The Alleged Black Illegitimate Son of President Zachary Taylor

The Story of William Henry Taylor

Photo by Library of Congress at Unsplash

Zachary Taylor was only the President for sixteen months. He was sworn into office on March 5th, 1849, and died a mysterious death on July 9th, 1850. Taylor attended the dedication of the Washington Monument on July 4th, 1850. He is known to have eaten cherries and iced milk, after which he became ill and died four days later. Many thought he was poisoned; his body was exhumed in 1991, samples of hair, fingernails, and other tissue were removed, and his body was reinterred. The last conclusion reached in 2010 was:

“There is no definitive proof that Taylor was assassinated, nor would it appear that there is definitive proof that he was not.” -Michael Pareniti

Zachary Taylor was a military man and an enslaver. Taylor took advantage of Union Army policy, allowing officers to be accompanied by a limited number of enslaved people in the field. While a Colonel, Taylor had a child with a mulatto enslaved person he owned, and William Henry Taylor was born. The death rate for women having babies was over 40%, and Zachary’s wife, Martha, decided she was done after her sixth child. Taylor wasn’t too upset about being cut off; he had a ready replacement that couldn’t say no.