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TAYLOR, Zachary. Autograph letter signed ("Z Taylor") to Dr. Robert Wood "Camp near Monterey Mexico," 16 May 1847. 4½ pages, 4to, signature on postscript removed, otherwise fine. TAYLOR'S PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS: "I HAVE NO WISH FOR THE OFFICE" An excellent letter in which Taylor comments on the possibility of running for the presidency and discusses military operations in the Mexican War. Taylor, a career officer who commanded the Army of the United States in the northern reaches of Mexico and won important victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista, was sought by the Whig Party as a potential nominee for the Election of 1848. Taylor, though, claimed that he had no political ambitions. Here, from his Headquarters outside of Monterrey, he writes his son-in-law and frequent correspondant, Robert C. Wood. Regarding Wood's son Jonathan he writes: "I am very much gratified to learn that John had at last recd the appointment of midshipman...I will not doubt for a moment...he will work his way up to the head of his profession, or to respectable rank." Johnathan Taylor Wood (1830-1904), Taylor's grandson, went on to serve in the Confederate Navy and was aboard the ironclad CSS Virginia [ Merrimac ] during its famous battle with the USS Monitor . Taylor observes that: "Many of our young Navy officers are ruined by too early marriages...No young man in the army or navy should embarass himself with a family, until he has respectable rank." Taylor also mentions that he hopes that his son Dick (future Confederate General Richard Taylor will come to see Wood. Concerning reports that he might be the Whig candidate for President, Taylor denies direct interest: "As to my position as a candidate for the presidency, I am to some extent aware of it & regret so far as I am concerned that the subject had not been deferred until the end of the war, or at any rate until after the adjournment of the next Congress. As I have no wish for the office, all that I will say, if the people think proper to elect me I will serve them honestly & faithfully to the best of my ability; & if I go into the White House to occupy it, it must be the spontaneous move of the people, so that I can be the president of the nation, & not of a party. I am opposed to proscription for opinion sake; this is as far as I intend going & perhaps farther than I ought to go, while I am engage[d] in carrying on this war." Taylor won the Presidency in 1848 and, true to his word, he remained independent from the Whig platform on which he was elected. Taylor discusses the Mexican War in detail. Noting that many officers would be going home shortly, Taylor speaks briefly of Jefferson Davis, commander of the Mississippi Volunteers: "Col. Davis who goes tomorrow with part of his Regt, from here, the balance, being already on the road, who is still suffering from his wound...has been my devoted & fast friend since he has been in the country; for which I am duly thankful." Davis, the future President of the Confederacy, led his Mississippi regiment in a charge at Buena Vista and had been wounded in the foot. Noting General Winfield Scott's operations, Taylor writes: "We are looking with deep interest to the results of the effects of Genl Scotts operations against the enemy; I recd a note from him dated the 24th ulto, at Jalapa, stating he had defeated Santa Anna with great loss on the 18th at a place called Cerro Gordo near Jalapa, taking all his baggage & cannon & 3000 prisoners; but said nothing about his own loss, that he was in possession of Perote, & would move on Puebla in a few days." Regarding the possibility of peace, Taylor writes: "The Genl says no proposals for peace had been made by the Mexican authorities...If they however hold out & suffer us to take possession of their large cities & to occupy them as we must do & carry on a guerilla war, there is no telling when or where it will end; but be this as it will I have determined to return to the U. States in the fall even if I ha