Early Life and Education
Born to Margaret Mackall (Smith) and Zachary Taylor, Sarah Knox Taylor grew up some years in military installations. Her father became a general and commanded forts. She received most of her education from her mother. She had three sisters and a brother. Her father was elected later as President of the United States. Sarah was given the nickname "Knoxie", which originated from her middle name and from Ft. Knox II in Vincennes, Indiana, where she was born. In the early 1830s, her father commanded Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and his wife and children were living with him. He was involved in waging the Black Hawk War. At age 17, Sarah fell in love with Jefferson Davis, a recent graduate of the United States Military Academy and a lieutenant, who was second to General Taylor at the fort. Davis was transferred to St. Louis in 1833, yet managed to keep in contact with the woman whom he wished to marry.
Taylor admired Davis for his soldiering skills, but opposed the romantic match. The Taylors' older daughter had already married Army surgeon Robert C. Wood. They were raising three young children in a desolate frontier outpost. Together with their own experience, the Taylors felt that the military life was too hard and did not want Sarah to be an Army wife.
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