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William Henry Harrison
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This article is about the General and President. For his great-great-grandson, see William H. Harrison (Wyoming Congressman).
William Henry Harrison

In office
March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841
9th President
Vice President John Tyler
Preceded by Martin Van Buren
Succeeded by John Tyler
Born February 9, 1773
Charles City County, Virginia
Died April 4, 1841
Washington D.C.
Political party Whig party
Spouse Anna Symmes Harrison
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military leader, politician, and the ninth President of the United States, (1841). He served as the first Governor of the Indiana Territory and later as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio. Harrison first gained national fame as a war hero, defeating American Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 and earning the nickname "Tippecanoe" (or "Old Tippecanoe"). As a general in the subsequent War of 1812, his most notable contribution was a victory at the Battle of the Thames, which brought the war in his region to a successful conclusion.

When Harrison took office in 1841 at the age of 68, he was the oldest man to be elected President, a record that stood for 140 years, until Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. Harrison died thirty days into his term—-the briefest presidency in the history of the office. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office.

Contents [hide]
1 Early years and military career
2 Post-war political career
3 Presidency 1841
3.1 Short presidency
3.2 Administration and Cabinet
3.3 Supreme Court appointments
3.4 States admitted to the Union
4 Trivia
5 Reference
6 External links

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Early years and military career
Harrison was born into a prominent political family at the Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County Virginia, the youngest of the seven children of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Basset. His father was a Virginia planter who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1777), signed the Declaration of Independence (1776), and was Governor of Virginia (1781-1784). William Henry Harrison's brother, Carter Bassett Harrison, later became a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Virginia. Harrison's father-in-law was Congressman John Cleves Symmes. His stepmother-in-law was the daugther of New Jersey Governor William Livingston.

Statue of Harrison on horseback in Cincinnati, Ohio.Harrison attended the Hampden-Sydney College where he studied classics and history and then moved to Richmond to study medicine. His father's death in 1791 left Harrison without money for further schooling and so, at the age of 18, he was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Army. He was sent to the Northwest Territory, where he spent much of his life. Harrison served as aide-de-camp to General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, from whom he learned how to successfully command an army on the American frontier. Harrison participated in Wayne's decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, which brought the Northwest Indian War to a close. Lieutenant Harrison was one of the signers of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which opened much of present-day Ohio to settlement by white Americans.

This portrait of Harrison originally showed him in civilian clothes as the Congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory in 1800, but the uniform was added after he became famous in the War of 1812.Harrison resigned from the Army in 1798 to become Secretary of the Northwest Territory, and acted as governor when Governor Arthur St. Clair was absent. In 1799, Harrison was elected as the first delegate representing the Northwest Territory in the Sixth United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1799, to May 14, 1800. As delegate, he successfully promoted the passage of the Harrison Land Act, which made it easier for people to purchase land for settlement in the Northwest Territory. Harrison resigned from Congress to become governor of the newly formed Indiana Territory, a post he held for twelve years, until 1813.

A primary responsibility as territorial governor was to obtain title to Native American lands so that white settlement could expand in the area and the region could attain statehood. Harrison oversaw numerous treaties, purchasing much of present-day Indiana from Native American leaders. Tensions, always high on the frontier, became much greater after the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne, in which Harrison secured the purchase of more than 2,500,000 acres (10,000 km²) of American Indian land. An Indian resistance movement against U.S. expansion had been growing around the Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa ("The Prophet"). Tecumseh called upon Harrison to nullify the Treaty of Fort Wayne, warned against any whites moving onto the land, and continued to widen his Indian confederation (see "Tecumseh's War"). In 1811, Harrison was authorized to march against the confederacy, winning his famous victory at Prophetstown next to the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers. During the War of 1812, Harrison took command of the Army of the Northwest. He won victories in Indiana and Ohio before invading Canada and crushing the British at the Battle of the Thames, in which Tecumseh was killed. Harrison subsequently resigned from the army because of ongoing disagreements with Secretary of War John Armstrong.

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Post-war political career
After the war, Harrison was elected to various political offices, including the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, serving from October 8, 1816, to March 3, 1819. He was defeated as a candidate for governor of Ohio in 1820 but served in the Ohio State Senate from 1819 to 1821. In 1824, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until May 20, 1828, when he resigned to become Minister to Colombia from 1828 to 1829. Harrison was a tall man, and when in Congress he was referred to by fellow westerners as a Buckeye, as were other tall pioneers on the Ohio frontier, as a term of endearment in respect of the Buckeye chestnut tree.

Harrison was the Northern Whig candidate for President in 1836, but lost the election to Martin Van Buren. He was the candidate again in the 1840 election, winning a landslide victory largely because of his heroic military record and the United States had suffered a severe economic downturn. The Democrats attempted to stop his vote by calling him "Granny Harrison, the petticoat general," because he resigned from the army before the War of 1812 ended. When asking voters whether Harrison should be elected, they asked them what his name backwards was, which happens to be "No Sirrah." Harrison's vice presidential running-mate was John Tyler, and their campaign was marked by exaggeration of both Harrison's military exploits and of his connections to the common man. (Harrison came from an aristocratic Virginia family, but his supporters promoted him as a humble frontiersman in the style of the hugely popular Andrew Jackson.) Harrison and Tyler's campaign slogans of "Log Cabins and Hard Cider" and "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" are among the most famous in American politics.

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Presidency 1841

Harrison's tomb and memorial in North Bend, Ohio.[edit]
Short presidency
When Harrison arrived in Washington, he focused on showing that he was still the stalwart hero of Tippecanoe. He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841, an extremely cold and windy day. Nevertheless, he faced the weather without his overcoat and delivered the longest inaugural address in American history, at nearly two hours (his friend and fellow Whig, Daniel Webster, had edited it for length). He later caught a cold, which then developed into pneumonia and pleurisy. (According to the prevailing medical misconception of the times, it was believed that his illness was caused by the bad weather, when, in fact, he was likely a victim of the virus that causes the common cold.) He sought to rest in the White House but could not find a quiet room as he was deluged with people seeking his favor in the hope that he would appoint them to the numerous offices the President then had at their disposal.

His doctors tried everything to cure him, applying opium, castor oil, Virginia snakeweed, and even actual snakes. But the treatments only made Harrison sicker and weaker until he went into delirium. He died a month later at 12:30 a.m. on April 4, 1841, of right lower lobe pneumonia, jaundice, and overwhelming septicemia, becoming the first American president to die in office. His last words were "Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." Harrison served the shortest term of any American president: only 32 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes.

The untimely death of Harrison was a disappointment to Whigs, who hoped to pass a revenue tariff and enact measures to support Henry Clay's American System. John Tyler, Harrison's successor, crushed the Whig agenda, leaving himself without a party.

Harrison's son, John Scott Harrison, was also elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio from 1853 to 1857. Harrison's grandson, Benjamin Harrison of Ohio, became the 23rd president in 1889, making them the only grandparent-grandchild pair of presidents to date. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison gave his inaugural address in the rain. Understanding his grandfather's mistakes, he asked his outgoing predecessor (and later his successor), Grover Cleveland, to hold an umbrella above his head, since he delivered the longest inaugural address since his grandfather's.

Trivia
According to legend, a Native Chief had placed a "curse" on Harrison, claiming that every President to be elected in a year divisible by 20 would die in office. Harrison, Lincoln (elected 1860), Garfield (elected 1880), Mckinley (elected 1900), Harding (elected 1920), Roosevelt (elected 1940), and Kennedy (elected 1960) all died in office, falling prey to the Curse of Tecumseh. Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, broke the curse, although some believe that after the assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr., he went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated.

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William Henry Harrison was the first governor of the Indiana Territory, congressman, senator, and the ninth President of the United States.

268 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
PRESERVATION OF HARRISON'S TOMB.

A sentimental motive prompted Colonel Russell B. Harrison, son of the late ex-President of the United States, to come to Cincinnati yesterday. He had a case in the United States Court, but his important
reason for the visit was to have a conference with his distant relative, Colonel Lewis W. Irwin, in regard to inducing the United States Government to take over the burying ground at North Bend, where the tombs of his distinguished grandfather, General and President William Henry Harrison are located.
Colonel Harrison and Mr. Irwin talked for more than two hours and agreed upon a plan of action. A resolution will be prepared for introduction at the next session of Congress, by either Representative
Goebel or Longworth, providing that the United States shall take possession of the cemetery at the hamlet of North Bend, make such repairs as are necessary and keep the Stars and Stripes always floating above the tomb of the "Hero of Tippecanoe." Every one of the hundreds of heirs to the little burying ground, which contains about five acres, has agreed to give a quitclaim deed to their individual interests, and there will be no expense to the Government whatever, except the slight cost of taking care of the property.
Many years ago the Trustees of Miami Township prohibited further burials in the Harrison private cemetery. Shortly before this was done one of the most shocking incidents in local history took place. Ghouls stole the body of John Scott Harrison, father of President Benjamin Harrison, from the grave and it was later discovered by General Harrison in the pickling vat of the Ohio Medical College. A great sensation was caused by the discovery. The remains of the old man were reinterred in the same grave, and a guard was kept over them for several weeks.
This was in the latter part of May 1878, and Colonel L. W. Irwin, who is taking such deep interest in the movement to have Uncle Sam assume charge of the cemetery, was Prosecuting Attorney of Hamilton
County at that time. Members of the Harrison family have never forgotten the desecration of the grave of their beloved dead, and believing that a grateful country is willing to honor one of her most distinguished soldiers and statesmen they proffer the graveyard, with the only conditionthat it be kept free from vandalism and that the flag of the country always float over the tomb of President William Henry Harrison.-
Cincinnati Enquirer, April 3, 1907.