Assumptions

Before men became president of the United States, they led normal lives, and especially normal childhoods. No one is born a president. Even Princes, while born a prince, do not resemble a prince at birth and even through childhood. Those things are trained. The same would apply to Zachary Taylor, future President of the United States. Taylor grew up in a world that was very different than ours today. Parts of the United States didn’t even belong to the United States yet. The United States and Mexico had a year-long conflict that erupted in a full-blown war on May 13, 1846, but even before the United States formally declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor defeated a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto north of the Rio Grande River. That battle took place on May 8, 1846

The conflict really started when the United States annexed the Republic of Texas as a new US state. The drift toward war with Mexico had begun a year earlier when the U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas as a new state. Ten years before, the Mexicans had fought an unsuccessful war with Texans to keep them from breaking away to become an independent nation. Since then, they had refused to recognize the independence of Texas or the Rio Grande River as an international boundary. The United States did not make any attempt to annex Texas until 1844, but it appeared that Texas was growing more interested in the possibility of becoming part of the United States. Texas was formally admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. In January 1846, fearing the Mexicans would respond to US annexation by asserting control over disputed territory in southwestern Texas, President James K Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to move a force into Texas to defend the Rio Grande border.

Hoping to avoid the battle, Polk had tried to settle the matter diplomatically, but when that failed, Taylor was ordered to take his forces up to the disputed borderline at the Rio Grande. The Mexican General Mariano Arista viewed this as a hostile invasion of Mexican territory, and on April 25, 1846, he took his soldiers across the river and attacked. Congress declared war on May 13 and authorized a draft to build up the US Army. The problem Taylor faced, however, that with the skirmishes he was already involved in, he was in no position to await formal declaration of a war that he was already fighting. For him, the war had already started, when the Mexican army attacked him. In the weeks following the initial skirmish along the Rio Grande, Taylor engaged the Mexican army in two battles. On May 8th, near Palo Alto, and on May 9th at Resaca de la Palma, Taylor led his 200 soldiers to victories against much larger Mexican forces. Poor training and inferior armaments undermined the Mexican army’s troop size advantage. One problem the Mexican army faced was that Mexican gunpowder was of such poor quality that artillery barrages often sent cannonballs bouncing lazily across the battlefield, and the American soldiers merely had to step out of the way to avoid them. It was like fighting a battle with spitballs.

After triumphs at Palo Alto and Resaca de Palma, Taylor crossed the Rio Grande, carrying the conflict into Mexican territory. Over the subsequent ten months he achieved victory in four battles and secured control over three northeastern Mexican states. In the following year, the war’s front shifted to other regions, reducing Taylor’s role in it. Other generals in the campaign moved into mor prominent roles, which ultimately concluded with General Winfield Scott’s capture of Mexico City September 1847. While Zachary Taylor’s part in the end of the war was smaller, he emerged from the war a national hero, often referred to as “Old Rough and Ready” and the people assumed that his military victories meant that he would be a good political leader. Of course, dominance in one area of life does not mean proficiency in another. Nevertheless, he was elected president in 1848. He proved to be an unskilled politician who tended to see complex problems in overly simplistic ways, which doesn’t bode well for a nation’s president. In July 1850, Taylor returned from a public ceremony and complained that he felt ill. Suffering from a recurring attack of cholera, he died several days later. Taylor was president from March 4, 1849 to July 9, 1850. He was succeeded by Vice President, Millard Fillmore, in office from July 9, 1850 to March 4, 1853, with no Vice President.