TAYLOR
TAZE^VELL
which action he was severely criticised by Sec-
retary Marcy. The combat at San Pasqual occur-
red December 6, and the skirmish at San Barnar-
dino, Dec. 7, 1846. When the government had
sent General Scott to capture the Mexican capital
by the Vera Cruz route General Taylor was sub-
ject to his orders and his campaign by way of
Saltillo across the plains, which he had proposed
to the government at Washington, was practically
closed, as he could not depend on any support
should the exigencies of the campaign demand his
troops at Vera Cruz. Taylor was ordered to Vic-
toria, where 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, who had marched his
forces from Chihuahua, and on February 23-24,
they fought the battle of Buena Vista with 4550
men against Santa Anna's army, 22,000 strong.
At the battle of Buena Vista, when on the second
day he was urged not to continue the fight against
such fearful odds, he said, " My wounded are be-
hind me, I will never pass them alive. He
effectively defeated the Mexican general, restored
peace in the valley of the Rio Grande, and deci-
mated the army of Santa Anna, which reached the
defences of the city of Mexico, a small force of dis-
heartened soldiers. 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 state legislatures. "Old
Rough and Ready " was now the national hero,
and was at once taken up by the Whig party as
an available candidate for the Presidency, his
prestige as a soldier being used as a foil to the
popularity won by the administration of Polk
in the successful termination of the war with
Mexico. The Native American party that met in
national convention in Philadelphia, September,
1847, had offered him the nomination for Presi-
dent but put no candidate in the field. The
Democratic party met in Baltimore, May 22, 1848,
and nominated Gen. Lewis Cass of Michigan for
President, and AVilliam O. Butler of Kentucky
for Vice-President, and the Whig national con-
vention met at Philadelphia, June 7, 1848, and
on the fourth ballot nominated Gen. Zachary
Taylor of Louisiana for President and Millard Fill-
more of New York was nominated for Vice-Presi-
dent. In the election that followed in November,
the Taylor and Fillmore electors received 1,360,-
101 popular votes ; the Cass and Butler electors
1,220,544, and the Van Buren and Adams Free-
soil ticket, 291,262. The electoral college that met
in 1849 gave to Taylor and Fillmore 163 votes,
and 127 to Cass and Butler. On March 4, 1849,
General Taylor was Inaugurated, and he called to
his cabinet John M. Clayton of Delaware as
secretary of state ; William M. Meredith of Penn-
sylvania as secretary of the treasury ; George
W. Crawford of Georgia as secretary of war;
Thomas Ewing of Ohio as secretary of the in-
terior ; William B. Preston of Virginia as secre-
tary of the navy ; Jacob Collamer of Vermont,
as postmaster-general, and Reverdy Johnson of
Maryland as attorney-general. He sent Abbott
Lawrence of Massachusetts as minister to Great
Britain ; William C. Rives of Virginia as minister
to France ; J. Watson Webb of New York as
charge d'affaires to Austria, and Daniel M. Bar-
ringer of North Carolina, as minister to Spain.
In his message to congress he recommended the
admission of California to the union, but did not
favor the admission of either Utah or New ^Mexico.
On July 4, 1850, he attended the ceremonies of
laying the corner stone of the Washington monu-
ment, and the heat of the day, large draughts of
cold water, eating of fruits and drinking of iced
milk to allay a troublesome thirst, brought upon
him cholera morbus, which, not yielding to
medical treatment, caused his death in the pres-
ence of his wife, his daughter Elizabeth and her
husband. Colonel Bliss, his brother, Colonel Tay-
lor, and family, and Jefferson Davis and family,
Vice-President Fillmore and his cabinet. The
biographies of General Taylor are inadequate,
that by Gen. O. O. Howard in " Great Com-
mander" series (1892) being the most satisfac-
tory. His name in Class N, Soldiers and Sailors,
received nine votes for a place in the Hall of
Fame for Great Americans, New York university,
October, 1900, and was twelfth in the class of
twenty names presented for consideration. He
died at theWhite House, Washington, July 9, 1850.
TAZEWELL, Henry, senator, was born in
Brunswick county, Va. His grandfather, William
Tazewell, came to America from Somersetshire,
England, in 1715. His parents died during his
childhood, and Henry was graduated at William
and Mary college ; studied law, and practised
in Virginia after 1773. He was a member of the
house of burgesses, 1775 ; was judge of the state su-
preme court, 1785-93 ; of the high court of ap-
peals, 1793-94, and was elected U.S. senator in
1794, to complete the term of John Taylor, re-
signed, his term to expire March 3, 1799. Sen-
ator Tazewell was elected president pro tempore
of the U.S. senate, Feb. 23, 1795, and did not
live to complete the term of John Taylor, for
which he was elected. He died in Philadelphia,
Pa.. Jan. 24. 1799.
TAZEWELL, Littleton Waller, governor of Virginia, was born in Williamsburg, Va., Dec. 17, 1774 ; son of Senator Henry Tazewell (q.v.). He was graduated from William and ^lary col- lege in 1791, and began the practice of law in James City county, in 1796. He was a member
