WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, ninth President of the United States, was a native of Virginia, a son of the incorruptible old patriot whose name is attached to the Declaration of Independence, and a lineal descendant of that General Harrison, who bore a distinguished part during the English civil wars, in the armies of the Commonwealth. The family of Harrison were among the earliest settlers of the colony of Virginia, and the name appears among the most prominent mentioned in the annals of that province. Benjamin Harrison, the father of the President, was one of the most distinguished patriots of our country. Before he was twenty-one years of age, he was elected a member of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, in which he represented his native district for many years. Here he early displayed his love of freedom, and united with that patriotic band of members who resolved on resisting the oppressions of the mother country. In November, 1764, he was placed on a committee to prepare an address to the King, a memorial to the House of Lords, and a remonstrance to the Commons, in opposition to the odious stamp act. In August, 1774, he was elected a delegate from Virginia to the first Continental Congress, which assembled at Philadelphia, on the first of September following; and on that day, he had the gratification of seeing his colleague and brother-inlaw, Peyton Randolph, placed in the presidential chair, by the unanimous voice of the Convention.

After the death of Mr. Randolph, Congress, on assembling, in 1775, were called upon to choose a new president. The southern members almost unanimously agreed upon the selection of Mr. Harrison for the chair vacated by the death of his relative. But as the name of John Hancock had also been proposed, Mr. Harrison, justly considering the importance of conciliating the northern feeling, at so momentous a crisis, with a generous self-denial, waived his claims, and urged with great zeal the appointment of Hancock, who was consequently unanimously chosen to that high station.

Waln, in his Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, says of Mr. Hancock :

"With a modesty not unnatural for his years, and a consciousness of the difficulty he might experience in filling a station of such high importance and responsibility, he hesitated to take the seat. Mr. Harrison was standing beside him, and with the ready good humor that loved a joke, even in the Senate-House, he seized the modest candidate in his athletic arms, and placed him in the presidential chair; then turning to some of the members around, he exclaimed, We will show mother Britain how little we care for her, by making a Massachusetts man our president, whom she has excluded from pardon by public proclamation.'

Mr. Harrison continued to be an active and influential member of the Continental Congress, to which he was returned four times as a delegate. On the tenth of June, 1776, as chairman of the committee of the whole House, he introduced the resolution which declared the independence of the colonies; and on the following ever-memorable fourth of July, he reported the more formal Declaration of Independence, to which celebrated document his signature is annexed.

On the expiration of his last term of service in Congress, Mr. Harrison was elected to the House of Burgesses from his own county, and was at once chosen speaker of that body; an office which he held uninterruptedly until the year 1782, when he was elected Governor of Virginia, and be came one of the most popular officers that ever filled the executive chair. This eminent patriot died in the year 1791.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON was born on the ninth of February, 1773, at Berkeley, on the James river, in Charles-City county. He was the third and younger son; and although the father was not wealthy, the son inherited a rich legacy in a name rendered honorable as connected with the first struggles of the country for freedom. On the death of his father, William Henry Harrison was placed under the guardianship of his intimate friend, Robert Morris, the great financier of the revolution. He was educated at Hampden Sidney College, and afterwards applied himself to the study of medicine as a profession. But before he had completed his. course of studies, the barbarities of the Indians in their incursions upon our thin and scattered settlements upon the north-western frontiers, kindled a feeling of indignation throughout the country. The service was at that time neither popular nor inviting; but our young student resolved to give up his profession, and join the army destined to the defence of the Ohio frontier. His guardian, Mr. Morris, attempted to dissuade him from this purpose, but his resolution had been deliberately taken; and on communicating it to General WASHINGTON, that great man, beholding in the young son of his friend the germs of future greatness, cordially approved his patriotic determination. The Indian war was at that time assuming a very alarming aspect. Few of the Indians continued in peaceful relations with the United States, while the powerful tribes of the Miamies, the Hurons, or Wyandots, the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Kickapoos, the Potowatomies, the Ottawas, and the Winnebagoes, who occupied all the borders of our northern lakes, and were scattered through the whole immense extent of our north-western territory, were engaged in active hostility against the United States.

Encouraged by the British authorities in Canada, who, in violation of the treaty of peace, still held forcible possession of Detroit, Mackinaw, Niagara, and other points in our acknowledged territory, the Indians persisted in their savage incursions; and scarce a day passed without some new tale of violence and bloodshed. From 1783 to 1791, it has been estimated that more than fifteen hundred of our hardy pioneers of the west had fallen victims to the rifle and scalping-knife of their savage foes. Our north. western frontier presented an appalling scene of rapine, conflagration, and wanton destruction of life and property. Many of our border settlernents had been crushed in their infancy, and all had been retarded in their

growth. Expedition after expedition, fitted out to oppose them, had met with the most disheartening losses; and finally, a gallant army, under Brigadier-General Harmer, which had been sent expressly to chastise these savages, after destroying some of their towns, had been signally defeated by them, and almost annihilated. Of the few experienced officers who escaped from Harmer's defeat, nearly all, worn out with the fatigues of a service so harassing, and shrinking from a warfare of so dangerous and barbarous a nature, had resigned their commissions; and a general feeling of dismay began to pervade the whole of our exposed frontier.

After the defeat of Harmer, a new army was raised, and placed under the command of the veteran General St. Clair. This brave but unfortunate commander moved his army slowly and cautiously to the head waters of the Wabash, opening a road, and establishing forts at suitable distances. By the 1st of November, 1791, he was in the midst of the Indian country, and within fifteen miles of the Miami villages. On the 4th, his camp was suddenly attacked about daylight, by an immense body of savages, aided by white auxiliaries from Canada. The assailants being well protected by the shelter of the trees and mounds of earth, fired from the ground, and were scarcely to be seen, except when they rose to spring from one shelter to another. They advanced rapidly in front, and upon either flank, up to the very mouths of the American field-pieces.

The militia occupying the front were dismayed by the impetuosity and violence of this unexpected attack, and falling back upon the regulars, threw them into confusion. In vain the officers endeavored to rally and re-form their men; their success was only partial. Twice were the Indians driven back by desperate charges; but while they gave way at one point to the bayonets of our soldiers, from every other quarter they poured in a heavy and destructive fire upon the lines, until the whole army was thrown into the greatest confusion, and a most disorderly retreat ensued. The savages pursued their conquered foe for miles, and the woods were strewn with the bodies of the dead and dying. Of fourteen hundred men, five hundred and thirty were killed, and three hundred and sixty wounded. These sad reverses created an intense excitement throughout the country, and rendered it imperative upon the government to place the army under the command of a military chief of well-earned reputation; a cautious, discreet, brave, and energetic soldier. The two most prominent at that period, were George Rogers Clark and Anthony Wayne. They had both fought in the revolution, held separate commands, and had planned and executed the most daring and successful enterprises. The latter was known through the whole army, and in every quarter of the Union, as Mad Anthony, from his eventful fortunes and daring adventures. The calculating mind of the discriminating Washington singled out Mad Anthony to command the western army, and he at once received orders to that effect.

The United States Legion, as Wayne's army was called under the new organization, rendezvoused at Pittsburgh, in the summer of 1792. In November following, they went into winter quarters at an eligible position on the Ohio, 22 miles below, which they called Legionville. On the 30th April, 1793, General Wayne broke up his winter encampment at this place, and conveyed his army in boats down the Ohio to Fort Washington.

Such was the situation of the western country, when young HARRISON, then nineteen years of age, having received from the hands of Washington the commission of an ensign in the first regiment of artillery, joined his corps at Fort Washington, which stood upon the site now occupied by the Queen city of the West.

Soon after his arrival at Fort Washington, it became necessary to despatch a train of pack horses to Fort Hamilton, about thirty miles distant, upon the great Miami. This train was under the charge of a body of soldiers from the fort, and the whole was placed under the command of young Harrison. This was the first charge confided to his care. Though the distance was short, the state of the country, and the thousands of savages peopling the whole forest, rendered the enterprise extremely perilous; and constant exposure required uninterrupted watchfulness, and much more thought, attention, and wisdom than can often be found in a lad not yet out of his teens. This service was performed with great credit to himself, and Gen. eral St. Clair openly acknowledged his pleasure at the success of his young officer, bestowing upon him the warmest praise and commendation. He rapidly gained the entire confidence of his officers, and in 1792 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

During the summer of 1793, the Indians having signified a desire for peace, commissioners were appointed to treat with them, but without success. General Wayne, during this time, was busily employed in disciplining and reinforcing his troops; and having at length received instructions from the Secretary of War to commence active operations, he left Fort Washington in October, and advanced with his army about eighty miles along the south-western branch of the Miami, where he took up his position, and erected fortifications. To this post he gave the name of Greenville, and here the army went into winter quarters. The winter, however, was not spent in idleness. On the 23d December, General Wayne sent a detachment of eight companies of infantry, and a battalion of artillery, to take possession of the ground upon which St. Clair and his gallant army had been so terribly defeated on the 4th of November, two years before. Lieutenant Harrison was not drafted for this expedition; but, longing for more active employment, he volunteered for the service, and his assistance was accepted by the commander.

The battle-field was soon in the hands of the soldiers, notwithstanding the inclemency of the season, and a fortification was immediately erected, to which the name of Fort Recovery was given. The bones of the murdered soldiers were carefully collected, and interred with military honors. The same pieces of artillery lost on the fatal 4th of November, 1791, were recovered; and, from their thunder-belching mouths, three times three discharges were fired over the remains of the western heroes.

Upon the return of the expedition, General Wayne issued a general order of thanks to the officers and men for their gallant conduct on the occasion, in which Lieutenant Harrison was particularly mentioned among other officers.

On the 30th of June, 1794, Fort Recovery was fiercely assailed by a large body of Indians, aided by British and Canadian auxiliaries. But though their assaults were unusually bold and daring, and repeatedly

renewed, they were each time bravely repulsed, and were finally compelled to retreat with great loss. About two weeks subsequent to this attack on Fort Recovery, General Wayne was reinforced by a body of mounted volunteers from Kentucky, under the command of General Scott. On the 8th of the following August, having, by a rapid movement, advanced seventy miles beyond Greenville, he encamped at Grand Glaise, in the very heart of the Indian country. In his despatch to the War Department on this occasion, the commander-in-chief says-" We have thus gained possession of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians in the West, without loss of blood. The very extensive and highly-cultivated fields and gardens show the work of many hands. The margins of those beautiful rivers, the Miami of the Lake and Au Glaise, appear like one continued village for a number of miles above and below the place; nor have I ever before beheld such immense fields of corn in any part of America, from Canada to Florida."

A strong work, called Fort Defiance, was immediately erected by our troops at the confluence of the rivers mentioned in the above despatch. General Wayne now felt himself fully prepared for decisive operations; but before striking the final blow, he, in compliance with his instructions, renewed his endeavors to conciliate and effect some amicable negotiation with the Indians. "I have thought proper," he said, "to offer the enemy a last overture of peace; and as they have every thing that is dear and interesting at stake, I have reason to expect they will listen to the proposition mentioned in the enclosed copy of an address despatched yesterday by a special flag, under circumstances that will insure his safe return, and may eventually spare the effusion of much human blood. But should war be their choice, that blood be upon their own heads. America shall no longer be insulted with impunity. To an all-powerful and just God, I therefore commit myself and gallant army."

These proposals were rejected by the enemy, although the great chief Little Turtle, who had planned and led the attack in the defeat of St. Clair, urged them to embrace the terms offered. "We have beaten the white men twice," said he, "under separate commanders. We cannot expect the same good fortune to attend us always. The Americans are now led by a chief who never sleeps-the night and the day are alike to him; and during all the time he has been marching upon our villages, notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him. Think well of it. There is something whispers me it would be prudent to listen to his offers of peace."

The day after this speech was delivered, was fought the memorable battle of the 20th August, 1794, which cannot be better described than by quoting a portion of the graphic account of General Wayne, in his official despatch to the Secretary of War:

"At 8 o'clock on the 20th," said General Wayne, "the army advanced in columns, agreeably to the standing order of march; the legion on the right flank, covered by the Miami-one brigade of mounted volunteers on the left, under Brigadier-General Todd, and the other in the rear, under Brigadier-General Barbee :-a select battalion of mounted volunteers moved in front of the .egion, commanded by Major Price, who was directed to