordered with a company of infantry of some fifty men, illy provided both for comfort and defense.

On the third of September, two of his men were murdered not far from the fort. Late in the afternoon of the fourth,

thirty or forty Indians came from the Prophet's town, bearing a white flag. They were chiefs of different tribes. They told Captain Taylor that the principal chief would make him a speech the next morning, and that they had come for something to eat.

Captain Taylor was too shrewd to be deceived by their craft. As soon as they were out of sight, he had everything put in order for an attack. Many of his men were sick, yet they were all provided with arms and commanded to sleep on them. About eleven o'clock at night the garrison was aroused by the firing of a sentinel. The Indians were there in force, and rushed to the attack with their deafening yells and war-whoops. The firing on both sides became general. The fierce yells of the savages who filled the woods and crowded about the fort, firing rapidly, made night hideous. Soon it was learned that the savages had set fire to one of the block-houses. The flames spread rapidly, and the Indians redoubled their yells and work of death. The women inside, for there were a few women in the camp, added their screams to the horrid tumult of the scene. The captain ordered buckets of water to be put on the fire, but many of his men were too much excited to execute orders. He had to personally superintend the putting out of the fire and repairing the breach. There were quantities of whisky stored in the block-house which got on fire and increased the fierceness of the flames. Altogether it was a scene of horror. Yet Captain Taylor so controlled his men as to keep them at their posts and their work, keep the fire under control, and hold the desperate savages so at bay that they made no inroad, till the morning light sent them flying from the sure aim of his men.

There were but two men wounded and one killed, while the Indian loss was heavy. The failure of the fire to open a way into the fort, made the defeat of the Indians inevitable with so cool a leader in the fort as Captain Taylor.

For this heroic defense of this exposed fort, Captain Taylor was promoted to the rank of major, by brevet.

Major Taylor continued in the service in the vicinity till 1814, when he was put at the head of troops in Missouri.