Zachary Taylor in his military uniform
(Library of Congress)
Syracuse Star
Wednesday, September 5, 1849
The President. - By the last accounts from Niagara, we learn that the President is at the Eagle Hotel, and daily improving. What will add, probably to his more speedy restoration, is the presence of his wife and daughter, tom, if we may be permitted to say so, should not have left behind him on any account. There is nothing like the presence of women by the sick couch. It often dispels disease and makes the sufferer well. May it be so with his EXCELLENCY.
Syracuse Star
Thursday, September 6, 1849
The President.
It is thought to be the present intention of the President, if his health will permit, to leave the Falls for Buffalo today, and dine there, to stay at Batavia on Friday, visit Rochester and remain there over Sunday, and come to this city on Monday. The Buffalo Courier, in speaking of his visit there says:
“He will ride through the principal streets, dine at the Phelps House, and afterwards exhibit himself upon the balcony.”
Such language as this in reference to the President we are sorry to see. Every man in the country, of whatever party, is bound to respect her Chief Magistrate, and at least treat him with common respect. To hold him up to ridicule in any way is a breach of decorum to say the least, and will find no favor, among those who are taught to respect “authorities,” and we regret it the more, when we see such see such things emanating from such so respectable a press as the Courier.
Oswego Commercial Times
Friday, September 7, 1849
The President.
____
The President arrived in this city by the Steamer Bay State, Capt. Van Cleve, at 4 o’clock on Thursday morning, September 6th, in company with the Oswego Committee, who waited upon him at the Falls on Wednesday. The President appeared on the deck of the Bay State, at about 5 o’clock, and left the Steamer about half an hour after, and took an open carriage, in which he passed through a number of the business streets of the city to the Railroad Depot, and left in the for the East at half past 6 o’clock.
On a telegraphic notice of his coming the evening before, many of our citizens wee out at an early hour, and in many places the streets were lined with people, and there was a large collection at the depot to greet and see the President, who we received all who approached him with much cordiality and frankness of manner.
The health of the President is improving, but he is still feeble from the effect of his late illness, and is no way equal to the fatigue and excitement incident to public receptions. He will proceed direct to Washington, in the most expeditious and quiet way. Dr. Wood of the Army, son-in-law of the President, and Dr. Wood of the Navy, accompany the President.
Among the distinguished gentlemen, who came down in the Bay State, were Gov. Letcher of Kentucky, Baylie Peyton and family, Mr. Buller, Editor of the Republic, and Mr. Spaulding, Member of Congress from Erie Co.
Our citizens regretted the short stay of the President, and all Western New York, will be disappointed at his sudden departure for Washington, but the necessities of the case leave no reason to murmur or complain.
Syracuse Daily Star
Saturday, September 8, 1849
President Taylor.
Through inadvertence, the notice we had prepared of President Taylor’s passage through this city Thursday morning, on his way to Washington, was not inserted in yesterday’s Star. He arrived here by the morning Oswego train, having taken the lake route from Niagara Falls to Oswego. It is understood the President is called to Washington by pressing official duties, rendering it necessary for him to forego his purpose of attending the State Fair, even if, in the present state of his health, it were prudent for him to gratify himself in this particular.
General Taylor remained here but a few minutes, awaiting the change of the cars &c. A large number of our citizens, however, availed themselves of the opportunity to pay their respects to him. Crowds of persons surrounded the car in which he was seated to get a glimpse at the old hero, and when the train started, three hearty cheers were given him.
The President looks somewhat feeble, though better than we expected to see him. His appearance impressed everyone favorably. If the expressions be an index of character, as we believe it is in this instance, he must possess a kind, benevolent heart. He has none of the roughness represented in the lithographic caricatures of him.
General Taylor expressed his deep regret that he was unable to attend the Fair. He said it was a greater disappointment to him then it possibly could be to others, since the great object of of his visit North, at this time, was to attend the great Agricultural Festival.
General Taylor proceeds directly to Washington, accompanied by Dr. Wood, Mr. Peyton, and other gentlemen.
New York Courier
September 11, 1849
The President in New York.
The wild whirl of enthusiasm which greeted the President, on his arrival at Syracuse, put it utterly out of all possibility to finish the letter which I began on board the beautiful steamer Bay State. About half-past ten, we made the port of Genesee, as it is designated, being the mouth of the Genesee river.
The wind was pleasantly off-shore, and the bright mooning made the sail a delightful one. The kindness and attention of Captain Van Cleve had provided General Taylor with two admirable and capacious state-rooms, removed as far as possible from all noise and bustle of the deck and saloons. He retired early; for he had during the day been subjected to more than usual fatigue.
The Genesee river is a picturesque one; it is deep but very narrow, and the majestic Bay State seemed almost to fill cup the defile - her nigh mast and graceful rigging far up in the air, and her illuminated saloon sparkling as she proceeded - now half hid in the deep shadows of the of the heights, and then distinctly revealed in the glittering moonlight. Several miles up the river, the boat sailed about leisurely, and at least reached the storehouse, which is Rochester’s recognition of the lake commerce.
A propeller bound for the upper lakes lay at the wharf; the sound of the falls of the Genesee was all that broke the silence, except the over-zealous cab and omnibus men. It was evident that the citizens of Rochester were not aware of the arrival of the President, or in such a pleasant evening they would have thronged the half, or, what may be presented, they, with true courtesy and kindness, forbore, in the precarious state of his health, any demonstration the effect of which at that hour of the night could only have broken his repose.
Our passage hence to Oswego was agreeable, notwithstanding that a strong wind sprung up, and the boat danced about merrily - but in the matter of progress the Bay State never minded the blow, but went right ahead - arriving at Oswego, as I thought, some time before it was necessary. The President had a comfortable night, and was “on hand” very early in the morning, that being Old Zach’s way of doing business, He is more ready than rough.
Mr. Bond, Mr. Platt, and the other gentlemen of the Oswego delegation, had made every arrangement for the President’s reception, in the quiet and comfortable manner which he desired; and after parting with Captain Van Cleve, to whom, for his kindness and gentlemanly hospitality, the President and his suite expressed warmly their obligations, General Taylor, accompanied by his physicians and Mr. Platt, rode through the city - the time before the departure of the cars too short to allow any but the most rapid driving. But even in this quick review, the President observed and commented upon the great business capacities of this wonderful little city.
It could not but itself upon his sagacious mind. A sea before it - the water-horizon revealing nothing but itself - a harbor, ample and capacious, needing only (just what Old Zack is prepared to give, I doubt not) the common sense of the Government to exercise itself in making the necessary defenses against various storms of fall and winter - a canal reaching to the Hudson - a water-power fed by the great and never-failing or faltering reservoirs of the Cayuga and Seneca - such a concentration of business capacities exist but in few other places, and the Oswego people have proved it.
There are mills in might and number enough to “flour” all your city, and ask for mouths to feed. The wharves were thronged with sail craft, and there is business enough for all. The wheat fields of of Canada come like “Birnam wood to Dunsinane” to the machinery of Oswego. There are corn-laws, irreversible as fate.
The citizens of Oswego appeared delighted with the presence of the President, and as many as could gather round the cars were constantly in attendance. The hour was so early that the news of his arrival had not circulated through the city, m but those who were there gave an earnest welcome to their President. The cars of the oswego and Syracuse railroad were soon in readiness, and we put off at a rate that sent us through field and forest, by pretty lake and winding river, as rapidly as was desirable. The speed of our progress seemed to delight the General, who was constantly remarking on the availability of the country for improvement, and the magnitude of the changes which time and industry had wrought.
It was soon evident that the fact that the General was on board the cars was known at Syracuse - for the people had gathered in great numbers - and Syracuse has no reason to reproach itself with want of enthusiasm, for it would be difficult to find a more animated crowd than that which spontaneously and very suddenly gather itself about the cars. In they came, as anxious to be the first as if they had been Old Zack’s soldiers at Buena Vista.
The only way to prevent the old General from being smothered and overborne with the affection of the people - which was evidently ready and somewhat rough - was to look the door; and even then the more adventurous took themselves in at the windows - a very elongating process, which it became necessary, notwithstanding the enterprises displayed, to arrest.
The Mayor of Syracuse, Mr. John A. King, the President of the State Agricultural Society, and several of the prominent citizens of Syracuse, were very earnest in their regret that the General could not stay to the fair, and he expressed to them his sorrow that the state of his health would not admit of it. He said that it had ben the great object of his solicitude in coming to this State; that he had looked forward with the utmost pleasure to the prospect of conversing with the farmers, and haring from them the history and progress of agriculture among them. He spoke of his own farm - so much neglected by his forty years’ devotion to public affairs much.
And I have seldom heard a sentence uttered with more eloquence, than when he said, simply and unaffectedly, “I have had to neglect my own affairs much, but I believe I never did those of my country.” The warm-hearted response was made by those around him, that he never had. For six long years at one time he had never seen his farm, though in the course of the march to Florida he had passed within eighteen miles of it. He said he wanted to see his home then, but his orders were to go forward, and he made a sacrifice which few others wood. I never saw more animation among the people than was evidenced at Syracuse. The great desire was to see “Old Zack,” and many were the warmhearted congratulations of those who had been so fortunate as to secure a good look at the old man.
The ladies and the children were especially noticed by him, and he had for them, whenever they came to him, kind words and wishes. I saw him specially introduced to the oldest clergyman of the oldest, I believe, in all this state. General Taylor received him with marked deference and courtesy. This unfeigned respect, in all places, burned by the illustrious Chief Magistrate to the ministers of our own holy religion, is a gratifying sign of the good times into which our Republic has come.*
But the hour for the departure of the train was more than past. Mr. Vandervoort, the gentlemanly conductor, had given every possible facility to the convenience of the General - and railways cannot, without danger to the “masses,” stop for any one. Amidst loud and repeated cheers, the train departed, and was off like an arrow - a simile which, applied to the flight of a railway train, is no poetry.
Among the General’s friends, accompanying him, was Governor Letcher; and I must be allowed to say here, parenthetically, that he has won friends wherever he has gone, by his right hearty good-nature and cheerfulness, and it is easy to understand why he obtained the immense majority when running for Governor of Kentucky, as he did in 1840.
I am sure every one who sung that most famous song, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” must recollect how boisterous (and harmonious) the chorus was “gone into,” when it came to:
Have you heard from Old Kentuck,
All honest and true,
Seventeen thousand is the tune
For Tippecanoe, &c.
Away sped the train, faster and faster, and it was very pleasant that it did not go just as fast, since every revolution of the wheel brought us nearer to Oneida depot, when a fair vision of breakfast, too long delayed, was more than floating in the mind. All earthly greatness shares in the leveling process by which times and seasons hinge on eating and drinking.
Reached at least, the journey, after the refreshment obtained, was resumed with that quiet disposition to be pleased which succeeds a timely meal, especially when, as in this instance, it had been delayed almost as long as the “good time” is in coming.
SENTINEL
New York Semi-Weekly Tribune
September 12, 1849
President Taylor’s Arrival in New York
President Taylor was induced, by the reception of important dispatches from the Seat of Government, to omit his intended visits to Buffalo and Rochester, and proceed directly to New York on is way to Washington. He accordingly left Lewiston on Wednesday afternoon in the steamer Bay State for Oswego, and arrived at Albany Thursday morning.
Here he was received by Governor Fish, Hon. F. Humphrey, the Mayor of the city, the State Officers in Albany, Hon. John L. Schoolcraft, member of Congress elect, and other distinguished citizens. He was than taken to the mansion of Gov.Fish, who tendered him the hospitalities of the occasion, and spared no attention or kindness with was demanded by the impaired state of the President’s health and the fatigue which he had been obliged to encounter on the journey.
(Notes) Mention is made he was then escorted to the steamboat Isaac Newton, which was to convey him to New York , escorted by four light infantry companies. He made several short addresses. The most ample accommodations were provided aboard the steamer. He was placed in the bridal state room. On arriving in New York early the next morning, he remained aboard the steamboat for the rest of the day. After breakfast the next day he crossed over a ferry and returned to Washington on the train.
Ovid Bee
September 12, 1849
The President Recalled. - We learn that President Taylor has received dispatches, which require his immediate presence at Washington, and that he left Lewiston yesterday afternoon in the steamer Bay State for Oswego, and will proceed from thence directly to Washington. The citizens of Rochester will not be gratified with hearing one of the General’s interesting and instructive speeches. This many will deeply regret. What the deuce can this important business at this cost the government? The Secretary of State, in the absence of the President, could issue the formal Cuban Proclamation. We are certainly unable to conjecture what that important business is. We are inclined to think that time will not enlighten the public on that subject. The President evidently feels uneasy in the presence of those who voted for him, supposing that he was opposed to Slavery, and were mainly induced to do so on account of his not contracting the assertions of his political friends to that effect.
[Rochester Advertiser]
New York Semi-Weekly Tribune
September 12, 1849
Syracuse - The President - State Fair
Correspondence of The Tribune
Our citizens were surprised this morning by a Telegraphic Dispatch from Oswego, that President Taylor had left there in the morning train for this city, en route for Washington. He arrived at the former place this morning in the Bay State steamer and left immediately by the cars. Some 2,000 or 3,000 people were assembled at the Depot here when the cars, eager to catch a glimpse of a live President, who before his attainment to that dignity, had filled no unimportant place in the annals of our country.
Thousands of people will be greatly disappointed who expect to see him next week at the State Fair. Then necessity for this change in his movements is suppose to be connected with public affairs at the Seat of Government, where it is said his presence is immediately required. But of this we know less than you will in New York probably, long before this reaches you. His health is said to be restored, and unless a relapse of his disease occurs from the fatigue the would be compelled to undergo if he remained to the Fair, this hurried change seems to be explained by any present or pressing necessity on that score.
But there promises to be no lack of lesser magnates of the biped, quadruped and mechanical kids to attract the multitude who are expected to come down upon us next week. Our Hotel are already filled up, and the note of preparation which everywhere arrests attention shows that an epoch is approaching, to which in advance, and from which afterward, everything is to beard date. Yours, D.P.P.
Religious Recorder, Syracuse, New York
Thursday, September 13, 1849
Letter from President Taylor
The following letter received from President Taylor, is published under the direction of the Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society:
To the Hon. John A. King, M.C.,
President of the State Agricultural Society, Syracuse
Niagara Falls, Sept. 5, 1849
My Dear Sir:-
I hope that no one in attendance upon, or in any way interested in your great Agricultural meeting at Syracuse, will suffer a disappointment proportioned to that which I experience in being compelled to relinquish the idea of being present myself.
In addition to the pleasure of meeting so vast assemblage of my fellow-citizens upon an occasion so interesting to all, who appreciate the true sources of national prosperity and greatness, I have been anticipating gratification and instruction from this highly favorable opportunity of looking upon the products, implements, and improvements of a pursuit in which I have over taken a deep and personal interest.
To attend this Agricultural Fair was a prominent object of my visit to your State, and until the last moment, I have encouraged the idea that I should do so, but the advice of my medical attendants, and the claims of business in the Capital, render it a duty for me, to relinquish my wishes upon this object.
Faithfully and Truly,
Z. TAYLOR
York Gazette
Tuesday, October 15, 1850
Wednesday, October 16, 1850
Remains of General Taylor
We understand, from R. M. Magraw, Esq., the very efficient President of the Susquehanna, or York and Columbia Railroad, that the remains of General Zachary Taylor, late President of the J.S. will leave Washington City, in a car furnished by the Susquehanna Railroad Company, on the morning of the 25th of October, at 6 o’clock, and will reach Baltimore at 8 o’clock, where Col. Taylor and Col. W. S.Bliss will take possession of the corpse. They will then proceed over the York and Cumberland, or Susquehanna Road, will stop at York a few minutes, and will go thence to Wrightsville, York county, where they will cross the Columbia Bridge, and proceed by the new river railroad on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, to Middletown, where they will meet the line that leaves Philadelphia in the morning at 8 o’clock, and proceed thence to Harrisburg, and so over the Central railroad to Pittsburgh, where they will take the steamer to Louisville. The Portsmouth and Central railroad companies have behaved with liberality and promptitude, passing the remains and the escort free of all expense.
“Old Whitey” precedes the remains of his illustrious master, and will take the railroad from Washington, via York to Columbia, where he will go by Leech’s Canal Line to Pittsburg, and so on to Kentucky.
Pittsburgh Post
Tuesday, October 29, 1850
General Taylor’s Remains
Yesterday the remains of General Zachary Taylor passed through our streets on their way to their final resting place. The procession was not as large as we supposed it would have been, but nevertheless the spectacle was solemn and sublime. The streets and side-walks were crowded with citizens and strangers, and the store doors and windows were filled with men, women and children.
Little did General Taylor suppose when he visited the city last year, full of life and vigorous manhood, that in so short a time his inanimate body would be wheeled through our streets to its long home. Death is no respecter of persons. High and low, rich and poor, must submit to its impetuous demands. Twice within a few years have the citizens of Pittsburgh been called upon to escort the remains of Chief Magistrates through our city. Such scenes should admonished all of the uncertainty of Life and the certainty of Death.
“Life in short and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.”
Pittsburgh Gazette
Tuesday, October 29, 1850
Funeral Ceremonies in Honor of General Taylor. - A large concourse of our citizens assembled on Monday morning at the canal bridge, to pay a last tribute of respect to the memory of our late lamented President, Zachary Taylor. Pena street was completely choked up, yet, notwithstanding the density of the crowd, the utmost good order prevailed, and all seemed to feel the solemnity of the occasion which had called them together to render the last sad duties of respect and affection to departed worth.
Mountain Sentinel, Ebensburg, Pa.
October 31, 1850
The remains of General Taylor were taken over the Allegheny Portage Railroad on Saturday in a car finished by the Susquehanna Railroad Company. General Taylor’s brother, and Major Bliss, a son-in-law, together with some other members of the family were all who accompanied the remains of the late President.
Sunbury Gazette
Saturday, November 2, 1850
Funeral Ceremonies were observed in Pittsburgh on Monday, on the occasion of the reception of the remains of our late president, General Zachary Taylor.
Pennsylvania Republican
Wednesday, November 6, 1950
General Taylor’s Remains
Louisville, Nov. 1
The mortal remains of General Zachary Taylor arrived here yesterday. The citizens having been previously apprised of the time the body of the illustrious dead would arrive, were prepared to take charge of it. The stores generally were closed and business suspended. At the time appointed, the body was placed on a hearse and conveyed to its final resting place, and deposited in the family vault, about eight miles from the city. It was a solemn and imposing pageant. The concourse of people was very large. The body of the distinguished dead was consigned to the thumb with the usual solemn ceremonies. - Baltimore Clipper.
Greenfield Democrat
Monday, November 11, 1850
The Hero In His Last Resting Place. - The remains of General Zachary Taylor, late president of the United States, reached Louisville, Ky., on the morning of Nov. 1. The firing of a gun announced the approach of the boar, which was followed by the tolling of bells and other demonstrations of mourning. The authorities, the military, the firemen, and citizens in carriages, on horseback, and on foot, marched in procession to the landing, preceded by the mayor and Governor Crittenden.
The governor made a few remarks, appropriate to the occasion and the memory of the illustrious dead. The coffin was then placed on a hearse, drawn by four black horses, and the funeral cavalcade, about six squares long, moved on. The windows and pavements and streets through which the procession passed were crowded with people. The stores during the passing of the solemn parent were closed. The body was finally interred in the family boring ground, seven miles from the city.
Zachary Taylor -Death of the President, by Michael Holt, paper. University of Virginia Miller Center, Zachary Taylor's sudden death shocked the nation. After attending Fourth of July orations for most of the day, Taylor walked along the Potomac River before returning to the White House. Hot and tired, he drank iced water and consumed large quantities of cherries and other fruits. The President suffered severe stomach pains for the next five days. Diagnosed as suffering from "cholera morbus" by his physicians, Taylor ate slivers of ice for relief until his body began rejecting fluids. At about ten in the morning on July 9, 1850, Taylor called his wife to him and asked her not to weep, saying: "I have always done my duty, I am ready to die. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me."
His funeral took place on July 13. An estimated 100,000 people thronged the funeral route in the nation's capital to witness the presidential hearse, drawn by eight white horses accompanied by grooms dressed in white and wearing white turbans. The hearse was followed by Washington dignitaries, military units, the President's beloved horse "Old Whitey," and the President's family. Behind them a line of military units, officials, and common citizens stretched in procession for over two miles. His final resting place was in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery and Monument today.
Zachary Taylor - Death of the President by Michael Holt.
____
Three burial vaults, two funeral processions a thousand miles apart, and a day-trip to quash an assertion of foul play–the remains of Zachary Taylor, the only U.S. president laid to rest in a VA national cemetery, have taken an especially tortuous path to their resting place in Louisville, Kentucky.
Taylor was a career U.S. Army officer who rose to the rank of major general and became a national hero for his exploits during the Mexican-American War. The Whig Party embraced the apolitical Taylor as their nominee in the 1848 presidential election and his popularity carried him to the White House. But his time in office ended tragically a little more than a year into his presidency. On a sizzling fourth of July in 1850 in the nation’s capital, he attended a ceremony at the unfinished Washington Monument and afterward took refreshment with raw vegetables, cherries, milk, and water. The following day he fell ill with stomach cramps, later diagnosed as cholera, a bacterial infection probably transmitted in the liquids he drank. He died on July 9, 1850, at age 65.
On July 13, Taylor’s elaborate funeral procession, more than a mile long, wound through the capital draped in mourning. The body of the twelfth president lay in a “rich yet simple” metal coffin made by Fisk and Raymond, purportedly with a glass window plate that allowed a view of Taylor’s face. The casket was placed in the public vault at the Congressional Cemetery “with no other ceremonies” than a “minister’s simple words and a gun salute,” as one newspaper reported. The vault contained other caskets awaiting burial or relocation, a common practice before refrigeration allowed safe transport of human remains in hot climates.
That fall, Taylor’s unembalmed body began a second, longer journey of around 1,000 miles from Washington, D.C., to a cemetery at the former Taylor farm near Louisville. Departing about October 25, the escorted casket traveled by railroad to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then along the Ohio River aboard the steamboat Navigator. Upon arrival at the wharf in Louisville on November 1, the casket was lifted onto a hearse and transported to the cemetery in a procession formed by military personnel, city officials, and residents. There, Taylor’s casket was placed in a “modest and unostentatious” vault finished on top and three sides by sod. A bust of the president above the entrance looked out on the half-acre family burial ground. Two years later, his wife, Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor, was placed alongside him when she died. - U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website
Tioga Eagle, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
Wednesday, October 16, 1850
Remains of General Taylor
We understand, from R. M. Magraw, Esq., the very efficient President of the Susquehanna, or York and Columbia Railroad, that the remains of General Zachary Taylor, late President of the J.S. will leave Washington City, in a car furnished by the Susquehanna Railroad Company, on the morning of the 25th of October, at 6 o’clock, and will reach Baltimore at 8 o’clock, where Col. Taylor and Col. W. S.Bliss will take possession of the corpse. They will then proceed over the York and Cumberland, or Susquehanna Road, will stop at York a few minutes, and will go thence to Wrightsville, York county, where they will cross the Columbia Bridge, and proceed by the new river railroad on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, to Middletown, where they will meet the line that leaves Philadelphia in the morning at 8 o’clock, and proceed thence to Harrisburg, and so over the Central railroad to Pittsburgh, where they will take the steamer to Louisville.
The Portsmouth and Central railroad companies have behaved with liberality and promptitude, passing the remains and the escort free of all expense.
Pittsburgh Post
Tuesday, October 29, 1850
General Taylor’s Remains
Yesterday the remains of General Zachary Taylor passed through our streets on their way to their final resting place. The procession was not as large as we supposed it would have been, but nevertheless the spectacle was solemn and sublime. The streets and side-walks were crowded with citizens and strangers, and the store doors and windows were filled with men, women and children.
Little did General Taylor suppose when he visited the city last year, full of life and vigorous manhood, that in so short a time his inanimate body would be wheeled through our streets to its long home. Death is no respecter of persons. High and low, rich and poor, must submit to its impetuous demands. Twice within a few years have the citizens of Pittsburgh been called upon to escort the remains of Chief Magistrates through our city. Such scenes should admonished all of the uncertainty of Life and the certainty of Death.
“Life in short and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.”
Pittsburgh Gazette
Tuesday, October 29, 1850
Funeral Ceremonies in Honor of General Taylor. - A large concourse of our citizens assembled on Monday morning at the canal bridge, to pay a last tribute of respect to the memory of our late lamented President, Zachary Taylor. Pena street was completely choked up, yet, notwithstanding the density of the crowd, the utmost good order prevailed, and all seemed to feel the solemnity of the occasion which had called them together to render the last sad duties of respect and affection to departed worth.
Sunbury Gazette
Saturday, November 2, 1850
Funeral Ceremonies were observed in Pittsburgh on Monday, on the occasion of the reception of the remains of our late president, General Zachary Taylor.
Zachary Taylor's Funeral Train
By Richard F. Palmer
The third U.S. President to be transported home by public transportation was Zachary Taylor in 1850. Taylor was born on November 24, 1784, in Orange County, Virginia, but grew up in Kentucky and was the father of five daughters and one son. He served as the 12th President of the United States for 16 months from the spring of 1849 until his death on July 9, 1850. He rode very little on trains.
Before his presidency, he spent nearly 40 years in the United States Army and was a General in the Mexican-American War. He became sick under peculiar circumstances on July 4, 1850 after attending a social event at the Washington Monument. Five days later, on July 9, 1850, he died, and his remains were temporarily placed in the vault of the Congressional Cemetery. Eventually his wife decided he should be taken to the national cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, for permanent burial. This trip in itself proved quite an adventure for those who accompanied it. (1)
The Tioga Eagle of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, reported on Wednesday, October 16, 1850:
Remains of General Taylor
We understand, from R. M. Magraw, Esq., the very efficient President of the Susquehanna, or York and Columbia Railroad, that the remains of General Zachary Taylor, late President of the U.S. will leave Washington City, in a car furnished by the Susquehanna Railroad Company, on the morning of the 25th of October, at 6 o’clock, and will reach Baltimore at 8 o’clock, where Col. Taylor and Col. W. S. Bliss will take possession of the corpse. They will then proceed over the York and Cumberland, or Susquehanna Road, will stop at York a few minutes, and will go thence to Wrightsville, York county, where they will cross the Columbia Bridge, and proceed by the new river railroad on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, to Middletown, where they will meet the line that leaves Philadelphia in the morning at 8 o’clock, and proceed thence to Harrisburg, and so over the Central railroad to Pittsburgh, where they will take the steamer to Louisville. The Portsmouth and Central railroad companies have behaved with liberality and promptitude, passing the remains and the escort free of all expense. (2)
Northern Central Historian Scott Mingus of York, Pa., said: “The Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad was the line from Baltimore to the state line, with a connection to Washington via the Baltimore & Ohio. The York and Cumberland ran from the state line north to York and beyond to Cumberland County, (71 miles). The spur ran from York to Wrightsville (12 miles) . These were part of a merger in the early 1850s that formed the Northern Central Railway. He said: “The new line along the river in Lancaster County and the line to Philadelphia eventually became the Pennsylvania Railroad.” The Baltimore & Susquehanna carried the train 75 miles from Baltimore to Columbia. (3)
End Notes
1. White House Historical Association data sheet on Taylor; Bauer, K. Jack, Zachary Taylor - Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. Louisiana State University Press, 1985, various pages.
2. In December, 1848, William Wallace Smith Bliss married Taylor’s daughter, Betty. P. 243,; Wikipedia, William Wallace Bliss. Fort Bliss, Texas was named in his honor
3. Page 80, Doggett, John, John Doggett’s United States Railroad and Ocean Steam Navigation Guide, New York, September, 1847; Page 20, American Railway Guide, New York, 1851.
