William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration as president in 1841, making his presidency the shortest in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causing a brief constitutional crisis since presidential succession was not then fully defined in the United States Constitution. Harrison was the last president born as a British subject in the Thirteen Colonies and was the paternal grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States.
Harrison was born into the Harrison family of Virginia at their homestead, Berkeley Plantation. He was a son of Benjamin Harrison V, a Founding Father of the United States. During his early military career, Harrison participated in the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, an American military victory that ended the Northwest Indian War. William Henry Harrison Later, he led a military force against Tecumseh’s confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, where he earned the nickname “Old Tippecanoe”. He was promoted to major general in the Army during the War of 1812, and led American infantry and cavalry to victory at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada.
William Henry Harrison:Facts
- Born : February 9, 1773Charles City County, Virginia, British America
- Died : April 4, 1841 (aged 68)Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.Cause of death Enteric fever
- Resting place: Harrison Tomb State Memorial
- Political party:Democratic-Republican (before 1828)
- Spouse : Anna Symmes(m. 1795)
- Children: 10, including John
- Parent : Benjamin Harrison V (father)
- Relatives : Harrison family of Virginia
- Education:Hampden–Sydney CollegeUniversity of Pennsylvania
- Occupation:Soldierpolitician
- Awards: Congressional Gold Medal,Thanks of Congress
William Henry Harrison:Early life and education
Harrison was the seventh and youngest child of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth (Bassett) Harrison. Born on February 9, 1773, at Berkeley Plantation, the home of the Harrison family of Virginia on the James River in Charles City County,William Henry Harrison he would become the last American president not born as an American citizen. The Harrisons were a prominent political family of English descent whose ancestors had been in Virginia since the 1630s.[3] His father was a Virginia planter, who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1777) and who signed the Declaration of Independence.His father also served in the Virginia legislature and as the fifth governor of Virginia (1781–1784) in the years during and after the American Revolutionary War. Harrison’s older brother Carter Bassett Harrison represented Virginia in the House of Representatives (1793–1799). William Henry often referred to himself as a “child of the revolution”, as indeed he was, having grown up in a home just 30 mi (48 km) from where Washington won the war against the British in the Battle of Yorktown.
Harrison was tutored at home until age 14 when he attended Hampden–Sydney College, a Presbyterian college in Virginia.He studied there for three years, receiving a classical education that included Latin, Greek, French, logic, and debate. His Episcopalian father removed him from the college, possibly for religious reasons, and after brief stays at an academy in Southampton County, Virginia, and with his elder brother Benjamin in Richmond, he went to Philadelphia in 1790
William Henry Harrison:Early military career
William Henry Harrison arrison was promoted to lieutenant after Major General “Mad Anthony” Wayne took command of the western army in 1792, following a disastrous defeat under Arthur St. Clair. In 1793, he became Wayne’s aide-de-camp and acquired the skills to command an army on the frontier; he participated in Wayne’s decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794, which ended the Northwest Indian War. He received the following commendation from Wayne for his role in the battle: “I must add the name of my faithful and gallant Aide-de-camp … Lieutenant Harrison, who … rendered the most essential service by communicating my orders in every direction … conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory.” Harrison was a signatory of the Treaty of Greenville (1795), as witness to Wayne, the principal negotiator for the U.S.Under the terms of the treaty, a coalition of Indians ceded a portion of their lands to the federal government, opening two-thirds of Ohio to settlement.
At his mother’s death in 1793, Harrison inherited a portion of his family’s Virginia estate, including approximately 3,000 acres of land and several slaves. He was serving in the Army at the time and sold the land to his brother.Harrison was promoted to captain in May 1797 and resigned from the Army on June 1, 1798.
William Henry Harrison:Marriage and family
Harrison met Anna Tuthill Symmes of North Bend, Ohio in 1795 when he was 22. She was a daughter of Anna Tuthill and Judge John Cleves Symmes, who served as a colonel in the Revolutionary War and as a representative to the Congress of the Confederation. Harrison asked the judge for permission to marry Anna but was refused, so the couple waited until Symmes left on business. They then eloped and were married on November 25, 1795, at the North Bend home of Stephen Wood, treasurer of the Northwest Territory.They honeymooned at Fort Washington, since Harrison was still on military duty.Judge Symmes confronted him two weeks later at a farewell dinner for General Wayne, sternly demanding to know how he intended to support a family. Harrison responded, “by my sword, and my own right arm, sir”. The match was advantageous for Harrison, as he eventually exploited his father-in-law’s
William Henry Harrison connections with land speculators, which facilitated his departure from the army.Judge Symmes’ doubts about him persisted, as he wrote to a friend, “He can neither bleed, plead, nor preach, and if he could plow I should be satisfied.” Matters eventually became cordial with the father-in-law, who later sold the Harrisons 160 acres (65 ha) of land in North Bend, which enabled Harrison to build a home and start a farm.
The Harrisons had ten children
Elizabeth Bassett (1796–1846)
John Cleves Symmes (1798–1830), who married the only surviving daughter of Zebulon Pike
Lucy Singleton (1800–1826)
William Henry Jr. (1802–1838)
John Scott (1804–1878), father of future U.S. president Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin (1806–1840)
Mary Symmes (1809–1842)
Carter Bassett (1811–1839)
Anna Tuthill (1813–1865)
James Findlay (1814–1817)
William Henry Harrison:Political career
Harrison began his political career when he temporarily resigned from the military on June 1, 1798, and campaigned among his friends and family for a post in the Northwest Territorial government. His close friend Timothy Pickering was serving as Secretary of State, and along with Judge Symmes’ influence, he was recommended to replace Winthrop Sargent, the outgoing territorial secretary. President John Adams appointed Harrison to the position in July 1798 The work of recording the activities of the territory was tedious, and he soon became bored, and sought a position in the U. S. Congress
Harrison had many friends in the eastern aristocracy and quickly gained a reputation among them as a frontier leader. He ran a successful horse-breeding enterprise that won him acclaim throughout the Northwest Territory. Congress had legislated a territorial policy that led to high land costs, a primary concern for settlers in the Territory; Harrison became their champion to lower those prices. The Northwest Territory’s population reached a sufficient number to have a congressional delegate in October 1799, and Harrison ran for election. He campaigned to encourage further migration to the territory, which eventually led to statehood.
William Henry Harrison:Indiana territorial governor
Harrison began his duties on January 10, 1801, at Vincennes, the capital of the Indiana Territory.Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were members of the Democratic-Republican Party, and they reappointed him as governor in 1803, 1806, and 1809.In 1804, Harrison was assigned to administer the civilian government of theWilliam Henry Harrison District of Louisiana. He conducted the district’s affairs for five weeks until the Louisiana Territory was formally established on July 4, 1805, and Brigadier General James Wilkinson assumed the duties of governor.
William Henry Harrison In 1805, Harrison built a plantation-style home near Vincennes that he named Grouseland, in tribute to the birds on the property.The 26-room home was one of the first brick structures in the territory;and it served as a center of social and political life in the territory during his tenure as governor. Harrison founded a university at Vincennes in 1801, which was incorporated as Vincennes University on November 29, 1806. The territorial capital was eventually moved to Corydon in 1813, and Harrison built a second home at nearby Harrison Valley.
Harrison’s primary responsibility was to obtain title to Indian lands that would allow future settlement and increase the territory’s population, a requirement for statehood. He was also eager to expand the territory for personal reasons, as his political fortunes were tied to Indiana’s eventual statehood.While benefiting from land speculation on his own behalf, and acquiring two milling operations, he was credited as a good administrator, with significant improvements in roads and other infrastructure