William Henry Harrison

Harrison met his future wife Anna Symmes, in 1795. She belonged to a wealthy family and her father, named Judge John Cleves Symmes was man of great influence.

Due to the disapproval of Anna’s father, she and Harrison eloped and got married on November 25, 1795. The couple had 10 children, out of which nine survived to see adulthood.

It is believed that Harrison had illicit relationship with Dilsia, his female slave and fathered six children with her.

William Henry Harrison was born in an aristocratic and well to do planter family, to father, named Benjamin Harrison V and mother named Elizabeth (Bassett).

His father was one of the signatories of Declaration of Independence and member of Continental Congress (1774-1777); he also held the post of governor of Virginia from 1781 to 1784.

Out of his six siblings, Harrison’s elder bother, Carter Bassett Harrison served as the member of United States House of Representatives.

William Henry Harrison studied Latin and basic French at the Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College, between 1787 and 1790.

In 1790, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and studied medicine under the guidance Dr. Benjamin Rush.

Harrison’s military superior was General Anthony Wayne and under his command Harrison played an active role in fighting the Northwest Indian Confederation.

He participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in which the Union forces were able to defeat the native armies in August 1794.

In 1795, he became one of the signatories of the Treaty of Greenville, which made it possible for European Americans to settle in the Ohio territory.

In 1798, Harrison resigned from the Army commission and tried his hand at various jobs in the public sector.

From March 4, 1799, to May 14, 1800 he served as the member of the Sixth United States Congress; he was the first representative of the Northwest Territory to do so.

On November 7, 1811 the Indian confederation attacked Harrison's camp on the banks of the Tippecanoe River, while he was preparing to confront Tecumseh, after receiving permission from the government to do so.

This battle was a surprise attack, meted out by huge force of Indians on around thousand unsuspecting army men and despite suffering heavy causalities (190), under Harrison's leadership the attack was repulsed; this earned him the nickname Tippecanoe.

The Battle of Tippecanoe became the cornerstone for Harrison’s political career and his claim to fame as it inspired and captured the imagination of the general public at large.

In the Battle of the Thames (1813), Harrison attained his biggest ever military win by defeating the combined British and Indian forces; he also managed to kill Tecumseh, which led to the complete disbanding of the Indian forces.