Health and Medical History of President

Zachary Taylor

Taylor joined the US Army in 1808 (age 23). He served under Brigadier General James Wilkinson who, despite being a medical doctor, had almost half his men die from disease while encamped in appalling conditions 12 miles south of New Orleans (during peacetime). Either there or at Ft. Pickering (near today's Memphis, TN), Taylor contracted yellow fever. He returned home to Louisville, KY to recover in Sept.-Oct. 1809 1b.

Returning to the Army after his recovery from yellow fever, Taylor developed dysentery at a fly-infested camp in Virginia. He once again returned home to recover 1c.

Taylor, by now a captain, was in command of Ft. Knox in summer 1810, when he got malaria. It recurred in late September, about the time the fort was attacked by Indians 1c.

Taylor chewed tobacco and spit it accurately. He did not smoke

Taylor had a big head, coarse features, a short neck, and thick unkept hair 1c. His body was big and barrel-shaped. His legs were short, to the degree that he required help from an orderly to get into the saddle 1c.

Taylor's near-sightedness, it is supposed, unconsciously caused him to keep his eyelids half-closed to sharpen his vision. This brought his heavy brows down and gave the impression of a fierce scowl 1c.

At close range (including reading), Taylor had to keep one eye closed to prevent double vision 1c.

Comment: Dr. Zebra is unsatisfied with these accounts of Taylor's visual problems. It would be nicer to have a single pathological explanation for the two problems noted. Could it be amblyopia?

In November 1838, during the Second Seminole War, Taylor (by now a Brigadier General) developed fever. Probably malaria, it "confined me to my bed for near two weeks when so many was [sic] dying around me" 1d.

While stationed at Ft. Jessup, LA in July-August 1844, Taylor suffered several attacks of "bilious fever" (malaria). He resumed his duties after a few days during which his condition had been of concern, but remained weak for many months thereafter. After this episode he was ill more than he had been in the past 1e.

Taylor was confined to bed with fever for a few days in May 1846, as he prepared to take his Army across the Rio Grande into Mexico 1f.

While on a Presidential tour of the north in summer 1849, Taylor became ill a few days after leaving Washington. It was thought to be the beginning of "cholera," but he recovered rapidly and continued the tour -- only to have a relapse of severe diarrhea and fever in Erie, PA. His physician feared for Taylor's life. The President recovered, continued the tour briefly, then returned to Washington where, after about a month, his health appeared to normalize 1f.

Scandal involved three members of Taylor's cabinet during the summer of 1850. During this stressful time, Taylor's friends noticed he was looking tired and haggard 1f.

July 4, 1850 was a hot day in a hot and humid summer in Washington, DC. Dysentery was circulating in town, though some said it was cholera 1g. President Taylor, not in the best of health already (see above) attended various Independence Day ceremonies. That evening he began having abdominal cramps, possibly the result of something he ate. He steadily worsened: diarrhea and fever developed, and the diarrhea turned bloody. His doctors tried what they could. He died on July 9.

Some details of those days are available MORE, but the cause of Taylor's death will probably never be known with certainty. Typhoid fever has been proposed, with suspicion directed at the cherries Taylor ate on the 4th 2a.

Like virtually all Presidents, there were many people who might have wished Taylor dead. Because of theories that Taylor might have been poisoned (most notably by strychnine), his body was exhumed on June 17, 1991. With permission of descendants, samples of it were analyzed. Some arsenic was found, but in quantities said to be too small to cause harm 1e. This has not satisfied some commentators, who find flaws in the testing methods 4.

Comment: A casual look at Zachary Taylor's health history shows that he was pretty well beaten up, medically, by the summer of 1850. Furthermore, during the 1800s Washington, DC was a very unhealthy place to be during the summer. Thus, it would have been easy enough for Mother Nature to carry off Zachary Taylor without help from a poisoner. The burden of proof remains with those who suggest Taylor's end was not natural.