On this day in history, after a short illness, President Zachary Taylor died of either cholera, typhoid, gastroenteritis, or heat stroke. He fell ill after ingesting large amounts of cherries, iced milk and pickles, the combination of which also led to suspicion that he may have died of “man pregnancy.”

Our Most Binge-Eatery President

He had been president for only 16 months when he attended Fourth of July celebrations on a sweltering day on the Washington Mall. He had ingested all the foods very quickly–but like at every Fourth of July event involving very fast eating–he ultimately didn’t consume as much as a nearby skinny teenager from Japan.

He took to bed and died after a few days of diarrhea, nausea, cramping and vomiting, creating an atmosphere in the White House that was not topped until the early 20th century, a day after someone introduced president William Howard Taft to the concept of the Jalapeno Popper.

Since Taylor had been a hardliner against slavery, some thought he might have been poisoned. In 1991, his body was exhumed and examined, after an exhaustive search for a team of Secret Service men who had no sense of smell.