CHAPTER IX. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. Birth and Ancestry. - Enters United-States Army. - Is promoted. - Resigns his Commission.-Sent to Congress. Governor of Indiana Territory. His Scrupulous Integrity. -Indian Troubles. - Battle of Tippecanoe. - War with Great Britain. - Governor Harrison's Perplexities and Labors. - The British repulsed.-Tecumseh slain. - False Accusations. Speech in Congress. Reply to Randolph.- Letter to President Bolivar. -Temperance Principles.- Views respecting Slavery. - Duelling. - Elected President. - Death. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON was born in Virginia, on the banks of the James River, at a place called Berkeley, the 9th of February, 1773. His father, Benjamin Harrison, was in comparatively opu. lent circumstances, and was one of the most distinguished men of his day. He was an intimate friend of George Washington, was early elected a member of the Continental Congress, and was conspicuous among the patriots of Virginia in resisting the encroachments of the British crown. In the celebrated Congress of 1775, Benjamin Harrison and John Hancock were both candidates for the office of speaker. Mr. Harrison at once yielded to the illustrious patriot from the Bay State; and, seeing that Mr. Hancock modestly hesitated to take the chair, Mr. Harrison, who was a very portly man, and of gigantic strength, with characteristic good nature and playfulness seized Mr. Hancock in his athletic arms, and carried him, as though he were a child, to the seat of honor. Then turning around, with his honest, beaming face, he said to his amused associates, "Gentlemen, we will show Mother Britain how little we care for her by making a Massachusetts man our President whom she has excluded from pardon by a public proclamation." Like most men of large stature, Mr. Harrison was full of fun, and never liked to lose an opportunity for a joke. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and he it was who made the ludicrous remark about "hanging" to Elbridge Gerry, to which we have referred in the life of Jefferson. Mr. Harrison was subsequently chosen Governor of Virginia, and was twice re-elected. His son William Henry, of course, enjoyed in childhood all the advantages which wealth and intellectual and cultivated society could give. Having received a thorough common-school education, he entered Hampden Sidney College, where he graduated with honor soon after the death of his father. He then repaired to Philadelphia to study medicine under the instruction of Dr. Rush and the guardianship of Robert Morris, both of whom were, with his father, signers of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington was then President of the United States. The Indians were committing fearful ravages on our north-western frontier. For the protection of the settlers, Gen. St. Clair was stationed, with a considerable military force, at Fort Washington, on the far-away waters of the then almost unexplored Ohio, near the spot where the thronged streets of Cincinnati are now spread out. Young Harrison, either lured by the love of adventure, or moved by the sufferings of families exposed to the most horrible outrages, abandoned his medical studies, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, entered the army, having obtained a commission of ensign from President Washington. He was then nineteen years of age. The hostile Indians, who had originally been roused against us during the war of the Revolution by the Government of Great Britain, were spread over that vast wilderness now occupied by the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. They could bring many thousand warriors into the field, who had been supplied with ammunition and arms by the British authorities in Canada. Just before young Harrison received his commission, Gen. St. Clair, advancing into the wilderness with fourteen hundred men, was attacked by the Indians near the head waters of the Wabash, and utterly routed, with a loss of five hundred and thirty killed, and three hundred and sixty wounded. This awful defeat had spread consternation throughout the whole frontier. Winter was setting in. Young Harrison, in form and strength, was frail; and many of his friends, thinking he would be unable to endure the hardships of a winter campaign, urged him to resign his commission. He, however, rejected this advice, and, crossing the country on foot to Pittsburg, descended the Ohio to Fort Washington. The first duty assigned him was to take command of a train of pack-horses bound to Fort Hamilton, on the Miami River, about forty miles from Fort Washington. It was a very arduous and perilous service; but it was so well performed as to command the especial commendation of Gen. St. Clair. A veteran frontiersman said of the young soldier, "I would as soon have thought of putting my wife into the service as this boy; but I have been out with him, and find those smooth cheeks are on a wise head, and that slight frame is almost as tough as my own weather-beaten carcass." Intemperance was at that time, as it ever has been, the bane of the army; but young Harrison, inspired by some good impulse, adopted the principles of a thorough temperance man, to which he adhered throughout his whole life. This enabled him to bear hardships and endure privations under which others sank to an early grave. Soon he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and joined the army which Washington had placed under the command of Gen. Wayne to prosecute more vigorously the war with the Indians. The new general who succeeded St. Clair had acquired, by his reckless daring, the title of "Mad Anthony." On the 28th of November, 1792, Gen. Wayne, with an army of about three thousand non-commissioned officers and privates, descended the Ohio from Pittsburg, a distance of twenty-two miles, and encamped for the winter. In the spring, he conveyed his troops in boats down the river to Fort Washington. Here Lieut. Harrison joined the "Legion," as Wayne's army was called. His soldierly qualities immediately attracted the attention and secured the confidence of his commander-in-chief. Several months were lost in waiting for supplies before the army could move. In October, they advanced to a post which they called Greenville, about eighty miles due north. Here the army encamped for the winter. A strong detachment was sent some twenty miles farther north, to occupy the ground where St. Clair was defeated, to bury the remains of the dead, and to establish there a strong post, which they named Fort Recovery. In this enterprise, Lieut. Harrison is mentioned as having rendered conspicuous service. The Indians, in the early spring, attacked the fort with the greatest determination. They were, however, repulsed in repeated assaults, and at length retired, having lost a large portion of their band. Gen. Wayne then advanced with his whole army some sixty miles north to the junction of the Au Glaize and Maumee Rivers, where he constructed a strong fort. On the 20th of August, as he was continuing his march down the Maumee, he encountered the Indians in great force, lying in ambush. Their numbers were estimated at two thousand. A bloody battle ensued, in which both parties fought with the utmost desperation. The savages were driven howling into the woods, their villages were burned, and their cornfields destroyed. This signal discomfiture broke their spirit, and they implored peace. Again Lieut. Harrison signalized himself, and obtained from his commanding officer the following commendation:— "Lieut. Harrison was in the foremost front of the hottest battle. His person was exposed from the commencement to the close of the action. Wherever duty called, he hastened, regardless of danger, and, by his efforts and example, contributed as much to secure the fortunes of the day as any other officer subordinate to the commander-in-chief." |