Career

Zachary Taylor was a career soldier until he became president. Taylor's military career began in 1808 when President Thomas Jefferson commissioned him as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In 1812 he distinguished himself with his defense of Indiana's Fort Harrison after the fort had been attacked by Shawnee Indians led by Indian chief Tecumseh. Later, as a colonel, he fought American Indians in the Black Hawk War in 1832 and the Seminole Indians in Florida during the late 1830s. While Taylor served in the military, he also purchased land and slaves in Louisiana, and lived at his plantation there when not on duty.

After the United States annexed Texas in 1845, President James Polk got a declaration of war against Mexico from Congress to defend the border. Taylor was in command of the U.S. troops when Mexican soldiers crossed the Rio Grande, the river dividing the United States and Mexico, on April 25, 1846, at...