Zachary Taylor Trivia Questions and Answers
Who was the 12th President of the United States?
A: Zachary Taylor.
Where was Zachary Taylor born?
A: On a plantation in Orange County, Virginia.
Of what ancestry was Zachary Taylor?
A: He was of English ancestry.
Zachary was the third of how many surviving sons in his
family?
A: Five.
How many sisters did Zachary Taylor have?
A: Three.
What was Zachary’s mother’s name?
A: Sarah Dabney Strother Taylor.
What was his father’s name?
A: Richard Taylor.
Richard Taylor served as a lieutenant colonel in what?
A: The American Revolution.
Taylor grew up in a small woodland what?
A: Cabin, before his family, with increasing prosperity, moved to a brick house.
Taylor's father, came to own 10,000 acres throughout
Kentucky by the start of the 19th century and he held how many slaves?
A: 26.
On the Kentucky frontier there weren’t any formal schools,
and so Zachary had sporadic what?
A: Education.
A schoolmaster recalled Taylor as a what?
A: Quick learner.
His early letters show a weak grasp of what?
A: Spelling and grammar.
Zachary Taylor’s handwriting was once described as what?
A: "That of a near illiterate".
In June 1810, who did Taylor marry?
A: Margaret Mackall Smith,
Where did Margaret "Peggy" Smith come from?
A: A prominent family of Maryland planters.
Peggy was the daughter of Major Walter Smith, who had
served in the what?
A: Revolutionary War.
How many children did Margaret and Zachary have?
A: Six.
Taylor joined the U.S. Army on May 3, 1808, receiving a
commission as a what?
A: First lieutenant of the Seventh Infantry Regiment.
He was one of the new officers commissioned by Congress in
response to what?
A: The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair.
In November 1810, Taylor was promoted to the rank of what?
A: Captain.
Over the next several years, Zachary began to purchase what
in Louisville?
A: Slaves and a good deal of bank stock.
He bought a plantation for $95,000 in Louisville that had
83 slaves attached to it, bringing the total number of slaves under him above
what?
A: 200.
In July 1811 Taylor was called to the Indiana Territory, to
assume control of Fort Knox after the commandant what?
A: Fled.
During the War of 1812, Taylor successfully defended what
Fort in Indiana Territory from an Indian attack?
A: Fort Harrison.
After the violence subsided Zachary moved his family to
where?
A: Fort Knox.
In April 1819 Taylor was promoted to the rank of lieutenant
colonel and dined with whom?
A: President James Monroe.
In 1837, Taylor defeated what Indians in the
Christmas Day
Battle of Lake Okeechobee?
A: Seminole.
In May 1838, Taylor was placed in command of what?
A: All American troops in
Florida.
Zachary’s reputation as a military leader was growing he
acquired what nickname?
A: "Old Rough and Ready."
Taylor was sent in April 1844 to Fort Jesup in
Louisiana to
was ordered to guard against what?
A: Any attempts by Mexico to reclaim the territory.
In March 1846, Taylor commanded American forces at the
Battle of Palo Alto and the nearby Battle of what, defeating the
Mexican forces?
A: Resaca de la Palma.
In December 1847, where did Taylor receive a hero's
welcome, setting the stage for the 1848 presidential
election?
A: In New Orleans and Baton Rouge.