illiam Henry Harrison, the
first Governor of Indiana Territory, was born in Berkeley, Virginia, on February
9, 1773. He was the youngest son of Benjamin Harrison, who was prominent
in revolutionary times, and Elizabeth Bassett, daughter of Colonel William
Bassett. His childhood was spent at the Berkeley plantation, though it is
said that he attended a school across the James River from the plantation.
Contrary, however, to the family custom he was not sent to William and Mary, the old college in whose foundation his great, great grandfather had been interested, but he attended Hampden-Sidney, a struggling "log college" still suffering from drainage of students during the war.
Statements vary as to the length of time William Henry Harrison remained at Hampden-Sidney, and it is impossible to determine the exact date he left the college. He attended the academy in Southampton for a time and in 1790 went to the City of Richmond, where his older brother, Benjamin, was living. Here he took up the study of medicine. He was then but seventeen years of age, and with all the generous enthusiasm of his years, he joined an "Abolition Society" whose object was the gradual emancipation of slaves.
Later it was decided that he should go to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to continue the study of medicine. On his arrival in Philadelphia, the news of his father's sudden death reached him. He remained there several months and then decided to give up the medical profession.
Despite the opposition of his guardian, he obtained a commission of ensign in the First Regiment of the United States Infantry. Thus, William Henry Harrison took the first step on the long road that eventually led him to the White House.
He fought under both General Arthur St. Clair and General Anthony Wayne. Shortly after the conclusion of the Greenville Treaty, which was of decisive importance because when it was finally signed on August 3, 1795, it confirmed the white man's triumph and the defeat of the Indian Confederacy, Harrison was sent to Fort Washington and was detailed for duty at a blockhouse at North Bend, a settlement on the Ohio River, some 14 miles below Cincinnati. Here he became acquainted with Judge John Cleves Symmes and his family, later marrying his daughter Anna. Some time afterward he was placed in command of Fort Washington. Although Harrison was advanced to the rank of Captain in May 1897, he was becoming dissatisfied with army life. The reason for this dissatisfaction is not known, but during the following year, he sent in his resignation, which was accepted on June 1, 1798.
In the same year, President Adams appointed him as Secretary of the Northwest Territory under Governor Arthur St. Clair. In 1799, the population had so increased that the territory advanced to the second grade of government, which allowed it to send a delegate to the United States Congress. The election for delegate, held on October 3, 1799, resulted in Harrison's election by a vote of 11 to 10.
When Indiana Territory was created, he became its Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. He continued to hold these offices under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Indiana Territory at first embraced nearly all of the Old Northwest except Ohio. From March 1804 to July 1805, the vast district of the Louisiana Purchase north of the present state of that name also was under Harrison's jurisdiction. Few territorial governors have had such an extensive and formative sphere of responsibility. Harrison was very successful in dealing with the Indian and effected many important treaties by which the United States acquired ownership of large tracts of the Indians' land. Tecumseh, a Shawnee Chief and one of the greatest men of his race, denied the validity of these treaties.
After a famous interview between Harrison and Tecumseh at Vincennes in the summer of 1810 the former forced the issue by marching against the Indian Prophet's Town while the latter was absent in the South. The Indians attacked Harrison's force of regulars and volunteers near the Tippecanoe River, north of the present Lafayette, in the early morning of November 7, 1811. They were repulsed in a bloody battle known ever since by the name of the river. The ensuing Indian trouble merged with the War of 1812 with England, beginning in June of that year.
In the war, Harrison became first a Major General of the Kentucky militia, then Brigadier General and finally Major General in the regular army. His chief task was the defense of northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana, but after Perry's victory on Lake Erie, he invaded Canada and won the Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813. AT the close of the war with Great Britain in 1814, he returned to his farm in North Bend.
Harrison, becoming tiered of the life at the farm, entered the political world again. He was elected to Congress from the State of Ohio in 1816 and served in this position for three years. Harrison was never an obscure figure in any of his political positions. Later he served two years as a Senator in the Ohio Legislature. He was defeated for the governorship of Ohio in 1820. In 1824, Harrison was sent to the United States Senate, but resigned in 1828 when President Adams made him United States Minister of Colombia, 1828-29.
In the year 1835, he was nominated for President of the United States, but was defeated. In 1839, the Whig convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, nominated him for President. A newspaper libel on Harrison as needing only a log cabin and a jug of cider was gleefully taken up by the Whigs and gave the keynote to their campaign.
When the election was held, he had 234 electoral votes against 60 for Van Buren. He was inaugurated in 1841 at the age of 68. His occupancy of the office of President, however, was very brief for he died suddenly one month later on April 4, 1841. He was buried at North Bend, Ohio.
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