{"id":105031,"date":"2022-07-07T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/?p=105031"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:57:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:57:26","slug":"object-34-president-zachary-taylors-well-traveled-remains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-34-president-zachary-taylors-well-traveled-remains\/","title":{"rendered":"Object 34: President Zachary Taylor&#8217;s Well-Traveled Remains"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kb-image105031_85addc-70.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image105031_85addc-70 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:699px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image105031_85addc-70.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image105031_85addc-70 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image105031_85addc-70 figure{max-width:699px;}.kb-image105031_85addc-70 .image-is-svg, .kb-image105031_85addc-70 .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image105031_85addc-70 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}.kb-image105031_85addc-70 img.kb-img, .kb-image105031_85addc-70 .kb-img img{border-top:1px solid #000000;border-right:1px solid #000000;border-bottom:1px solid #000000;border-left:1px solid #000000;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-image105031_85addc-70 img.kb-img, .kb-image105031_85addc-70 .kb-img img{border-top:1px solid #000000;border-right:1px solid #000000;border-bottom:1px solid #000000;border-left:1px solid #000000;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-image105031_85addc-70 img.kb-img, .kb-image105031_85addc-70 .kb-img img{border-top:1px solid #000000;border-right:1px solid #000000;border-bottom:1px solid #000000;border-left:1px solid #000000;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image105031_85addc-70\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022070703-scaled.jpg?resize=1024,715\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27512%27%20height%3D%27358%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20512%20358%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27512%27%20height%3D%27358%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022070703-scaled.jpg?resize=1024,715\" alt=\"Monument and second mausoleum to contain the remains of President Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, national cemetery that bears his name. (Historic American Landscapes Survey, National Park Service)\" class=\"lazyload kb-img wp-image-105032\" width=\"512\" height=\"358\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Monument and second mausoleum to contain the remains of President Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, national cemetery that bears his name. (Historic American Landscapes Survey, National Park Service)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three burial vaults, two funeral processions a thousand miles apart, and a daytrip to quash an assertion of foul play\u2013the 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taylor was a career U.S. Army officer who rose to the rank of&nbsp;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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On July 13, Taylor\u2019s elaborate funeral procession, more than a mile long, wound through a capital draped in mourning. The body of the twelfth president lay in a \u201crich yet simple\u201d metal coffin made by Fisk and Raymond, purportedly with a glass window plate that allowed a view of Taylor\u2019s face. The casket was placed in the public vault at <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/100-objects\/object-20-the-washington-arsenal-monument\/\"><strong>Congressional Cemetery<\/strong><\/a> \u201cwith no other ceremonies\u201d than a \u201cminister\u2019s simple words and a gun salute,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That fall, Taylor\u2019s 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&nbsp;<em>Navigator<\/em>. 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\u2019s casket was placed in a \u201cmodest and unostentatious\u201d 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&nbsp;Taylor, was placed alongside him when she died.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image105031_f6c159-0f.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:608px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image105031_f6c159-0f.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image105031_f6c159-0f figure{max-width:608px;}.kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .image-is-svg, .kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}.kb-image105031_f6c159-0f img.kb-img, .kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .kb-img img{border-top:1px solid #000000;border-right:1px solid #000000;border-bottom:1px solid #000000;border-left:1px solid #000000;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-image105031_f6c159-0f img.kb-img, .kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .kb-img img{border-top:1px solid #000000;border-right:1px solid #000000;border-bottom:1px solid #000000;border-left:1px solid #000000;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-image105031_f6c159-0f img.kb-img, .kb-image105031_f6c159-0f .kb-img img{border-top:1px solid #000000;border-right:1px solid #000000;border-bottom:1px solid #000000;border-left:1px solid #000000;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image105031_f6c159-0f\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/07\/2022070704-scaled-1.jpg\" class=\"kb-advanced-image-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27768%27%20height%3D%27593%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20768%20593%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27768%27%20height%3D%27593%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022070704-scaled.jpg?resize=1024,790\" alt=\"President Taylor on his deathbed, Currier and Ives lithograph,1850. He contracted cholera, most likely from drinking tainted liquids at a Fourth of July celebration. (National Portrait Gallery)\" class=\"lazyload kb-img wp-image-105033\" width=\"768\" height=\"593\" \/><\/a><figcaption>President Taylor on his deathbed, Currier and Ives lithograph,1850. He contracted cholera, most likely from drinking tainted liquids at a Fourth of July celebration. (National Portrait Gallery)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the decades after Taylor\u2019s death, the simple, remote burial site came to be seen as inadequate for a president, but public improvements were gradual. In the late 1870s, the Commonwealth of Kentucky funded the building of a monument near the mausoleum. The 30-foot-tall granite shaft, dedicated in 1883, is topped with a life-size statue of Taylor in Carrara marble. The twentieth century saw efforts to federalize the care of Taylor\u2019s remains and transform the site into a \u201cnational shrine.\u201d In 1925, Congress authorized the acquisition of the property from Kentucky and ordered the construction of a new mausoleum. The Peter &amp; Burghard Stone Company of Louisville used Indiana limestone to erect the 13-foot-square neoclassical structure, which also features a marble interior and glazed bronze doors. On May 6, 1926, the Taylor caskets were quietly moved into \u201cVerda antique marble sarcophagi\u201d in the new mausoleum. A dedication ceremony was held a few weeks later on <a href=\"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/featured-stories\/cemetery-monuments\/\"><strong>Memorial Day<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By 1928, Kentucky had transferred approximately 16.5 acres adjacent to the Taylor burial grounds to the federal government. That year, Congress designated the entire site the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, although the old vault, mausoleum, and family plots remained the property of his descendants. In 1976, the Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century donated a bronze plaque that was placed on the abandoned vault where he was first interred because they felt \u201cit is rather confusing to the public as to where he is buried.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taylor\u2019s resting place endured one final disturbance on June 17, 1991. After a writer maintained that the president may have been poisoned with arsenic, his descendants supported a court order to have the remains tested. The county coroner removed samples of hair, bone, and fingernails for analysis and his casket was then returned to the mausoleum the same day. Within the week, officials determined that Taylor died of natural causes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three burial vaults, two funeral processions a thousand miles apart, and a daytrip to quash an assertion of foul play\u2013the 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":117303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[93,20,125],"class_list":["post-105031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-objects","tag-mexican-american-war","tag-national-cemetery-administration","tag-national-cemetery-system"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-34-president-zachary-taylors-well-traveled-remains\/","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Object 34: President Zachary Taylor&#8217;s Well-Traveled Remains","url":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-34-president-zachary-taylors-well-traveled-remains\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-34-president-zachary-taylors-well-traveled-remains\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/07\/Object-34-Featured-Image-1.webp?w=300","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/07\/Object-34-Featured-Image-1.webp"},"articleSection":"History of VA in 100 Objects","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"}],"creator":["Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VA History","logo":""},"keywords":["mexican-american war","national cemetery administration","national cemetery system"],"dateCreated":"2022-07-07T12:30:00Z","datePublished":"2022-07-07T12:30:00Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T22:57:26Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Object 34: President Zachary Taylor&#8217;s Well-Traveled Remains\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/object-34-president-zachary-taylors-well-traveled-remains\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/object-34-president-zachary-taylors-well-traveled-remains\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/Object-34-Featured-Image-1.webp?w=300\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/department.va.gov\\\/history\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/Object-34-Featured-Image-1.webp\"},\"articleSection\":\"History of VA in 100 Objects\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)\"}],\"creator\":[\"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"VA History\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"mexican-american war\",\"national cemetery administration\",\"national cemetery system\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2022-07-07T12:30:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-07T12:30:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-02T22:57:26Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/department.va.gov\/p.js"},"meta_box":{"external_links":"0","endorsement":"0","subheading":"","featured_image_alt_text":"President Taylor on his deathbed, Currier and Ives lithograph,1850. 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