Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/624

 596 TAYLOR against the Indian villages, and in 1814, with the full rank of major, commanded an expedi- tion against the British and Indians on Rock river. On the restoration of peace in 1815, congress reduced the army and annulled many of the promotions made during the war. Tay- lor was reduced to the rank of captain, and in consequence resigned his commission and re- tired to his plantation near Louisville. Being soon reinstated as major, he was employed for several years alternately on the N. W. frontier and in the south, where in 1822 he built Fort Jesup. In 1819 he became lieutenant colonel, and in 1832 colonel. In the latter year he was engaged in the Black Hawk war, and was then ordered to Prairie du Chien, where he took command of Fort Crawford, which had been erected under his superintendence. In 1836- '40 he served in Florida. On Dec. 25, 1837, he defeated the Indians in the desperate and decisive battle of Okeechobee, and was pro- moted to the rank of brigadier general by brevet; and in April, 1838, he was made com- mander-in-chief in Florida. In 1840 he was appointed to the command of the first de- partment of the army in the southwest. He purchased at this time an estate at Baton Rouge, to which he removed his family. Con- gress having in March, 1845, passed the joint resolution annexing Texas, Gen. Taylor was directed to defend it against invasion from Mexico. In July he embarked at New Orleans with 1,500 troops, and in the beginning of August encamped with them at Corpus Christi, Texas, where he was reenforced, so that in November his forces amounted to about 4,000 men. The administration desired to bring the Mexican question to a crisis, without, if pos- sible, incurring the responsibility of beginning a war. Indirectly, therefore, it endeavored to induce Gen. Taylor to advance his forces into the disputed territory ; but he disregarded all hints to that effect, and would not move till explicitly ordered by the president. Positive instructions were at length sent, and on March 8, 1846, the army began.its advance toward the Rio Grande, and on the 28th reached the banks of that river opposite Matamoros. Here it en- camped and erected Fort Brown, which com- manded Matamoros, where the Mexicans were also throwing up batteries and redoubts. On April 12 Gen. Ampudia, the Mexican com- mander, addressed a note to Gen. Taylor re- quiring him within 24 hours to break up his camp and retire beyond the Nueces, "while our governments are regulating the pending question in relation to Texas," and informing him that his non-compliance would be regard- ed by the Mexicans as equivalent to a declara- tion of war. Gen. Taylor replied that he was acting under instructins which did not permit him to return to the Nueces, and that if the Mexicans saw fit to begin hostilities he should not avoid the conflict. Ampudia was soon after superseded by Arista, who early in May crossed the Rio Grande with 6,000 men, and on the 8th of that month attacked and was defeated by Gen. Taylor with 2,300 men at Palo Alto, a few miles from Matamoros. (See PALO ALTO.) The Mexicans retreated to Resaca do la Palma, and on the following day again gave battle to the Americans, who after a se- vere contest routed them and drove them across the Rio Grande. The total loss of the Mexi- cans in these battles amounted to about 1,000 men. Taylor was promoted to the rank of major general, took possession of Matamoros on May 18 without opposition, and remained there till September, when he marched against Monterey, which he reached on Sept. 9 with a force of 6,625 men, mostly volunteers. The place was defended by Ampudia with about 10,000 regular troops. On the 19th Taylor ordered an assault, and after several days' desperate fighting Ampudia capitulated on the 24th. (See MONTEREY.) Taylor made Monte- rey his headquarters, but occupied with a strong detachment the city of Saltillo, the capital of the state of Coahuila. He was making prepa- rations for an advance upon San Luis Potosi, when the best part of his force was transferred to the expedition against Vera Cruz, under Gen. Scott. He was left with only 5,000 men, of whom but 500 were regulars, the rest being volunteers who had never seen a battle. He received intelligence that Santa Anna had con- centrated at San Luis Potosi the flower of the Mexican army to the number of 21,000 veteran troops, and was moving rapidly to attack him in the valley of the Rio Grande. Gen. Taylor on Feb. 21, 1847, took a position at Buena Vista, a mountain pass 7 m. from Saltillo, and awaited the approach of the Mexicans, who made their appearance on the following day, and were signally defeated. (See BUENA VISTA.) Santa Anna retreated to San Luis Potosi, and during the rest of the war the val- ley of the Rio Grande remained in quiet pos- session of the Americans. On his return home in November, 1847, " Old Rough and Ready," as his soldiers familiarly called him, was greet- ed everywhere by the warmest demonstrations of popular applause ; and as the time for the presidential election was approaching, his name was at once brought forward for the presi- dency. He avowed himself " a whig, but not an ultra whig," and in several letters intimated his willingness to accept the nomination pro- vided he could be left untrammelled by parti- san pledges, at the same time expressing his distrust of his fitness for the office. In June, 1848, he was nominated by the whig national convention at Philadelphia, the other candi- dates for the nomination being Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and Gen. Scott. Millard Fillmoro of New York was nominated for the vice-presi- dency. Henry Wilson of Massachusetts and a few other delegates, on this result being an- nounced, withdrew from the convention, and subsequently formed the freesoil party on the basis of opposition to the extension of slavery. The democratic national convention had al-