Plan of the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Head Piece to Chapter VI. City of Matamoras, Market Place of Matamoras, PAGE, 98 99 99 102 106 107 107 107 111 113 General Worth at the Siege of Monterey. The Bishop's Palace in the Ornamental Letter. Figure of Peace, with Olive Branch. 137 Head Piece to Chapter XI. Mexicans wounded at Buena Vista, 199 Head Piece to Chapter XIII. Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, 225 Head Piece to Chapter XV. General Taylor's Kitchen, 261 Early Life --- Service in the War of 1812. N EXT in importance to the interest excited by the performance of heroic deeds, is the curiosity prevalent among all classes, to learn something of the life, character, and general qualifications of the men who have shared the glories or perils of those deeds. In most cases this feeling is stronger or weaker in proportion to the approximation of the actions to our own age and country, as well as to their national importance. If the action be the gaining of a battle, or the preservation of public honor, and it take place now, not only is the cry of exultation loud, but with it comes an imperative demand for the history of its achievers. A prominent illustration of this principle is now before the American people. At a time when hosts of armed foes surrounded a handful of men, whose escape appeared utterly impossible, and when a whole country was filled with dejection and anxiety for the result, one master-spirit suddenly arose, and by a series of the most rapid and brilliant strokes, retrieved his army, sustained the national honor, and won for himself immortal laurels. The man whose career has thus burst like a meteor on the national horizon, has every eye concentrated upon him with wonder and admiration; and with these feelings is mingled another—a desire to know something of his character and history. The ancestors of General TAYLOR emigrated from England nearly two centuries ago, and settled in the eastern part of Virginia. His father, Richard Taylor, was born in that state, where he resided until about 1790. Zachary was his second son, and was born in November, 1784, in Orange county, Virginia; he is therefore a native of the same state which gave birth to Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Harrison, and many other illustrious Americans. Besides Zachary, his father had four sons, Hancock, George, William, and Joseph, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Emily. Richard Taylor seems to have possessed a full share of the restless spirit of active adventure which distinguished the first settlers of America. Accordingly, in a little while after Boone had explored Kentucky, we find him journeying to that wilderness. Here he was not only unappalled by the horrors of a country called by the natives the dark and bloody ground, and by his hair-breadth escapes from the Indians, but he actually formed the design of penetrating to New Orleans on foot. This he accomplished alone, through the forests and wilderness stretching along the Mississippi, and returned by ship to Virginia. When the revolution broke out, the courage and zeal which he had manifested in resisting the encroachments of the mother country, caused him to receive an appointment as colonel in the Continental army, the duties of which office he performed in a manner that fulfilled the high hopes which had been entertained of him. He fought in several of the most important battles of the north, and among others, with Washington at Trenton. At the close of the war he retired to his farm in Virginia, where he remained until about the year 1790, when he emigrated with his family to Kentucky. In this journey he was accompanied by Colonels Croghan and Bullitt, both of which names became afterwards famous |