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| William Henry Harrison |
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presented their candidate William Henry Harrison as a simple frontier Indian fighter, living in
a log cabin and drinking cider, in sharp contrast to an aristocratic champagne-sipping Van
Buren.
Harrison was in fact a scion of the Virginia planter aristocracy. He was born at Berkeley in
1773. He studied classics and history at Hampden-Sydney College, then began the study of
medicine in Richmond.
Suddenly, that same year, 1791, Harrison switched interests. He obtained a commission as
ensign in the First Infantry of the Regular Army, and headed to the Northwest, where he
spent much of his life.
In the campaign against the Indians, Harrison served as aide-de-camp to General "Mad
Anthony" Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which opened most of the Ohio area to
settlement. After resigning from the Army in 1798, he became Secretary of the Northwest
Territory, was its first delegate to Congress, and helped obtain legislation dividing the
Territory into the Northwest and Indiana Territories. In 1801 he became Governor of the
Indiana Territory, serving 12 years.
His prime task as governor was to obtain title to Indian lands so settlers could press forward
into the wilderness. When the Indians retaliated, Harrison was responsible for defending the
settlements.
The threat against settlers became serious in 1809. An eloquent and energetic chieftain,
Tecumseh, with his religious brother, the Prophet, began to strengthen an Indian
confederation to prevent further encroachment. In 1811 Harrison received permission to
attack the confederacy.
While Tecumseh was away seeking more allies, Harrison led about a thousand men toward
the Prophet's town. Suddenly, before dawn on November 7, the Indians attacked his camp on
Tippecanoe River. After heavy fighting, Harrison repulsed them, but suffered 190 dead and
wounded.
The Battle of Tippecanoe, upon which Harrison's fame was to rest, disrupted Tecumseh's
confederacy but failed to diminish Indian raids. By the spring of 1812, they were again
terrorizing the frontier.
In the War of 1812 Harrison won more military laurels when he was given the command of the
Army in the Northwest with the rank of brigadier general. At the Battle of the Thames, north
of Lake Erie, on October 5th, 1813, he defeated the combined British and Indian forces, and
killed Tecumseh. The Indians scattered, never again to offer serious resistance in what was
then called the Northwest.
Thereafter Harrison returned to civilian life; the Whigs, in need of a national hero, nominated
him for President in 1840. He won by a majority of less than 150,000, but swept the Electoral
College, 234 to 60.
When he arrived in Washington in February 1841, Harrison let Daniel Webster edit his
Inaugural Address, ornate with classical allusions. Webster obtained some deletions,
boasting in a jolly fashion that he had killed "seventeen Roman proconsuls as dead as
smelts, every one of them."
Webster had reason to be pleased, for while Harrison was nationalistic in his outlook, he
emphasized in his Inaugural that he would be obedient to the will of the people as expressed
through Congress.
But before he had been in office a month, he caught a cold that developed into pneumonia.
On April 4th, 1841, he died--the first President to die in office--and with him died the Whig
program.
a log cabin and drinking cider, in sharp contrast to an aristocratic champagne-sipping Van
Buren.
Harrison was in fact a scion of the Virginia planter aristocracy. He was born at Berkeley in
1773. He studied classics and history at Hampden-Sydney College, then began the study of
medicine in Richmond.
Suddenly, that same year, 1791, Harrison switched interests. He obtained a commission as
ensign in the First Infantry of the Regular Army, and headed to the Northwest, where he
spent much of his life.
In the campaign against the Indians, Harrison served as aide-de-camp to General "Mad
Anthony" Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which opened most of the Ohio area to
settlement. After resigning from the Army in 1798, he became Secretary of the Northwest
Territory, was its first delegate to Congress, and helped obtain legislation dividing the
Territory into the Northwest and Indiana Territories. In 1801 he became Governor of the
Indiana Territory, serving 12 years.
His prime task as governor was to obtain title to Indian lands so settlers could press forward
into the wilderness. When the Indians retaliated, Harrison was responsible for defending the
settlements.
The threat against settlers became serious in 1809. An eloquent and energetic chieftain,
Tecumseh, with his religious brother, the Prophet, began to strengthen an Indian
confederation to prevent further encroachment. In 1811 Harrison received permission to
attack the confederacy.
While Tecumseh was away seeking more allies, Harrison led about a thousand men toward
the Prophet's town. Suddenly, before dawn on November 7, the Indians attacked his camp on
Tippecanoe River. After heavy fighting, Harrison repulsed them, but suffered 190 dead and
wounded.
The Battle of Tippecanoe, upon which Harrison's fame was to rest, disrupted Tecumseh's
confederacy but failed to diminish Indian raids. By the spring of 1812, they were again
terrorizing the frontier.
In the War of 1812 Harrison won more military laurels when he was given the command of the
Army in the Northwest with the rank of brigadier general. At the Battle of the Thames, north
of Lake Erie, on October 5th, 1813, he defeated the combined British and Indian forces, and
killed Tecumseh. The Indians scattered, never again to offer serious resistance in what was
then called the Northwest.
Thereafter Harrison returned to civilian life; the Whigs, in need of a national hero, nominated
him for President in 1840. He won by a majority of less than 150,000, but swept the Electoral
College, 234 to 60.
When he arrived in Washington in February 1841, Harrison let Daniel Webster edit his
Inaugural Address, ornate with classical allusions. Webster obtained some deletions,
boasting in a jolly fashion that he had killed "seventeen Roman proconsuls as dead as
smelts, every one of them."
Webster had reason to be pleased, for while Harrison was nationalistic in his outlook, he
emphasized in his Inaugural that he would be obedient to the will of the people as expressed
through Congress.
But before he had been in office a month, he caught a cold that developed into pneumonia.
On April 4th, 1841, he died--the first President to die in office--and with him died the Whig
program.
Born on February 9th, 1773, William
Henry Harrison was the 9th
President of the United States as a
member of the Whig Party.
Harrison served from March 4th,
1841 to April 4th, 1841 when he
died of pneumonia one month into
his presidency.
"Give him a barrel of hard cider and
settle a pension of two thousand a
year on him, and my word for it," a
Democratic newspaper foolishly
gibed, "he will sit ... by the side of
a 'sea coal' fire, and study moral
philosophy. " The Whigs, seizing on
this political misstep, in 1840
Henry Harrison was the 9th
President of the United States as a
member of the Whig Party.
Harrison served from March 4th,
1841 to April 4th, 1841 when he
died of pneumonia one month into
his presidency.
"Give him a barrel of hard cider and
settle a pension of two thousand a
year on him, and my word for it," a
Democratic newspaper foolishly
gibed, "he will sit ... by the side of
a 'sea coal' fire, and study moral
philosophy. " The Whigs, seizing on
this political misstep, in 1840