Harrison, William Henry 1773-1841
9th President of the USA

Born in Charles City County, Virginia, he joined the troops Anthony Wayne led against the Native Americans, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Resigning his captaincy in 1798, he became Secretary and then US representative of the Northwest Territory. When Indiana Territory was formed in 1800 he was appointed Governor. He attempted to avoid war with the Indians, but was compelled to quell the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh's outbreak, ending in the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811). In the War of 1812 he received the command in the north-west, reoccupied Detroit, and following the victory of Oliver Perry on Lake Erie was able to pursue the British and Native Americans into Canada, where, in 1813, he routed them at the Battle of the Thames. He represented Ohio in Congress (1816-19) and in the US Senate (1825-28). Gaining the Whig presidential nomination in 1840, he joined with vice-presidential nominee John Tyler in waging an energetic and image-conscious campaign, emphasizing his log-cabin frontier days and employing the slogan 'Tippecanoe and Tyler too!'. Elected by an overwhelming majority, he caught pneumonia at his inauguration and died a month later (April 1841). He was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison.

Bibliography: James A Green, William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times (1941)