is it because of the mexican-american war? it surely cannot have anything to do with the civil war, since zachary “old rough and ready” taylor, a mexican-american war hero, died after only a few months in office as president in 1850, a full 15 years prior to the start of the civil war.

i’m not real clear on why the name “rough and ready” lived on because of a skirmish which took place 5 weeks after the civil war officially ended, as mentioned in the chamber of commerce’s blurb about the festival, since taylor was long gone by that time. in any event, according to taylor’s biography at whitehouse.gov, he was strongly opposed to southern secession, and in fact told southern leaders in a meeting that if need be, he would personally lead the army against them if they tried to break away from the union.

perhaps those with a grievance concerning the naming of “rough and ready days” can enlighten us as to their concerns about the name.