Vice President Fillmore assumed the presidency and served the remainder of his term. Historians and scholars have ranked Taylor in the bottom quartile of U.S. presidents, owing in part to his short term of office (16 months), though he has been described as "more a forgettable president than a failed one".[1]

Early life
Taylor's childhood home in Louisville, Kentucky
Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784,[2] on a plantation in Orange County, Virginia, to a prominent family of planters of English ancestry. His birthplace may have been Hare Forest Farm, the home of his maternal grandfather William Strother, but this is uncertain.[3] Another possibility, one recognized by a historical marker, is Montebello, another Orange County estate.[4] He was the third of five surviving sons in his family (a sixth died in infancy) and had three younger sisters. His mother was Sarah Dabney (Strother) Taylor. His father, Richard Taylor, served as a lieutenant colonel in the American Revolution.