A shorter
summary of William Henry Harrison's life:
William Henry Harrison was born on February 8, 1773, in Charles City County, Virginia. In 1790, Harrison left college to study medicine. He was the only president of the United States to have studied medicine. In 1791, he brought his studies to a halt to enlist in the army.
Harrison fought in the Northwest Territory, or the “Old Northwest” (now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota) under Anthony Wayne against Indians. He particularly focused on one chief: Tecumseh.
During November of 1795, Harrison married Anna Symmes. They had ten children, of which only four lived longer than their father, who died at the age of only 68.
After retiring from the army in 1798, Harrison was appointed secretary (in June) of the Northwest Territory. He was elected a representative to Congress. He was the first delegate from the Northwest Territory in 1799. After the Northwest Territory was divided into Ohio and Indiana in 1800, William was appointed governor of Indiana.
In 1809, William Henry Harrison signed a treaty with four different Native American tribes that bought 3,000,000 (three million) acres of land for the Americans. He paid only $7,000 with additional payments of $1,750 per year. Tecumseh, probably the worst enemy of Harrison, was unhappy with this treaty. He gathered an army of Indians that were ready to fight for land. He built a village where the thousand Native American warriors could stay. He called this village “Prophetstown.” Governor Harrison worried when he saw the village with all of the warriors. Then, in 1811, William Henry Harrison heard that Tecumseh had left to ask the help of some other Indian tribes. Harrison saw his chance. He brought 1,000 soldiers to Prophetstown and asked if they could talk it over, but the Indians had made up their minds to fight. The Native Americans were told by the “Prophet” (Tecumseh’s brother) that their prayers would protect them from the bullets. That didn’t exactly happen in this Battle of Tippecanoe that lasted two hours. About 40 Natives were shot and the others quickly fled. Then Harrison and his soldiers burned Prophetstown to the ground.
When Tecumseh returned, he tried to rebuild his forces. Now it was 1812, and the War of 1812 was just beginning. Harrison was put in control of the Army of the Northwest. During the War, Tecumseh fought with the British, against the United States. In 1813, Tecumseh was killed in a battle near Detroit. His old enemy, William Henry Harrison, led the army he fought against.
In 1814, Harrison re-resigned from the army. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1816. Then in 1819, William was elected to the Ohio State Senate. Then in 1825, he was elected to the United States Senate. In 1828, he resigned from his Senate seat to become ambassador to Columbia. He was called back because he offended President Bolívar (Bowl-ee-var) because of his talk of democracy.
Then Harrison began to campaign for presidency. He lost to Martin Van Buren, but in 1840, Harrison successfully made it to the President of the United States of America. John Tyler was Harrison’s running mate, and they ran with the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.”
Harrison was inaugurated on March 4, 1841 as the ninth president. He gave the longest inauguration speech on record: 105 minutes! After one month in office, President Harrison died of pnemonia on April 4, 1841. William Henry Harrison was the first president to die in office.
Harrison was buried at the William Henry Harrison Memorial on Loop Avenue, North Bend, Ohio.
Some interesting facts about William Henry Harrison:
Religion: Episcopalian
Education: Attended Hampden-Sydney College
Occupation: Soldier
Political Party: Whig
References: 1. Various Internet Websites
. 2. California 5th grade Social Studies book
. 3. "The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler" by Norma Lois Peterson
Note: It was quite a few years ago when I wrote this, so there may be some errors in it. Again I apologize that I originally did not write down the specific websites I used when I wrote the article, so they do not appear here. If you need more information, /msg me.