COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

In September, 1812, Governor Harrison was made commander of all the forces of the northwest. He at once turned his attention toward the recapture of the fort at Detroit, which General Hull had ignominiously surrendered. That fort was the British key to the northwest. Between him and that point was a body of Indians on the Maumee. He ordered the scattered forces, in southern and central Ohio, to move toward Detroit. His plan was to overcome the Indians, gather at and retake the fort at Detroit, and so get repossession of the peninsula of Michigan. In this way he would make it difficult for the British to coöperate with the Indians. The lateness of the season and the early autumn rains filling the swamps and streams, made it impossible to carry his plans immediately into effect. A portion of his forces met the Indians on the Maumee and were almost destroyed. This disaster helped to retard the movement upon Detroit. In the meantime, the Indians all along the frontier let loose their dogs of savage warfare upon the scattered settlements. Robbing, plundering, killing, scalping, burning, were everywhere going on. The men from the settlements had for the most part gathered into Harrison's army, which had to wait for winter to freeze up the swamps, so it might make its way to Detroit. It was a terrible winter to the exposed settlements

In the spring the British had come to the assistance of the Indians on the Maumee, and the way of Harrison was hedged by this union under Proctor and Tecumseh. Severe fighting ensued with varied results, from time to time for some months. Reinforcements continued to come from Kentucky, under Governor Shelby, and from Ohio, to Harrison's army. Affairs grew more and more favorable to Harrison, and the prospect looked encouraging for sweeping the valley of the Maumee to the lake.

Just at this juncture of affairs Commodore Perry gained his great battle on Lake Erie, September tenth, 1813, which secured to the United States the command of the lake as the gateway to the northwest.

On the twenty-seventh of September, Harrison and his army

embarked on Perry's ships, to cross the lake to the Canada shore in pursuit of Proctor and Tecumseh, who had gone to the valley of the Thames. "On the twenty-ninth Harrison was at Sandwich, and McArthur took possession of Detroit and the territory of Michigan."

"On the second of October the Americans began their march in pursuit of Proctor, whom they overtook on the fifth" in the valley of the Thames river. Here was a concentration of the most of the land forces on both sides, Commodore Perry acting as one of General Harrison's aides. The forces on both sides were arranged with deliberation. The battle was brief but decisive, on account of a wedge of dragoons which Harrison formed in the beginning, of men accustomed from their youth up to ride through the woods musket in hand. They broke the British line and put it into confusion in their first charge, and it could not recover. It soon became a rout. The Indians made a more stubborn resistance and held out longer; but Tecumseh falling dead, they took alarm and became a rout also. The victory to the Americans was complete. General Harrison had urged upon Congress from the beginning of the war, the construction of a fleet of gunboats to command Lake Erie. Their importance was demonstrated in Perry's battle, which was a part of General Harrison's campaign. That, followed so closely by the battle of the Thames, brought Harrison's part of the war to a close.

Congress recognized the great value of General Harrison's services, in the following resolution:

"Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the thanks of Congress be and they are hereby presented to MajorGeneral William Henry Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late governor of Kentucky, and through them to the officers and men of their command, for their gallant and good conduct in defeating the combined British and Indian forces under Major-General Proctor, on the Thames in Upper Canada, on the fifth day of October, 1813, capturing the British army, with their baggage, camp equipage 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."

From the beginning of his career as a soldier, his services were of great practical value to his country, increasing constantly, till now they brought peace to the great northwest.

His work so nobly done, he repaired to Washington and resigned his office as major general of the armies, on account of some want of harmony of views with the secretary of war, greatly to the regret of President Madison. He repaired to his home on the Ohio, for the domestic repose which of all things he most enjoyed. But the following summer, the president appointed him at the head of a commission on Indian affairs, with Governor Shelby and General Cass as his associates.

In 1816, he was elected to the House of Representatives in Congress, from Ohio. He had but just taken his seat when his conduct in the war was called in question. No more than Washington did he escape traducers. But he triumphantly vindicated his conduct.

While in Congress, he labored for a reform in the militia, which he did not accomplish; and for pensions for the soldiers of the revolution and the late war, which he did secure, which has carried comfort and joy to multitudes of soldiers' homes, and established the custom which makes the United States the best country in the world to its defenders. Let all pensioned soldiers remember General Harrison with gratitude.

When General Harrison was in Congress, the celebrated resolutions of censure of General Jackson, for his taking possession of Spanish territory, and hanging two British subjects, in the Seminole war, were offered. Harrison supported the resolutions in an elaborate and powerful speech, yet paid a high tribute to the patriotism and noble intentions of the impetuous and resolute general. The following extract from that speech, which is a choice specimen of the delicate and dextrous use of elegant English, will show the spirit and refined talent of the great patriot.

"I am sure, sir, that it is not the intention of any gentleman upon this floor, to rob General Jackson of a single ray of glory;

much less, to wound his feelings or injure his reputation. If the resolutions pass, I would address him thus: "In the performance of a sacred duty, imposed by their construction of the constitution, the representatives of the people have found it necessary to disapprove of a single act of your brilliant career. They have done it in the full conviction that the hero who has guarded her rights in the field, will bow with reverence to the civil institutions of his country; that he has admitted as his creed, that the character of the soldier can never be complete without eternal reverence to the character of the citizen. Go, gallant chief, and bear with you the gratitude of your country; go under the full conviction, that as her glory is identified with yours, she has nothing more dear to her than her laws, nothing more sacred than her constitution. Even an unintentional error shall be sanctified to her service. It will teach posterity that the government which could disapprove the conduct of a Marcellus, will have the fortitude to crush the vices of a Marius."" Noble words, classic in finish, christian in morality!

But Jackson was not equal to their comprehension. He never forgave Harrison for their utterance.

In 1819 Mr. Harrison was elected to the Senate of Ohio; in 1824 one of the presidential electors of that state; in 1829 was appointed minister to the republic of Columbia; in 1836 was named as a candidate for the presidency, and in 1840 was elected in opposition to Van Buren, who ran for a second term.

The Harrison campaign was one of the most exciting ever known in this country. The bad effects of Jackson's and Van Buren's financial policy had paralyzed the business of the country, and little hope of any prosperity or security for business was to be seen by the wisest financiers. This produced the union of all the conservative and opposition elements in the formation of the whig party. The combination was so strong, and the determination to rout the Jackson dynasty so resolute, that the campaign became a blaze of popular enthusiasm. Mass meetings, processions, songs, badges, and every form of powerful popular demonstration, became the order of the day. Log cabins were drawn at the head of immense processions through

all the cities and villages of the country. It was remembered for years as the log-cabin campaign. It was really the revolt of the country against the financial mistakes of the two previous administrations. Harrison was elected, and on the fourth of March, 1841, was inaugurated. John Tyler, of Virginia, was his vice-president. He selected a strong cabinet, with Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, secretary of state. On the seventeenth of March he issued a proclamation for an extra session of Congress, chiefly to consider and try to remedy the deplorable condition of the finances of the country. It was called for the last Monday in May.

A few days after President Harrison began to suffer from a severe cold. It grew worse, and he was attacked with a severe chill, followed by a fever. This again was followed by a bilious pleurisy, which, on the fourth of April, terminated his life. His death shocked the nation. Hardly since the days of Washington had any man so held the hearts and hopes of the people. His excellent character, his devoted patriotism, his admirable self-poise, his great talents and uniform success through a long life of varied public services, had created great expectations at a time when all these qualities were greatly needed to improve the ill conditions under which the country was suffering.

His funeral was held on the seventh of April, 1841, at Washington; but public funereal honors were awarded him in churches, halls and public buildings in every part of the country. He lived just one month after his inauguration.

THE GRAVE OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

Fifteen miles west of Cincinnati, on the summit of a hillock at North Bend, in a brick vault, rest the remains of William Henry Harrison. Those of his wife and children repose with them. A large flat stone, two or three feet above the surface of the earth, covers the vault. No monument or slab is erected. No inscription telling who sleeps there, or indicating a surviv