Opposition: William Henry Harrison

A military hero who made his name partly on the basis of battles against one very worthy adversary, and a future President of the United States, William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was a man of many talents and complex personality.  What concerns us here are his years on the frontier.  His time as POTUS is material for another blog someday-maybe.

William Henry Harrison's family had lived in Virginia since the 1630's.  He came from the upper crust plantation gentry and was born when Virginia was still a colony of Great Britain.  He was the last POTUS to be born prior to the Revolution and thus a British subject before becoming an American citizen.  His father, Benjamin Harrison V was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.  He later served as Governor of the state of Virginia.  William Henry's brother was a United States congressman.  Young WH had his career mapped ahead of him before he was old enough to have a say.  Politics and public service was definitely in his future somewhere.

But first there was school.  William Henry had some idea of becoming a minister, but his father nixed that idea.  He also studied under Dr. Benjamin Rush with the idea of becoming a doctor, but decided that wasn't for him.  His father died when WH was 18, which cut short any further study at a college or university.  Since he was a younger son, he didn't inherit as much of the family fortune as his older brothers so it was necessary to find a job ASAP.  A friend of the family was Light-Horse Harry Lee, the father of Robert E. Lee and by that time Governor of Virginia.  His sponsorship earned WH a commission as an ensign in the 1st Infantry Regiment, Ensign being a land as well as naval rank at the time.  He was assigned to Fort Washington, present-day Cincinnati, during the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795). 

In 1792, WH was promoted to Lieutenant when Mad Anthony Wayne took over command in the Ohio frontier.  Harrison went to school on Wayne, learning how to both deal with soldiers on the frontier and the enemy they had to fight.  He was present at Fallen Timbers in 1794.  He was also a signatory to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, witnessing Wayne's signature.  By this time, Harrison had come into some money from his mother's estate, but sold the land to his brother and continued on in the army.  In 1795, he met Anna Tuthill Symmes of North Bend, Ohio.  She was a judge's daughter and her father wasn't too keen on the idea of his daughter marrying a soldier.  Harrison and Anna waited until Father was out of town and then eloped.  Later, Judge Symmes confronted Harrison, demanding to know how the young man intended to support a family.  "By my sword and my own right arm, Sir," Harrison replied.  Later, the Judge gave his new son-in-law some land as a means of income.

Life was had for the young couple, who had ten children in quick succession.  Anna's health was poor, though she outlived her husband by several years.  Needing a more lucrative income, Harrison resigned from the army and was appointed Territorial Secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1798, frequently taking over as acting governor.  He became a successful farmer and horse breeder and ran for Congress, representing the Northwest Territory.  He could not vote, but could debate and serve on committees.  As he had done with army life, he learned what politics entailed.  While Harrison was in Congress, the Northwest Territory was split up, Ohio and eastern Michigan forming one section.  Indiana Territory was composed of what is now Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and portions of Minnesota.  In 1800, as one of his last acts of office, John Adams appointed Harrison as Governor of Indiana Territory.  He would serve from 1801-1812.

Harrison was bound and determined that Indiana and its governor would be respected as any other state or territory.  He built a mansion in Vincennes, the territorial capitol, staffed with slaves, and entertained guests in the Virginia style he'd grown up with.  One of his duties was to negotiate the cession of Native land from various tribes.  During his years as Governor, Harrison would negotiate 11 such treaties with various Nations, often entertaining chiefs and leaders at Grouseland.  This begs the question, what were his personal feelings about Natives?  He didn't appear to have the deep animosity that Andrew Jackson displayed toward Natives, Redcoats, Spaniards or anyone else who crossed him up.  Harrison was a competitor and he had an ego.  Blacks and Natives had a place and it was not as the equal of a White man.  He saw nothing wrong with slavery, which was legal in Indiana Territory at the time.  He also saw nothing about driving a hard bargain with reluctant Native leaders for land and backing it up with force.  Tecumseh, Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, Buckongahelas and any others were obstacles and enemies, bragging rights and curiosities, but nothing more. 

While Harrison could boast of adding over 60 million acres of Native land to the United States, many tribes were deeply dissatisfied with the concessions he'd forced on them, to say the least.  Tecumseh's movement gained momentum in Ohio and Indiana, leading to two tense confrontations between Harrison and Tecumseh himself.  Did the altercation almost become physical between the two men on one occasion?  Several witnesses said it did.  Harrison owed his survival to the intervention of friendly Native leaders.  As Tecumseh gathered more warriors to his side, Harrison was preparing an army to fight him.  The two sides met at Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811.  Harrison's force scattered the Native army under Tecumseh's brother Tenskwatawa.  The Natives fled, leaving their village of Prophetstown in Harrison's hands.  He ordered the village burned. 

The American press whipped up anger against the Natives, who were believed to be allies of Great Britain.  With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Harrison would have a two-front war on his hands.  He resigned the governorship to return to the Army as commander of the Army of the Northwest Territory.   In 1813, he led his army into Canada and faced a combined British and Native army at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, in which Tecumseh was either killed or died immediately after.  This battle, and Jackson's victory at New Orleans, were considered the two pivotal battles of the War.  Harrison resigned after the invasion of Canada, due to drama with a subordinate, but was vindicated and awarded a gold medal by Congress.  It would be up to him and Michigan territorial governor Lewis Cass to negotiate a new Treaty of Greenville in 1814, and the Treaty of Spring Wells in 1815.

Years later, Harrison would use his victory at Tippecanoe as a talking point, staging campaign events on the battlefield.  With a slogan of Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, he and his vice-presidential running mate, John Tyler, would sweep into the White House in 1841.  On March 4, 1826, Harrison insisted on riding in his Inaugural parade in a pouring rain storm, without a coat so as to show his braided uniform and medals to an advantage.  He also gave one of the longest Inaugural addresses on record, over two hours long.  On March 26, 1841, he came down with a cold.  Although people at the time put it down to his behavior at his Inauguration, he'd been healthy for nearly three weeks intervening.  Despite the ineffective treatment modalities of the time, he died 9 days later, diagnosed with pneumonia of the right lung.  He'd served 30 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes.  Game to the end, he told Tyler "Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government.  I wish them to be carried out.  I ask nothing more."