Zachary Taylor, the 12th U.S. President, died on July 9, 1850, in Washington, D.C. He served from March 4, 1849, to July 9, 1850, a term of 16 months. Born on November 24, 1784, in Orange County, Virginia, Taylor was raised in Kentucky and joined the U.S. Army in 1808. He rose to the rank of major general over a 40-year military career.
Taylor served in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War (1835–1842), commanding troops against the Seminole tribe in Florida, including a campaign through what is now Polk County, Florida, leading to the Battle of Lake Okeechobee in 1837. He gained prominence during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), leading victories at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, and Buena Vista. These successes led to his election as the Whig Party’s presidential candidate in 1848.
As president, Taylor opposed the expansion of slavery into territories acquired from Mexico. He supported statehood for California and New Mexico as free states, which conflicted with Southern interests. He resisted the Compromise of 1850, a set of bills to balance free and slave states, causing tension with Congress.
On July 4, 1850, Taylor attended a ceremony at the Washington Monument. He fell ill with a stomach ailment, likely gastroenteritis or cholera morbus, around July 4 or 5 and died on July 9, 1850, at age 65. Vice President Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency and supported the Compromise of 1850, which passed in September 1850.
