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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