The Cypress Grove Plantation was a Southern

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

owned by President

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military officer and politician who was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States ...

near

Rodney, Mississippi Rodney is a ghost town in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States. Most of the buildings are gone and the remaining structures are in various states of disrepair. The town regularly floods and buildings have extensive flood damage. The Rod ...

. Later, it was also known as Buena Vista Plantation.

Location

The plantation bordered Ashland Plantation and the Mississippi River. It was near the Ashland community, and Ashland's port was sometimes used by Cypress Grove Plantation. The plantation was also located on the Mississippi River ten miles below Rodney, a small town on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

in Jefferson County,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

.Stanley Nelson
Taylor's Cypress Grove Plantation
'' The Ouachita Citizen'', August 6, 2014June Davis Davidson, ''Country Stores of Mississippi'', Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2014, p. 9

/ref> It was north of Natchez, Mississippi, Natchez.K. Jack Bauer, ''Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest'', Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University, 1993, p. 107-10

/ref>

History

The plantation was purchased by General Zachary Taylor in 1840. The land spanned 1,923 acres. Previously, it was purchased from David Hunt (planter), David Hunt and others by John Hagan of New Orleans, and then sold to Taylor for $95,000. The property came with eighty-one enslaved African or African-Americans - "servants," as Taylor called them, and with horses, mules, cattle and equipment. Taylor and his wife,

Margaret Taylor Margaret Mackall Taylor ( Smith; September 21, 1788 – August 14, 1852) was the first lady of the United States from 1849 to 1850 as the wife of President Zachary Taylor. She married Zachary in 1810 and lived as an army wife, accompanying ...

, often visited the plantation until he was elected President of the United States in 1848. Indeed, she spent most of her time at the plantation while he was serving in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

. Though Taylor won many battles in the war, the

Battle of Buena Vista The Battle of Buena Vista (February 22–23, 1847), known as the Battle of La Angostura in Mexico, and sometimes as Battle of Buena Vista/La Angostura, was a battle of the Mexican–American War. It was fought between U.S. forces, largely vol ...

was his last victory in 1847. The plantation became known as Buena Vista when Taylor returned from the war. Taylor's parents, Colonel Richard and Sara Strother Taylor, raised him on their plantation, so he had experience running a plantation. Cotton, tobacco, corn and wheat were grown, and hogs, sheep, cattle and poultry were raised on his plantation. He grew potatoes and peas in his garden. His home on the plantation was made of timber and included a large library. He also had a sawmill on this plantation. Taylor first hired a cousin of his wife, Damascus Thornton, as the first overseer.Holman Hamilton, ''The Three Kentucky Presidents: Lincoln, Taylor, Davis'', Louisville, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2003, p. 2

/ref> He later hired another cousin, James Thornton, until the latter resigned in 1845. The third overseer was Thomas W. Ringgold. Taylor corresponded with Ringgold from

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

during the Mexican-American War.Stephen Currie
Zachary Taylor, Plantation Owner
''

Civil War History ''Civil War History'' is an academic journal of the American Civil War. It was established in 1955 at the State University of Iowa and is published quarterly by Kent State University Press. Topics covered in this journal include slavery and aboli ...

'', Volume 30, Number 2, June 1984, pp. 144–156 According to biographer K. Jack Bauer, his slaves were treated well, well-fed and even received Christmas presents each year. On top of picking cotton and other crops, they built levees on the Mississippi River and on an adjacent creek. Later, Taylor's son, General Richard Taylor, helped manage the plantation. Mississippi River travelers could cut ten miles from their trip by going through Gillam's Shute which flowed between Buena Vista Island and Taylor's plantation. Thus, the plantation was well known to river travelers. Taylor died on July 9, 1850. Taylor's widow, Margaret, and the other heirs sold the plantation land in 1850 to Charles B. New for $20,000. Most of the land has since eroded away into the Mississippi River.

References

{{coord, 31.775080, -91.288021, display=title Jefferson County, Mississippi Plantations in Mississippi Zachary Taylor History of slavery in Mississippi