A HEARTFELT LETTER FROM
ZACHARY TAYLOR TO HIS BROTHER,
ASKING AFTER HIS HEALTH
AND HIS CROPS

TAYLOR, ZACHARY. (1784-1850). Twelfth President of the United States (1849-1850). Autograph Letter Signed twice, “Z. Taylor.” Four pages, quarto. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, October 3, 1823. Good condition. Addressed on integral address leaf to his brother, “Mr. Hancock Taylor, near Louisville, Kentucky.” Taylor writes:

“My dear Sir, Your kind and interesting letter of the 24th of September has just reached us and I can assure you that both Peggy and myself sincerely regret to hear of your continued indisposition, as well as that of Mrs. Lewis, Lewis, and the other members of your family and am truly in hopes as the cool weather has set in that you have all recovered or are on the mend—at the same time I am fearful until you leave the ponds at least for a time that neither your health, Annah’s, Mrs. Lewis,’ or the children’s, will ever be entirely restored—by the last mail I received a letter from Genl. Garvis dated a short time after yours saying that your health was still delicate. I must acknowledge my dear Sir that I haven not only been mortified but vexed that you have continued in spite of the opinion of your friends, and the warning you have had from disease, to remain during the last summer in the ponds, I had flattered myself when I left you last spring, that you would have taken the whole of your white family, early in June and continued traveling to the different watering places during the 3 summer months and September without even thinking of home—depend upon it you ought to adopt some decisive measure to have your health reestablished and that immediately, or it will be too late, if the physicians think it advisably you ought to take a sea voyage early in the spring by descending the river to New Orleans, and from there to New York. You would then have an opportunity of visiting the country, in which event we should have the pleasure of having you with us. I am sorry that your crop of tobacco has been injured by the frost but am in hopes the injury is not as great as you expect. The weather has been very fine in this country during last month, yesterday morning was the first frost. The crops of both corn and cotton are short in Louisiana the present year, the rot was very destructive to the latter, and a violent storm we had in September injured both very considerably, as well as the sugar crop on the coast. I have not been at my plantation since I wrote you nor do I know exactly how they are getting on there, but am in hopes to make cotton enough for you and Mrs. Gibson to spin, besides meeting all my engagements in the country. I lost nearly the whole of my corn by the storm it being late. I truly repent to hear of the death of J.C. Breckinridge and Francis Taylor, and truly sympathize with his good and respectable parents for which loss, Gibson’s family appears to be fated to disease no matter where they are located, indeed Kentucky for the few last years appears to be as unhealthy and the climate as fatal as almost any other part of the Union I trust that Mr. Thornton will not disappoint me, as it is now time for me to be looking out for a manager for the next year should he give out coming. Should the meeting between Breckinridge and Wickliff take place as contemplated, it is more than probable that one or both will fall, in that event there will not be many persons to lament their loss, I do not consider either of them estimable characters. I am truly glad to hear that Ann had returned to school she is getting too large to loose [sic] even a day from her studies, at the same time I am sorry that Gibson put himself to the trouble of going for her and returning with her—you must let me know in time if it is necessary for me to forward money for her board tuition etc. I send by Mr. Thompson $20 which I wish you to have exchanged and forwarded to Mrs. Fowler with a request that she will take charge of it, for the purpose of purchasing for Ann such little things as she may want from time to time. I hope by good management you will loose nothing by Aldridge, one of the family is enough to be unfortunate in that way—let me know how father is getting on, and the family when you next write. I hope you were able to preserve the papers I wrote to you respecting in my last letter for Mr. … Peggy joins me in love to Annah, Mrs. Lewis and the children, to father and family, Gibson Betsey and their children—and accept for you and yours our best wishes for yours and their health happiness and prosperity. Your brother, Z. Taylor. [P.S.] Remember me in the warmest terms to Mr. … Taylor and say to the former that I truly cannot sympathize with him for the loss of his son. My country mansion is low except flour, some of which and as well as some applesauce, got down from Missouri, the latter sold here a few barrels at 2 dollars 50 cents. Peggy and Knox are in good health the former is getting quite bulky we shall look for an addition to our family in the spring if things go well and we removed to this place from the pine wood on the 22nd ult. Mr. Thompson is in a hurry to leave here, I therefore write in great haste, but I am in hopes you will be able to read it. Z. Taylor.”

Zachary Taylor’s father, Colonel Richard Taylor, served as an officer during the American Revolution, and, for his services to the colonies, was awarded 6,000 acres of land in the state of Kentucky. This plantation, located on the banks of Beargrass Creek, became the family home in the spring of 1785, shortly after Zachary was born. While in residence in Kentucky, the Taylor family swelled to include six sons and three daughters. As a young adult, Zachary Taylor remained at home, assisting his father in the operation and care of the plantation. In 1807, Taylor left the family farm upon his appointment as first lieutenant in the 7th Infantry, marking the beginning of a distinguished military career that, excepting one brief hiatus, continued until Taylor’s election as president 40 years later. Over these four decades of military service, Taylor participated and distinguished himself in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican War. By the close of the Mexican War, Taylor had become the second highest ranking officer in the United States Army and a national hero for his unceasing service to his country.

Even with his tireless military service, Taylor continued to take an active interest in farming. The year this letter was written, he purchased his first large tract of land, 380 acres in northern Louisiana that he devoted to the cultivation of cotton. Years later, he would further expand his farmland with the purchase of Cyprus Grove, a much larger plantation located in Mississippi. In 1823, Zachary Taylor and his wife, Margaret (Peggy) Smith Taylor, were living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with their two daughters, Ann Margaret Mackall and Sarah Knox. Against the wishes of her father, the latter would marry Jefferson Davis, a lieutenant in Taylor’s regiment at the time of their nuptials who would go on to become president of the Confederacy. The Taylors had recently lost two younger daughters in 1820 from a flu epidemic, but, by the fall of 1823, Peggy Taylor was joyously expecting her fourth child, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor, the Taylors’ last daughter. Elizabeth would later marry her father’s aide, Colonel William W.S. Bliss, and act as White House hostess in her invalided mother’s stead when Zachary Taylor became President. Although his term as President was cut short before his political goals could be realized, Zachary Taylor had made clear his devotion to the preservation of the Union, his integrity, and his steadfast resolve before his untimely death. A fine document from a war hero who remained a faithful servant of the American people and nation throughout his military and political career.

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