Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/115

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

command of Fort Crawford, Wisconsin, which he completed, and soon after joined General Atkinson in his campaign against Black Hawk, resulting in the battle of Bad Axe, which closed the Indian troubles, Black Hawk soon after surrendering to Colonel Taylor. In 1836 Colonel Taylor was ordered to Florida, and on December 25. ^ii37^ fought the battle of Okeechobee, defeating the Cherokees and receiving the brevet of brigadier-general. In 1838 he was given command in Florida and in 1840 of the Southern division of the Western de- partment He removed his family to a plantation near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. July 4, 1845. when it became necessary to defend Texas against the Mexicans, he marched with fifteen hundred men to Cor- pus Christi. His orders being to maintain the Rio Grande as the boundary, he awaited reinforcements, and on March 8, 1846, he advanced to the river opposite Matamoras and established Fort Brown. Besides de- f tending the fort, he had a skirmish near Matamoras, April 19; fought the battle of Palo Alto, May 8, and Resaca de la Palma, May 9; had a second skirmish before taking possession of Matamoras, May 18; was brevetted major-general, May 28, and com- missioned, June 29; fought the battle of Monterey, September 21-23, receiving the capitulation of the place on the 24th, and granting an armistice of eight weeks, for which action he was severely criticised by Secretary Marcy. The combat at San Pas- qual occurred December 6, and the skirmish at San Bardino, December 7, 1846. When the government had sent General Scott to capture the Mexican capital by the Vera Cruz route. General Taylor was subject to his orders, and his campaign by way of Sal-

tillo, across the plains, which he had pro- posed to the government at Washington, was practically closed, as he could not de- pend on any support should the exigencies of the campaign demand his troops at \'era Cruz. Taylor was ordered to Victoria, v/here he turned over his troops, save only an escort, to General Scott, to take part in the siege of Vera Cruz, and he returned to Monterey by way of Agua Nueva, beyond Saltillo. He was joined by General Wool, and on Februar}- 23-24 they fought the bat- tle of Buena \'ista, with four thousand five hundred and fifty men against Santa Annas army, twenty-two thousand strong. At the battle, on the second day, he was urged not to continue the fight against such fearful odds, but he said, "My wounded are behind me; I will never pass them alive." He de- feated the Mexicans, and decimated the army of Santa Anna. This battle closed his career as a soldier, and he returned home in November, 1847. He received three medals from Congress, and three swords from the state legislatures. **01d Rough and Ready," now the national hero, was taken up by the Whigs as a candidate for the presidency. The Native American party had offered him the nomination for Presi- dent, but put no candidate in the field. The Democrats met in Baltimore, May 22, 1848, and nominated General Lewis Cass for President, and William O. Butler for Vice- President, and the Whig national conven- tion met at Philadelphia, June 7, 1848, and on the fourth ballot nominated General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for President, and Millard Fillmore was nominated for Vice-President. In the election, the Taylor and Fillmore electors received 1,360,101

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