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Medal Name: Twelfth President of the United States of America
Struck for: President Zachary Taylor
OBVERSE
ZACHARY TAYLOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 1849.
Bust of President Taylor, facing the left.
REVERSE
PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP.
Two hands clasped in token of amity; on the cuff of the left wrist three stripes, and buttons with the American eagle on them; the other wrist bare;
above the hands, a calumet and tomahawk crossed - Indian emblems of peace and war.
BACKGROUND
Zachary Taylor was born in Orange County, Virginia, September 24, 1784. His father soon after removed to a plantation near Louisville, Kentucky, where young Taylor passed the early years of his life. He entered the army as first lieutenant of infantry, 1808; was captain, 1810; distinguished himself by his defence of Fort Harrison, on the Wabash river, against the Indians led by Tecumseh, September 5, 1812, for which he was breveted major; full major, 1814; lieutenant-colonel, 1819; colonel, 1832. He served during all this period against the Indians on the northwest frontier; he was ordered to Florida in 1836, and won the battle of Okechobee against the Seminoles, December 25, 1837, for which he was made brigadier-general by brevet and commander-in-chief in Florida, 1838; commander of the first division in the southwest in 1840, in which year he removed from Kentucky to Louisiana, where he bought a plantation near Baton Rouge. Appointed commander of the army of occupation in Texas, July,1845, he defeated the Mexican armies in battle at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, May 8 and 9, 1846; at Monterey, September 24, same year; and at Buena Vista, February 22 and 23, 1847. For these victories Congressgave him a vote of thanks and three gold medals. He was made major-general, June 29, 1846; became President of the United States, March 5, 1849, and died at the White House in Washington, July 9, 1850. His soldiers gave him the sobriquet of "Old Rough and Ready."
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)