E 392 OUTLINES .C985 Copy 1 or THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES CIVIL AND MILITARY WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, CALEB etJSHINC BOSTON: WEEK!?, JORDAN AND COMPANY 1840. Class Book :.__ CUSHING'S UTLINES OF THE LIFE H A RRISON OUTLINES LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES; :IVIL AND MILITARY. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON CALEB CUSH1NG BOSTON: WEEKS, JOR.DAN AND COMPA.KII, 1840.. LAW REPORTER. The main object of this work is to afford a me- dium of communication for such legal matters oj fact, as may be useful and interesting to gentle- men of the bar, and to give the profession, imme- diately, so far as it can be done by a periodical work of frequent publication, accurate and conden- sed reports of the most important cases decided by the Superior Courts of civil and criminal jurisdic- tion, together with such points of practice, and judicial interpretation as may be deemed worthy of publicationt Monthly, 32 royal 8vo. pages, $3,00 Lady's Book, Ladies' Companion, Knickerbock- er, and all other valuable Periodicals, published or supplied. WEEKS, JORDAN & CO. 121 Washington street, Boston. THE BOSTON ATLAS. Eight dollars for the Daily, and four dollars for the Semi-Weekly paper, payable half-yearly hi advance. The Semi- Weekly paper is publisher on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 05^ No subscriptions received for less than si c mom hs. Richard Haughton, Editor and Proprietor, Office, No. 18 State Street. "WHO IS GENERAL HARRISON ?^ " Who is General Harrison ? The son of one of the signers ol Jhe Declaration of Independence who spent the greater part of hie large fortune, in redeeming the pledge he then gave, of his ' fortune 9 life and sacred honor,' to secure the liberties of his country. " Of the career of General Harrison 1 need not speak — the histo- ry of the West, is his history. For forty years he has been identi- fied with its interests, its perils and its hopes. Universally beloved in the walks of peace, and distinguished by his ability in the councils ot his country, he has yet been more illustriously distinguished in the field. " During the late war, he was longer in active service than any other General officer ; he was perhaps oftener in action than any one of them, and never sustained a defeat."— [Col. .Richard M. John- son's Speech in Congress. James Madison, in a special message to Congress, De- cember 18, 1811, said . " While it is deeply lamented that so many valuable lives have been lost in the action which took place on the 7th ultimo, Congress will see with satisfaction the dauntless spirit of fortitude, victorious- ly displayed by every description of troops engaged, as well as the col- lected firmness which distinguished their commander on an occasion re- quiring the utmost exertions oj valor and discipline. In the Legislature of Indiana, on the 12th of Novem- ber, 1811, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gen. "William Johnson, thus addressed Gen. Harrison : " Sir — The House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory, in their own name, and in behalf of their constituents, most cordially reciprocate the congratulations of your Excellency on the glorious result of the kte sanguinary conflict with the Shawnee Prophet, and the tribes of Indians confederated with him ; when we see displayed in behalf of our country, not only the consummate abilities of the General, but the heroism of the. man ; and when we take into view the benefits whi> h must result to that country from those exertions r "We cannot, for a moment, withhold our meed of applause." Legislature of Kentucky, January 7, 1812. Resolved By leSenate and House of Representatives ef the Stat* 1* r>f Kentucky, that in the late campaign against the Indian*, upon the Wabash, Gov. William Henrt Harrison has behaved like a hero, a patriot and a general ; and that, for his cool, deliberate, skilful and gallant conduct in the battle of Tippecanoe, he well deserves the warmest thanks of his country and his nation. Resolution directing the medals to be struck, and, to- gether with the thanks of Congress, presented to Major General Harrison and Governor Shulby, and for other purposes. Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the Uni- ted States of Americ .1 ia Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby presented to Major General Wil- liam Henrt Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Ken- tucky, and, through them, to the orficers and men under their com- mand, for their gallantry and good conduct in defeating the combined British and Indian forces under Major General Proctor, on the Thames, in Upper Canada, on the fifth of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, capturing the British army, with their baggage, camp equi-page and artillery ; and that the President of the United States be requested to cause two gold medals to be struck, emblematical of his triumph, and presented to General Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late Governor ot Kentucky. H. CLAY, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN GAILLAKD, President of the Senate, pro tempore. Apiil 4, 1818 —Approved. JAMES MONROE. TO THE PEOPLE OF THE THIRD DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS. Since the late Convention assembled at Harrisburg, I have examined, with some care, the public despatches, speeches, and acts of William Henry Harrison, nomina- ted by that Convention as a candidate for the office of President of the United States, and have prepared, from such auth entic materials as were accessible to me, a re- lation of the events of his life : which I beg leave, most respectfully, to present to your consideration. C. CUSHJNG. In Congress, 10th Feb. 1840. OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF HARRISON William Henry Harrison being now before the people of the United States as a candidate for the Presidency, it naturally follows that the events of his life, and the public service he has performed, should become objects of general interest and atten- tion. Happily there exist ample means of authentic information to satisfy the public curiosity concerning him ; for the history of the Western States, during the period of their early struggles and triumphs, is also his history ; and his fame is identified with that of the teeming myriads of the Valley of the Mis- sissippi. A brief retrospect of his career, civil and military, while it exhibits the character and acts of an able statesman, a high-minded patriot, a brave soldier, and a successful commander, will approve and justify the confidence and respect of his coun- trymen, in proposing to raise him to the eminent post of Chief Magistrate of the Union. BIRTH AND EDUCATION. Harrison was born of the blood, and bred in the school, of the patriots of the Revolution. That was a period, when a single-hearted purity of pur- 8 pose and a lofty self-devotion of principle animated the public men of the day. In the Congress of the Thirteen States, each State, and every Representa- tive of either State, contended to see which would most disinterestedly serve their common country. — When a Commander-in Chief of the armies of In- dependence was to be appointed, Massachusetts has- tened to sacrifice her own local claims and preferen- ces in behalf of George Washington of Virginia.— When John Hancock, elected President of Congress, modestly hesitated to assume that important station, Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, placed him with gentle force in the Presidential chair, exclaiming, ' We will show mother Britain how little w T e care for her, by making a Massachusetts man our Presi- dent, whom she has excluded from pardon, by pub- lic proclamation. 3 In fact, Benjamin Harriaon, act- ing in the spirit of the times, postponed his own pretensions in favor of Hancock. His name is en- rolled for immortality among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. At a subsequent pe- riod, as Governor of Virginia, he exerted all the en- ergies of his decided and powerful mind in the ap- plication of the resources of that great Common- wealth, to the promotion of the cause of the Revo- lution. William Henry, third son of Benjamin Harrison, was born at Berkley, in Charles city county, Virgin- ia, the 9th of February, 1773, and educated at Hampden Sidney College. His father died in 1791, having expended a large fortune in the service of his country during the Revolution, in Congress, as Chairman of the Board of War, and otherwise, and as Governor of Virginia ; and thus leaving to his children little inheritance, save the example and les- sons of his patriotism and love of liberty. Depend- ant on his own exertions, and preparing to enter Hie at an interval of peace, he had applied himself as- siduously to the study of medicine ; but, before long, 9 the hostilities of the Indians in the Northwest be- gan to awaken public solicitude; and he felt irresist- ibly impelled to relinquish his professional pursuits, and to dedicate his life to the defence of his coun- try. This inclination was combatted, but in vain, by his guardian, Robert Morris. It was heartily approved, however, by General Washington, the intimate friend of his father, and then President of the United States, who appreciated the generous motives of young Harrison, and gave him an ap- pointment of ensign of infantry in the troops des- tined to operate on the Ohio. SERVICES UNDER WAYNE. It was no holiday service in which Harrison was to learn the duties of a soldier. The Northwest, at that time, thinly inhabited by the hardy pioneer set- tlers, was overrun by numerous bands of hostile In- dians, their enmity to the United States, stimulated *nd fostered by the intrigues of Great Britain. In- deed, the British ministers treated the years imme diately following the war of Independence as an im- perfect truce, rather than an assured peace. Not- withstanding the efforts of the United States, dur- ing the war of Independence, to induce the British Government to allow the Indians to stand neutral during that contest, — notwithstanding the indignant denunciation of the policy of Great Britain in this respect, by such men as Chatham and Burke, in the British Parliament, — the Ministers armed the In- dians on the frontier, and let loose upon our defence- less women and children, the savage instruments of massacre and conflagration. Thus, the life of the early settlers in the West, was one of fearful dan- ger, or of continual contest with a foe who recog- nized no rules of civilized warfare. When the in- dependence of the United States was at length ac- knowledged by Great Britain, our people considered 10 in good faith that peace was come, and the tide of their emigration began to set in a steady stream to the fertile fields of the West. But they found that the British Government persisted, in violation of treaty, in retaining military possession of the great frontier posts in the Northwest ; that she still fo- mented the hostile passions of the Indians, and sup- plied them with arms ; and that she was prompting and combining them in a project to drive our people out of the Northwest, and to establish, between the Ohio and the Lakes, a great independent Indian Empire, looking to her for protection, and thus res- toring to her influence one half of the territory nominally recognized as ours by the Treaty of Peace. Between 1783 and 1789, it is estimated that fifteen hundred men, women and children were killed or ta- ken prisoners by the Indians on the waters of the Ohio, and an incalculable amount of property plun- dered or destroyed. At length, a formal war broke out, and its opening events were- most disastrous to the United States. First, came the defeat of Gen- eral Harmar, and the dispersion of the army under his command. Next, General St. Clair, with a still larger force, was defeated, with great loss, by the confederated Indians under Little Turtle. The whole country was now filled with consternation. — Men, who would have cheerfully gone to the en- counter of regular troops in the field, shrunk from the hardships of a laborious service in the wilderness of the West, and from exposure to the rifle and tomahawk of the merciless Indian. Great as were the difficulties of the case, however, General Wash- ington met them with his characteristic vigor and firmness. The war had ceased to be an affair of the frontier : it had assumed national importance. — General Anthony Wayne, an officer who had won a merited distinction in the Revolutionary War, by that union of sound judgment and successful daring, which constitutes the highest military talent, was 11 selected to take the command in the Northwest. — But an army was to be created as well as a comman- der found ; for the previous army had been nearly annihilated in the defeats of Harmar and St. Clair ; and most of the experienced officers were slain or had resigned their commissions. Accordingly, the army was newly organized ; and the first business of General Wayne was to discipline his raw levies, to give them the habit and skill of combined action, and, above all to reinfuse into the troops the neces- sary confidence, which the calamitous campaigns of Harmar and St. Clair had done so much to destroy. Assiduous exercises in the camp, toilsome marches, incessant watching and hard fare on the way, dead- ly peril in the field, — such was the life of the troops led by General Wayne to redeem the honor of the country, and deliver the Northwest from dismay and desolation. These were the circumstances, amid which, in the campaign of 1791, Harrison, at the age of eigh- teen, commenced his career of public duties. On receiving his commission, he repaired immediately to join his regiment, then stationed at Fort Wash- ington, where he arrived just after the defeat of General St. Clair, to witness the gathering in of the scattered fragments of that officer's late gallant ar- my, and to co-operate in maintaining the frontier outposts against the victorious Indians. Harrison's young and slender form was deemed by his friends hardly robust enough to cope with the hardships and privations of an arduous winter service in such a region and at such a time. But the boldness and vigor of his character, his early prudence, and the temperate habits, notwithstanding the temptation's of a soldier's life, he, sedulously cultivated, prepared him to endure, without injury, the severe toils and exposures of his after life, and bore him triumphant- ly through all the difficulties and dangers of his po- sition. 12 His first detailed service was to command an es- cort bound lor Fort Hamilton ; a duty which, young as he was, he discharged with so much ability and judgment as to elicit the commendation of St. Clair. In 1792, Harrison was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and on joining the legion under General Wayne, was selected by him as one of his aids-de- camp, in which capacity he served during the rest of the war. The appointment, was as honorable as it was useful to Harrison ; for General Wayne was a man, who looked only to personal merit in the offi- cers he distinguished ; and employment under his immediate eye, was a severe school of discipline, courage, and ability, which necessarily exacted high qualities, and afforded the best field for their devel- opment and exercise. Wayne's army left Pittsburg toward the close of 1792, and as the organization and discipline of the troops advanced, proceeded first to Legionville, at the mouth of Beaver, then to Fort Washington, (Cincinnati) and finally to Greenville toward the Miami. Negotiation for peace had meanwhile gone on without results. In December, 1793, a body of troops was despatched to take possession of the bat- tle field of St. Clair's defeat, and to fortify a posi- tion there, called Fort Recovery. In the course of the general order, issued on that occasion, General Wayne says : ' The Commander-in-Chief also re quests Major Mills, Captains de Butts and Butler, Lieut«nant Harrison, and Dr. Scott, to accept his best thanks for their voluntary aid and services on the occasion.' Harrison had thus early earned a name in history. Passing over the lesser incidents of war, it will be sufficient to dwell on the crowning victory of the 20th August, 1794. Wayne had advanced into the very heart of the Indian country, at the head of the United States troops, and a gallant band of ,Ken- tuckians under General Charles Scott. He encoun- tered the combined force of the hostile Indians, with 13 volunteers and militia from Canada, numbering 2,000 in all, at the foot of the Miami Rapids, in the vicinity of a British fort and garrison recently set up in our territory, and with a force less than half that, of the enemy, gained a complete and splendid victory. In his despatch to the President, giving an account of the victory, General Wayne says: " The bravery and conduct of every officer be- longing to the army, from the generals down to the ensigns, merit my highest approbation. There were, however, some, whose rank and situation placed their conduct in a very conspicuous point of view, and which 1 observed with pleasure and most lively gratitude ; among whom I beg leave to men- tion Brigadier General Wilkinson, and Colonel Hamtramack, the commandant of the right and left wings of the legion, whose brave example inspired the troops ; and to these I must add the names of my faithful and gallant aids-de-camp Captains De Butts and T. Lewis, and Lieutenant Harrison, who, with the Adjutant General Major Mills, ren- dered the most essential service by communicating my orders in every direction, and by their conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory." Indeed, there are veterans of that well fought field, who remember and honor the gallantry of young Harrison in rallying our troops to battle. This engagement not only broke the power of the Indians in the Northwest for the time being, and ended the war there by the treaty of Greenville, but also sup- pressed the hostile tendencies of the Indians in the Southwest, and thus gave peace to the whole West ; and had other important consequences in compelling Great Britain to surrender the frontier posts she had so long intrustively held, and to conclude the treaty of 1794, commonly called Jay's Treaty. Previous to this, however, Harrison being advan- ced to the rank of Captain, was placed in command of Fort Washington, with extensive discretionary powers to be used according to the requisition of 14 circumstances, and with various specific delicate du- ties devolved on him by the yet unquiet condition of the Ohio and Mississippi country. While stationed in this command, Captain Harri- son married the daughter of John Cleves Symmes, the founder of the Miami settlements ; a lady who has been his estimable companion through life, the consort of his toils and vicissitudes, and the witness of his fame and his honor. SECRETARY OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. On the death of General Wayne, in 1797, Harri- son perceiving that the exigencies of war were pas- sed, and that there was no longer an opportunity to serve his country in the field, resigned his commis- sion in the army, and was immediately appointed Secretary of the Northwest Territory. Here, in the discharge of the civil duties incumbent on his office, he became intimately associated with the brave and hardy people around him, and learned to under- stand and duly estimate the Character, wants, and wishes of his countrymen, — studying the practical lessons of life in the great volume of nature, as un- folded to him by daily intercourse, in the cabin of the settler, the hunter's lodge, the council chamber, and in social meetings, with the free spirited pioneers of the West. DELEGATE IN CONGRESS. When, according to then existing system, the iNorthwestern Territory was admitted to a repre- sentation in Congress, the signal abilities, not less than the personal popularity of Harrison, pointed him out to the people as the fittest person to repre- sent them ; and, on the opening of the sixth Con- gress, December 2d, 1799, he took his seat, as the Delegate of the Territory in the House of Repre- 15 sentatives, being then but twenty-six years of age. He distinguished himself in that Congress by pro- posing and carrying through a series of measures, all-important immediately to hie constituents, and, in their effects, eminently beneficial to the whole West, for a radical change in the method of making sales of the public lands. This, of course, the interest in the soil, was the question of questions in a new country. At that time, the public lands, except in peculiar situations, were offered only in large tracts, of at least four thousand acres. The purchase of so large a tract of land required considerable means, and gave all advantage to the capitalist, who bought for resale, and imposed every disadvantage on the actual set- tlers. These last-were generally poor men, whose bold hearts and strong arms were to win the country from the savages, clear the soil, and constitute the very bone and sinew of the population ; but who yet, by the system of sales in use, were almost de- barred from the rights of freeholders, except by pur- chase, at second hand, from the great land-owners. In some instances, very extensive grants had been made to companies or individuals ; the operation of all which, if continued without change, would have been to build up a class of rich proprietors, with the mass of the people in the condition of mere tenants on their princely estates. Nothing could have been more inequitable, nothing more favorable to the Few, nothing less so the Many. With this subject, in all its bearings, Harrison was practically familiar ; and, young as he was, and a new member, too, the House deferred to his knowledge and experience and the sagacity of his views on this great subject. At his motion a select committee was raised to investigate the matter, of which he was appointed chairman, and the commit- tee adopted his ideas ; he was sufficiently supported in the committee by Mr. Gallatin, and their report 16 recommended that the public lands be, in the first place, offered at public sale, in half sections of 320 acres ; that lands not bid off at public sales should remain for private entry at the minimum govern- ment price ; and that, for the convenience of the settlers, land offices should be opened in the region of the sales. Relying upon the justice of his cause, and his intimate knowledge of the subject, and with an ardent zeal and a ready and manly eloquence at his command, he succeeded in convincing Congress of Ihe wisdom of these ideas, and procuring the passage of a law in conformity therewith. Subse- quently, the same ideas were still further carried out by authorizing the sale of the public lands in still smaller subdivisions, and at a reduced price. Encouraged by his success in this measure, he introduced and carried another for a change in the mode of locating military warrants. By these measures, he at once secured the gratitude of his constituents, and acquired standing and character as an able statesman ;for the reforms thus effected were of the utmost possible consequence to the wel- fare of the West. Now, when settlers poured, with augmented rapidity, into the valley of the Ohio, the land was no longer engrossed by monop- olists, but every man could be the master of a free- hold, suited to his views. Who can say how much the prosperity and population of the West might not have been retarded, if the former defective sys- tem had been persevered in by Congress ? Thanks to the judgment and efforts of Harrison, other counsels prevailed. GOVERNOR OF INDIANA. When, soon afterwards, the Northwest Territo- ry was divided, and the Territory of Indiana estab- lished, public opinion, the wishes of the inhabitants, and the confidence of the Executive in his capacity 17 and integrity, designated Harrison to be its Gover- nor. He received the appointment in 1800 ; and immediately entered upon the difficult and responsi- ble duties of his Government ; being first appointed by Mr. Adams, and afterwards by Mr. Jefferson. The new Territory embraced the vast region now divided into Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin ; for a period of nearly two years, from 1803 to 1805, the whole of 1/ lisiana was appended to it, and Michigan was for a time added, on the admission of Ohio into the Union. In the very outset, howev- er, the limits of Governor Harrison's jurisdiction was sufficiently extensive. His powers were not less so ; for the Territory had no separate Legisla- ture, and all the functions of government, of course, appertained to the United States, and were de- volved on the Governor. It was a new country, whose institutions were yet to be formed. The white population was thinly scattered over a wide region. There were three principal settlements only' : one at Vincennes, on the Wabash, which was the capital ; another, known as Clark's grant, at the Falls of the Ohio ; and the third in the American Bottom, from Kas- kaskia to Cahoika. Between these chief settle- ments the means of communication were imperfect, and the intermediate country was in the possession of the Indians, who, beside, occupied the wide wilderness beyond the settlements. The Indians were restless and dissatisfied, given to plunder and murder, even in the. periods of professed peace, and kept in a state of perpetual irritation against the United States by the intrigues of the British Gov- ernment, whose agents supplied them with arms and ammunition, infuriated them with ardent spir- its, and perpetually incited them to war and rapine. All the endeavors of the United States (and they were unceasing) to allure the Indians to the arts of peace, — to civilize and christianize them, — to save 2* 18 them from the self-degradation of their own pecu liar vices of idleness, intemperance, and poverty, — were neutralized by the officers of Britain, whose policy it was to keep them ready maddened to her iiand, to be let slip, at a word, on the frontier set- tlements of the Ohio and the Mississippi. Such was the nature of the country, and such that of the inhabitants. The powers and the duties of the Governor, numerous, complicated, and extensive, authorized and required him to adopt and publish such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as might be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the Territory, — to appoint all magistrates and other officers, civil and military, below the rank of General, — to command the militia, — to divide the Territory into counties and townships, — to superintend the affairs of the Indians, — and, in general, to represent the plenary authority of the Federal Government in a vast variety of administrative cares and functions. And, in 1803, Mr. Jefferson added to all these great pow- ers that of general and sole commissioner to treat with the Indian tribes of the Northwest on the subject of their boundaries and lands. Thus, it will be seen that, for some time, Gover- nor Harrison was, in effect, the lawgiver of the people of the Northwest ; that he was their civil and military governor, and the fountain of trust and office ; their general agent with the Federal Gov ernment, and the superintendent of, and negotiator with, the numerous Indians between the Ohio, the Lakes, and the Mississippi. In the latter capacity, he concluded, in the course of his administration, thirteen important treaties with the different tribes, and obtained cessions, on the most advantageous terms, of not less than sixty millions of acres of land, embracing a large portion of the richest region in the Northwest ; at the same time, that he, for a long period, preserved the 19 peace within his jurisdiction, and counteracted all the machinations of the agents and officers of Great Britain to embroil our people with the savages, and taught the latter, in the course of his frequent asso- ciation with them, to respect his undaunted firm- ness, while they were conciliated by his moderation, forbearance, and integrity. His integrity, indeed, not in this relation only, but, in all the multifarious trusts committed to him, some of them of the most delicate and discriminat- ing kind, was equally manifest throughout his long administration of the affairs of the Northwest. His unspotted purity, in the disbursement of the large sums of public money, which passed through his hands, if not then remarkable in men so situated, was a virtue, which later experience has taught his countrymen to appreciate as it deserves. Nor in reference to money only, but likewise in the man- agement of his various trusts relating to the public lands, the same disinterested integrity of principle was characteristic of his conduct. Thus, to mention but one example, to him was confided the sole au- thority of confirming grants of land to a numerous class of individuals, having certain equitable claims to be approved and sanctioned by him. Here, also, later experience has demonstrated the stainless in- tegrity of his character, by showing the opportuni- ties he possessed, (had he chosen to descend to use them,) to gain wealth by indirect means. Yet his conduct in this respect, as in all others, is univer- sally admitted to have been not only strictly and scrupulously upright, but so honorable, just, and true, as to be beyond the reach of suspicion. Once, and only once, was his integrity called in question. One Mcintosh, for some insignificant cause of offence, accused Governor Harrison of having defrauded the Indians in the treaty of Fort Wayne ; and the accused justly conceived that it was due to his own fame, and to the interests of the 20 General Government, that the charge should be fully investigated in a court of justice, whilst all the facts were fresh in the minds of the community. He instituted, therefore, an action for slander in the Supreme Court of the Territory, and every possible means was adopted to secure a free an, ir investi- gation of the circumstances by committing the trial to a judge and a jury of admitted competency and impartiality between the parties It was done ; and the evidence was so conclusive in favor of Gov- ernor Harrison, that the counsel for Mcintosh aban- doned the attempt to justify, and plead only in a mitigation of damages. The jury, however, ren- dered a verdict of four thousand dollars damages against Mcintosh ; whose property was levied upon to satisfy the judgment, and being brought in by an agent of the Governor, one-third of it was distrib- uted by him among the orphan children of some of his fellow-citizens who had died in battle, and the residue was restored to Mcintosh himself. No lan- guage of praise can add to the truth and force of the simple beauty of such examples of magnanimity, disinterestedness and generosity. Governor Harrison did not willingly continue in the exercise of the large powers originally confided to him, any longer than the policy of the Federal Government required it of him ; and in 1805, partiy at his pressing instance, the people of Indiana were authorized by Congress to elect a Legislative As- sembly and a Delegate to the House of Representa- tives. This change, while it divided the powers of the Governor, scarcely diminished his means of usefulness ; because the new form of government, participated in by the people, involved the originat- ing and discussion of new measures, adapted to the advanced slate of the Territory. The departments of administration were to be modeled ; important laws to be enacted ; and public measures to be con- sidered by the Governor, in co-operation with the 21 representatives of the people. His speeches to the Legislature, at this period, are frank, manly, saga- ciously conceived, and well written public docu- ments, exhibiting a mind cultivated by study and reflection, 7,eal for the public service, and views of enlightened statesmanship, adapted to the circum- stances and the welfare of the Territory. In a word, in his civil capacity, as Governor of the Ter- ritory, he was a wise, upright, faithful, and success- ful administrator of the high powers entrusted to him by the General Government. It necessarily followed, that he enjoyed the high- est meed of active public service, which a statesman can hope for, — the highest, that is, next to the ap- probation of his own conscience, — namely, the con- sciousness of eminent usefulness, and of eminent popularity consequent thereon. When he first entered on the duties of his office, he avowed his intention to retain it no longer than his administra- tion should be satisfactory to the people of the Territory ; and at their request his commission was renewed at successive periods by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. His first appointment had come from the " Father of his country ; " and Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, each in succession, honored him with their confidence. In politics, he had been early identified with the Republicans ; and he tem- perately, but steadily, adhered to the maxims of that party ; deferring to the wishes of the people, and seeking to promote their interests, in the true spirit of enlightened republican patriotism. Hence, when Louisiana was separated from In- diana, the citizens of St. Louis expressed their sentiments of his administration as follows : " To His Excellency William H. Harrison, Gov- ernor, and the honorable the Judges of the In- diana Territory : " Gentlemen : An arduous public service as- signed you by the General Government of the United States, is about to cease. The eve of the anniversary of American Independence will close the scene, and on that celebrated festival will be organized, under the most auspicious circumstan- ces, a Government for the Territory of Louisiana. Loral situation and circumstances forbid the possi- bility of a permanent political connexion. This change, however congenial to our wishes, and con- ducive to our happiness, will not. take effect without a respectful expression of our sentiments, to you, gentlemen, for your assiduity, attention, and disin- terested punctuality, in the temporary administra- tion of the government of Louisiana." The officers of the militia of St. Louis, on the same occasion, at the close of an address to the Governor, said : " Accept, sir, these sentiments as the pledge of our affectionate attachment to you, and to the mag- nanimous policy by which you have been guided. May the Chief Magistrate of the American nation duly estimate your worth and talents, and long keep you in a station where you have it in your power to gain hearts by virtuous actions, and pro- mulgate laws among men who know how to respect you, and are acquainted with the extent of their own rights." In 1809, the House of Representatives of In- diana, in a resolution unanimously requesting of the President to reappoint Governor Harrison, used the following language : " They (the House of Representatives) cannot forbear recommending to, and requesting of, the President and Senate, most earnestly in their own names, and in the names of their constituents, the reappointment of their present Governor, William Henry Harrison : — because he possesses the good wishes and affections of a great majority of his fellow-citizens j because they believe him to be sin- cerely attached to the Union, the prosperity of the 2S United States, and the administration of its govern- ment 5 because they believe him in a superior degree capable of promoting the interest of our territory, from long experience and laborious attention to its concerns, Jvom his influence over the Indians, and wise and disinterested management of that depart- ment ; and because they have confidence in his vir- tues, talents, and republicanism." And the officers of the militia of Knox County, passed the following resolution : " Resolved, that the attention paid, and the unre- mitted exertions used, by William Henry Harrison, to organize and discipline, by frequent trainings, the militia of the territory, and the masterly skill and military talents displayed in such his exertions, to- gether with the anxious solicitude with which he has ever watched over the peace and happiness of the territory ; to which may be added, the confi- dence reposed in him by the neighboring tribes of Indians, and the great facility and ease with which he manages their affairs, induce this meeting to have great confidence in him, as eminently qualified to govern the territory, not only because of his superior talents, but also his integrity, patriotism, and firm attachment to the General Government." With these most honorable testimonials to his worth and capacity as Governor of the Territory of Indiana, this part of the subject may well be closed, for the purpose of proceeding to other matters of deep and wide interest. COMMISSIONER AND SUPERINTENDANT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. We have seen that, in addition to his ordinary duties in the civil and military government of the Territory of Indiana, Governor Harrison was also Commissioner to treat with the Indians, and Super- intendant of Indian Affairs in the Northwest, in 34 which capacity he negotiated a large number of im- portant treaties, and conducted all the relations of the United States with the Indians, in a spirit of mingled dignity, decision and humanity, alike honor- able to himself and to the Federal Government. His voluminous correspondence with the Govern- ment on these matters appears in the official docu- ments of the day, and is distinguished by minuteness of detail, the full and accurate statement of facts, a . benevolent and enlightened policy, and a considerate regard, as well for the rights and interests of the Indians themselves, as of the whole inhabitants of the Territory. The same spirit of equity, forbear- ance, and manliness, in this respect, pervades his addresses to the Legislature of Indiana, whenever occasion called for any reference to the subject. Similar traits were manifested by him in his im- mediate intercourse with the Indians. This depart- ment of public duty, always a difficult one to dis- charge judiciously, was emphatically so at that period. The Northwest was then filled, not only with the tribes who had originally hunted there, but with the broken remnants of other tribes, — men whom the atrocious policy of Great Britain had in- veigled into war against us, and who, now smarting under successive defeats, and scattered over the country, constituted the ready elements of disorder, if any of the chances of events should offer them in- ducements to raise the hatchet anew. Nor were they without continual incitements to hostility. It was a part of the system of Great Britain, — a system not yet relinquished, — to assemble the tribes of the Northwest annual^, at a convenient point on the Lakes, and there to pay and deliver to them a regu- lar war subsidy, as the price of their allegiance to Britain and enmity to the United States, The British traders in the Northwest spared no pains to misrepresent the acts of* the people and Governme-l of the United States, and to thwart all our endeav- ors either to keep the peace in that region, or to 25 raise the Indians to the condition of a civilized and Christian people. There, too, as almost every- where else, the Indians were their own worst ene- mies, by their obstinate adherence to the usages of savage life, their repudiation of all regular govern- ment, and their consequent exposure to the criminal arts of bad men along the frontier, who, from avarice and profligacy, supplied a fatal nutriment to the constitutionafvices of the Indians. Add to which, that mutual and long continued injuries, between the whites on the one hand and the Indians on the other, had infused into the minds of each, a feeling of reciprocal hatred, which was continually breaking forth into acis of common aggression. To conduct the business of the Indians in such circumstances, and to govern them, (as the Superin- tendent in fact must,) was in itself an affair of the utmost delicacy and difficulty, requiring the highest qualities of judgment, sagacity, and firmness. But the task was rendered still more arduous by the pe- culiar system of the United States Government. Governor Harrison was instructed to pursue, sedu- lously, a policy of peace with the Indians, to avoid all appearance of a hostile and jealous disposition towards them ; to practice forbearance and concilia- tion ; and to cultivate friendly relations at every hazard. He was to pursue this policy along an exposed frontier, in the midst of numerous tribes of Indians, who, from the causes already specified, were unusually fierce, turbulent, and vindictive, and who were incessantly stimulated to acts of outrage by the agents of Great Britain. It will be conceived that in such circumstances, the pacific spirit of our Government, while it imperfectly attained its object, never wholly stayed the work of desolation, aug- mented greatly the labors of the Governor. With (it has been well said) the savage war-whoop yell- ing on one hand, and a Government commanding peace on the other, — with a feeble settlement claim- ing protection at one point and a band of martial 3 26 borderers demanding to be led to battle on another,— while the agents of a nation at peace with our own urged on the savages, and her military posts supplied them with arms, — there can scarcely be imagined a post requiring the exertions of greater skill, prudence and firmness, than that of the Governor of Indiana. For him there could be neither repose nor safety. He led the life of a warrior, yet discharged the duties of the civil magistrate. While executing the laws, and founding ihe institutions of a new State, he was con- tinually called to encounter danger in the defence of the homes of the people. Though compelled to re- strain the Indians and the whites by force of authority, it was his duty to interpose with each as a minister of benevolence on the part of the United States. Yet all these multifarious and most arduous duties Governor Harrison fulfilled with fidelity and with honor, and while affording efficient protection to the citizens of the country, and thus displaying all the tal- ents of a great statesmen and a brave officer, he never sullied his name Avith any act of military violence or gratuitous cruelty ; so that when war at length could no longer be averted, and it became incumbent on him to lead the forces of the Territory into the field, lie bore thither the stainless banner of, — not a wanton as- sailant of the rights of others, but the patriotic defend- er of his country's altars and f re-side. INTERCOURSE WITH TECUMTHE AND THE PROPHET. For, strenuously as the United States Government, and Governor Harrison, acting under its orders, strove to avert a war, it became inevitable, through the operation of causes over which he had no control: namely, the persevering aug'-essions of Great Britain on the commerce and public rights of the United States, which ended in war between the two nations, preluded by Indian hostilities in the Northwest. At all times, as before stated, both during the rev- 27 and Wayne's campaign evinced, British agents were active in stirring up against us the Indians within the United States. The anticipation of a new war with the United States, redoubled their activity ; and they found efficient agents among the Indians themselves, in two Shawenee Chiefs, Tecumthe and his twin bro- ther, the Prophet. Tecumthe first began to be much known in 1806. He had conceived and matured a design, — the same which Pontiac had attempted in vain — to combine all the western tribes for the destruc- tion of the western settlements. He was daring, energetic, and sagacious in character, a shrewd think- er, a fluent speaker, an able warrior, and a skilful negotiator, animated by the most inextinguishable ha- tred against the Umted States. He had for his coad- jutor his brother Ol-li-wa-chi-ca, called the Prophet, who, though inferior to Tecumthe in most respects, was yet capable of aiding his brother efficiently, by reason of his influence over the superstitious Indians as a medicine man, pretending to be inspired by the ttoe Great Spirit, and endowed by him with power and wisdom, to expel the white men from the Valley of the Mississispi, to redeem the red men frotn their pre- sent degradation, and to restore to them their ancient exclusive power in the New World. They surround- ed themselves with a lawless band of desperate and reckless men, the outcasts of different tribes, whom they at length established at a principal rendezvous on the Wabash, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe, — a place which gradually acquired the name of the Prophet's Town. Meanwhile, they were indefatigably employed iu disturbing all the councils successively held, and en- deavoring to prevent every treaty attempted to be made. They took up and propagated the false idea, that all the lands in North America were the com- mon property of all the tribes, and that no sale of any part could be valid without the consent of all ; 28 and made this a pretext for interfering, whenever treaties were to be negotiated by the United States with any portion of the Indians. Thus, by instiga- ting the Indians to acts of violence, and by filling their mind with fallacious notions of their power and their rights, Tecumthe, with the Prophet, constantly thwarted, and at last, to their own ruin, succeeded in defeating all the efforts of General Harrison to main- tain the peace of the frontiers. General hostilities first began to be openly threaten- ed on occasion of a treaty made by the Delaware*, Miamis and Potawatoraies, in 1809, at Fort Wayne, ceding to the United States a tract of land on the Wa- bash. When this treaty was made, Tecumthe was absent; but on his return he threatened with death some of the chiefs concerned in the treaty. Hereupon, Governor Harrison despatched a message to inquire the cause of dissatisfaction with the treaty; and to assure him that any claim he might have to the lands which had been ceded were not effected by the treaty; that he might come to Vincennes and exhibit his pre- tensions; and if they were found to be valid, the land would either be given up or an ample compensation made for it. Tecumthe accepted the invitation, but came with four hundred warriors completely armed, instead of thirty as directed; giving to the people of Vincennes jnst apprehension that treachery was intended. Te- cumthe claimed for all the Indians of the country, a common right to all the lands in it; denied the right of any tribe to sell even to one another, much less to strangers: and therefore, claimed that the treaty of Fort Wayne was utterly void. Harrison replied, that when the whites came to thi3 continent, they found the Miamis in occupation of all the country of the Wabash, at which time the Shawnees dwelt in Geor- gia, from whence they were driven by the Creeks; that the Miamis had consulted their own interest, as they had a right to do, ia selling their own land on 29 terms satifactory to themselves; and that the Shaw- nees had no right to come from a distant country, and undertake to control the Miamis in the disposition of their own property. Scarcely had the interpreter finished speaking these words, when Ttcumthe fierce- ly exclaimed, " It is false !" and giving a signal to his warriors, they sprang to their feet and raised their war-clubs, while Tecumthe continued to address the Indians, in a passionate tone and with violent gesti- culation. In this emergency, when every thing threat- ened the most fatal consequences to the surrounding whites, who were chiefly unarmed citizens, collison was avoided by the intrepidity of the Governor. He rose immediately, and drew his sword ; but he restrained his guards, and calmly, but authoritatively, told Te- cumthe, that " he was a bad man ; that he would have no further talk with him ; that he must return to bis camp, and take his departure from the settlements im- mediately ; and with that, the council was broken up, and Tecumthe and his warriors, awed by the in- trepidity and self-possession of Harrison withdrew in silence. The next morning, Tecumthe, perceiving that he had to deal with a man as vigilant and as bold as him- self, — one not to be daunted by a show of violence, nor circumvented by specious wiles, — apologized for the affront he had given, and solicited that the council might be renewed, to which the Governor consented. At the second council, Tecumthe no longer attempted to intimidate Harrison by his violence, or, at any rate, ke »T a better guard over his temper. He told the Governor that white men (British emissaries un- doubtedly) had advised him to do as he had done, and that he was determined to maintin the old boundary : — all which the Governor said he would report to the President, and here the council ended. Still anxious to conciliate the dangerous chief, Gov- ernor Harrison went attended only by an interpreter, to his camp. Tecumthe received him with courtesy a* 30 and respect; but signified the intention not to recede from the grounds taken at the council ;— as neither Tecumthe nor the Prophet was yet ready for open war, the matter rested here for a while. BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. But as hostilities between the United States and Great Britain, became more and more imminent and certain, the audacity and violence of the Indians in- creased. In 1811, Tecumthe had assembled a new body of warriors at the Prophet's Town ; and maraud- ing parties roved towards the settlements more fre- quently than ever. In the public documents, there is a great body of evidence to show that at that time a general commotion pervaded all the Indian tribes. Messengers went too and fro ; the war belt was circu- lated ; arms and ammunitions were obtained from Upper Canada, in quantities beyond the usual yearly issue of presents by the British ; and thus every thing indicated the approach of a rising against the United States. The commission of a number of murders on the frontiers of Illinois and Indiana, the usual fore- runners of an Indian war, warned Governor Harrison to take measures for the defence of the Territory, and induced the Government to direct him to move with an armed force towards Tippecanoe, the centre and head quarters of all the intrigues of the savages, and the resort of the most desperate and daring of their men, and where it was known that a thousand hostile Indians were assembled, whom he was directed to dis- perse. . Governor Harrison had collected a force of about nine hundred men, composed of the militia and vol- unteers of Indiana ; a small but gallant body of volun- teers from Kentucky, and a detachment of United States' troops. His first effort, like Wayne's, in the similar case before, was to prepare his troops for vic- tory by drilling them thoroughly in person, and organ- 31 izing them for victory ; and to this in no small part, the subsequent success was due. Thus prepared, he began his march from Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, on the 20th of October, 1811. His orders were most positive to avoid hostilities of any kind, or any degree, not indispensably required. These instructions com- pelled him, though marching into a hostile country, where a numerous force of Indians awaited hirn, yet to act on the defensive, to fight only when attacked, and thus in fact to leave to the Indians to fight or not as they chose, and to select their own time for battle. He was to advance in the hope, and with the endeavor to induce the Indians to make peace ; and yet to be ready at all times to encounter a treacherous foe, un- knowing where or when the death struggle might commence. To meet these conditions, it was necessa- ry to conduct the expedition at all times as in face of the enemy; to encamp in order of battle; and to march in such form as to be able to repel an assault at a moment's warning. Of course, the utmost vigilance was requisite to guard against surprise; to avoid falling into ambuscades ; and to secure the army from attack in a disadvantageous position. All this Harrison ac- complished, his own experience, wisdom and circum- spection, being ably seconded by the zeal and vigi- lance of his officers and troops. Proceeding thus, by a judicious feint, after reconnoi- tering and laying out a wagon road on one bank of the 'Wabash, which led the Indians to expect he would pass up on that side; he suddenly changed his route, crossed to the other bank, and thus marched to the Prophet's Town, without molestation or hindrance. He arrived on the 6th of November. He had previ- ously sent forward some chiefs of the Delawares and Miamis to endeavor to make peace ; but had heard nothing from them. Interpreters were now sent with the advanced guard, for the same purposes ; but were repelled with menace and insult. A second effort with a flag of truce, was made and failed. Governor Har- 32 rison had been urged by some of his officers to attack the Prophet's Town ; but, determined to persevere in the pursuit of peace and in the spirit of his instruc- tions, he refused to make the attack so long as any possibility remained, of the Indians complying with the demands of the Government. At length, the Prophet sent three of his Indians to propose a suspen- sion of hostilities and a meeting the next day to agree upon the terms of peace. But Governor Harrison knew too well the treacherous disposition of his adver- sary, to allow himself to be thrown off his guard. Two competent officers, Majors Clark and Taylor, were employed to select a suitable place to encamp advantageously, as in the enemy's presence, and where an attack could best be repelled. Accordingly, they examined the environs and selected an elevated spot, surrounded by wet prairie, and adequately supplied with wood and water ; and as Major Taylor has since declared, the selection was made according to their best judgment, ratified by that of nine tenths of the other officers. Indeed, the judiciousness of the selection they made, was proved, not only by the re- sults, but by subsequent observation and reflection ; for when the army of General Hopkins was there, in the following year, says M'Affee, the} all united in the opinion that a better spot to resist Indians, was not to be found in the whole country. Here, then, the army encamped, but with every thing ready for a night attack. The troops lay as they were to troit, and carry the war into the enemy's country ; and, in doing this, he was to act against the experi- enced officers and well-disciplined troops of Britain. Besides which, the point was remote from the source of his supplies, while the intervening country was a trackless and swampy wilderness, almost impassable for heavy wagons, swarming with hostile savages, and where the troops, though ever so little encumber- ed with baggage, could advance but slowly, and with incessant labor ; and the difficulties thus caused were tenfold augmented by the fact, that many of the most indispensable munitions of war were yet wanting, — magazines and depots to be provided, — and a commis- sariat, covering so extensive and so impracticable a the- atre of operations, to be created almost out of nothing. That delays, and Subordinate reverses, should have impeded the progress of General Harrison, amid all these difficulties, was in the inevitable course of things. No power short of one to work miracles could have sufficed to prevent this. The wonder is, that General Harrison succeeded at all. And yet, in, the face of 12 the immense embarrassments and impediments which surrounded him, he, by persevering energy, firm- ness and courage, overcame them all, accomplished every one of the objects prescribed to him, and, with- in one short year from the time he commenced his un- dertaking, gloriously concluded it, by the final victory of the Thames, achieved in the vevy heart of Upper Canada. When General Harrison received his orders, the first consideration was, by what plan of operations were the prescribed objects of the government to be attained ? Smarting under the sense of the disgrace Hull brought on the country, and sanguine in the con- sciousness of their own courage, the men of the West had at first turned their thoughts to the idea of the re- capture of Detroit by a coup de main. Further re- flection satisfied them of the impracticability of effect- ing this, without the previous concentration of sup- plies, and the armament of particular points, to sup- port the advaning forces. If troops could be advanc- ed in sufficient numbers in the course of the autumn or winter, simultaneously with the collection of ra- tions and stores at secure posts, and the fortification of others to be held an points d'appui for the intended movements, then a blow could at once be struck at Maiden, so as to break up the power of the enemy, and the recapture of Detroit made certain. Mean- while, in these operations, pointing to the ulterior ob ject as the main one, the incidental one would like- wise be attained, of holding in check the British and their savage allies, and thus guarding the safety of the frontier States. In this view, General Harrison fixed upon the fol- lowing plan of operations. The point of concentra- tion, from Which the principal movement on the ene- my was to be made, was the rapids of the Miami of the Lakes, with a military base extending from Upper Sandusky on the right, to Fort Defiance on the left. General Winchester was to conduct the left division, 43 consisting of troops already assembled at Fort Defi- ance, and some Kentucky regiments at or near St. Mary's ; General Tupper commanded the centre divi- sion of the Ohio troops, assembled at Fort Mc Arthur; and the right division, composed of Virginia and Pennsylvania troops, was reserved for the personal command of General Harrison himself. Each of these column- was to move by a separate line of operation, terminating at the rapid?. " This,"' says Colonel Wood, an accomplished engineer, the competency of whose judgment is admitted on all hands, — ; ' was an excellent plan ; for, by sending the corps by different routes, with the view of concentrating somewhere in the neighborhood of the enemy, the march of the ar- my would not only be expedited, but the frontier much more effectually protected." And to the execution of the plan, thus judiciously conceived, and fully approv- ed by the government, General Harrison proceeded to devote all his own energies, and the resources of men and means at his command. Before describing the events of the campaign, there are two subjects of personal detail, connected with those events, which require to be touched upon here. One is, the toils and hardships, to which General Harrison, in common with the troops under him, was exposed. For he choose to participate in all the pri- vations, as well as the dangers of the campaign. It is difficult to describe, — it is impossible for those who pass their lives in the ordinary civil or business pur- suits, to conceive, in all their force, — the sufferings of the soldier, marching through a wilderness country, exposed to all the vicissitudes of the weather, amid the rains of autumn and the snows of winter, with necessarily imperfect supplies of clothing, food, and equipage, and subject at the same time to all the re- quisitions of military duty and peril. Honor to the brave men who left their happy homes to do and dare all this, ami who, with ^elf-sacrificing patriotism, rushed to defend the fire -ides of their country and its 44 threatened honor, from the assaults of the foreign foe with his scarce more savage allies ! The other subject is, the deportment of General Harrison to the peculiar troops under his command, and the means by which he secured their obedience and their co-operation amid ail the hardships of the service. These troops were chiefly citizen soldiers, freemen serving voluntarily in the ranks of patriot- ism, high-spirited and generous, the choice men of the States to which they belonged. Such men were not to be treated as the common soldiers of a regular ar- my. To secure their hearty service, nay, to have their obedience at all, the General under whom they served, must possess their confidence, their respect, their affection. Such was the relation between Gen- eral Harrison and his troops. His proved lalents, his eminent public services, his energy of character, his judgment, commanded their respect ; his considerate- ness, forbearance, good temper, and conciliatory manner, won their attachment. Their commander, it is true, exacted of them the severest service, as the necessities of the country required he should 5 he was yet their companion in peril, their fellow-citizen, their friend. During the whole period of his command, he never permitted a degrading punishment to be inflict- ed on a militia soldier. If the fault committed were an individual one, he dealt with it by private admoni- tion: if masses of men were concerned, he attained his object by oral addresses or by general orders; and thus his eloquent exhortations reclaimed them to their duty and their country's cause, whenever, amid the difficulties and dangers of the campaign, they were disposed to filter. An incident, which occurred on his arrival in Win- hester's camp, at Fort Defiance, illustrates this. Soon after he bad retired to rest, be was awakened by Col. Allen and Major Hardin to be informed that Al- len's regiment was in open mutiny, determined to abandon the expedition and return home; and that all 45 their own attempts to bring their men back to their duty, were utterly in vain. General Harrison order- ed the alarm to beat the ensuing morning instead of a reveillie. This brought all the surprised troops to arms, and when the troops paraded at their posts, they saw, with new surprise, General Harrison appear among them. He began by lamenting tho discontents which existed among men he so highly esteemed; but it was because of its dishonor to them; for Govern- ment would dispense with their services; and all those who were disheartened that they did not find in the woods the luxuries and comforts of home, had full liberty to return. But what would be their reception from the old and young, who had greeted them on their march to the scene of war, as their country's gallant defenders? To be seen returning before the expiration of their term of service, without having struck a blow ! If their fathers did not drive their degenerate sons back to recover their tarnished honor . on the field of battle, would not their mothers and sis- ters hiss them from their presence ? But, if they were prepared thus to encounter the scorn and contempt of their friends at home, they could go, and the Govern- ment would look elsewhere for braver and better men to defend the country in its hour of need. This strain of indignant remonstrance, and of mingled regret and reproval, was irresistible; the generous men of Ken- tucky returned by acclamation to their duty; and no more faithful troops than they, served in that whole war. To resume the narrative of events, — the autumn of the year was passed in laborious preparation for ac- tive service ; in collecting troops, in building forts, in erecting depots, in cutting roads, in opening resources for supplies, and in organizing the various- depart- ments of the army. So long as hope was tenable, General Harrison persevered in the hope to be able to strike the meditated blow in the current season; but as winter approached, the difficulty of getting forward 46 supplies increased; and he was reluctantly compelled to postpone his final advance until he should be able to take advantage of the ice and snow for transportation and the passage of rivers. Before this time came, however, the unfortunate movement of General Win- chester, on the river Raisin, led to a new series of im- portant but unexpected incidents. According to the plan and the general instructions for the campaign, General Harrison expected that on his arrival at Upper Sandusky, in December, he should be advised of the advance of Winchester to the Ra- pids. But Winchester did not march from the mouth of the Glaise until the 30th of December; and on the 10th of January reached the Rapids, where he estab- lished and fortified his camp in a*good position. In a few days, messengers came to camp from Frenchtown on the river Raisin, earnestly entreating Winchester to send a force to protect them against an expected attack of Indians. Winchester consented: and sent Colonel Lewis and Colonel Allen with two detach- ments of upwards of six hundred men to Frenchtown. They found the enemy already there, prepared to re- ceive them ; and immediately charged the combined British and Indians, and gained a decisive and most brilliant victory. If they had then retired, it would have been well; but flushed with triumph, they re- solved to maintain the position ; and Winchester pro- ceeded to Frenchtown to support them. If, then, he had suitable adopted precautions, the error of making this detached movement, without advice of the Com- mander-in-chief, of means of aid from him, might have passed off well ; but Winchester, for the first time during the whole campaign, neglected to fortify his position, or to guard against the approach of troops from the post of Maiden, where he knew the enemy were in great strength. The consequences to his command were most disastrous. They were sur- prised on the morning of the 22d, by a body of Bri- tish and Indians under Colonel Proctor, who earned 47 an eternity of infamy, — for himself and for the coun- try which rewarded "his services on this occasion with honor,— by leaving- the wounded prisoners to be mur- dered by the Indians. Winchester himself and some few others who were able to march, were conducted to Maiden ; but a large portion of the Americans were either tomahawked on the spot, or murdered in cold blood afterwards; and Frenchtown was committed to the flames. It is idle and totally impossible to relieve the British arms from the ignominy and infamy of the transaction; for much of the butchery happened un- der the very eyes of Proctor; and his whole conduct in the affair was alike brutal and mean. He chose to feed the Indians with blood in order to whet their ap- , petite for it, and thus make them the better auxiliaries of Britain. But for these atrocities, he was himself destined, ere long, to receive a part of the detestation he merited, at the hands of Harrison himself. How different has been the conduct of the Ameri- cans ! At near the same time, Colonel Campbell had conducted successfully an expedition against the In- dians on the Mississinneway. In the order issued on the return of the expedition, General Harrison says: " It with the sincerest pleasure that the General has heard, that the most punctual obedience was paid to his orders, in not only saving all the women and chil- dren, but in sparing all the warriors who ceased to re- sist; and that even when vigorously attacked by the enemy, the claims of mercy prevailed over every sense of their own danger, and this heroic band respected the lives of their prisoners. Let an account of mur- dered innocence be opened in the records of heaven, againt our enemies alone. The American soldier will follow the example of his Government ; and the sword of the one will not be raised against the fallen and helpless, nor the gold of the other be paid for the scalps of a massacred enemy." 48 How nobly do such conduct and such sentiments contrast with the miscreant acts of Proctor! If the massacre of the river Raisin filled the West with sorrow, it also awakened there a sense of indig nation and outrage, of which the effects were after- Wards seen. Its immediate influence was prejudicial to the objects of the campaign. Winchester's own movement had been not only without the knowledge or consent of Harrison, but contrary to his views and plans for the conduct of the campaign. When he heard that the movement had been made, he and those about him, felt that it was to the last degree im- prudent, and looked for nothing less from it than the certain and inevitable destruction of the left wing of the army, which had thus thrown itself into the very jaws of the enemy, and away from the possibility of succor. On the evening of the 16th, being at Upper Sandusky, he received from Colonel Perkins, at Low- er Sandusky, intelligence for the first time, that Win- chester, having arrived at the Rapids, meditated some unknown movement against the enemy. Alarmed at this, and ignorant what it implied, General Harrison gave orders for the advance of troops and artillery, and hastened to Lower Sandusky himself. Here he was met by information from the Rapids of the march of Colonel Lewis to Frenchtown. Fresh troops were immediately put in motion by forced marches for the Rapids; to which point he himself pushed with the utmost speed. All the disposable troops at the Rapids and others, as they came in, were ordered on with anxious expedition; but they were met on the road by the fugitives from the field of battle, and nothing re- mained but to protect them and the houseless people of Frenchtown. In short, all possible efforts were made to protect Winchester from the apprehended consequences of his own ill-advised acts. After this, in the expectation of an attack on the position at the Rapids, the army fell back to the Portage, to admit of an expected reinforcement under 49 General Leftvvich ; on the arrival of t which, the po- sition at the Rapids on the east bank of the Miami, was resumed, and strongly fortified as the winter- quarters of the army; it was called Camp Meigs, in honor of the Governor of Ohio. This position being attacked by the British, became the scene of a brilliant triumph to the arms of the United States.- So soon as it became known that the attack was contemplated, General Harrison, having made arrangements for strong reinforcements to fol- low him, repaired to Camp Meigs to conduct the de- fence of it in person. The enemy made his appear- ance on the 26th April; consisting of a numerous force, British and Indians, commanded by General Proctor; who, having ascended on the north side of the Miami in boats, landed at old Fort Miami, and pro- ceeded to construct there powerful batteries, directly opposite the American camp. Meanwhile, our troops had thrown up a breastwork of earth, twelve feet in height, traversing the camp in rear of the tents, so that when the batteries of the enemy were completed and mounted, and his fire opened, the tents of the Americans being struck and removed to the rear of the traverse, were completely sheltered and protected. A severe fire was now kept up on both sides until the 4th of May, when intelligence reached the camp of the approach of the expected reinforcements, com- posed of a brigade of Kentucky militia under General Green Clay. General Harrison immediately determined to make a bold effort, by a sortie from the camp, combined with an attack of the enemy's lines by General Clay, to raise the seige. Orders accordingly were despatch- ed to General Clay, requiring him .that, instead of forming an immediate junction with the garrison, he should detach eight hundred of his men on the oppo- site side of the river, where two of the British batte- ries were, turn and take the batteries, spike the cannon, .and destroy the gun-carriages, and thenregain the 5 50 boats as speedily as possible, while the remainder of the brigade should land and light their way into the camp, so as to favor a sortie to be made by the garri- son against the thrid and only remaining British bat- tery. This plan was ably conceived, and promised the best results. General Clay, after detaching Colo- nel Dudley t» land on the west side of the Miami, fought his way safely into the camp. A part of the garrison also, under Colonel (now General) Miller, consisting in part of regular troops and the residue militia and Kentucky volunteers, gallantly assaulted and carried the battery on the eastern bank, made a number of prisoners, and drove the British and Indi- ans from their lines. Meanwhile, Dudley had landed his men, and charged and carried the two batterries without the loss of a man. Unhappily these gallant citizens were not suf- ficiently aware of their exposed situation, and of the necessity of retreating to their boats, in punctual ob- servance of their orders, so soon as they should have destroyed the enemy's artillery. Instead of this, they were, without due consideration, drawn into a fight with some straggling Indians, and so detained until Proctor had time to interpose a strong force between them and the means of retreat. The result was the destruction rather than defeat of the detachment, for three fourths of it were made captives or slain. The British arms were again dishonored by giviug up the prisoners to be massacred by the Indians. Dudley and many of his companions were tomahawked at once. Others of the prisoners were put into Fort Miami, for the Indians to stand on the ramparts and fire into the disarmed crowd. Those Indians, who chose, selected their victims, led them to the gateway, and there, under the eye of General Proctor and in Ihepresence of the whole British army, murdered and scalped them. Not until Tecumthe came up from the batteries did the slaughter cease. " For shame ! it is a disgrace to kill defenceless prisoners !" — he ex- 51 claimed, thus displaying more of humanity than Proc- tor himself; Unfortunate as this incident was, the events of the day satisfied Proctor that he could not continue the siege with any hope of success. He resolved to re- treat, to cover which, he sent in a flag of truce, requir- ing the immediate surrender of the American post and army, as "the only means left for saving the latter from the tomahawks and scalping knives of the savages." Considering this hase and insolent message unworthy of any serious notice, General Harrison simply admon- ished* Proctor not to repeat it. With which manly and decided answer Proctor heing perforce content, hastily broke up his camp, and retreated in disgrace and confusion towards Maiden. In May following, however, Proctor, thinking to surprise Fort Meigs, made a second attack upon it, with a large force of British regulars and Canadians, and several thousand Indians under Tecumthe, but was again obliged to retreat in disgrace. After which, Proctor landed a part of his force at Lower Sandusky, with a view to reduce Fort Stephenson. This was a mere out-post of little importance ; and General Har- rison, acting with the unanimous advice of his council of war, had sent orders to Major Croghan, who com- manded the garrison, to evacuate the fort, and make good his retreat to head-quarters, provided the enemy should approach the place with artillery, and a retreat be practicable. But the first step taken by Proctor was to isolate the fort by a cordon of Indians, thus leaving to Major Croghan no choice but between re T sistance and submission. He then demanded of Cro- ghan to surrender, adding his customary declaration, that othewise he could not protect the garrison* from massacre by the Indians in case the fort should be taken. To this attrocious threat, as unjustifiable by any of the usages of war, as it was cowardly and discourteous, Croghan calmly replied, that " when the fort should be taken there would be none left to mas- 52 sacre, as it would not be given up while a man was able to fight." With his small garrison this brave young officer gallantly maintained the post, and re- pulsed the assaults of Proctor. Much idle censure has been cast upon General Harrison because of this affair. To which it is sufficient here to say that, while his orders were such as the circumstances justi- fied and required, and were fully approved and sanc- tioned by the most competent judges on the spot, Cro- ghan himself bearing witness to the penetration and able generalship of his measures, so the defence itself, so successfully made in compliance with the very con- tingency contemplated in the orders, was in the highest degree honorable to the brave garrison and its young commander. BATTLE OF THE THAMES. The time was now at hand when General Harrison and his army were to reach the full completion of all the contemplated objects of the expediton. Among the earliest recommendations of General Harrison to the Government the year before, and im- mediately after he commenced operations, had been that of constructing and equipping a naval armament on. the Lakes. In one letter he says: "Admitting that Maiden and Detroit are both taken, Mackinaw and St. Joseph will both remain in the hands of the enemy until we can create a force capable of contend- ing with the vessels which the British have in Lake Michigan, &c." And again, in another letter : " Should an offensive operation be suspended until spring, it is my decided opinion that the cheapest and most effectual plan will be to obtain command of Lake Erie. This being once effected, every difficulty will be removed. An army of four thousand men, landed on the north side of the Lake, below Maiden, will re- duce that place, retake Detroit, and with the aid of the fleet, proceed down the Lake to co-operate with the 53 army from Niagara." These sagacious instructions being repeatedly and strenuously urged by him, and reinforced also from other quarters, were adopted and acted upon by the Government. Commodore Perry was commissioned to build, equip, and command the contemplated fleet; and, on the 10th of September, with an inferior force, he met the enemy, and gained the brilliant victory of Lake Erie. Meanwhile, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, then a member of Congress from Kentucky, had devised the organization of two regiments of mounted militia, which he was authorized by the Government to raise, as well for service against the Indians as to co-operate with Harrison. Colonel Johnson crossed the country of Lower Sandusky, where he received orders from the War Department to proceed to Kaskaskia to oper- ate in that quarter; but, by the inference of Harrison, and at the urgent request of Colonel Johnson, — who said for himself and his men that the first object of their hearts was to accompany Harrison to Detroit and Canada, and to partake in the danger and honor of that expedition, under an officer in whom they had confidence, and who had approved himself "to be wise, prudent, and brave," — the orders of the Depart- ment were countermanded, and Colonel Johnson at- tained his wish. General Harrison now prepared to strike the great blow. Aided by the energetic efforts of Governor Meigs, of Ohio, and Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, he had ready on the southern shore of Lake Erie, by the middle of September, a competent force destined for the immediate invasion of Canada. Between the 16th and the 24th of September the artillery, military stores, provisions, and troops, were gradually embark- ed, and on the 27th the whole army proceeded to the Canada shore. " Remember the river Raisin," said General Harrison, in his address to the troops, " but remember it only whilst victory is suspended. The revenge of a soldier cannot be gratified on a fallen en- 5* 54 emy." The army landed in high spirits ; but the en- emy had abandoned his st.cDg hold and retreated to Sandwich, — after disman' ng Maiden, burning the barracks and navy yard, and stripping th 5 adjacent country of horses and cattle. General Harrison en- camped that night on the ruins of Maiden. No time was lost in resuming the pursuit of Proc- tor. Colonel Johnson's mounted regiment came up and supplied the cavalry wanting for the pursuit. Two days only were oocupied in re-establishing the civil government ofMichigan, and assigning to it a de- fensive corps, in organizing a portion of the army for rapid movement, and in giving to the whole of it an order of march and battle. It was not until the 5th of October that Proctor was overtaken, at a place ever memorable as the battle ground of one of the most honorable and decisive actions fought during the war. On that day the enemy was discovered in a position skilfully chosen, in relation as well to locai circum- stances as to the character of his troops. A narrow- strip of dry land, flanked by the river Thames on the left and by a swamp on the right, was occupied by his regular infantry and artillery, while on the right flank lay Tecumthe and his followers, on the eastern margin of the swamp. But, notwithstanding the judicious choice of the ground, Proctor had committed the error of forming his infantry in open order. Availing him- self of this fact, and aware that troops so disposed could not resist a charge of mounted men, he directed Colonel Johnson to dash through the enemy's line in column. The movement was made with hrillian- success. The mounted men charged with prompt titude and vigor, broke through the line of the enemy, formed in the rear, and assailed the broken line with a success seldom equalled, for nearly the whole of the British regular force were either killed, wounded, or taken. On the left, the Indians rushed on the mounted men there, and fiercely contested the ground for a short time, until Tecumthe fell, when his 55 men gave way before the x\mericans. Proctor, who had saved himself and a part of his suite by a base de- sertion of his troops, in keeping with his character, was now strenuously but unsuccessfully pursued. But the defeat of the enemy was now complete. All his baggage and military stores, together with his official papers, fell into Harrison's hands. Several field pieces also, which had been taken from the British in the rev- olutionary war at Saratoga and Yorktown, but which Hull had shamefully surrendered at Detroit, were again captured, and were honorable trophies of vic- tory. In this battle, Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, com- manded the troops of his State, and Colonel (Gener- al) Cass and Commodore Perry acted as volunteer aids to General Harrison. " Thus fortunately terminated an expedition," says General Armstrong, " the results of which were of high importance to the United States: a naval ascen- dency gained on Lakes Erie and Superior ; Maiden destroyed; Detroit recovered ; Proctor defeated ; the alliance between Great Britain and the savages dis- solved, and peace and industry restored to our widely extended Western frontier." In a word, Harrison had gloriously accomplished, by his own abilities and the co-operation of the gallant people of the West, all that he undertook in assuming .the command of the American forces in the Northwest. The news of this great victory was received throughout the United States with universal rejoic- ings and gratulations. In his Message to Congress of the 7th December, 1813, Mr Madison spoke of the result as "signally honorable to Major General Har- rison, by whose military talents it was prepared. 55 " The victory of Harrison," said Mr Cheeves on the floor of Congress, " was such as would have secured to a Roman General, in the best days of the republic, the honors of a triumph. He put an end to the war in the uppermost Canada." "The blessings," sard 56 Governor Snyder, of Pennsylvania, in his message to the Legislature of that State, " of thousands of wo- men and children, rescued from the sealping-knife of the ruthless savage of the wilderness, and from the still more savage Proctor, rest on Harrison and his gallant army." It was well said prominent Vir- ginia press, of Harrison's despatch after the battle, that in his letter he had done justice to every one but himself; and that the world must therefore do justice to the man, who was too modest to do justice to him- self. And referring to other without cotemporaueous testimonies of public gratitnde and respect, it will be sufficient to add the following resolution, passed by both branches of Congress, and approved 4th of April, 1818: " Resolved by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress as- sembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby presented to Major General William Henry Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky, and through them to the officers and men under their command, for their gallantry and good conduct in defeating the combined British and Indian forces under Major General Proctor on the Thames, in Upper Canada, on the 5th day of October, 1813, capturing the British army, with their baggage, camp equippage, and artillery; 'and that the President of the United States be requested to cause two Gold Medals to be struck, emblematical of this triumph, and presented to General Harrison, and Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky," Having thus entirely defeated the enemy in Upper Canada, Harrison advanced with a part of his army to the Niagara frontier, and thence to Sackett's Har- bor, where he left the troops and proceeded to the seat of Government, and then to Ohio, where his immedi- ate duties required his presence. In the pian of the ensuing campaign General Armstrong, the Secretary of War, saw fit to assign to General Harrison the com- 57 mend of a now comparatively unimportant district, while active service against Canada was entrusted to others. That an officer in the prime of life, bred to combat under Wayne, who had signalized his name in the memorable triumph of Tippecanoe, won the brilliant victory of the Thames, and by his courage and skill given peace to the Northwest, reconquered Michigan, and gained possession of a large part of Upper Canada — that such an officer should not be continued in active service, naturally occasioned sur- prise. But though the causes of it were veiled from the public eye, yet the agency and motives became vis- ible, when the Secretary of War, soon afterwards, not only designated a subordinate officer within Genera] Harrison's district for a particular duty, but also trans- mitted directly to that officer orders to take troops from the district without consulting its commander. On receiving notice of this, General Harrison, justly indignant, addressed to the Department a letter of re- signation, with a notification to the President. Hear- ing of this, Governor S-helby wrote a remonstrance to the President, expressing the highest opinion of Harri- son's military talents and capacity to command, derived from actually serving under him, and declaring the. belief that in the arduous duties he performed, no offi- cer had ever displayed more energy or exhibited great- er capability. But the Secretary of War hastily as- sumed the righf, Mr Madison being absent in Virginia, to accept General Harrison's resignation, without which, it is believed, the President would have deci- ded otherwise ; and thus, in the subsequent campaigns, the country was deprived of the abilities of him " who," in the words of Colonel Johnson, " during the late war was longer in active service than any other general officer, was perhaps oftener in action than any of them, and never sustained a defeat" For General Harrison, with the disinterestedness and love of honor which has always distinguished him, would not contin- ue to enjoy the high rank he held in the army, and the 58 emoluments it conferred, without he could be render- ing at the same time an equivalent service to the Re- public. INDIAN COMMISSIONER. But General Harrison did not the less continue to receive new marks of the confidence of Mr Madison, In the summer of 1814, he was appointed, in con- junction with Governor Shelby and General Cass, to treat with the Indians in the Northwest, at Greenville, the old head quarters of General Wayne. In 1815, after the peace of Ghent, and in the execu- tion of the provisions therein for the pacification of the Indians, General Harrison was placed at the head of the commission for treating with the important tribes of the Wyandotts, Shawnees, Ottawas, Winnebagoes, Chippewas, Delawares, Senecas, Pottawatamies, and Miamis, at Spring Wells. MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND OF THE OHIO LEGISLA- TURE. Hitherto, we have followed General Harrison through a long series of public duties and services, both civil and military, for a period of twenty-five years of active life ; in fifteen of which we have seen him employed in the highest and most arduous public trusts, whether as the political head or the military commander, in the great region of the West, which has been the scene of his toils and his triumphs,* Pre-eminent as he was in the field when his country called him there, yet in the character of a civil ruler, as a negotiator, as a chief magistrate, — which for the greater part of the time he was, — he had shown him- self equally pre-eminent. For a short period only of his early life he had appeared before the nation as a member of a legislative body ; but then with distin- guished capacity for public usefulness. In 1816, he 59 became again a member of Congress, being elected a Representative from the State of Ohio, and continu- ing for three years, after which he became a member of the Senate of that State ; and in 1824, he was elected a Senator in Congress from that State. Gen- eral Harrison was amply qualified for the legislative duties he was thus called to perform, not merely by the possession of a high order of intellect, a cultivated mind, long and intimate familiarity with affairs, and great political and general acquirements, but also as an animated and ready speaker, fluent in language, plain, but not ungraceful in manner, eminently happy in extemporaneous address, and endowed with apt and ready skill in bringing the resources of his mind to bear upon any given subject: — all which traits characterised his cursory debates as well as more formal speeches in Congress. It would far exceed the necessary limits of these outlines, to enter minutely into the review of General Harrison's acts and opinions during the period of this his service in Congress. These alone, with the offi- cial papers which proceeded from his pen, whilst at the head of affairs in the Northwest, would constitute a volome. Of the subjects, however, which received particu- lar attention from him, some deserve to be mention- ed, for their intrinsic importance, and the value of his efforts in regard to them. Such are the organiza- tion of the militia ; the introduction of a more equal system of military education than now exists; the recognition of the independence of the Spanish American republics; the improvement of the moral condition of the army by augmenting the inducements to respectability on the part of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers ; the introduction of uniformity as to military pensions ; and abova all, his strenuous exertions in behalf of the claims of the surviving of- ficers and soldiers of the Revolution. 60 MINISTER TO COLOMBIA. In 1828, General Harrison was appointed, by Mr Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Colombia. He arrived in the midst of that unhappy period, when Bolivar, forgetful of that example of Washington, which it had been his pride in early life to follow, was engaged in those efforts to change the constitution of his country, the failure of which, and the chagrin they brought upon him, consigned him to a premature grave, the broken-hearted victim of bit- ter disappointment and unavailing regrets. An elabo- rate letter of General Harrison's to Bolivar, in refer- ence to these matters, is justly admired for the noble and just sentiments of republican liberty and of pure patriotism, which it is replete with. General Harri- son did not remain long in Colombia, however ; the change of administration which ensued in the United States, producing his recall. CONCLUSION. Such, without enlarging to refer to other trusts of less general importance at different periods confided to General Harrison, have been the great public em- ployments, which, in the course of his diversified and eventful life, he has been called to fill, with honor to himself and to the Union. The traits of character, which distinguished him in those employments, have been described briefly, as they came successively in review. Some of these traits, of a personal nature, deserve to be more dis- tinctly spoken of by themselves. Disinterestedness and integrity in pecuniary mat- ters have marked all his actions. As Governor of Indiana and as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, large sums of money passed through his hands to be disbursed at his discretion, and with few of the checks now provided in reference to such 61 things. He gave no security, and the Government had no guaranty for the faithful implication of the funds entrusted to him, but his prudence and honesty. But he was conscientiously true to his duty ; neither f accumulating wealth by speculation upon "the public money or lands, nor becoming a debtor of the Gov- ernment. During the war, as commander-in-chief in the Northwest, he had liberty to draw on the Govern- ment to an unlimited amount, and was daily passing large sums of public money through his hands, but not a cent did he ever divert to his own use ; and at the close of his military services, there was no charge against him on the books of the Treasury, except for moneys faithfully and truly accounted for by him, and allowed as such. Meanwhile, his sitaation in life, more especially when Commander-in-chief, subjected him to many and great personal charges ; not only those directly incidental to his military duties, in travelling and otherwise ; but, charges, also, of a different kind, imposed by the peculiar description of the forces he led, and the consequent necessity he was under at times of keeping free quarters for the reception of his fellow citizens, whom his duty to the Government, and the dependence of the country upon volunteer troops, made it important he should conciliate. Add to which, that at his own expense, he continually sup- plied clothing and other needful comforts for his sick and wounded soldiers. Hence, though he lived as frugally and fared as hardly in the field as any soldier in the rank- of his army, yet his expenses at that pe- riod exceeded his pay, and the balance came from his private property. Since the war, Gen. Harrison has been the princi- ' pie representative of the military class of our citizens in the region in which he lived; and the old soldier, the veteran, who had served under Wayne, St Clair, and others, and still more, they who had served under 62 himself, came to him to present their claims for lands and pensions, and regarded him in the light of a pro- tector and a friend. Hospitable hy nature and habit, the old soldier always found a welcome at his fireside. Not only were his expenses increased, but much of his time also employed, in the duties of charity or friend- ship, to these his brave companions in arms. Nor did heat any time seek to avail himself of those means, which came in his way, to add to the regular appointments of the stations he held. While governor of Indiana and Indian Superintendant, he refused to accept any of the perquisites, which before his time had been customarily paid; and for his services as commander of the expedition to Tippecanoe he never received or asked compensation. Though having a numerous family, — and with offi- cial patronage long at his command, -r— and high claims in his own right and otherwise, to such favors — he has educated his children at his own expense, and waived opportunities of providing for them in the public ser- vice, that he might give his influence to others. Thus disinterested in his public relations, (and not less so, indeed, in his private,) he has carried with him into retirement no spoils of office; continuing to possess only the competency which belongs to inde- pendence, and that richest of all possessions, the en- viable reputation of an upright life. Whether in civil office or military command, Gen. Harrison was always just, moderate and conciliatory, though firm; and whether in public or private life, generous and considerate in his disposition, cheerful and affable in his intercourse with all; and though warm in his affections, yet never violent nor vindic- tive in his enmities. By this rare union of abiliry, courtesy, and moderation, it was that he swayed those about him. He himself, on being asked how he could control the militia he led to victory, disclosed the se- cret of his influence. " By treating them," he said, " with affection and kindness, by always recollecting 63 that they were my fellow-citizens, whose feelings I was bound to respect, and by sharing on every occa- sion the hardships they were obliged to undergo." His published writings, which are numerous, are distinguished by clearness and facility of composition, and indicate beyond dispute, that he possesses great cultivation of mind, as well as a great natural intel- lect. It is not the purpose of these Outlines to speak with particularity of the political opinions of Gen. Harri- son. These are best learnt by inspection of his wri- tings, his speeches, his official or public correspond- ence, and by observation of his life and actions. One fact, however, in this relation, it is material to bear in mind. Though honored with the confidence as well of the Washington and Adams as of the Jeffer- son and Madison administrations, and though heartily attached to the Republican principles of the latter, and one of the electors of Mr Monroe, yet his public service has been rendered to his country rather than to a party, and he stands free and untrammelled, with claims