Taylor Administration - Early Life
Early Life
When Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784, his father, Richard Taylor, had already secured a land grant of one thousand acres in Kentucky. When he was less than a year old, Taylor moved with his parents from their home in Virginia to a log house five miles east of the village of Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville was a frontier town still in danger of American Indian attacks. Although his parents were not poor, life on the frontier was not easy. The future president had little formal education. On the frontier practical knowledge was imperative—for example, he quickly learned how to load and fire a muzzleloader.
Besides the fact that Taylor's father had fought in the American Revolution (1775–83), two of his boyhood chums may have influenced his decision to become a soldier. One, George Croghan, was a nephew of the famous Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark. The second, Robert Anderson, graduated...
[The entire page is 197 words long]
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