General Zachary Taylor - Orange VA
N 38° 14.711 W 078° 06.675
17S E 752803 N 4236966
A plaque honors the 12th president of the USA who served 40 years in the army.
Waymark Code: WMG4GX
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 01/11/2013
Views: 1
In 1934, the Orange County American Legion Post 156 erected a stone marker to General Zachary Taylor on the grounds of the
Orange County Courthouse in Orange, Virginia. The bronze plaque reads:
A VALIANT SOLDIER GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR 1784-1850 TWELFTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES BORN IN ORANGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA ERECTED BY ORANGE COUNTY POST No. 156 THE AMERICAN LEGION 1934 |
Zachary Taylor was born in Orange County in 1784, although his family moved to Kentucky the following year where he was raised.
Taylor joined the army in 1808 where he served for 40 years. He participated in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican War.
In 1849, Zachary Taylor was elected the 12th president of the United States. He took office at a time when disputes over the rights of individual states, including the issue of slavery being legal in expansion territories, started to emerge between the North and South. Although Taylor was from the South, he was a staunch Nationalist and became opposed to the creation of new slave states. He threatened to personally lead the army against any state threatening secession. In 1850, he became violently ill and died suddenly. It was 11 years before the secession of the southern states and the start of the Civil War. Ironically, Taylor's daughter married Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, and his son became a Confederate general.
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