WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

OTABLE among the ancient and honorable families of Virginia, in the

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days when that State was one of the colonies and a dependency of Great Britain, were the Harrisons. The ancestor of the family in this country was a lineal descendant of that General Harrison who achieved distinction in the civil wars of England as an officer in the Army of the Com monwealth. Prominent among those of a later generation was Benjamin Harrison, a member, and for many terms Speaker, of the House of Bur

Chosen to the first Continental Congress, in June, 1776, he introduced the resolution declaring the colonies independent, and, on the fourth of July, as chairman of the committee of the whole, reported the Declaration of Independence as finally adopted, and to which his signature is affixed. He was soon afterward elected Governor of Virginia, an office demanding in that day, when the issue of the conflict already begun was in grave doubt, a degree of moral bravery and fearlessness that was in itself sublime. Faithful in the discharge of the duties incumbent upon the office to which he was elected, he did valiant service for the cause of freedom in the colonies, devoting his entire private fortune to the carrying forward of the war to a successful issue, and died in 1791, beggared, it is true, but proud in the consciousness that the sacrifices he had shared had resulted in the freedom of a nation.

Of the family of fifteen children of Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison was the third and youngest son. Born, near the James River, in Berkeley, Charles City County, Virginia, February 9, 1773, he passed an uneventful boyhood and youth, and at an early age entered HampdenSydney College, where he obtained a classical and literary education, after wards supplemented by the study of medicine, to which, however, he devoted but a short time. On the death of his father, in 1791, he was placed under the guardianship of Robert Morris, the financier of the con

federated colonies in the war of the Revolution.

Before completing his medical studies, the atrocities committed by the Indians upon the defenseless pioneers in the border settlements aroused in him the spirit inherited from his martial ancestors, and he determined to forego the study of medicine and devote himself to the protection of the frontier. Mr. Morris endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose, but in vain; and a communication from President Washington, long the friend of his father, confirmed him in his determination. He soon received from the President a commission as Ensign of Artillery, and in 1791 joined the army at Fort Washington.* Reinforcements being demanded for Fort Hamilton, on the Miami, the young officer was placed in command of the escort; so well did he perform this duty, passing through a forest infested by hostile. Indians, as to merit and receive the commendation of his commander, General St. Clair. Soon followed the rash advance of that unfortunate general, which resulted in the loss of more than one-half his entire army. Harrison did not accompany this expedition, but remained at the fort. The confidence of his superiors being well established, in the course of 1792 he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and late in the fall of that year. joined the new army then encamped at Legionville, some twenty miles below Pittsburgh, on the Ohio River. The commander of the legion, General Anthony Wayne, recognizing in Lieutenant Harrison an officer of fine mental acquirements for one of his years, made him a member of his military family, attached to himself as aide-de-camp. During the greater portion of a year the troops remained in quarters, Wayne devoting the time to promoting the efficiency of the army in drill and discipline. The school in which he now found himself had great effect on the future development of Lieutenant Harrison. It was here he learned that the intimate combination of men as a whole, subject to the command of an intelligent leader, was of prime necessity in the formation of an effective army.

Late in April, 1793, the command embarked in boats and proceeded to Cincinnati, taking post at Fort Washington. Drill and discipline were continued near the fort, until the seventh of October, when an advance was made to a point six miles beyond Fort Jefferson, where were erected fortifications which were given the name of Greenville. Delays were here experienced, and the season being advanced, preparations were made for a winter encampment; the garrisons at Cincinnati, Marietta, and Vincennes were strengthened, in preparation for offensive operations in the early spring. Late in December an expedition was dispatched by General Wayne to take possession of the battle-ground lost by St. Clair two years previously. The command arrived on the field on Christmas day, and immediately set about erecting a strong stockade, which was gar*Situated on land now included in the city of Cincinnati.

This post was

risoned by one company each of riflemen and artillery. then named Fort Recovery, in commemoration of the recovery of the territory lost by St. Clair and all but one of the cannon left on the field of defeat. On the return of the command to Fort Greenville, Lieutenant Harrison was among the number of officers mentioned by name in the general orders of the commander, returning thanks to the force that had so readily accomplished the purpose to which it was ordered. On the thirtieth of June, 1794, the fort at Greenville was attacked several times by a force of Indians and British, numbering about one thousand. In repelling the assault the Americans lost fifty-seven men and two hundred and twenty-one horses. The losses of the besieging parties were much larger. On the twenty-sixth of July, Wayne was reinforced by sixteen hundred Kentucky mounted riflemen, under Major-General Scott, and two days later he broke camp and slowly and stealthily advanced twenty-five miles beyond Fort Recovery, where another stockade was erected, which he named Fort Adams. Another advance was made on the fourth of August, and four days later the command encamped at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers, where he built Fort Defiance.* On the fifteenth of August an advance was made to the head of the rapids, where was established Fort Deposit, a base of supplies and baggage, with strong military defenses. On the nineteenth a council of war was called, at which Lieutenant Harrison submitted a plan of march and order of battle, which was adopted. For subordinate officers General Wayne had Major-General Scott, of the Kentucky volunteers, and Brigadier-Generals Wilkinson, Todd and Barber. On the twentieth advance was made to the Fallen Timbers, an extensive wet prairie which was rendered almost impassable by fallen trees leveled by the force of a terrific tornado. Here was met the first check of the campaign. The advance corps was fired upon by the enemy, who were concealed in the timber, and fell back in confusion. The main force was then formed in two lines in the dense wood near by, and under the leadership of their brave and daring commander, dashed forward upon the enemy, whose force numbered fully two thousand Indians and Canadian volunteers. The onslaught was terrific, and the undisciplined savages, with their white allies, were unable to withstand the sharp bayonets of the regulars and the murderous fire of the Kentucky sharpshooters. In less than one hour the battle was won and the enemy in full retreat, having in their haste left forty of their dead on the field. Of their total loss nothing definite is known, the Indian custom being, when defeated, to remove the bodies of the slain. The American loss in this battle was one hundred and thirty-three. In his dispatch to the Secretary of War, General Wayne specially complimented his aids De Butt, Lewis and Harrison-for their faithful exertions in having "ren*The present site of Defiance, Ohio.

dered the most essential service by communicating orders in every direction, and for their conduct and bravery in exciting the troops to press for victory."

Three days and three nights did the American army remain on the ground, during that time destroying the growing crops of the Indians, and commiting to the flames the extensive trading station and dwellings of Colonel McKee, the British agent to the Indians; all this time menaced by the guns of Fort Miami, which had been erected by the British troops on American soil. Sharp correspondence passed between General Wayne and the British major in command of the fort; the latter, however, did not care to precipitate hostilities, and prudently confined himself to a war of words.

Having accomplished the object of his expedition, Wayne retired to Fort Defiance; about the middle of September moving to the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's rivers, at the head of the Maumee, where he constructed a strong fortification, which he called Fort Wayne. Colonel Hamtramck was left in command, with a considerable force of artillery and infantry, and the army returned to Forts Washington and Greenville, where the volunteers were discharged. The following summer a treaty of peace was concluded at Greenville by General Wayne and representatives of twelve Indian tribes, which secured to the United States about twenty-five thousand square miles of territory and assured a peace which continued fifteen years.

Soon after returning from the Maumee campaign, Harrison was commissioned captain, and promoted to the command of Fort Washington. While here he renewed a former acquaintance with Miss Anna Symmes, daughter of John Cleves Symmes, whose residence was at North Bend, near by. Judge Symmes refused his consent to the marriage of the young artillery captain to his daughter, and the ceremony that united them was performed in his house during his temporary absence. Several weeks passed before the stern father met his son-in-law, at a dinner party given by General Wilkinson to General Wayne. On that occasion he said: "Well, sir, I understand you have been married to Anna." "Yes, sir," replied the young captain. "How do you expect to support her?" inquired the father. "By my sword and my own right arm," Harrison responded. Judge Symmes soon after became reconciled to Captain Harrison, and regarded with pride his advancement to the governorship of Indiana Territory, and the eclat surrounding the hero of Tippecanoe, Fort Meigs and the Thames.

Harrison continued in the army until near the close of 1797, when occured the death of Wayne, soon after which he resigned his commission, conceiving, now that peace was concluded with the Indians, there would be no immediate demand for his services in the field. Scarcely was his