Zachary Taylor

Born in Virginia in 1784 and raised in Kentucky, Zachary Taylor built his reputation not as a lifelong politician but as a soldier. He served in the U.S. Army for about forty years, fighting in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican-American War. His battlefield victories, especially at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Buena Vista, made him one of the best-known military figures in the country.

That fame carried him to the presidency in 1848, even though he had little political experience and had never before held elected office. Taylor took office in 1849 and faced fierce national debate over slavery in the territories gained after the war with Mexico. Though a Southern slaveholder himself, he opposed the spread of sectional conflict and tried to hold the Union together during a volatile period.

His presidency lasted only about sixteen months. Taylor died in 1850 while still in office, leaving many historians to wonder how his leadership might have shaped the crisis that soon deepened in the years before the Civil War.