Death of the 12th President

Taking office in March of 1849, President Zachary Taylor would only remain President for 16 months. Then, on July 4, 1850, President Taylor attended a festival at the recently dedicated grounds that would one day hold the Washington Monument. Five days later, he would be dead.

It is said by many of those attending the festival that President Taylor was eating cherries non-stop as well as consuming copious amounts of iced milk. But, unfortunately, he would soon report serious stomach issues, and on July 9, 1850, 12th President Zachary Taylor had passed away.

While some say, it was the combination of cherries and milk, the actual cause of death remains a mystery. His personal physicians concluded that he had succumbed to cholera morbus, or gastroenteritis, a bacterial infection of the small intestine. It is interesting that there were many cholera cases that year, but that is not what the President was diagnosed with.