Old Rough and Ready

Magnet #1307 - Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)

Our 12th president, Zachary Taylor, had no political experience when he was elected. He was basically elected for being a war hero, having served in the military for 40 years, in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican-American War.

But here's something. Ya'll know how I love my American presidents, and that every once in a while, I can whip out a little-known fact or two. (Millard Fillmore being the 13th president is not one.)

So, I dunno how I'm just now finding out that Taylor, the 40-year warhorse known as Old Rough and Ready, served only a 16-month term, because he was supposedly felled by cholera...

Contracted from eating a bowl of cherries and drinking a pitcher of iced milk.