Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
Encyclopedia
Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, located at 4701 Brownsboro Road (US-42
), in northeast Louisville, Kentucky
(near Saint Matthews, Kentucky
) is a national cemetery
where former President of the United States
Zachary Taylor
and his first lady Margaret Taylor
are buried. Zachary Taylor National Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
on November 3, 1983. Presently, the cemetery has 13,486 interments. It is one of seven national cemeteries in the commonwealth of Kentucky, and one of 112 in the entire United States of America
. Those buried at the national cemetery served in six wars: Spanish-American War
, World War I
, World War II
, Korean War
, Vietnam War
, and the Persian Gulf War
.
The cemetery started as the family cemetery of Zachary Taylor's family. Also buried at the site are Taylor's parents, Richard Taylor
, who was a colonel in the American Revolutionary War
, and Sarah Strother Taylor. President Taylor's son, Richard Taylor
, who was a general for the Confederate States of America
, is buried at Metairie Cemetery
in New Orleans.
.
On November 1, 1850, Zachary Taylor was buried at his family's burial ground; he had initially been buried at the Congressional Cemetery
in Washington, D.C.
.
In 1883, the commonwealth of Kentucky placed a fifty foot monument near Zachary Taylor's grave. It is topped by a life-sized statue of Zachary Taylor. In 1930 a sundial
was placed to further memorialize Zachary Taylor.
The Taylor family in the 1920s initiated the effort to turn the Taylor burial grounds into a national cemetery. The commonwealth of Kentucky donated two pieces of land for the project, turning the half-acre Taylor family cemetery into 16 acres (64,749.8 m²). However, the Army judge advocate general ruled against attaining the Taylor cemetery; the Taylor graves are within the walls of the national cemetery, but are the one part of the national cemetery not owned by the government of United States of America (although the National Cemetery Administration does take care of the Taylor graves as it does the rest of the national cemetery). However, when the national cemetery was created, a new mausoleum was built for Zachary Taylor; it was made of limestone
with a granite
base, with a marble interior.
There have been several attempts to increase the size of the cemetery, but each time local interests stopped the growth.
The National Cemetery made the national news on June 17, 1991, when Zachary Taylor was exhumed to see if he had been poisoned, and if that was his actual cause of death.
.
The cemetery is the burial site of two Medal of Honor
recipients, Sergeant
Willie Sandlin
(World War I
), United States Army
, and Sergeant John C. Squires
(World War II
), United States Army.
Members of the Taylor family are buried in an area now at the back of the national cemetery. Zachary Taylor was originally buried in a tomb, but was later placed in the marble mausoleum
in 1926; both still stand to this day. Also buried in the area of the original Taylor family cemetery are W.G.L. Taylor, who was a captain for the Confederate States of America
, and other family members, including the president's parents. Soldiers from Fort Knox
engage in a wreath-laying ceremony every November 24, which marks Zachary Taylor's birthday.
U.S. Route 42
U.S. Route 42 is an east–west United States highway that runs northeast-southwest for 355 miles from Cleveland, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky. The route has several names including Pearl Road from Cleveland to Medina in Northeast Ohio, the Cincinnati and Lebanon Pike in southwestern Ohio and...
), in northeast Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
(near Saint Matthews, Kentucky
St. Matthews, Kentucky
St. Matthews is the 20th largest city in Kentucky, United States and is a prominent suburb of Louisville. It is located 8 miles east of downtown Louisville in Jefferson County. It is one of the state's major shopping areas, being home to second and fifth largest malls in Kentucky St. Matthews is...
) is a national cemetery
United States National Cemetery
"United States National Cemetery" is a designation for 146 nationally important cemeteries in the United States. A National Cemetery is generally a military cemetery containing the graves of U.S. military personnel, veterans and their spouses but not exclusively so...
where former President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
and his first lady Margaret Taylor
Margaret Taylor
Margaret Mackall Smith "Peggy" Taylor , wife of Zachary Taylor, was First Lady of the United States from 1849 to 1850.-Early Life and Marriage:...
are buried. Zachary Taylor National Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on November 3, 1983. Presently, the cemetery has 13,486 interments. It is one of seven national cemeteries in the commonwealth of Kentucky, and one of 112 in the entire United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Those buried at the national cemetery served in six wars: Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, and the Persian Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
.
The cemetery started as the family cemetery of Zachary Taylor's family. Also buried at the site are Taylor's parents, Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor (colonel)
Richard Lee Taylor was an officer in the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He was the father of the 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor....
, who was a colonel in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, and Sarah Strother Taylor. President Taylor's son, Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor (general)
Richard Taylor was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and First Lady Margaret Taylor.-Early life:...
, who was a general for the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, is buried at Metairie Cemetery
Metairie Cemetery
Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road .-History:This site was previously a horse...
in New Orleans.
History
The land which became Zachary Taylor National Cemetery was part of Richard Taylor's 400 acres (1.6 km²) estate, known as Springfield, given to him due to his service in the American Revolutionary War. The house the family lived in for most of their time in Louisville is still nearby, and is called the Zachary Taylor HouseZachary Taylor House
The Zachary Taylor House, also known as Springfield, was the boyhood home of the twelfth President of the United States, Zachary Taylor. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, Taylor lived there from 1790 to 1808, held his marriage there in 1810, and returned there periodically the rest of his...
.
On November 1, 1850, Zachary Taylor was buried at his family's burial ground; he had initially been buried at the Congressional Cemetery
Congressional Cemetery
The Congressional Cemetery is a historic cemetery located at 1801 E Street, SE, in Washington, D.C., on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the final resting place of thousands of individuals who helped form the nation and the city of Washington in the early 19th century. Many members of...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
In 1883, the commonwealth of Kentucky placed a fifty foot monument near Zachary Taylor's grave. It is topped by a life-sized statue of Zachary Taylor. In 1930 a sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
was placed to further memorialize Zachary Taylor.
The Taylor family in the 1920s initiated the effort to turn the Taylor burial grounds into a national cemetery. The commonwealth of Kentucky donated two pieces of land for the project, turning the half-acre Taylor family cemetery into 16 acres (64,749.8 m²). However, the Army judge advocate general ruled against attaining the Taylor cemetery; the Taylor graves are within the walls of the national cemetery, but are the one part of the national cemetery not owned by the government of United States of America (although the National Cemetery Administration does take care of the Taylor graves as it does the rest of the national cemetery). However, when the national cemetery was created, a new mausoleum was built for Zachary Taylor; it was made of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
with a granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
base, with a marble interior.
There have been several attempts to increase the size of the cemetery, but each time local interests stopped the growth.
The National Cemetery made the national news on June 17, 1991, when Zachary Taylor was exhumed to see if he had been poisoned, and if that was his actual cause of death.
Today
As of 2007, the cemetery has 13,486 interments (up from 13,321 interments in 2004), and is currently closed to new interments. However, space may be available in the same grave site for eligible family members. It is administered by the National Cemetery Administration, a part of the United States Department of Veterans AffairsUnited States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
.
The cemetery is the burial site of two Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
recipients, Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Willie Sandlin
Willie Sandlin
Willie Sandlin was a soldier in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during World War I.-Biography:...
(World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
), United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, and Sergeant John C. Squires
John C. Squires
John C. Squires was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II....
(World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
), United States Army.
Members of the Taylor family are buried in an area now at the back of the national cemetery. Zachary Taylor was originally buried in a tomb, but was later placed in the marble mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
in 1926; both still stand to this day. Also buried in the area of the original Taylor family cemetery are W.G.L. Taylor, who was a captain for the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, and other family members, including the president's parents. Soldiers from Fort Knox
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
engage in a wreath-laying ceremony every November 24, which marks Zachary Taylor's birthday.
See also
- Cave Hill National Cemetery, the other National Cemetery in Louisville
- List of attractions and events in Louisville, Kentucky