Taylor, Zachary, twelfth President of the United States, born in Orange County, Virginia; obtained a lieutenancy in the navy in 1808; first saw service in Indian wars on the north-west frontier; in 1836 cleared the Indians from Florida and won the brevet of brigadier-general; great victories over the Mexicans on the Texan frontier during 1845-48 raised his popularity to such a pitch that on his return he was carried triumphantly into the Presidency; the burning questions of his brief term of office were the proposed admission of California as a free State and the extension of slavery into the newly-acquired territory; was a man of strong character, a daring and skilful general, of unassuming manners, and loved by the mass of the people, to whom he was known as “Old Rough and Ready” (1784‒1850).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Taylor, William * Taylor Institute