Mr. Dyer here develops Zachary Taylor's career as the story of the young republic's expansion westward.
Son of a Virginia colonel of the Revolution who moved to Kentucky shortly after the war, Zachary Taylor grew to manhood on the frontier. In 1808 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Army. He rose to the rank of general through his distinguished service as an Indian fighter in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the second Seminole War. In the Mexican War, Taylor became a popular idol through a series of smashing victories climaxed by his defeat of Santa Anna at Buena Vista in 1847.
In the life of Old Rough and Ready the American frontier spirit is shown at its best. Lacking a thorough formal education, "Old Zach" possessed the pioneer qualities of self-reliance, dauntless courage, seasoned common sense, and a restless, rugged character. It was these qualities which won him fame as a military leader and success in the presidential election of 1848.
Particularly significant in this book is Mr. Dyer's analysis of the issues facing Taylor as President. Typically, his political battles were over the admission to statehood of California and other western territories for which he had fought as a soldier. The personality clashes in his cabinet—many of them the result of Taylor's own political inexperience—are related here to the great controversy of Taylor's administration which resulted, after his death, in Clay's Compromise of 1850.