Camp Zachary Taylor consisted of One Main Camp (shown below)and Three satellite Camps. The three other sites were:

The Remount station, located at Eastern Parkway and Crittenden Drive.

The Maneuver Field, on the west side of Preston Highway starting at Belmar Drive and running west to Crittenden Drive, and then west to the L & N Railroad tracks, south to approximately Fern Valley Road, then west to Grade Lane and North East to Preston Street. This site is mostly consumed by " The Louisville International Airport".

The Rifle Range, located approximately six and one half miles south of the Main Camp. It was located in the South Park area, south of the Outer Loop between the L & N RR. and Preston Highway. The City of Minor Lane Heights now occupies the majority of the former rifle range.

The north end of the Main Camp was the site of the Clark homestead, the parents of George Rogers Clark. Known as Mulberry Hill, the original homestead encompassed the land from Clarks Lane to McKinley Ave, and between Poplar Level and Pindell Avenue. A portion of this area which is located at Poplar Level and Truston Avenue is now the location of "George Rogers Clark Park". The original homestead building were torn down in 1917 to make way for the Camp. Today those buildings were considered to be some of the most important and historical structures in the United States. Their raising was a terrible loss. Sadly, they were torn down to make a maneuver field. No new buildings were constructed over the area where they stood.

Another part of the camp was the artillery range. It composed of 16,000 acres, and was located near West Point, Kentucky. This area was soon renamed "Camp Knox", and served as the firing range for the 325th, 326th and 327th Field Artillery Regiments. Camp Knox was renamed after the end of World War I to it's current name of "Fort Knox".

There were 10,000 workers employed at the peak of the construction, which was August 19, 1917. Because there weren't enough local tradesmen, workers were shipped in by train from places such as Chattanooga, Tenn. and Indianapolis, Ind. Short of housing, Uncle Sam paid to put up the men at the old Galt House at First and Main streets. At some time during the construction, about 300 men were housed in barracks as they were completed.

President Zachary Taylor Biography

Zachary Taylor

Twelfth President of the United States

1849-1850

Born: November 24, 1784 in Orange County, Virginia

Died: July 9, 1850 in Washington D.C. while in office after falling ill at a July 4 celebration.

He was the second president to die in office. Born in Virginia in 1784, he was taken as an infant to Kentucky and raised on a plantation located at Blankenbaker Ln., N. of US 42, at Apache St. in Louisville. also known as "Springfield", was built by his father, Col. Richard Taylor of Va. ca. 1790. He was a career officer in the Army, but his talk was most often of cotton raising. His home was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and he owned a plantation in Mississippi.

He was a slave owner of 100 slaves, but Taylor did not defend slavery or southern sectionalism.. He spent a quarter of a century policing the frontiers against Indians. In the Mexican War he won major victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista. President Polk, disturbed by General Taylor's informal habits of command kept him in northern Mexico and sent an expedition under Gen. Winfield Scott to capture Mexico City. Taylor, incensed, thought that "the battle of Buena Vista opened the road to the city of Mexico and the halls of Montezuma, that others might revel in them."

"Old Rough and Ready's" homespun ways were political assets. His long military record would appeal to northerners; his ownership of slaves would lure southern votes. The Whigs nominated him to run against the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, who favored letting the residents of territories decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery. Lewis Cass, the advocate of "squatter sovereignty", and northerners who opposed extension of slavery into territories formed a Free Soil Party and nominated Martin Van Buren.

In a close election, the Free Soilers pulled enough votes away from Cass to elect Taylor. Although Taylor had subscribed to Whig principles of legislative leadership, he was not inclined to be a puppet of Whig leaders in Congress. He acted at times as though he were above parties and politics. As disheveled as always, Taylor tried to run his administration in the same rule-of-thumb fashion with which he had fought Indians. Taylor urged settlers in New Mexico and California to draft constitutions and apply for statehood, bypassing the territorial stage. Southerners were furious, since neither state constitution was likely to permit slavery; Members of Congress were dismayed, since they felt the President was usurping their policy-making prerogatives. In addition, Taylor's solution ignored several acute side issues: the northern dislike of the slave market operating in the District of Columbia; and the southern demands for a more stringent fugitive slave law.

In February 1850 President Taylor had held a stormy conference with southern leaders who threatened secession. He told them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he personally would lead the Army. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico." He never wavered.

Then events took an unexpected turn. After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a blistering July 4th day in 1850, Taylor fell ill and within five days he was dead. After his death, the forces of compromise triumphed, but the war Taylor had been willing to face came 11 years later. In it, his only son Richard served as a general in the Confederate Army.

Abraham Lincoln, while in Chicago for U.S. District Court session on July 25th, delivered the eulogy for President Zachary Taylor at City Hall.