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EULOGY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 ZACHAEY TAYLOR, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 July 18, 1S50 ; 
 
 BY CHARLES W. UPHAM: 
 
 AND THE 
 
 ADDRESS OF NATII'L SILSBEE, 
 
 MAYOR OF SALEIVr, 
 TO THE CITY COUNCIL, JULY Hth, 
 
 ON OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCING 
 
 THE DEATH OF THE PEESIDENT ; 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AND RESOLUTIONS 
 ADOPTED ON THE OCCASION. 
 
 SALE'M: '-■ •-' " 'V'.' ^" 
 
 WILLUM !V^3 AND (GEORGE W. I'EASE, PRINTERS. 
 1S50. 
 

 
CITY OF SALEM. 
 
 At a special meeting of the City Council, called for the purpose, July 
 mil, 1850, the Jlayor, in the following Address to the two hranches in Con- 
 vention, communicated the decease of ZACHARY TAYLOR, President of 
 the United Stales. 
 
 Gentlemen of the City Council : 
 
 In conformity to custom, in accordance with my 
 own feelings, and by authority of the charter, I have sum- 
 moned you. at this time to receive the official announce- 
 ment of the death of the President of the United States. 
 
 The veteran Soldier, the sagacious Statesman, the Alan, 
 on whom nature had set the seal of her own high nobil- 
 ity — Zachary Taylor — at the moment when his country 
 seems most to require the support of his peculiar qualities — 
 has by the inscrutable dispensation of Providence, been 
 called upon, at last, to surrender to the great conqueror 
 of all, and has yielded up his spirit to God who gave it. 
 
 I know, gentlemen, it will be your wish to pay every 
 mark of respect to the memory of one whom we have 
 delighted to honor, the chosen of the people, and the 
 favored of Heaven — one whom we had hoped to see among 
 us, and to welcome to our homes — but whom we shall now 
 never meet on earth. 
 
 Bred from his early youth to the service of his country, 
 having devoted his whole life to her cause, and having 
 never shrunk from danger or avoided responsibility in her 
 
defence, the last great summons was prom])tly met, and 
 his characteristic response was, — ■ 
 
 "I HAVE ENDEAVOURED TO DO MY DUTY. I AM PREPARED TO 
 
 MEET MY God." 
 
 Words fail me, gentlemen, in an attempt to express my 
 admiration of his character, or my grief at the loss, which 
 I feel has befallen my country at this most critical period 
 of her existence. 
 
 1 have every confidence in the vigor and pemanency of 
 our institutions, in the virtues and capacity of him who is 
 now called to the chief magistracy of our Union, and 
 above all do I rely for its preservation upon the wisdom 
 and goodness of the 
 
 " Divinity who shapes our ends — 
 Roiigli hew lliem as we will." 
 
 As a Soldier, we have honored Gen. Taylor, because 
 humanity always preceeded his onward march, and mercy 
 followed in his footsteps. We have honored him because 
 the Eagles of Victory perched upon his standards, but we 
 honor him still more, because the Dove of Peace found 
 refnge beneath their folds. As a Statesman and Chief 
 Executive of our Republic, we have esteemed him for the 
 wisdom of his counsels, for the firmness and decision of 
 his execution, and because we knew he had a heart to 
 temper as well as a hand to carry out whatever were the 
 dictates of his judgment and his conscience. As a Man I 
 will not attempt to speak of him : 
 
 *' None knew him but to love him. 
 None named him but to praise." 
 
 General Taylor has fulfilled his mission. His work, 
 although to our short sightedness incomplete, is full and 
 perfect, and the benefits to our country from his brief 
 administration incalculable. We have his bright example, 
 and of it may emphatically be said " monstrat viamJ' 
 
 Peace to the brave old soldier ! may the grass grow 
 green over his grave — may the winds breathe softly, and 
 the foot tread lightly where, shrouded in the flag of his 
 
country, shall rest his remains, until he be siunnioued to 
 the duties and glories of ImmortaUty. 
 
 Wlieieupoa tlic two Branches separatetl, and tlie follownig Preamble 
 anil Resolutioii3 were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas, — An inscrutable Providence has removed from 
 this earthly scene, the beloved and revered Chief Magis- 
 trate of the United States, at a time when the great interests 
 of Peace, Liberty and Union were deposited, by the just 
 confidence of the whole country, in his wisdom, patriotism 
 and firmness, it becomes the duty of the people to bow 
 with solemn awe and humble submission, to the dispensa- 
 tion which has fallen so suddenly upon the land, and 
 through their Executive, Representative, and Municipal 
 authorities, and in their primary assemblies, every where, 
 to give appropriate utterance to the sentiments of a 
 bereaved and mourning nation ; and whereas, in no part 
 of America, was the name of Taylor held in higher honor 
 and love than by the people of Salem, we, their Repre- 
 sentatives, in City Council, assembled, in order to express 
 the profound aflliction with which they have received the 
 intelligence of his death, have adopted the following Re- 
 solves : 
 
 Resolved, — That the City Council, in common with the 
 citizens of Salem, deeply deplore the recent decease of the 
 President of the United States. 
 
 Resolved, That while we regard the death of the Presi- 
 dent of the United Slates, occurring at this critical period, 
 as a great national calamity, we should endeavor by a 
 suitable commemoration of the event, to derive lessons of 
 wisdom from our affliction. 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Zachary Taylor, the 
 Chief Magistrate of this Union, the American People have 
 lost their most honoured and trusted public servant; whose 
 sagacity, good sense, sound judgment, independence, firm- 
 ness, humanity, honesty of purpose, devotion to duty and 
 integrity of character, have rendered him at once the pride, 
 and the glory of his country. 
 
Resolved, That the eulogy pronounced upon Washing- 
 ton, may be justly applied to the honoured and lamented 
 Taylor : — " First in war, lirst in peace, first in the hearts 
 of his countrymen." 
 
 Resolved, Therefore, that as a token of the profound 
 grief of this community, and our abiding sense of the great 
 loss sustained by the country, the members of the City 
 Government wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty 
 days. 
 
 Resolved, That Thursday next be set apart for the 
 suitable commemoration of the life and character of the 
 illustrious deceased; that the Hon. Charles W. Upham be 
 invited to prepare and deliver a Eulogy to a public meeting 
 of the citizens; and that the Mayor and Aldermen, with 
 the President of the Common Council, and three members 
 from each ward, be a committee to make all proper ar- 
 rangements. 
 
 Resolved, That the Mayor be requested to communicate 
 a copy of the foregoing Record, Preamble and Resolves to 
 the family of the deceased. 
 
 In City Council, July 22(1, the following Resolves were passed : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be pre- 
 sented to the Hon. Charles W. Upham, for the eloquent 
 and appropriate Eulogy, delivered by him, July 18th, 1850, 
 at the request of the City Authorities of Salem, in com- 
 memoration of the death of Zachary Taylor, President of 
 the United States ; and that the Mayor be authorized to 
 request a copy for publication. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be pre- 
 sented to the Rev. W. R. Babcock, of the Episcopal Church, 
 for his services as officiating clergyman, with a request of 
 a copy of the prayer for publication, — and to the Rev. Dr. 
 Flint, and Edwin Jocelyn, Esq., for their appropriate orig- 
 inal odes. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be pre- 
 sented to Major Cien. William Sutton, and through him, to 
 
the officers and soldiers under his command, for their prompt 
 and elegant performance of escort duty. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the City Conncil be pre- 
 sented to Stephen B. Ives, Esq., his aids and assistant 
 marshals, for their efiicient services in arranging the civil 
 procession. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be pre- 
 sented to the Philharmonic Society, for their kind and suc- 
 cessful efforts in arranging and performing the Musical 
 Services at Mechanic Hall. 
 
Salem, July 23, 1S50. 
 
 Hon. Chari.es W. Upham : 
 jMij Dear Sir, 
 
 In conformity to the Resolve of llic City Council, I request 
 of you a copy of the eloquent Eulogy, pronounced by you upon our late 
 lamented Chief IM.igistiato. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 NATHANIEL SILSP.EE. 
 
 Salem, July 2C, 1850. 
 
 lion. N. SiLSBEE, 
 
 Mayor of Salem: 
 
 Dear Sir, — The Eulogy delivered by me at the request of 
 the City Authorities, on the life and character of Zachary Taylor, is hereby 
 placed at your disposal. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 CHARLES W. UPHAM. 
 
EULOGY. 
 
 Mr. Mayor, and 
 
 Gentlemen of the City Council : 
 
 In obedience to your summons, I rise to give utterance to 
 the sentiments with which your hearts and the hearts of 
 the whole people of America, are filled to overflowing. The 
 removal by death of the humblest individual is an event 
 whose solemn import is not appreciated, only because it is 
 an ordinary occurrence. But, when circumstances render 
 it extraordinary, it impresses the mind with awe. The 
 death of persons occupying conspicuous stations, and mov- 
 ing in elevated spheres, in every age of the world, and all 
 forms of society, has arrested the notice of mankind, and 
 prompted special expressions of sensibility. Funeral cere- 
 monies constitute, perhaps, the most universal and uniform 
 feature in the usages ot nations, and of tribes of men. The 
 heart of humanity has ever found consolation for its woes, 
 and gratification for its best aflections, in united and pub- 
 lic manifestations of general sympathy and sorrow. The 
 most imposing pageants, exhibited on the face of the earth, 
 have been the obsequies of the great in ancient and in 
 modern times. But never has a scene of the sort been wit- 
 nessed, to be compared, in moral grandeur, with that now 
 displayed in this country. The whole people, over all the 
 vast regions of this great empire, is bowed down in sorrow 
 and tears. 
 
 Before addressing myself to the delineation of the life 
 and character, from the contemplation of which, at this 
 time, we are to derive consolation in our bereavement, 
 strength for our virtue, and wisdom to guide us in the path 
 of public and private duty, I desire to call your attention 
 
10 
 
 more particularly, as to the true point of departure in tlie 
 train of thought appropriate to the hour, to the great na- 
 tional demonstration of sensihility in which we are now 
 participating. 
 
 On Tuesday, the ninth day of the present month, intel- 
 ligence was conveyed, by the magic wire, from the seat of 
 government over all parts of the United States, that the 
 President was dangerously ill. The newspapers of the 
 next morning announced his death. Without concert, and 
 forthwith, the air of America reverberated to the minute 
 gun, every mast on the water and every flag staff on the 
 land displayed the banner of freedom trailing in funereal 
 woe — the courts of law were closed — amusements ceased 
 and business was suspended — from steeple, tower and spire 
 echoed and re-echoed, over city and field, hill and valley, 
 ' swinging slow ' with solemn chime, the knell of death — 
 sadness veiled the face of the people. 
 
 On the thirteenth of the month, at the appointed hour, 
 made known by telegraphic despatch to the remotest bor- 
 ders of the Union, the body of the President was borne to 
 the tomb. The two Houses of Congress, the great officers 
 of state, the accredited representatives of other countries, 
 and a vast multitude of the people followed those remains 
 from the palace, which only the chosen head of the nation 
 can occupy, to the house appointed for all. But besides 
 these, actually on the spot, many millions, all over the 
 country, setting apart the hour for the purpose, in idea, in 
 imagination, and in heart, participated in the august pro- 
 cession. The spectacle thus presented to the eye and em- 
 braced by the thought, was such as the world never saw 
 before. And now, city after city, in addition to its share 
 in the general and simultaneous mourning, will, with us, 
 give especial expression, by solemn pageant and service 
 hke this, to its deep and abiding sense of a calamity that 
 oppresses the heart of the nation. And this external cere- 
 monial is not a mere ceremonial. It is the natural and 
 genuine utterance of a feeling of grief, pervading the whole 
 country, with the profoundness and keenness of a personal 
 bereavement. The people mourn— not because they are 
 bidden to — not because it is expected of them — not because 
 
11 
 
 it is customary — but because their souls are stirred to their 
 deptlis — their grief is individual, universal, spontaneous, 
 and uncontrollable. 
 
 A stranger, perhaps, would inquire, " why this loud and 
 wide-spread lamentation?" " An individual has died, but 
 in the course of nature, in the fulness of years, and only 
 when the world had no higher honors and no brighter glo- 
 ries to confer — a public officer has fallen, at his post; but, 
 by Uie admirable arrangement of your government, a com- 
 petent, able, selected and faithful substitute at once fills his 
 place." Having thus shown, to his own satisfaction, that 
 our lamentations are uncalled for, perhaps the stranger 
 might proceed even to censure us for attaching an impor- 
 tance to the life of one man unworthy of republicans, whose 
 boast it is that all men are equal, and that political agents, 
 the greatest as well as the least, are only the servants of 
 the people entrusted with limited authority, within a 
 limited sphere, for a limited period. 
 
 To vindicate the sorrows of the nation, to show that the 
 demonstrations of profound sadness, pervading the minds of 
 the whole people, at this time, are natural, reasonable and 
 justifiable — such as thoughtful, considerate and patriotic 
 men, appreciating the beauty of virtue, the value of wisdom, 
 the welfare of the country, and the best interests of society 
 and humanity, ought to feel, and can not but feel, at this 
 moment— is, I understand, the end and purpose of the 
 honorable duty you have assigned me to-day. I shall 
 proceed, in its discharge, in the only adequate and eflectual 
 manner, by presenting a sketch of the life, character, and 
 services of our departed President. Earnestly seeking to 
 catch his own spirit of simplicity, directness, and truthful- 
 ness, I shall avoid all extravagance of statement. The 
 portrait would not be just to the original, were it elaborated 
 with highly wrought coloring, or decked out with any arts 
 or ornaments of rhetoric ; a plain and straight forward story 
 will be told you, and when it is brought to a close, every 
 one who hears will judge for himself whether it is not hon- 
 orable, salutary and ennobling for the nation to weep over 
 the grave of a patriot so faithful, a hero so spotless, a ruler 
 so just, and a rnan so honest, benevolent, brave and good, 
 
12 
 
 atid whelliei- his name and example ought not to be cherish- 
 ed and transmitted with unfading lustre, a precious element 
 of the national education, through all coming generations. 
 
 Colonel Richard Taylor, having acquired that title in 
 the army of the Revolution, emigrated from Orange County, 
 in Virginia, to Kentucky, and settled in the vicinity of 
 Louisville, where he long lived, enjoying the confidence 
 and respect of his fellow citizens. He was a member of 
 the convention that framed the Constitution of Kentucky, 
 and served in both branches of the Legislature. As a 
 Presidential Elector, he voted for Jefferson, Madison, 
 Monroe and Clay. By the appointment of Washington he 
 held the office of Collector of Louisville, prior to the 
 acquisition of Louisiana. 
 
 His son, Zachary, was born, before the removal of the 
 family from Virginia, on the 24th November, 1784. One of 
 the persons employed as his instructor, Mr. Elisha Ayrcs, is, 
 I beheve, still living in Connecticut. Zachary Taylor was 
 early remarkable for the prowess of his character, and his 
 love of manly enterprise. In the spring of 1800, he swam 
 the Ohio, when filled with floating ice — a feat so extraordi- 
 nary, under the circumstances, that it has survived in the 
 memory of local tradition. His youth was spent under 
 influences which, at once, favored the healthy growth of 
 his mind and trained him to physical hardihood. Kentucky 
 was then a frontier settlement, and the exposure of the 
 inhabitants to Indian hostilities inspired her young men with 
 the same turn for military life which characterized our an- 
 cestors, in similar circumstances, nearly two centuries ago, 
 when the ' flower of Essex ' devoted themselves to the pro- 
 tection of the scattered hamlets of Massachusetts. The 
 sons of Colonel Taylor participated in the prevalent senti- 
 ment. On the 3d of May, 1808, Zachary received the 
 commission, left vacant by the death of an elder brother, 
 of First Lieutenant of the seventh Infantry, from the hands 
 of Mr. JefTerson. At an early day he visited Washington 
 to pay his respects, personally, to the Government that had 
 admitted him to its service. After the voice of the Ameri- 
 can people had called him to the Presidency, he sometimes 
 amused his friends by relating, in his own charming vein 
 
13 
 
 of conversational pleasantry, the circumstances of that, his 
 first visit to the world of fashion and greatness. All iinac- 
 customed to the compHcated details of court etiquette, with 
 the freedom of a young backwoodsman, he made his way 
 directly to the White House, to thank the President for the 
 commission with which he had honored him. His entrance 
 was effected, as it were, by main force. As the "latch 
 string was not out," loud and repeated rappings at last 
 brought a servant to the door, who inquired " why he did 
 not ring the bell]" That was a convenience to which 
 Western civilization had not then attained, and entirely 
 beyond the sphere of his experience. How striking the 
 contrast between his first approach to that threshold, when 
 his unsophisticated simplicity evoked the contemptuous 
 rebuke of its menials, and the day when the voice of an 
 applauding and rejoicing nation opened its gates to receive 
 him, its chosen and legitimate occupant, as the President 
 of the People. 
 
 After performing this dutiful service of grateful patriot- 
 ism, he joined his regiment at New Orleans, under the 
 command of Gen. Wilkinson. Here he was attacked by 
 the yellow fever, and narrowly escaped death. At the 
 breaking out of the war of 1812, he was promoted to a cap- 
 taincy. On the fifth of September of that year, he first 
 brought himself into distinguished notice by the defence of 
 Fort Harrison. I have no time to enter into the details of 
 this gallant action. Suffice it to say that it illustrated, on 
 the part of the youthful commander, a degree of courage, 
 firmness, perseverance and cool judgment, never surpassed 
 and only equalled in all the other great achievements and 
 desperate encounters of his military life. So great was 
 the disparity of force that the transaction seems to tran- 
 scend the possibilities of reality and to belong to the sphere 
 of romance. The triumphant result, which finally crown- 
 ed the struggle, saved the western frontiers from Indian 
 ravages, and inspired the whole country with confidence 
 and enthusiasm. It was the first marked military achieve- 
 ment of the war of 1812, and the first honorary distinction 
 of the kind ever bestowed by the government of this coun- 
 try, was the Brevet commission of Major conferred upon 
 the young hero of Fort Harrison. Captain Taylor's ac- 
 
14 
 
 count of the exploit is written in the same simple and man- 
 ly style that marks the subsequent productions of his pen. 
 We all know with what interest a passage from a ser- 
 mon, in reference to Washington after his miraculous es- 
 cape from the fatal and disastrous field of Braddock's de- 
 feat, has since been regarded. The eloquent and distin- 
 guished preacher, on that oocasion, used these words ; " I 
 may point out to the public that heroic youth. Col. Wash- 
 ington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto 
 preserved in so signal a manner for some important 
 service to the country.' A similar feeling was awakened 
 in the minds of those persons, who, in connexion with the 
 traits in young Taylor's character, considered the circum- 
 stances that made his successful defence of Fort Harrison 
 so truly wonderful. This feeling is expressed in the fol- 
 lowing language published, not long afterwards, by J. C. 
 Breckenbridge — " With a frame fitted for the most active 
 and hardy enterprize, a sanguine temper, an invincible 
 courage, gifted with a rapid discernment, a discriminating 
 judgment, and a deep knowledge of mankind, and possess- 
 ing a heart susceptible of the most generous impulses of 
 humanity, we regard Major Taylor as an officer of pecu- 
 liar promise, and hazard, we believe, but little in the pre- 
 diction that, in the event of war — riding in the tide of mil- 
 iary glory, he will find his true level at the head of the 
 army." When we think of the comparative obscurity in 
 which Major Taylor was destined to pass the long inter- 
 mediate period of his life, and the unexpected, apparently 
 casual, and singularly incidental contingencies which final- 
 ly brought him to notice, and started him on the track of 
 glory and greatness, the language of Breckenbridge as- 
 sumes the character of one of the most remarkable pro- 
 phetic utterances ever recorded by uninspired pen. 
 
 During the residue of the war of 1812, Major Taylor 
 was employed on what was then the western wilderness 
 frontier, in a series of military services crowded with hard- 
 ships, privations, and fatigue, but removed from all oppor- 
 tunities of brilliant achievement. Subsequently he was 
 stationed, for the chief part of the time, in distant encamp- 
 ments. It was in this Ions interval, while his life seemed 
 
15 
 
 l>st to the view of the wovl.l, tliat he was ripening for the 
 work to which a wise and benignant Providence was at 
 last to call him. 
 
 His tastes and habits were, from the first, singnlarly 
 pare, correct, and temperate. The vices of a camp had no 
 temptations for him. He passed nnliarmcd throngh all 
 the perils of military life. His principles excluded him 
 from the expedients for killing time, which cards, or the 
 race-course, or the convivial feast afford to some. Bnt he 
 could not be idle. His temperament was vivacious to a 
 very extraordinary degree. To no man was it so impossi- 
 ble to sit still and do nothing. Either his hands or his 
 thoughts would, of necessity, always demand employment. 
 From the monotony and vacuity of secluded garrison life, 
 on a peace establishment, books, the pen, or rational dis- 
 course with intelligent companions, were his only resonrce; 
 and they were his chosen, constant, satisfying, and happy 
 resource. Time thus occupied, brought with it improve- 
 ment of mind and heart. He was found by all who con- 
 versed with him, to be an uncommonly well-read man, 
 and his style of composition became a model, never surpas- 
 sed, for all the purposes to which as a writer he had 
 occasion to apply himself. Indeed, but few professed 
 authors equal him, in pure, concise, simple, and manly 
 Saxon English, and his private correspondence and official 
 documents, military and civil, may be profitably studied 
 by all who wish to learn to write well. In conversation, 
 while his modesty sometimes assumed the form of diffi- 
 dence, and always shone with the true lustre of an amiable 
 and most attractive humility, he displayed on all occa- 
 sions, the same clear, coherent, symmetrical intellectual 
 habits which appear in his writings. In gentlemanly 
 courtesy, and easy, familiar, confiding and affectionate 
 cordiality, his manners were most winning — a pleasant 
 humor often sparkled in his remarks, and enabled him to 
 exert an influence over others, such as mere authority or 
 power could never reach. It would be difficult, perhaps, 
 to find among the great authors of this or of other days, a 
 better collection of excellent and well-phrased sentiments 
 than can be culled from his letters and despatches. Of 
 
16 
 
 none are more pithy, and apposite sayings and responses 
 quoted. To the military, political, and patriotic common 
 place book he has made contributions that will never 
 become obsolete. 
 
 He was particularly well informed in the department of 
 history; and the leading incidents in the political, as well 
 as military, annals of this and other countries, were fami- 
 liar to his mind. Of this I can speak with personal knowl- 
 edge. Conversing in reference to his contemplated visit to 
 New England, he showed that his thoughts had been much 
 turned to those objects which we most prize in Massachu- 
 setts, and exhibited a just and accurate appreciation of the 
 part which the merchants and navigators of Salem have 
 ever borne in the developement of the commerce of the 
 country. Among other circumstances of local interest, I 
 happened to refer to the fact that it was here, on the 17th 
 of June, 1774, that the Provincial Assembly of Massachu- 
 setts started the ball of the Revolution, by recommending 
 a Continental Congress. Upon my mentioning that Gov. 
 Gage, hearing that the House was proceeding to adopt that 
 measure, sent his secretary to dissolve it, but that the doors 
 were fastened against him until the work had been accom- 
 plished and the first delegates chosen ; he promptly and 
 happily remarked that the House had a full precedent for 
 refusing to admit the agent of the governor, in the legisla- 
 tive history of the mother country, and cited the passage in 
 the Long Parliament, when Charles the First went down, in 
 person, to the House of Commons, and demanded of the 
 speaker to deliver to his vengeance the five obnoxious 
 members, to which demand the speaker gave this reply : 
 "I have, sir, neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak, in 
 this place, but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose 
 servant I am." Getting no other answer, and no other 
 recognition of his presence, the baffled monarch left the 
 House which, without at that time taking any notice of the 
 intrusion, adjourned as usual. 
 
 His intellectual culture, and skill as a writer, were early 
 known and appreciated by his profession, although the 
 public at large have been strangely reluctant to believe that 
 a soldier could be a student, or the same hand wield both 
 
17 
 
 the sword and the pen. General Gibson, the present 
 venerable head of the Subsistence Department, and also 
 Col. Cutler, formerly of the army, well known and univer- 
 sally esteemed in this community, and who is present to 
 mourn with us the death of his early comrade and constant 
 friend, entered the service the same day with Taylor. — 
 They both bear witness to his talents and virtues. General 
 Gibson has stated that he has been associated with him on 
 seventeen court martials, many of them important and 
 intricate cases, and that in every instance, Zachary Taylor 
 was selected to draw up the opinion of the court. This is 
 justly regarded as "a brilliant testimony to his superior 
 abilities" and cultivation of mind and style. 
 
 In 1819 he was made a Lieut. Colonel, and after serving, 
 for some time, as commandant of several successive West- 
 ern posts, he was ordered to Washington by the Secretary 
 of War, as one of a Board of Army and Militia officers for 
 organizing the Militia of the Union. General Scott was 
 President of the Board. The army was represented by 
 General Eustis, Colonels Taylor and Cutler, and Major 
 Nourse — the militia by General Cadwalader, and Adjutant 
 Generals Daniel and Sumner. Some of the officers wished 
 to keep a portion of the militia in constant service, but 
 Colonel Taylor opposed the suggestion, as an approach to 
 a standing army, in its most objectionable features, and 
 maintained that the militia should be kept entirely distinct 
 from the regular service, as an institution for the defence 
 of homes and firesides, and that every able bodied man 
 should be in a state of readiness to act in the hour of 
 danger. On another occasion he was ordered to Washing- 
 ton to render the aid of his experience and sagacity in 
 systematizing and organizing the Indian Bureau. 
 
 I have dv/elt upon this point, in justice, not only to 
 Taylor, but the profession to which he belonged. There is 
 a strange idea current, to some extent, in the community, 
 that military men must necessarily be ignorant, barbarous, 
 and unrefined. In their manners, their general intelligence, 
 their tastes, and their morals, they will not suffer, as a 
 class, in comparison with any other. Most of them have 
 3 
 
18 
 
 received an education equal, fo say the least, in some 
 brandies, to that obtained in our higliest colleges. A man 
 like Taylor, of abstemious habits, and of a naturally ener- 
 getic mind, stationed for long years in command of a 
 remote, wilderness-embosomed garrison, beyond the reach 
 of the entertainments and amusements of crowded society, 
 would necessarily be driven to the use of the library with 
 which each post is furnished, to much serious conversation 
 with his brother officers and their families, and to frequent 
 trains of meditation and reflection. Looking at the world 
 from that far off retirement, beyond the local and transi- 
 tory excitements of passion and delusions of prejudice, 
 which gather over the thickly peopled haunts and turbu- 
 lent multitudes of men, perhaps a naturally thoughtful 
 person would draw wiser lessons from the succession of 
 events than the more engrossed participators in the scenes. 
 Then, besides all this, the commandants of those distant 
 posts are charged with the oversight of large tracts of 
 country, and the responsible control, not only of their own 
 garrisons and forces, but of Indian tribes, traders, settlers, 
 and missionaries. When these things are fully considered, 
 it will be seen that the circumstances of his life were well 
 adapted to prepare Taylor for the destiny in reserve for 
 him. 
 
 At length the crisis, that was to develope the great 
 character he had been forming, and to fulfil the prediction 
 of Breckenridge, published to the world, twenty years 
 before, came on. The circumstances that led to, and 
 attended the Florida war, are yet fresh in the general 
 remembrance. For years it defied the power, and the 
 skill, of the administrations whose Indian policy had 
 brought it on. Millions upon millions of the public money 
 had been expended in vain, and all the generals of the 
 army, one after another, had been stripped of their laurels, 
 in fruitless attempts to reduce the savage foe. In the mean 
 time conflagration, murder, and devastation swept over 
 that unhappy country, and threatened to extend to the 
 heart of Georgia and Alabama. 
 
 A court of Inquiry was held at Frederick, in Maryland, 
 at which General Scott was required to appear in explana- 
 
19 
 
 tion of llie failure of all the attempts that had been made, 
 under his immediate command, as well as the command of 
 others, and* vvhicli had been attended with such fearful 
 sacrifice of life, and enormous expenditures of money. — 
 General Atkinson was a member of the Court, and was 
 consulted by the perplexed and despairing administration 
 on the subject. He told them that there was one man in the- 
 army who could finish the Florida war, and that man was 
 Colonel Taylor. Of him he could speak with confidence, 
 for as Colonel of the First Regiment of Infantry, Taylor 
 had served under him through the Black Hawk war, and 
 for many years had discharged the office of Indian Agent 
 over a large tract of country in the west, and both in 
 warfare with them, and administration over them, had 
 displayed abilities, either to grapple with the native tribes, 
 or control them by peaceful influences, which had never 
 been surpassed. His advice was followed, and the Florida 
 war was finished by a single blow. The Indian forces 
 were collected in a dense hammock, which neither artillery 
 nor cavalry could approach, separated by a swamp three 
 quarters of a mile wide, from the point which Taylor had 
 reached. He stated to his oflicers, in consultation, that the 
 alternative was before them, either to submit to the same 
 failure that had attended all previous operations in that 
 disastrous and humiliating war, and abandon the country 
 to ravage and ruin, or wade through the intervening 
 swamp, and drive the enemy from his stronghold. On the 
 passage many would undoubtedly fall, but the remainder 
 would reach the hammock and end the war. His officers 
 promptly agreed to follow wherever he would lead them, 
 and the dread sacrifice was deliberately encountered. The 
 wheehcarriages and horses were left behind, and the army 
 advanced. At each step they plunged to the knees in mud 
 and water, and struggled on through the thick, coarse and 
 tall " saw grass," receiving the deadly and unerring fire of 
 the Indians, all the while. When they came near to the 
 hammock the Indians rushed desperately out, and for a 
 time, the struggle was hand to hand. Two colonels, a 
 captain, and two lieutenants with twenty-one men were 
 killed on the field. Of the battle of Okee chobee, as of 
 
20 
 
 every otlier action under his command throughout his 
 whole service, it miglit be said with truth that no other 
 man would have fought it, and no other man could have 
 won it. On this occasion he displayed that deep sensibility 
 for the sufferings of the wounded, which was ever a 
 marked characteristic. In his despatch to the government, 
 he uses these words : "I trust I may be permitted to say, 
 that I experienced one of the most trying scenes of my life, 
 and he, who could have looked on it with indifference, has 
 nerves very differently organized from my own. Besides 
 the killed there lay one hundred and twelve wounded ofli- 
 cers and soldiers, who had accompanied me one hundred 
 and forty-five miles, most of the way through an unex- 
 plored wilderness, without guides, and who had to be 
 conveyed back through swamps and hammocks, from 
 whence we set out, without any apparent means of doing 
 it." By encouraging his men, and sharing their labors 
 and privations, and by his indefatigable energy, the 
 wounded were carried on litters, constructed from the trees 
 around them, and with much less suffering than was to 
 have been expected. His letter, announcing the victory, 
 was written, as stated in a postscript, on a stump, in the 
 middle of a swamp, the night after the battle, by the light 
 of a pine torch, on the only piece of paper in the camp, and 
 evinces his usual modesty, condensing many details into a 
 very small compass. For this great action which was 
 fought on the 25th of December, 1837, President Van Buren 
 bestowed upon him the commission of Brigadier General 
 by Brevet. 
 
 He not only conquered the Indians, but he secured their 
 good will, and by protecting their rights made them feel 
 that he was their friend. His youthful exploit at Fort 
 Harrison had given security to the North-western frontier, 
 and he had now redeemed the south-eastern shores of the 
 Union from the horrors of Indian war, and established his 
 reputation as a great commander, and a soldier of tran- 
 scendant courage and humanity. He continued in Florida 
 until 1840, when he was relieved of the command at his 
 own solicitation. While there some negroes were captured, 
 in his conflicts with the Indians. Certain persons from 
 
21 
 
 Georgia and Alabama claimed them as iheir runaway 
 slaves. He refused to deliver them up as such, and insist- 
 ed upon regarding them as his prisoners of war. His com- 
 mission, he said, gave him no judicial powers, and he had 
 come to Florida to conduct the war against the Indians, 
 not to be a slave-catcher. The pretended owners carried 
 their complaints to the Secretary of War. On the 10th of 
 May, 183S, an order was issued from Washington to Tay- 
 lor to deliver up the negroes. This order he refused to 
 obey in a despatch, dated Tampa, Florida, June 2, 1838, 
 of which the following noble language is the substance : — 
 " I must state distinctly, for the information of all concern- 
 ed, that, while I shall hold myself ever ready to do the 
 utmost in my power to get the Indians and their negroes 
 out of Florida, as well as to remove them to their new 
 homes west of the Mississippi, I cannot for a moment 
 consent to meddle in this transaction, or to be concerned, 
 for the benefit of Mr. Collins, the Creek Indians, or any one 
 else ; or to interfere in any way between the Indians and 
 their negroes, which may have a tendency to deprive the 
 former of their property, and reduce the latter from a com- 
 parative state of freedom to that of slavery.'' Where is the 
 politician, where is the man, who has done so much for the 
 poor slave as Zachary Taylor did, in this case 1 He put 
 his commission, just before so gloriously won, at stake, in 
 standing between these captive negroes and the power of 
 the government. His victories may be forgotten on earth, 
 but this act of heroic humanity is registered on imperisha- 
 ble records in heaven. 
 
 During a brief respite from service, after relinquishing 
 his Florida command. General Taylor visited the northern 
 states for the only time, I believe, in his life. As he never 
 wore any of the badges of a soldier except when on duty, 
 and was unobtrusive and unpretending to an extreme, but 
 few were aware that it was the Florida hero that passed 
 through our midst ; but those persons who happened to 
 make his acquaintance were uniformly charmed with the 
 simplicity of his manners, the benignity of his spirit, and 
 the excellence of his understanding. From a distinguished 
 citizen of this State, now no more, in whose judgment and 
 
22 
 
 sagacity his fellow citizens were accustomed to repose un- 
 limited confidence, and who spent several days in intimate 
 communion with Taylor at a public house in the interior 
 of this State, I received those impressions of his character 
 and principles that prepared me to hail with promptitude 
 and delight the earliest mention of his name for the Presi- 
 dency. 
 
 In 1841 he was ordered to the Arkansas frontier, and 
 was stationed, successively at Fort Gibson, Fort Smith and 
 Fort Jessup. We now approach the circumstances that 
 led to the Mexican War. They need not be recounted. 
 You all are familiar with them. The incidents of that 
 war, particularly as connected with Taylor, have rung 
 through the world, and are graven on all minds. I shall 
 endeavor to treat the subject with all possible plainness, 
 simplicity and brevity. On the 2Sth of May, 1845, a des- 
 patch was issued from the Secretary of War, informing 
 General Taylor that ' information had been received by the 
 Executive of the United States warranting the belief that 
 Texas would shortly accede to the terms of annexation,' and 
 instructing him, in that event, to defend and protect her from 
 ' foreign invasion and Indian incursions.' The despatch 
 revealed the impending rupture with Mexico, as expected 
 by the government in consequence of the annexation of 
 Texas, in the following paragraph : " Should the territories 
 of Texas be invaded by a foreign power, and you shall re- 
 ceive certain intelligence through her functionaries of that 
 fact, after her convention shall have acceded to the terms 
 of annexation contained in the resolutions of the Congress 
 of the United States, you will at once employ, in the most 
 etfective manner your judgment may dictate, the forces 
 under your command for the defence of these territories, 
 and to expel the invaders." 
 
 The reception of these orders compelled General Taylor 
 to solve, without delay, and once for all, a question of per- 
 sonal and professional morals, momentous in its determina- 
 tion, upon his own happiness and prospects, and as the 
 whole world perceives, upon the condition of America in all 
 coming times. The local influences which surrounded him 
 ui his childhood and youth, had shaped his inclmations to- 
 
23 
 
 wards a mililary life. It was not the natural tendency ot" 
 his character. His deepest affections withdrew him from 
 scenes of pubhc and conspicous action, and found their true 
 gratification in the retired domestic circle. From the time 
 of his Florida campaign, this, the original and innate pro* 
 pensity of his heart, had been rising into prevalent force. 
 He had made up his mind to withdraw from the army, and 
 in the retirement of his family, to devote the rest of his 
 days to, what was always his favorite employment, agri- 
 cultural pursuits. He had just matured his arrangements, 
 to resign his commission, and had written to his wife, who 
 had long desired it, to that effect, when the despatch of 
 May 28, 1845, came to hand. The first impulse it gave 
 him was in confirmation of his purpose to resign. He had 
 always freely and strongly expressed his opposition to the 
 annexation of Texas, and he clearly foresaw the disastrous 
 consequences of the policy of territorial extension by con- 
 quest, or to further the' projects of sectional parties. He, 
 therefore, at first thought, was glad to escape from a disa- 
 greeable duty, by executing forthwith a long cherished, and 
 just determined purpose. But, I use his own words as 
 repeated to me by the friend to whom he unbosomed him- 
 self, in the frankness and truthfulness of a soldier's com- 
 munion with the associate of his tent, 'but,' said he, 'upon 
 second thoughts, I remembered that for nearly forty years 
 I had eaten the bread of the country, and 1 felt something 
 rise within me, forbidding me to abandon that country and 
 desert her service at the moment she called me to a 
 difficult, responsible, disagreeable and dangerous duty. 
 Further than this, I was opposed to the impending war, 1 
 was opposed to the acquisition of territory from Mexico, 1 
 was a friend and a lover of peace, and it occurred to me 
 that if the management of the war were in my hands, I 
 might have opportunity, from time to time, to mitigate its 
 severities, to shorten its duration, and facilitate the return 
 of peace, and that the evils threatening the country, from a 
 war with Mexico, might be multiplied and aggravated if, 
 as possibly might be the case, in consequence of my giving 
 way, an ofiicer of totally different views, on these subjects, 
 should succeed to the command. Considerations like these 
 
24 
 
 determined my course, and I abandoned my purposed 
 resignation.' 
 
 Such was the reasoning which satisfied General Taylor 
 that it was his duty to obey the orders of his government, 
 and proceed to the post and the part assigned him. It 
 seems to me that he reasoned hke a man of honor, a patriot, 
 and a statesman. On this point there may possibly be 
 difference of opinion, but there can be none, of the sin- 
 cerity, the magnanimity, and the fidelity to his own con- 
 science, with which he acted — there can be none that the 
 glory of the country was enhanced, and the baleful effects 
 of the war, in all particulars, lessened by his decision of 
 the question. Whoever bears the statement I have now 
 made in mind, will find that it sheds a clear and steady 
 light upon all his subsequent actions, and interprets into a 
 noble consistency the whole tenor of his despatches and 
 correspondence. I leave it to the thoughtful speculator 
 and moralizer upon the current of human events, and the 
 strange tissue of sequences in the history of mankind, and 
 the unfathomable mysteries of the Providence that rules 
 over the destinies of nations and the spirits of men, to 
 trace the results ot the process of thought that passed 
 through the breast of the commandant of Fort Jesup in 
 his solitary and silent seclusion, to himself, to his country, 
 and to future generations, and to compare them with what 
 would have been the probable consequences had he reach- 
 ed an opposite conclusion, and made way for an oflacer to 
 lead the army against Mexico, devoted to the annexation 
 policy of that day, delighting in scenes of war, imbued 
 with the spirit of conquest for the mad purpose of sectional 
 aggrandizement, and having no higher or other ambition 
 than to revel in the Halls of the Montezumas. 
 
 In obedience to orders General Taylor proceeded to Cor- 
 pus Christi. Early in March, 184G, he moved forward to 
 the banks of the Rio Grande, opposite Matamoras, where 
 a camp was constructed, since known as Fort Brown. — 
 About twenty-five miles to the east of Fort Brown, was 
 Point Isabel, where he had established his depot. Having 
 reason to apprehend that Mexican forces had crossed the 
 river both above and below his position, and that their 
 
25 
 
 object was to cut oil' his supplies at Point Isabel, he lias- 
 teiied, with his main forces, back, on the first of May to 
 that place, leaving a detachment to defend Fort Brown.— 
 On the 3d of May, a heavy cannonade was heard from the 
 direction of Fort Brown, and it was continued at intervals 
 day after day. Fearing that the small force left there 
 would be overpowered, he hastened the defences of Point 
 Isabel, and on the 7th of May, reported to the Department 
 his departure, with his troops, to the relief of Fort Brown. 
 In that letter, he says, "If the enemy oppose my march, 
 in whatever force, I shall fight him." On the next day 
 was fought the battle of Palo Alto, and on the next that of 
 La Resaca de la Palma. Monterey was stormed and ta- 
 ken on the 21st, 22d and 23d of September. These victo- 
 ries electrified the nation, startled into admiring v/onder the 
 Field Marshals of Europe, and were applauded throughout 
 the world. They, at once, raised the character of our 
 country abroad; and every traveller, or navigator, or 
 trafficker, in foreign lands, and on remotest shores, has ex- 
 perienced the benefits resulting from the heroic and mag- 
 nanimous achievements of the army of the Rio Grande. 
 
 Although on the battle field no commander, in any age, 
 has exhibited a more admirable combination of traits than 
 Taylor, it was not on the battle field that his brightest 
 glories were won. In a letter to the Department, he once 
 remarked, " The task of fighting and beating the enemy is 
 among the least difficult that we encounter." I believe 
 that persons competent to judge in such matters, when 
 they trace Taylor's career in the Mexican War, from Fort 
 .fesup to Buena Vista, and compare the results with the 
 means, are of opinion, that in the transportation, subsist- 
 ence, distribution, and application of his forces, he display- 
 ed a genius and wisdom, a fertility of resources and expe- 
 dients, a discernment, comprehension, and sagacity, never 
 surpassed. 
 
 It seems from the documents published by Congress that 
 Major (now Lieut. Colonel) Graham, of the Topographical 
 Engineers, one of the most scientific and accomplished 
 officers of the army, was sent by the government with a 
 letter to Taylor in answer to his despatches, giving 
 4 
 
26 
 
 information of ihc storming of Monterey. The communi- 
 calion from the Secretary was couched in terms that gave to 
 the whole document the air and tone of a rebuke, almost of 
 a reprimand, for the mild and favorable terms of capitula- 
 tion granted to the garrison, authorities, and inhabitants 
 of Monterey. It was dated October 13th, 1846. Major 
 Graham reached Monterey on the 2d of November, and 
 dismounting in front of the General's tent, found him sitting 
 outside on a camp-stool enjoying the evening air. Having 
 announced himself he delivered his package and the 
 General invited him into the tent — a candle was lighted, 
 and the despatches were opened — Major Graham was not 
 acquainted with the character of the communication from 
 the government, although, from some indications, he had 
 been led to suspect that it might not be in the most favora- 
 ble language. He was curious to see, in case it should 
 convey a rebuke, how the old hero would bear it. Holding 
 the light near the paper the General read it through — and 
 quietly turning to his adjutant, as he laid it down, said, 
 " The President does not like our capitulation very well, I 
 only wish we could have the pleasure of his company, here 
 in our camp, for a few weeks. Perhaps he would then 
 take a different view of the matter." The General again 
 took up the light, and read through his private letters, and 
 as he placed them aside, commenced a conversation with 
 Graham, as follows : "Major, as you came through the 
 country, how did you find the crops?" and in a very easy 
 and cheerful discussion of the prospects of the season in 
 the States, and matters of that sort, the evening pas.sed 
 away. 
 
 I mention this familiar anecdote to show tlie perfect 
 command of temper, the cheerful dignity of mind, which a 
 sense of rectitude imparts, raising the character above the 
 reach of the irritations, and resentments, that embitter the 
 lives, and destroy the usefulness, of those who allow their 
 happiness to be subject to the injustice and ingratitude of 
 others. 
 
 General Taylor's reply to the Secretary's despatch will 
 be read with interest and pride by his countrymen to the 
 end of time. In it he was not afraid or ashamed to say 
 
27 
 
 that a regard for the siifterings of the foe had weight, in 
 determining his conduct of the war. "The consideration 
 of humanity was present to my mind during the confer- 
 ence which led to the convention." Those words, fellow- 
 citizens, we have inscribed on our banner — we have written 
 them on our hearts ; and when war and all its works shall 
 have been abandoned, and the glories of common heroes 
 grown dim, in the light of a true civilization, those words 
 will shed an ever-brightening lustre upon the name of 
 Taylor. In this letter he reiterates his earnest desire for 
 peace, and justifies his "liberal treatment of the Mexican 
 army," on the ground that it would have a favorable influ- 
 ence to that end. His advice to the government, freely and 
 frequently given, was to occupy only so much of Mexico as it 
 was their purpose to retain by treaty at the end of the war, 
 or, at most, so much as was necessary to command and 
 secure that contemplated boundary, and not to push inva- 
 sion beyond such a " defensive line," as he termed it. For 
 none of the bloodshed, and misery produced, by the 
 advance upon the city of Mexico from Vera Cruz, is he 
 responsible. He never concealed his sentiments, that the 
 less of Mexican conquests the better. 
 
 But I must hasten to the last great battle of Taylor's 
 life — and here I feel the attractiveness and the embarrass- 
 ment of the theme — I have no relish for military scenes — I 
 hold, as is well known, I believe, by my fellow-citizens, 
 to the truth, and to the practicableness, of Peace Princi- 
 ples — I think we are nearer, than is imagined, the point at 
 which the civilized nations will, by general agreement, 
 disarm themselves as against each other. The last official 
 act of President Taylor is, I believe, the first act in the 
 drama, whose falling curtain will shut out war forever 
 from the sight of Christendom. But, so long as my country 
 maintains a military establishment, I will be just to the 
 virtues of all belonging to it. We may hope and trust that 
 there will be no more war, in the annals of the American 
 Union. But let us not be insensible to great and noble 
 traits, even when developed on the battle field. Who can 
 close his eyes to the wonderful mental and moral power, 
 displayed by General Taylor, in all his hard fought 
 
2^ 
 
 conflicts, parlicularly on the terrible plateaus of Buena 
 Vista? He preserved the serene and even tenor of his 
 mind in scenes which the imagination shudders to con- 
 template, while the air was darkened by the hurtling 
 messengers of death, and the foe was advancing on all 
 sides with overwhelming numbers, calmly surveying the 
 whole field, providing for exigencies, repairing breaches, 
 and improving all advantages. No wonder that his coun. 
 trymen came to the conclusion that a mind, bearing itself, 
 in such circumstances, steadily and firmly, and exercising 
 its faculties, with as much discrimination, freedom and 
 ease, as by the domestic fireside, or in the quietness of the 
 closet, must be competent to every position. 
 
 There were other battles, afterwards^, displaying great 
 heroism and generalsliip, in the valley of Mexico, and the 
 page of foreign history, from the opening to the close of 
 the volume, is red with the record of bloody conflicts be- 
 tween hosts, many, many times more numerous ; but the 
 drama, the romance, and the canvass, will forever claim 
 Buena Vista, as the battle of battles. The heroic charac- 
 ter, as manifested in scenes of war, may be considered as 
 having reached its final consummation and grandest dis- 
 play, in the bearing of General Taylor on that fearful day. 
 In the freedom of familiar conversation he told a gentle- 
 man, well known to many of you, that during the most 
 critical hours of the engagement, he several times had it 
 upon his lips to encourage his officers and men by remind- 
 ing them of the resemblance between their situation and 
 that of the English army at Agincourt. I have often thought 
 that no painter could delineate the appearance and demean- 
 or of Taylor, on the field of Buena Vista, in more living 
 lines than those in which the great dramatist describes 
 Henry Fifth — 
 
 " Upon his face there is no note 
 ' ' How dread an army hath enrounded him , 
 ' ' Nor doth he dedicate one jot of color 
 " Unto the weary and all-watched night ; 
 " But freshly looks, and over-bears attaint 
 " With cheerful semblance." 
 '•' A largess, universal like the sun, 
 " Ilia libera! eye doth give to every one, 
 " Thawing cold fear."' 
 
29 
 
 WliGii disheartened subordinates expressed their despair, 
 lie answered ihein in the spirit of "Harry of England " to 
 his terror-stricken nobles : 
 
 " 'Tis true that we are in great danger, 
 " The greater therefore should our courage be." 
 
 Wherever he appeared men '' plucked comfort from his 
 looks." 
 
 Among the various published anecdotes, illustrative of 
 the deportment of Taylor, that day, I have time to re- 
 late but one. Colonel Jefierson Davis, commander of the 
 Mississippi Regiment, now Senator in Congress from that 
 State, for a short time a member of Taylor's family, having 
 married one of his daughters, who died young, but a de- 
 cided political opponent, was seriously and painfully 
 wounded. The General hearing of it, sought him out, 
 during the battle, and sat down by his side. As Colonel 
 Davis described his appearance, " the firm determination 
 on his brow seemed to be struggling, with an expression of 
 deep sorrow for those who had fallen." He was asked 
 what his purpose was, in the apparently desperate condi- 
 tion of the day, and perhaps it was suggested by some one 
 present, whether a retreat might not become necessary. 
 His answer was, " my wounded are behind me, and I 
 shall never pass them alive." I know not where, in an- 
 cient or modern story, a saying can be found to be com- 
 pared in pathos, in beauty, in sublimity of spirit, with this. 
 The gallant and honorable gentleman, who related this 
 anecdote in the midst of a canvass against the election of 
 Taylor, and who never fails to do justice to the character 
 of his commander, father and friend, watched over his 
 death bed and was with him in his dying hour, thus re- 
 ciprocating the kindness which flew to his comfort and re- 
 lief, and sympathised with his sufl'erings, when bleeding 
 on the battle-field. 
 
 The extraordinary modesty of General Taylor, and the 
 fact that, after all, his mind did not take pleasure in the 
 recollection of the scenes of war, led him to be rather re- 
 luctant to talk much about his battles, but it happened to 
 be my privilege, accompanied only by one of his military 
 
30 
 
 friends, to liear from his own lips a minute and graphic 
 account of his experiences throughout the entire period of 
 the battle of Buena Vista. He told me that during the 
 whole of the second day he fully expected to die ; that he 
 bore, each moment, the thought that it might be his last — 
 that on no other similar occasion of his life did he carry 
 such a feeling. He showed me where his clothes were 
 perforated by balls. The external outline of his coat- 
 sleeve, just below the shoulder of his right arm, was cut 
 away, as also the linen and flannel under garments, and 
 the skin was blackened and burnt but not torn, and two 
 bullets perforated, each several times, the folds of his coat 
 as it flapped loose at his right side, within an inch of his 
 person, and about three inches apart, one above the other. 
 These statements he made in connection with an an- 
 swer in the negative to my enquiry whether he had ever 
 been wounded. I then told him that, believing in a par- 
 ticular Providence, I had sometimes thought that his life 
 had been thus remarkably preserved for some great pur- 
 pose of usefulness to his country.% With the most striking 
 and delightful meekness of manner, the color coming to his 
 cheek, and his eye moistening as he spoke, he said that the 
 preservation of his life had indeed been wonderful, and 
 then went on to express a hope that his countrymen would 
 all do him the justice to believe, that it was the farthest 
 possible from his own wishes or thoughts ever to have been 
 brought forward for the Presidency, and that all he could 
 say was that he should do his utmost to fulfll the obliga- 
 tions of the ofiice into which the course of events had 
 brought him. He humbly hoped, he said, that he might 
 be of service to his country, and that my sentiment might 
 be justified by the result. 
 
 After this very interesting passage he recurred to the 
 subject of the battle, narrated his movements during both 
 its days and nights, the particulars of the critical moment 
 when the fate of the day hung upon the service of Colonel 
 Bragg's pieces, and the facts connected with the strange 
 and inexplicable flag that came to him from Santa Anna. 
 
 As this incident of the battle may ]iossibly, if the secret 
 history of the war is ever fully revealed, be found to shed 
 
31 
 
 light upon It, I will here record the facts, related to me by 
 General Taylor himself. During the height of the conflict 
 a flag was seen approaching. The emergencies of the day 
 had so stripped him of his stafi", that, having no one to 
 send, he went himself to meet it. As the young oflicer 
 who bore it could not speak English, nor he Spanish, the 
 conference took place in French. The communication was 
 this: — " General Santa Anna desires to know what Gener- 
 al Taylor wan?^ .^" Feeling somewhat indignant that a 
 message, so apparently impertinent, should have been sent 
 at such a moment, and regarding it as perhaps a device 
 merely to gain time or some other illegitimate advantage, 
 or, at the best, as a species of trifling, he gave an answer 
 dictated by the feeling of the moment — " What General 
 Taylor wants is General Santa Anna's Army." Here the 
 conference closed, and the Mexican officer withdrew. — 
 Upon a moment's reflection, he regretted that he had given 
 an answer, so undiplomatic, and having so much the air 
 of a repartee. He called to mind the fact that his govern- 
 ment had advised him that they had favored the return of 
 Santa Anna to Mexico, from a belief that he was disposed 
 to promote, and might have influence enough with his 
 countrymen to effect, a termination of the war, and it oc- 
 curred to him that the mysterious message might have 
 been really designed to open the way for negotiation, and, 
 perhaps, pacification — an object ever near to his heart. 
 He rode over the field in search of General Wool, made 
 known the circumstances to him, and suggested, if not too 
 great a personal exposure, the expediency of his carrying 
 a flag to the Mexican lines to ask an explanation of the 
 message. To send an officer of his rank, character and 
 position would remove the indignity, if it should be so re- 
 garded, of his blunt and summary answer. General Wool 
 readily and gallantly undertook the service, and rode forth 
 to execute it, but the fire of the Mexican batteries could 
 not again be stopped and no further parley took place. 
 The next morning, when Colonel Bliss was sent with a 
 flag to the Mexican Head Quarters, he was requested to 
 ascertain what had been intended by the message of the 
 previous day, but he found the state of things such as to 
 
32 
 
 render it vain to enter upon the sulyect. Tlie import of 
 the message remains unriddled to this hour. Santa Anna 
 can undoubtedly solve the enigma. 
 
 In the conversation from which I derived these interes- 
 ting items of information, General Taylor described to me 
 the anxious consultations of the second night of the battle. 
 His officers came to him, one after another, expressing a 
 decided opinion that his army was too much broken to be 
 brought up to the struggle another day. He declared to 
 them his belief that, dreadfully as his forces had suffered, 
 the enemy had suffered worse, that retreat or any other 
 alternative was entirely out of the question, that he had 
 made his arrangements to present, still, a formidable front 
 to the foe, and that all that remained for them was to 
 make up their minds to conquer or die together, if the 
 assault upon their position should be renewed with the 
 returning light. "But," said he, "gentlemen, it will not 
 be renewed. I surveyed the whole field as the sun went 
 down, and I believe we have beaten the enemy." 
 
 When the third day dawned it was discovered that Santa 
 Anna had fled from the ground. General Taylor instantly 
 ordered a train of wagons, provided with medical and 
 other means of relief, and accompanied by surgeons from 
 his own army, to follow on the track of the Mexicans, and 
 administer to the wants of the wounded and disabled whom 
 they had abandoned on their retreat. Upon some one's 
 expressing a doubt whether such a use of the public stores 
 and wagons, for the benefit of the enemy, would be allowed 
 by the Department, Taylor cut the difficulty short, at once, 
 by saying, " then I will pay the bill"— and to provide for 
 the contingency, he directed a separate account to be kept 
 of all that was expended for the purpose. 
 
 Immediately after the battle of Buena Vista, General 
 Taylor received another rebuking communication from the 
 Government, occasioned by his having written a private 
 letter to General Gaines, without any view on his part to 
 publication, but which that officer thought it not improper 
 to give to the press. His answer, dated the 3d of March, 
 1847, is one of the most celebrated documents that proceed- 
 ed from his pen. But the transcendant glory achieved by 
 
33 
 
 llie great victory of Biiena Vista, at once, rendered all at- 
 tempts to make head against him, perfectly futile. Neither 
 the frowns of Government, nor the power of parties, could 
 come between the people of America, and the man of their 
 choice. 
 
 At the close of the year 1847, General Taylor returned 
 to the United States. He was received every where with 
 enthusiasm, and taken to the hearts of the people. The 
 tide of his popularity could not be stemmed. The whig 
 party nominated and elected him to the Presidency. The 
 manner in which he bore himself throughout that canvass 
 still commands, and ever will, the admiration of all liberal 
 and patriotic minds. He resorted to no artifices — lent 
 himself to no party schemes — descended to no indirect 
 means — and could neither be threatened, nor flattered, nor 
 entrapped into any snare. He treated all parties, all sec- 
 tions, all rivals, and all opponents, fairly, justly, frankly 
 and respectfully. In the great political battle, he exhibited 
 the same qualities, as on the tented field, and a victory, 
 equally brilliant, perched upon the standard committed to 
 his hands. 
 
 His inaugural address breathed the sentiments of a 
 patriot of the Union. His annual message to Congress 
 showed that he duly estimated every interest of every 
 section of the confederacy ; and the industry, the enterprise, 
 the peace, and the harmony of America found in him a 
 faithful and an eloquent advocate and guardian. That 
 message was conceded, on all hands, to be a document of 
 unsurpassed dignity, force, and elegance, and was circu- 
 lated with the highest encomiums, in other lands. His 
 conduct of the foreign relations, under very complicated 
 and embarrassing circumstances, preserved the peace, and 
 upheld the honor of the country. His services in this 
 department of the Administration, alone, sufficiently dem- 
 onstrate the benignity of the Providence that raised him to 
 power. His line of policy was so clearly that marked out 
 by the Constitution, and demanded for the security, and 
 the true glory of America, that probably all subsequent 
 administrations will feel constrained to follow it, as the 
 6 
 
34 
 
 only sure chart. The manner in which he discharged the 
 momentous trust, thrown into his hands, in reference to the 
 Mexican territory brought under our empire by conquest 
 and treaty, — without the directing aid of legislation by 
 Congress, without precedent, and without any certain 
 constitutional landmarks to guide him, will be more fully 
 appreciated, as the lapse of time reveals the wisdom with 
 which he foresaw, and provided for approaching, and if 
 not thus provided for, fatal difficulties. And he bore him- 
 self in his high office so unobtrusively, quietly, and meekly, 
 that only the results brought to light the laborious vigilance 
 and care, and the indomitable firmness and energy, with 
 which the machinery of the government was, all the while, 
 working under his strong hand. 
 
 But the results were, at length, beginning to appear, and 
 the discernment of the American people, indeed, I may 
 say, the intelligence of the world, was recognizing the fact 
 that our country, and so far as our country may influence 
 the condition of others, the age, were enjoying the incalcul- 
 able blessing of a wise and faithful government ; that the 
 great interests of the great public were guarded by the care 
 and by the power of a righteous ruler, of one, in whose 
 purity of life, integrity of purpose, and efficiency of action, 
 all could safely repose. At this moment, it has pleased 
 that Providence whose ways are past finding out, suddenly 
 to darken over our noon-day. 
 
 The death-scene of President Taylor was in harmony 
 with his life. No language of mine is needed to paint that 
 scene before you. He died in the House of the people, and 
 their hearts, taking the wings of imagination, bore them 
 all, in vision and in affection, to his bed-side ; and they 
 weep as children around the grave of a father. Among 
 the incidents of his sickness and death, all of which will 
 . be ever borne in aftectionate remembrance by the Ameri- 
 can people, I will notice particularly two only. 
 
 It was related at the time of the death of William the 
 Fourth, the noble-hearted Sailor-King of England, that, 
 upon being informed that human aid could no longer avail 
 him, and that he had but a few moments more to live, he 
 
35 
 
 raised himself from his pillow, directed his physicians to 
 kneel at his bed-side, and knighted them both on the spot. 
 This always appeared to me one of the most beautiful 
 actions ever performed by dying or living man. Great in 
 all cases is the responsibility of the physician. In cases 
 where the position and character of the patient attract 
 largely and widely the public attention and interest, that 
 responsibility becomes sometimes truly oppressive. To 
 remember the claims of those whom the sick find among 
 the best, and the dying among the last, of friends, at such 
 a moment, shows a generous considerateness, a grateful 
 sense of justice, proving a superior magnanimity of charac- 
 ter. Our dying President, whose most prominent trait, 
 perhaps, was a thoughtful regard for others, reflecting upon 
 the suddenness and rapidity with which his disease had 
 accomplished its work, taken in connection with his known 
 excellent constitution and tenacity of life, and bearing, 
 perhaps, in mind the prevalent controversies about conflict- 
 ing systems of medical treatment, thought that, possibly, 
 some criticisms might arise in reference to the management 
 of his case, and when he had but a few short moments, and 
 no strength, to spare, he took pains to perform an act of 
 justice, and in phrases drawn from military images, among 
 his last words bore testimony to his grateful confidence, 
 and entire satisfaction, in his faithful physicians — " You 
 have fought a good fight, but you cannot make a stand." 
 
 He had a loving heart. The retired and humble scenes 
 and relations in which the domestic and social aflections 
 find their play, were always nobler and dearer to him than 
 what the world calls greatness, and aspires to, as glory. — 
 Dying in a palace, on more than a throne, with all the 
 grandeur of an empire around him, his soul, true to its 
 deepest instincts, found its last earthly refuge in the love 
 of his family and the sympathy of his friends. The lan- 
 guage in which he expressed himself, as he reviewed the 
 service of his hfe, with eternity opening at his feet, and in 
 the presence of the Great Witness, is his true character, 
 and his best eulogy. " I am about to die — I expect the 
 summons soon— I have endeavored to discharge all my 
 
36 
 
 official dulies faithfully— I regret nothing, but am sorry 
 that I am about to leave my friends." He who, in that 
 high place, in that dread hour, could utter these words, all 
 the millions of his countrymen, political supporters and 
 political opponents equally, with one voice, bearing witness 
 to their sincerity and truth, surely was happy in his life 
 and glorious in his death. If when we stand, wailing for 
 the summons, our consciences can make this profession, we 
 need not fear to meet our God. 
 
 Fellow citizens, among the various forms in Avhich the 
 general grief has expressed itself, in this hour of our be- 
 reavement, it has been sometimes said that the death of 
 President Taylor is unseasonable, inasmuch as it has pre- 
 vented the fulfilment of the great purposes, for the welfare 
 of the Union, to which his heart was devoted. I do not so 
 look at the event — neither my religion, nor my politics, 
 allow me to regard his death as unseasonable, or his mis- 
 sion as unfulfilled. He died too soon, indeed, for his family, 
 for our satisfaction and happiness, and for his own reward 
 on earth for his faithful services, and noble adherence to 
 what all will at last acknowledge to be the best interests 
 of union and liberty on this continent. But this is not the 
 scene where virtue and duty are to look for their reward. 
 A work is here to be done. And that work President Tay- 
 lor fully accomplished before he was taken away. 
 
 In his treatment of the piratical and marauding expedi- 
 tion against Cuba he has rebuked, and established a pub- 
 lic sentiment and policy that will finally suppress, the 
 spirit of aggression, the passion for foreign conquest, and 
 the baleful intrigue for sectional aggrandisement, which 
 were threatening to demoralize the land, to overthrow the 
 republican securities of our system, to place the powers of 
 the government in antagonism with the spirit of liberty, 
 to make our country an outlaw among nations, and trans- 
 form the name of America from a bright and shining light 
 into a hateful and lurid meteor, portending violence, 
 outrage, and convulsion to the surrounding world. How 
 wonderful the Providence, that the annexation of Texas, 
 and its complement, the Mexican war, should have raised 
 
37 
 
 lip the man whose energy, patriotism, and wisdom have 
 saved the country from the error and lolly, of which that 
 annexation, and that war, were the fruits ! 
 
 The great object which General Taylor had ever most at 
 heart, as a statesman, was the prevalence of Peace. When 
 on his triumphant return from Mexico, the people of New 
 Orleans welcomed him with an ovation such as Roman 
 conqueror never received, he availed himself of the occasion, 
 in words which reached every heart, to impress his coun- 
 trymen with an adequate sense of the horrors of war. — 
 Every where and always, he declared himself "a peace 
 man," and maintained " a state of peace to be absolutely 
 necessary to the proper and healthful action of our republi- 
 can institutions." In all his writings, private and public, 
 familiar and oflicial, he advocates the policy, and breathes 
 the spirit of Peace — and glorious was the achievement he 
 lived to consummate, in this sacred cause. The last public 
 document to which he attached his signature as President 
 of the United States was the treaty between this country 
 and Great Britain, in reference to the ship canal from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, by which the contracting 
 parties bind themselves to exclude the storms of war from 
 approaching that passage, to persuade all other powers to 
 come into the arrangement, and to exert their influence to 
 establish a like perpetual peace over all other routes of 
 transit across the continent. In his message to Congress 
 of December 4th, 1849, President Taylor first urged the 
 public attention to the establishment of a " highway dedi- 
 cated to the common uses of mankind." " The work," 
 says he, " if constructed under these guaranties, will be- 
 come a bond of peace, instead of a subject of contention 
 and strife between the nations of the earth." The propo- 
 sition was made to the great maritime states of Europe, 
 and on the seventy-fourth anniversary of the day when 
 America declared herself independent of England, and the 
 two powers rushed into open and public war against each 
 other, their diplomatic representatives exchanged, in the 
 city of Washington, the ratification of this covenant of per- 
 petual peace. On the next day. the 5th of July, after his 
 
38 
 
 fatal illness had commenced, the sign and seal of Zaciiary 
 Taylor were affixed to the glorious instrument. He thus 
 fulfilled his mission as the President of Peace, and secured 
 to his name a brighter lustre than all his victories had 
 shed upon it, in having opened an era of diplomacy that 
 will end in establishing " the reign of peace" among and 
 throughout the civilized nations of the earth. 
 
 It is true that the clouds and storms of the controversy 
 between North and South, still lower, and threaten to 
 burst upon us. But even on this subject he had finished 
 his work, and saved the day, for Freedom and the Union. 
 By giving the territories a chance to settle the question for 
 themselves, he has avoided the necessity of subjecting 
 either section of the country to defeat and degradation. 
 The Territories have exercised the powers, secured to them 
 by the treaty with Mexico, and the rights of nature. 
 They have framed constitutions, and good ones, for them- 
 selves ; and no party will be mad enough to take the 
 responsibility, before the people of the free states, and of 
 the civilized world, of keeping them out of the Union, 
 merely because they have consecrated their soil to Freedom 
 forever. President Taylor lived to see the action of the 
 people of New Mexico ; and his sagacious eye beheld, in 
 that event, the certain triumph of his policy. The politi- 
 cians may spend as much time, as they dare, in struggling 
 to " make thunder" for their own private emolument and 
 advancement, out of the subsiding strife of the elements ; 
 
 they shall have been admitted, there will be no more terri- 
 tory left, the storm will blow over, and an unclouded sky 
 bend above the Union, from Atlantic to Pacific shores. If, 
 however, this consummation, so devoutly to be wished, 
 should fail, and slavery be suffered to extend its blight 
 over territory now free, the world will bear witness, that 
 the evil, with all its woes, will lie at the door of those who 
 refused to concur in the recommendations to Congress of 
 President Taylor. But, as I said before, the question is 
 settled, and settled rightly — New Mexico and California 
 
39 
 
 have a jnst claim to come into the Union ; and no party 
 will dare to shut them out much longer. When this result 
 is reached, and the boundless territorial domains of the 
 Union, on this continent, are guarantied to Free Labor, 
 and the untold blessings it brings in its train, the praise, 
 that is due, will be rendered, through all coming genera- 
 tions, to the name of Taylor. 
 
 It was a favorite object of Gen. Taylor to invigorate, in 
 the hearts of the people, a reverence for the character of 
 Washington. This must have been remarked by every 
 one as a prevalent passion, breaking into expression, on all 
 occasions. In no way, indeed, could a greater service be 
 rendered to the country, than by persuading every politi- 
 cian and every citizen, to follow, as Taylor did, the exam- 
 ple and the principles of Washington. It was his glory to 
 be a disciple of Washington. And surely it is a pleasing 
 circumstance, having a poetic interest, and such as an art- 
 ist of sentiment and genius would have arranged, had it 
 been submitted to his choice, that the last public occasion, 
 in which General Taylor ever bore a part, was the com- 
 memoration of the Fourth of July, under the shadow of 
 the grand and magnificent monument, rising at the Capital 
 of the Union, to the memory of the Father of his Country. 
 
 I have now, fellow-citizens, discharged the duty assign- 
 ed to me by our municipal government. I have pronounced 
 the eulogy of Zachary Taylor, by presenting a plain and 
 imvarnished narrative of the actions and services of his 
 life. Upon the subject of his private virtues, and an analy- 
 sis of his character, I shall not, more particularly, enter. 
 Of the former you have, in your affectionate and faithful 
 memories, evidences I need not here repeat, and the latter 
 can be presented better than by any elaborate and length- 
 ened treatise, in a few plain words, — a heart incapable of 
 guile, insensible to fear, and the home of all innocent and 
 honorable affections; and a mind sagacious, clear, and 
 firm. He was faithful to every duty, and equal to every 
 
 EMERGENCY. 
 
 The last days of his political and official life were passed 
 in preparing himself to " maintain against any dangers 
 
40 
 
 that miglit threaten it," the Union of these States, '' to tl>e 
 full extent of the ohligations imposed, and the power con- 
 ferred upon him by the constitution." As American citi- 
 zens, standing around the grave of our great leader, let us 
 now, as the last sentiment with which we honor his mem- 
 ory — a sentiment to which millions of hearts, on both 
 sides of Mason and Dixon's line, will earnestly respond — 
 in his own brave words, resolve and declare, that we will 
 stand by the Stars and Stripes forever, and that wherever, 
 or by whomsoever, the flag of disunion is raised, we will 
 strike it down. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF OCCUPATION, 
 
 Camp near Monterey, JVovcmbcr 8, 1846. 
 
 Sir; In reply to so much of the communication of the Secretary of 
 War, dated October 13th, as relates to the reasons which induced the 
 convention resulting in the capitulation of Monterey, I have the honor 
 to submit the following remarks : 
 
 The convention presents two distinct points: 
 
 First. The permission granted the Mexican army to retire with 
 their arms, &c. Secondly. The temporary cessation of hostilities 
 for the term of eight weeks. I shall remark on these in order. 
 
 The force with which I advanced on Monterey was limited, by 
 causes beyond my control, to about C,000 men. With this force, as 
 every military man must admit who has seen the ground, it was en- 
 tirely impossible to invest Monterey so closely as to prevent the escape 
 of the garrison. Although the main communication with the interior 
 was in our possession, yet one route was open to the Mexicans 
 throughout the operations, and could not be closed, as were also other 
 minor tracks and passes, through the mountains. Had we, therefore, 
 insisted on more rigorous terms than those granted, the result would 
 have been the escape of the body of the Mexican force, with the de- 
 struction of its artillery and magazines; our only advantage being the 
 capture of a few prisoners of war, at the expense of valuable lives and 
 much damage to the city. The consideration of humanity was present 
 to my mind during the conference which led to the convention, and 
 outweighed in my judgment the doubtful advantages to be gained by a 
 resumption of the attack upon the town. This conclusion has been 
 fully confirmed by an inspection of the enemy's position and means 
 since the surrender. It was discovered that his principal magazine, 
 containing an immense amount of powder, was in the cathedral, com- 
 pletely exposed to our shells from two directions. The explosion of this 
 mass of powder, which must have ultimately resulted from a continu- 
 ance of the bombardment, would have been infinitely disastrous, involv- 
 ing the destruction not only of the Mexican troops but of the non-com- 
 batants, and even our own people, had we pressed the attack. 
 
 In regard to the temporary cessation of hostilities, the fact that we 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 are not at tliis monT^nt (williin eleven day? of tlir termination of ilie 
 period fixed by the convention) prepared to raove forward in force, is a 
 sufTicient explanation of tlie military reasons which dictated this sus- 
 pension of arms. It paralyzed the enemy during a period when, from 
 the want of necessary means, we could not possibly move. I desire 
 distincily to state, and to call the attention of the authorities to the 
 fact, that with all diligence in breaking mules and setting up wagons, 
 the first wagons in addition to our original train from Corpus Christi 
 (and but 125 in number) reached my head-quarters on the same day 
 with the Secretary's communication of October loth, viz : the '-2d inst. 
 At the date of the surrender of Monterey our force had not more than 
 ten days' rations ; and even now. with all our endeavors, we have not 
 more than twenty-five. The task of fighting and beating the enemy is 
 among the least difKcult that we encounter : the great question of sup- 
 plies necessarily controls all the operations in a country like this. At 
 the date of the convention I could not, of course, have foreseen that the 
 department would direct an important detachment from my command 
 •without consulting me, or without waiting the result of the main opera- 
 tion under my orders. 
 
 I have touched the prominent military points involved in the conven- 
 tion of Monterey. There were other considerations which weighed 
 with the commissioners in framing, and with myself in approving, the 
 articles of tiie convention. In the conference with General Ampudia I 
 was distinctly told by him that he had invited it to spare the further 
 effusion of blood, and because General Santa Anna had declared him- 
 self favorable to peace. I knew that our government had made propo- 
 sitions to that of Mexico to negotiate, and I deemed that the change of 
 government in that country since my last instructions fully warranted 
 me in entertaining considerations of policy. My grand motive in mov- 
 ing forward with very limited supplies had been to increase the induce- 
 ments of the Mexican government to negotiate for peace. Whatever 
 may be the actual views, or disposition of the Mexican rulers, or of 
 General Santa Anna, it is not unknown to the government that I had 
 the very best reason for believing the statement of General Ampudia to 
 be true. It was my opinion at the time of the convention, and it has 
 not been changed, that the liberal treatment of the Mexican army, and 
 the suspension of arms, would exert none but a favorable influence in 
 our behalf. 
 
 The result of the entire operation has been to throw the Mexican ar- 
 my back more than 300 miles to the city of San Luis Potosi, and to 
 open the country to us, as far as we choose to penetrate it, up to the 
 same point. 
 
 It has been my purpose in this communication not so much to defend 
 the convention from the censure which I deeply regret to find implied 
 in the Secretary's letter, as to show that it was not adopted without 
 cogent reasons, most of which occur of themselves to the minds of all 
 
•43 
 
 who are acquaiiileJ wiili the conJiiion of tilings iiere. To that end I 
 be£i that it may be hiid beioie the general-in-chief and the Secretary of 
 War. I am, sir, very respectfully, 
 
 your obedient servant, 
 
 Z. TAYLOR, 
 Major General U. S. A. commanding- 
 The Adjutant General of the Arnnj, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 You are surrounded by twenty thousand men, and cannot in any hu- 
 man probability avoid suffering a rout and being cut to pieces with 
 your troops ; but as you deserve consideration and particular esteem, 
 I wish 10 save you from a c<ttastrophe, and for that purpose give you 
 this notice, in order that you may surrender at discretion, under the as- 
 surance that you will be treated with the consideration belonging to the 
 Mexican character; to which end you will be granted an hour's time 
 to make up your mind, to commence from the moment when my flag 
 of truce arrives in your camp. 
 
 With this view, I assure you of my particular consideration. 
 
 God and liberty ! 
 Camp at Encanlada, February 22, 1847. 
 
 ANTO. LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA. 
 
 To General Z. Taylor. 
 
 Commanding the forces of the U. S. 
 
 IIEAD-aUARTERS, ARMY OF OCCUPATION, 
 
 ^'^ear Bucna Vista, Feb. 22, 1847. 
 Sir : In reply to your note of this date, summoning me to surren- 
 der my forces at discretion, I beg leave to say thai I decline acceding to 
 your request. With high respect, 
 
 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Z. TAYLOR, 
 Major General U. S. A. Comm'g. 
 Senor Gen. D. Anto. Lopez de Santa Anna, 
 Commanding in chief, Encantada. 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF OCCUPATION, 
 
 Aitgua JVuevu, March 3, 1847. 
 Sir: I have had the honor to receive your communication of Jan- 
 uary 27, cacloaiug a newspaper slip, and expressing the regret of the 
 
44 
 
 departinenl lliat tlie letter copied in tliat slip, and vvliicli was address- 
 ed by myself to Major General Gaines, should have been published. 
 
 Although your letter does not convey the direct censure of the de- 
 partment or the President, yet, when it is taken in connexion with the 
 revival of a paragraph in the regulations of 1825, touching the publica- 
 tion of private letters concerning operations in the field, I am not per- 
 mitted to doubt that I have become the subject of executive disapproba- 
 tion. To any expression of it, coming with the authority of the Presi- 
 dent, I am bound by my duty, and by my respect for his high office, 
 patiently to submit; but, lest my silence should be construed into a 
 tacit admission of the grounds and conclusions set forth in your commu- 
 nication, I deem it a duty which I owe to myself, to submit a few re- 
 marks in reply. I shall be pardoned for speaking plainly. 
 
 In the first place, the published letter bears upon its face the most 
 conclusive evidence that it was intended only for private perusal, and 
 not at all for publication. It was published without my knowledge, 
 and contrary to my wishes. Surely I need not say that I am not in 
 the habit of writing for the newspapers. The letter was a familiar 
 one, written to an old military friend, with whom I have for many 
 years interchanged opinions on professional subjects. That he should 
 think proper, under any circnmstances, to publish it, could not have 
 been foreseen by me. 
 
 In the absence ot proof that the publication was made with my au- 
 thority or knowledge, I may be permitted to say, that the quotation in 
 your letter of the 650lh paragraph of the superseded regulations of 
 1825, in which the terms " mischievous " and " disgraceful " are em- 
 ployed to characterize certain letters or reports, conveys, though not 
 openly, a measure of rebuke, which, to say the least, is rather harsh, 
 and which many may think not wai ranted by the premises. 
 
 Again, I have carefully examined the letter in question, and I do not 
 admit that it is obnoxious to the objections urged in your communica- 
 cation. I see nothing in it which, under the same circumstances I 
 would not write again. To suppose that it will give the enemy valua- 
 ble information touching our past or prospective line of operation, is to 
 know very little of the Mexican sources of information, or of their ex- 
 traordinary sagacity and facilities in keeping constantly apprised of our 
 movements. As to my particular views in regard to the general policy 
 to be pursued towards Mexico, I perceive from the public journals, that 
 they arc shared by many distinguished statesmen, and also, in part, by 
 a conspicuous officer of the navy, the publication of whose opinions is 
 not perhaps obstructed by any regulations of his department. It is 
 difficult, then, to imagine that the diffusion of mine can render any pe- 
 culiar aid to the enemy or specially to disincline him " to enter into ne- 
 gotiations for peace." 
 
 In conclusion, I would say, that it has given mc great pain to be 
 brought into the pooiliun in vAndi I now find myself with regard to the 
 
45 
 
 Department of War and the government. It lias not been of my owa 
 seeking. To the extent of my ability and tiie means placed at my 
 disposal, 1 iiave sought faithfully lo serve the country by carrying out 
 the wishes and instructions of the Executive. But it cannot be con- 
 cealed that, since the capitulation of Monterey, the confidence of the 
 department, and I too much fear, of the President, has been gradually 
 withdrawn, and my consideration and usefulness correspondingly di- 
 minished. The apparent determination of the department to place 
 me in an attitude antagonistical to the government, has an apt illustra- 
 tion in the well known fable of iEsop. But I ask no favor, and I 
 shrink from no responsibility. While entrusted with the command in 
 this quarter, I shall continue to devote all my energies to the public 
 good, looking for my reward to the consciousness of pure motives, and 
 to the final verdict of impartial history. 
 I am, sir, very respectfully 
 
 your obedient servant Z. TAYLOR, 
 
 Major General U. S. A., commanding. 
 Hon. W. L. Maroy, 
 
 Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF OCCUPATION, 
 
 Camp near Montercij, May 19, 1847. 
 
 Sir: I received yesterday your communication of the 10th inst., in 
 which you inform me that you are instructed by the president (substitute) 
 of the republic to address me, in order that I may say, categorically, 
 in reply, " whether my will and my instructions are to wage war con- 
 formably to the law of nations, and as it is waged by civilized coun- 
 tries , or, indeed, as savage tribes carry it on between each other, it 
 being understood that Mexico is disposed and resolved to accept it, such 
 as it may be proposed and waged ; and that he awaits the result in or- 
 der to prescribe the consequent measures." 
 
 Were it not that these instructions are communicated by such highly 
 respectable authority as yourself, I should be slow to believe that they 
 had ever emenated from the chief magistrate of the republic, contain- 
 ing as they do in my judgment, an implied, but not the less deliberate, 
 insult to me and the governmant which I have here the honor to rep- 
 resent. Viewing them in this light, I must decline giving the categor- 
 ical answer required, Avhich I do with all proper respect for his excel- 
 lency the president. 
 
 But as you have thought proper, in communicating. the instructions 
 of your government, to address me somewhat at length on the manner 
 in which the war has been prosecuted on my part, 1 embrace this op- 
 portunity to make a ft- w remarks ou that subject. 
 
 The oulragci to which you have specifically referred, became known 
 
46 
 
 to me soon after llieir occurrence, and I can assure you that neither 
 yourself nor the president of the republic could have felt deeper regret 
 than myself on those occasions. Every means in my power, within 
 the operation of our laws, were employed, but in most cases in vain, to 
 identify and punish the delinquents. I cannot suppose you to be so 
 badly informed as to believe that such atrocities were committed with 
 my connivance or consent, or that they furnish a fair example of the 
 mode in which the war has been conducted in this part of Mexico. 
 They were in truth unfortunate exceptions, caused by circumstances 
 beyond my control. 
 
 It is proper to inform you that, from the moment the American ar- 
 my first entered the territory of Mexico, it has sustained losses ot indi- 
 vidual officers and soldiers, who have been murdered by Mexicans, 
 sometimes almost within sight of its own camp. An outrage of this 
 kind preceded the melanchoiy aff'air at Catana. I do not recall these 
 facts for the purpose of justifying, in any degree, the practice of retali- 
 ation, for my government is at any rate civilized enough to draw the 
 distinction between the lowest acts ot individuals and the general poli- 
 cy which governs the operatioris of an army ; but you have chosen to 
 institute a comparison between our respective governments in their 
 mode of waging war, which cannot pass unnoticed. In this connex- 
 ion let it be remembered that Mexican troops have given to the world 
 the example of killing wounded men upon the field of battle. 
 
 As you adverted to the call upon the people of these States to make 
 good the losses sustained by the destruction of one of our convoys, I 
 beg leave to inform you that that achievement was not confined to 
 Mexican troops, but was largely shared by the rancherosof the country; 
 and that, in the murder and subsequent mutilation of unaniicd drivers, 
 it was marked by an atrocious barbarism unprecedented in the existing 
 war. 
 
 It is with no little pain that I find myself under the necessity of ad- 
 dressing you in a style which I am seldom obliged to adopt, but which 
 is fully provoked by the matter and manner of your communication, 
 objectionable, as I conceive it to be, both in its insinuations and its 
 tone. In regard to the implied threat of reprisals, I beg you to under- 
 stand that I hold it at its just value; and that I am at all times prepar- 
 ed to meet suitably any policy or any mode of warfare which the Mex- 
 ican government or its generals may see fit to adopt. 
 
 I am, sir, very respectiully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Z. TAYLOR, 
 JIajor General United Slates Arnuj, commanding. 
 Senor General D. Ignacio Mora y Villamil, 
 
 Commanding Afjny of the JVorth, San Luis Potosi. 
 
47 
 
 Extract fiom a Irltor lo llie Dnhiinore S'nir. 
 
 Camp near ./\IonUrnj, Mcsiro, Orl. 6, 1840, 
 " We wore now witlun fifty yards of the wall, bcliind which the 
 enemy were laying in perfect security, and at this moment General 
 Taylor rode up in gallant style, accompanied by a young officer. 
 
 Now came the thrilling scene of all. A huge Tennesseean sung 
 out " silence, men— here comes Old Zack — three cheers for Old Zack." 
 Tliree tremendous cheers were now given, until 
 
 "Heaven's broad arch rang back the sound." 
 
 I trembled for his safety, for I expected to see him fall every moment. 
 Great God ! I never can forget that sight. The gallant old soldier 
 turned to the young officer who accompanied him and received Irom 
 him a spy-glass, which he applied to his eye, as if to survey the scene 
 around him. There laid at least four hundred men, shot down ; the 
 general calmly shut up the glass and returned it to the officer, and then 
 riding still nearer the foe, until he was up even with the Tcnnessee- 
 ans, gave the order to " retire." I followed him with my eyes till I 
 saw him beyond the danger of the small arms, and then almost invol- 
 untarily uttered an ejaculation of thanksgiving to the Almighty that 
 his invaluable life was still preserved to his country." 
 
 GEN. TAVEOR-S REPEY TO HIS PROPOSED NOMINATION FOR 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 Head Quarters, Jlrmij of Occupation,}^ 
 Camargo, Mexico, Jiug. 14, 1846. ) 
 
 Hon. Geo. Folsom : Dear Sir,— The mail of yesterday conveyed 
 to me your letter of the 16th of July, accompanying a copy of the reso- 
 lutions recently adopted in New York city, and expressive of the ap- 
 probation of a large numter of citizens, for the recent services of the 
 Army of Occupation. For these expressions our warmest gratitude is 
 due, and they will be lorfg remembered as renewed incentives to exer- 
 tion in the cause of the country. 
 
 For your own very complimentary note, my personal thanks are 
 also due. Permit me to say it is a source of gratulation to me, that 
 the meeting refrained from the meditated nomination ; for the high 
 office in question I have no aspirations. The government has as- 
 signed to me an arduous and responsible duty, in the prosecution of 
 the existing war ; in conducting it with honor to the country, lie all 
 my real aspirations. 
 
 It is with great pleasure, sir, that 1 thus acknowledge the gratitude 
 of the Army for the good opinion and cheering approval of the citizens 
 
48 
 
 of New Ycrk city. With assurances of uur warm appreci;itior. and 
 my own personal wishes for your prosperity in life, I remain, Dear Sir, 
 most sincerely yours, 
 
 Z. TAYLOR, 
 
 Major General U. S. Army. 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF OCCUPATION, 
 
 Jlugua JVueva, Mexico, March 1, 1817. 
 
 Mv Dear Sir : You will no doubt have received, before this can 
 reach you, the deeply distressing intelligence of the death of your sou 
 in the battle of Buena Vista. It is with no witih of intruding upon tlie 
 sanctuary of parental sorrovv, and with no hope of administering con- 
 solation to your wounded heart, that I have taken the liberty of ad- 
 dressing you these few lines: but I have felt it a duty which I owe to 
 the memory of the distinguished dead, to pay a willing tribute to his 
 many excellent qualities, and while my feelings are still fresh, to 
 express the desolation which his untimely loss and that of other 
 kindred spirits has occasioned. 
 
 I had but a casual acquaintance with your son until he became a 
 member of my militnry family, and I can truly say that no one ever 
 won more rapidly upon my regard, or established a more lasting claim 
 to my respect and esteem. Manly and honorable in every impulse, 
 with no feeling but for the honor of the service and of the country, he 
 gave every assurance that in the hour of need I could lean with confi- 
 dence upon his support. Nor was I disappointed. Under the guidance 
 of himself and the lamented McKe^, gallantly did the sons of Kentucky 
 in the thickest of the strife, uphold the honor of the State and the 
 country. 
 
 A grateful people will do justice to the memory of those who fell on 
 that eventful day. But I may be permitted to express the bereavement 
 which I feel in the loss of valued friends. To your son I felt bound by 
 the strongest ties of private regard, and when I miss his familiar face, 
 and those of MeKee and Hardin, I can say with truth, that I feel no 
 exultation in our success. 
 
 With the expression of my deepest and most heartfelt sympathies for 
 your irreparable loss, I remain, Your friend, 
 
 Z. TAYLOR. 
 
 Hon. Hknry Clay, New Orleans, La. 
 
 IIEAD-aUARTERS, ARMY OF OCCUPATION, 
 
 Camp near Monterey, Mexico, May 8, 1847. 
 Sir : Your letter of the 4lh ult., in relation to the remains and ef- 
 
49 
 
 It.'Cis of your mucli lamenteJ son, Captain George Lincoln, has safely 
 reached me. I beg leave to ofTer my heartfelt sympathies with you in 
 the death of this accomplished gentleman, fn his fall you have been 
 hcreaved of a sou of whom you might be justly proud, while the army 
 has lost one of its most gallant soldiers. It is hoped, however, that 
 your deep griet will be assuaged in some degree in the proud reflection 
 that he fell nobly upon the field of battle, while gallantly discharging 
 the duties of his profession. 
 
 I learn from inquiry, that the body of your son was carefully remov- 
 ed from the field immediately after his death, and that it was decently- 
 interred by itself. Its identity is^^therefore, a matter ot certainty. His 
 effects are understood to have been collected with due care, and are now 
 under the direction of Gen. Wool, 
 
 I shall take an early occasion to convey your wishes on this subject 
 to that officer, with the request that he will be kind enough to put the 
 remains and eflects, carefully prepared for transportation, in route for 
 New York or Boston, by the first safe opportunity, and that he vvi'l 
 give you, at the same time, due notice thereof. 
 I am, sir, with great respect, 
 
 Z. TAYLOR, Alajor General United States Army. 
 
 Gov. Levi Lincoln, Worcester, Mass. 
 
 I'XTRACT FROM GENERAL TAYLOR'S SPEECH, AT PASS 
 CHRISTIAN, SEPT'R 17, 1848. 
 
 The battle of Buena Vista, in the circumstances under which it 
 was fought, was one of the most trying occasions in which a soldier 
 can be placed. I may say, indeed, that I fought that battle with a 
 halter about my neck. I had been advised to fall back and occupy 
 Monterey, which, as before stated, I declined, and had I been unsuc- 
 cesfu! this advice would have been brought in judgment against me.— 
 I declined that advice because I believed the result would have been as 
 disastrous as a defeat. Had I fallen back to Monterey, the whole 
 country about me, upon which I was greatly dependent for forage, 
 would have flown to arms. Once confined in Monterey, the volunteers, 
 to say nothing of the effects of the retreat upon them, would have 
 become sickly and dispirited ; and, deprived of all means of obtaining 
 supplies, and particularly forage, I should soon have not had a dragoon 
 or artillery horse in my command, and would therefore have been 
 compelled ultimately to surrender, unless the siege could have been 
 raised by the return of Gen. Scott from Vera Cruz, with the troops 
 under his command. 
 
 The battle of Buena Vista was fought on our side by about 450 
 regular troops and something upwards of 4000 volunteers, while they 
 were opposed by at least 20,000 of the enemy; and had we lost the 
 day, I feel that the whole responsibility of the misfortune would have 
 fallen upon my shoulders. Yet I do not wish here to censure those 
 7 
 
50 
 
 who placed us in tliat critical situation , whether they deserve blanie or 
 not I leave for others to determine. Those who had control over my 
 fate in this transaction may have friends here present, in whose good 
 opinion I would not harm them. For my own part, I am satisfied to 
 hope and believe it was all the result of accident rather than of design 
 on their part. 
 
 ALISON LETTER. 
 
 Saton Rouge, Jlpril 22, 1818. 
 
 Dear Sir — My opinions have so often been misconceived and misre- 
 presented, that I deem it due to myself, if not to my friends, to make a 
 brief exposition of them upon the topics to which you have called my 
 attention. 
 
 I have consented to the use of my name as a candidate for the Presi- 
 dency. I have frankly avowed my own distrust of my fitness for this 
 high station; but, having, at the solicitation of many of my countrymen, 
 taken my position as a candidate, I do not feel at liberty to surrender 
 that position until my friends manifest a wish that I should retire from 
 it. 1 will then most gladly do so. I have no private purposes to 
 accomplish, no party projects to build up, no enemies to punish — 
 nothing to serve but my country. 
 
 I have been very often addressed by letter, and my opinions have 
 been asked upon almost every question that might occur to the writers 
 as affecting the interests of their country or their party. I have not 
 always responded to these inquiries for various reasons. 
 
 I confess, while 1 have great cardinal principles which will regulate 
 my political life, I am not sufficiently familiar with all the minute 
 details of political legislation, to give solemn pledges to exert myself to 
 carry out this or defeat that measure. I have no concealment. I hold 
 no opinion which I would not readily proclaim to my assembled coun- 
 trymen ; but crude impressions upon matters of policy, which may be 
 right to-day and wrong to-morrow, are perhaps not the best tests of 
 fitness for office. One who cannot be trusted without pledges, cannot 
 be confided in merely on account of them. 
 
 I will proceed, however, now to respond to your inquiries. 
 
 First — 1 reiterate what I have so often said— I am a Whig. If 
 elected I would not be the mere President of a party. I would endeavor 
 to act independent of party domination. I should feel bound to ad- 
 minister the government untrammelled by party schemes. 
 
 Second — the veto power. The power given by the Constitution to 
 the Executive, to interpose his veto, is a high conservative power ; but 
 in my opinion, should never be exercised except in cases of clear 
 violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of considera- 
 tion, by Congress. Indeed I have thought that for many years past, 
 the known opinions and wishes of the Executive have exercised an 
 
51 
 
 undue and injunous iiilluence upon the legislative department of the 
 government ; and for this cause I have thought our system was iu 
 danger of undergoing a great change from its true theory. The per- 
 sonal opinions of the individual who has happened to occupy the 
 Executive chair ought not to control the action of Congress upon 
 questions of domestic policy; nor ought his objections to be interposed 
 where questions of constitutional power have been settled by the 
 various departments ofthe government, and acquiesced in by the people. 
 Third— Upon the subject ofthe taritf, the currency, the improvement 
 of our great highways, rivers, lakes, and harbors, the will ofthe people, 
 as esp^ressed through their representatives in Congress, ought to be 
 respected and carried out by the Executive. 
 
 Fourth— The Mexican war. I sincerely rejoice at the prospect of 
 peace. My life has been devoted to arms, yet I look upon war, at all 
 times and under all circumstances, as a national calamity to be 
 avoided if compatible wiih the national honor. The principles of our 
 Government, as well as its true policy, are opposed to the subjugation 
 of other nations and the dismemberment of other countries by conquest. 
 In the language of the great Washington, " Why should we quit our 
 own to s°and on foreign ground ?" In the Mexican war our national 
 honor has been vindicated; and in dictating terms of peace, we may 
 well afford to be forbearing and magnanimous to a fallen foe. 
 
 These are my opinions on the subjects referred to by you, and any 
 reports or publications, written or verbal, from any source differing in 
 any essential particular from what is here written are unauthorized and 
 untrue. 
 
 I do not know that 1 shall again write upon the subject of national 
 politics. I shall engage in no schemes, no combinations, no intrigues. 
 If the American people have not confidence in me, they ought not to 
 give me their suffrages. If they do not, you know me well enough to 
 believe me, when I declare I shall be content. I am too old a soldier 
 to murmur against such high authority. Z. TAYLOR. 
 
 To Capt. J. S. Alison. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF A CHAPLAIN— A Clergyman oflho highest respectability. 
 
 , Jane 1848. 
 
 Sir :— You are no doubt aware that I held the office of Chaplain in 
 the United States Army about six years, being stationed at Fort 
 Jesup, La., and that while at that extreme southern post, I was in 
 daily acquaintance with Brigadier General Z. Taylor. 
 
 I presume it is on this account that you propose to me some ques- 
 tions touching the views of that distinguished individual. I am wil- 
 ling to reply, not because I am a politician or have any personal 
 interest in his nomination for the Presidency— but because I am laid 
 under luslin" obligations to that honest, noble hearted man— and I 
 
52 
 
 would gladly correct some of the gross mislakcs ihat are now alioat 
 concerning his character. 
 
 In politics Gen. Taylor is a Whig— in religion strictly orthodox — 
 but in neither is he extreme, maintaining his well formed opinions 
 with the calm decision which he manifested on ihe field of battle. 
 
 With regard to slavery, and extension of territory, I assure you that 
 neither for a slave market nor any other object was Gen. Taylor in 
 favor of conquest and annexation. He was not in favor of rei'eiving 
 Texas into our Union, nor in favor of the recent war with Mexico. 
 The only evidence of his being in favor of slavery that I ever savv or 
 heard of, was the fact, that he did what every man of the South must 
 do, if he would have servants, viz : either own or hire slaves. 1 do 
 well remember that a part at least of thu colored people living in his 
 family could read well and were very pious. I never heard a word 
 from the General in favor of the slave system, but on the contrary, his 
 decided preference for the institutions and customs of the North. 
 
 It is a pity that General Taylor should be made out a pro-slavery 
 man, because his government keeps him at the South, or for the wrong 
 of allowing his plantation to be on the Mississippi, instead of the banks 
 of the Connecticut. We are allowed to hang no man upon an 
 inference. 
 
 I assure you, that if elected, he will do more for peace and cmancipa- 
 Hon than any Northern man would be allowed to do. 
 
 Gen. Taylor maintains on all occasions, the habit of total abstinence 
 from all intoxicating drinks— and to this he has ascribed his robust 
 health amidst the swamps and campaigns of Florida and Mexico. I 
 would also assure you that nothing could be more unjust and untrue 
 than the assertion that he is a profane man,— it is false allogeiher. 
 He is a bright exception to the common practice of profancness in the 
 army. 
 
 General Taylor is the decided friend of Christianity, and Christian 
 institutions. He was a regular attendant on public worship in the 
 jjarrison, accompanied by his accomplished lady and daughter. 
 
 Mrs. Taylor is a lady of fine appearance and agreeable manners, and 
 a consistent professor of religion. As a family, tiicy appeared to 
 ■observe the Sabbath strictly as a religious duly. 
 
 The General took a deep interest in the welfare of all under his 
 command. No man ever had more the confidence of troops than he — 
 and it was not his courage, kindness and discipline, alone; but his 
 interest iu the temporal and spiritual welfare of the men, that endeared 
 him to the army. Of the more than six hundred men— reformed 
 drunkards — once at Fort Jessup— allowed the benefit of the library, 
 reading room, and every privilege consistent with military life— many 
 obtained their discharge before entering Texas, and returned to their 
 friends and homes, and these with all that shared with their comman- 
 der in conflict and victory, will ever remember him atul love him. 
 Yours, truly. 
 
53 
 
 EXTRACT FROiAI A LETTER OF REV. TIIOSIAS SAVAGE. 
 
 Bedford, J\\ II. Sept. ISlh, 1S4S. 
 Dear Sir,— Since my return from a visit at the South, many inquiries 
 liave been made of me concerning Gen. Taylor, with whom I had 
 repealed interviews, last winter, both in Mississippi and Louisiana. — 
 Such is the solicitude in the public mind on this subject, and so few in 
 this section of the country have any personal knowledge of this 
 distinguished man, that I have thought it my duty to commit to writing 
 my recollections of him, such as were incidentally gathered from a few 
 social calls at his leisure moments. 
 
 Having known something of each other twenty-five years ago at 
 Baton Rouge, where I was then engaged in the Christian ministry, 
 there was probably less of ceremony about our intercourse, than if we 
 had been entire strangers. General Taylor is a man of plain common 
 sense, conversing Ireely on all practical subjects, and with a mildness 
 and modesty you would hardly expect from one who has passed his life 
 amid the scenes of a camp and the hardships of the tented field. 
 
 Gen. Taylor is humane. His victories were obtained, so far as it 
 depended on him, with the least possible loss of human life. He told 
 me thai at the siege of Monterey, tlie extraordinary slaughter was 
 owing in part to a misunderstanding of his orders. His humanity had 
 endeared him exceedingly to the soldiers ; and I am confident it was 
 not for effect, but the honest effusion of his feelings, when he wrote to 
 Mr Clay in view of the loss of brave men—" I feel no exultation in our 
 success." — The following incident that occurred some years ago, was 
 related to me by a gentleman, as we were crossing Lake Ponlchartrain, 
 last April. As we sat, in the evening near tlie bow of the steamboat, 
 conversing on indiflferent subjects, it happened that Gen. Taylor's name 
 was mentioned. He said he saw Col. T. one day towards the close, 
 at the head of his regiment, having marched with them all day. Being 
 mounted himself on a good horse, and knowing the regiment had some 
 miles further to go before halting for the night, he oflfered Col. T. his 
 horse. The Col. thanked him kindly, but declined — saying his soldiers 
 would perform it on foot, and he preferred to do the same. 
 
 In private life, the General is correct and exemplary. He abstains 
 from the use of artificial stimulants. He is circumspect in the use ot 
 language — nothing like profanity, be assured, ever proceeded from his 
 lips. There is nothing of that impetuosity about him that would be- 
 tray him into an oath under any circumstances ; to say nothing of the 
 restraint from higher considerations. 
 
 In company, I believe the General is uniformly affable and commu- 
 nicative. I noticed a slight hesitation in his utterance, which, at first, 
 gives the appearance of embarrassment ; but as the conversation pro- 
 ceeds, it passes away. 1 saw him generally in citizen's dress, and as 
 i listened to his remarks on agriculture or the passing topics of the 
 day, I forgot the hero of Buena Vista in the plainness and simplicity 
 of a private gentleman. You cannot be in his company half an hour 
 
54 
 
 williout a uecp iriiprcssion that, though a gruat warrior, he is a lover 
 of the arts of peace. He converses like a raaa who has tliought mucii 
 and read much in the course of his life, and whose leisure has been 
 devoted to mental cultivation. Indeed, I should think his literary 
 attainments very respectable. 
 
 The likenesses of him that first appeared, represented him with too 
 much of the rough and warlike expression. Some I have lately seen 
 are very correct, but the penetrating, benevolent black eye is wanting 
 to give the reality of life. 
 
 FROM A REPORT OF A SPF.ECII OF CAPT. NAYLOR AT 
 PITTSBURG. 
 
 General Taylor had, united with humility, a power of subordina- 
 tion. He made all men fed that they stood in ihe presence of one who, 
 though humble in his own self-esteem, was one of the greatest men 
 who ever lived. Such was the character he bore among the old sol- 
 diers who had shared with iiim the perils of many a battle. Even his 
 enemies were constrained to admit the elevation of mind and intellect 
 he possessed. 
 
 Many a night had he spent by the watch fires of the bivouac, listen- 
 ing to the tales which General Taylor's comrades told of his early ex- 
 ploits, and they all proved how great, how noble a man he was. Al- 
 most the best soldier with whom he had ever become acquainted, after 
 Major General Winfield Scott, (for he deemed that no living man, was 
 his superior as a soldier,) General Smith, now in California, has as- 
 sured him, speaking of the fight at Monterey, that the entire credit of 
 that battle justly belonged to General Taylor, for all the plans, though 
 attributed to others, were conceived by him ; yet so modest a man was 
 he— so difiident of his own abilities, that when his object was once at- 
 tained, and victory had perched upon our banners, he never had any 
 contest with others about the laurels, even though he was justly entitled 
 to wear them. 
 
 GENERAL TAYLOR'S APPEARANCE. 
 
 "General Taylor is a man of an iron constitution, and during his 
 campaign in Florida acquired the appellation of " Rou^jh and Ready," 
 by which he is now sometimes designated. In person, he is about five 
 feet eight inches in height, square and broad across the shoulders, 
 muscular in his frame, full chest, and somewhat inclined to stockiness. 
 His face is full and round, with high cheek bones, browned much by 
 the tropical suns. His eyes are of a sloe blackness, — quick and pier- 
 cing ; and his hair and brows thick and heavy, and also jetty black. 
 
 He is perfectly republican in his habits, associations and dress, but 
 gentlemanly in his demeanor, and understands well what belongs to 
 his rank while on duty." 
 
Ob 
 
 Baton Rouge, Ln., July N, 1848. 
 My Dear Colonel :— Your kind letter of the 13th iilt. hns been duly 
 received. In reply to your inquiries, I have to inform you thai I have 
 no land on the Rio Grande ; nor have I sent $10,000 or any other sum 
 to the District of Columbia to purchase slaves ; and I trust that if I had 
 such a sum in my possession, 1 could put it to a better use than buy- 
 ing lands on the Rio Grande, or slaves in Washington. Among the 
 many accusations brought against me by my opponents, I should be 
 much gratified to learn that they had succeeded in substantiating the 
 charge that I have in my possession so large a sum for any purpose as 
 the one above mentioned. 
 
 I beg that you will not put yourself to any trouble to meet the objec- 
 tions urged against me, by those opposed to me, if they are as ground- 
 less as the one in question, for when they see fit thus to disregard the 
 obligations of truth, it is useless to contend with them. 
 
 With my best wishes for your health and success, I remain, sir, very 
 respectfully, your obedient servant, Z. TAYLOR. 
 
 Col. A. M. Mitchell, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 Washington, June 21, 1850. 
 Hon. Nath. Silsbee, jr. 
 Mayor, ^c. 
 
 Salem, Mass. 
 
 Sir, — I have duly received your letter of the 17lh inst., transmitting 
 the Resolutions adopted at a public meeting, over which you lately 
 presided, in the City of Salem. 
 
 I need hardly say how much I am gratified by the approbation of my 
 public course, manifested in those Resolutions. 
 
 I am well aware of the warm support which I have before received 
 from the citizens of Salem, and it affords me particular satisfaction to 
 know that they have not been disappointed with the policy of the Ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 I trust that its future measures may equally meet their just expecta- 
 tions, and that in any case its efforts may promote the perpetuity of 
 that Union, in which alone are found the true prosperity and glory of 
 our common country. 
 
 I remain, with high respect, your friend and serv't, 
 
 Z. TAYLOR. 
 
 [The Documents contained in the foregoing Appendix will be found 
 to sustain the statements of the Eulogy, and give to the character it 
 presents the stamp of truth.] 
 
56 
 
 ORDER OF SERVICES 
 
 In Mechnnir TTall, on TInirsJtnj, July 18, 1S50, ax a Testimony of 
 
 Respect to thp Memory of ZACIIARY TAYLOR, late 
 
 President of the United States. 
 
 Religious Exercises by Rev. William R. Babcock. 
 
 I. Anthem. Revelations XIV Chap. 13th Verse- 
 
 Reading of Scriptures. Corinthians, part of XV Chapter, 
 
 III. Prayer- 
 
 IV. Dirge, by Rev. Dr- Flint- 
 
 Dead March in Saul. 
 Fallen is our country's laurelled head, — 
 Gone to his home of glorious rest; — 
 Living how loved, how mourned when dead, 
 A stricken nation's tears attest. 
 
 His plumed helm and battle-shield. 
 That screened the chieftain's lion heart 
 In many a hard-fought deadly field. 
 Were vain when death had aimed his dart. 
 
 The civic wreath affection wove. 
 That late adorned his radiant brow. 
 Which there to bind fond myriads strove, 
 Lies withered with its wearer now. 
 
 Lo, sorrowing crowds have met again, — 
 Where late they met in joyous cheer. 
 To swell the woe-struck, weeping train 
 That follows sad the warrior's bier. 
 
 Solemn and slow the pomp moves on. 
 And veteran cheeks are stained with grief; 
 Virtue deplores her votary gone, 
 Religtox mourns the sainted Chief. 
 
 And "dust to dust" hath now been said. 
 And closed the tomb, where, deaf to fame. 
 The Patriot's shrouded corse is laid; 
 The spirit fled to whence it came. 
 
 We own, O God, thy righteous sway; 
 Thou'rt love, and all thou dost is just; — 
 'Tis thine to give and take away — 
 Ours to submit, adore, and trust. 
 
57 
 
 V. EULOGY, by Hon- Charles W- Upham, 
 
 VI" Dirge, by Edwin Jocelyn, 
 
 \iR—Mou7H Vcrno, 
 
 Deep a Nation's voice is wailing, — 
 
 Sadness hangs her sable (bids ; 
 Lo, the mighty men are failing, — 
 
 Death his spoiling empire holds ! 
 
 Sudden, now his dart, hath stricken 
 
 IIiM, the Nation's pride and Head ! 
 
 Low he lies — no power can quicken — 
 
 Calm he sleeps among the dead ! 
 
 Chieftain, gallant was thy bearing 
 
 On the battle's fearful day ! 
 With thy bands the conflict sharing, — 
 
 Ever found in Vict'ry's way. 
 
 On thy wisdom firm relying, 
 
 Lo, a People's anxious voice. 
 In an hour dark, boding, trying, 
 
 Hails thee as their trusting choice 
 
 Brief thy rule iu civic station — 
 
 Still, with firm, undaunted mind. 
 Thou inspir'dst the peril'd nation, 
 
 Yet, an hour secure, to find. 
 
 Rest thee ! — though thy body mortal 
 Sleeps the mouldering sleep of death, 
 
 Th' Spirit freed hath pass'd the portal, 
 Glowing with undying breath. 
 
 Vn. Benediction. 
 
 Mi7siCAi- Exercises by the Salem Philharmonic Society. 
 
146 
 


 
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