Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and his one month Presidency by Keith Norris

Old Tippecanoe!  Pres. Number 9.   Well, when researching biographies to read about him I already knew he had died in office a month after his inauguration and coming off the less than exhilarating Van Buren book I decided I would justify reading a short book about him.   Not the shortest I could find as there are actually a ton of different elementary school books about these guys ranging from 10-75 pages, but definitely not in the 350+ page range.   That landed me on Keith Norris’ book, “Goodbye Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and his one month Presidency.”   The reviews I read were positive and it said it was only 200 pages long, plus it was available on Kindle, so it won the first try.   To its credit, it was short and I’m just dumb enough to ride that through to the end of the book.   It just wasn’t written very well and actually the $4 Kindle version had some text arrangement issues as well, but having later learned that Norris is neither a professional writer nor a historian I guess it wasn’t really that bad an effort.   He clearly researched the subject and as a result Stupid Bobby did learn plenty of things…here are a few:

·         Old Tippecanoe, Harrison’s nickname resulting from his command of U.S. Troops during “The Battle of Tippecanoe” didn’t exactly lead a dominating victory that day.   The Native American’s did retreat, but only after they had killed more U.S. soldiers’ than they lost.  

o   His victory at “The Battle of Thames” in 1813, during the War of 1812, was decisive and resulted in the death of Tecumseh, who was the leader of the Native American’s he had fought against in “The Battle of Tippecanoe,” two years earlier, so he got a lot of credit and praise as a war hero that may have been jumbled a bit in the common voter’s minds.

·         William Henry Harrison (WHH) had ten children with his only wife.   Four of his five sons died prior to his own death, the other became the Father of the 23^rd President of the U.S.A. (Benjamin Harrison).

·         Cincinnati was considered and called “the Northwest territory,” because it was.

·         WHH was a proponent of slavery, which made me think “Finally a President who doesn’t have a historian trying to convince me that he was actually against it, but politically had to support it,” as that has been the case for the previous 8, none-of-whom managed to do anything about their alleged personal distaste for the “peculiar institution” of selling people as it was referred to.

·         He ran for the Presidency for maybe the most honest reason anyone ever has.   He needed the money and the position paid well.

·         “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!” was the first widely embraced campaign slogan in U.S. history.   It helped spark a media storm campaign that took whatever wind was offered and sailed off rapidly with it.   Case in point, Harrison’s opposition characterized him as a dolt who would be contented to waste away in his log cabin drinking hard cider, only to see the Whig’s turn that into a grass roots 'poor hard working man of the people' movement regardless of the fact that WHH had been raised the wealthy son of a plantation owning Governor of Virginia.   Brilliant actually.   As part of the campaign log cabin shaped whiskey bottles were made by E.C. Booz distillery and became so popular that “Booz” became synonymous with…booze.   True story…now aren’t you glad you’re wasting your time reading this blog?  

·         He didn’t die of a cold, he was murdered.    OK, the book didn’t say that, but it did give compelling evidence, in the form of the medical record of the illness that started his downhill ride to the afterlife, which convinced me that

o   a) the doctors actually killed him and

o   b) Arsenic may have been involved.  

Yes, I like conspiracy theories, but considering the fact that Harrison got crosswise with Henry Clay, who no doubt thought himself to be infinitely superior to Old Tim and more fit to have been President (he ran for the office 5 freakin times), immediately after being sworn into office – to the point of forbidding Clay to visit The White House limiting their correspondence to written letters only – what better “Compromise” could there be other than to kill him off and possibly be given the Presidency himself?   If not that then perhaps Tyler took him down?   There is evidence of Tyler discussing the potential event of Harrison’s death prior to him falling ill, and he did act quickly and decisively once William H.H. kicked bucket.   So, back to the doctors killing him for a minute;   The following treatment methods were used on what all accounts considered a common cold:  bleeding, cupping, leaches, blistering, (these were all documented as intentional by-the-way) calomel, ipecac, camphor, (whatever those are) rhubarb and weak brandy (seriously, dude is dying and you water down his brandy?!  When was the Hippocratic Oath written?!).   The final notes in the medical log state “so worn out, nothing could save him.”   Shocker.   Anyway, so my personal theory is that Clay or Tyler and possibly both together, slipped some arsenic into their buddy William’s food, then sent in the 19^th century Team Kevorkian to finish him off so they could get to work on their own agenda’s.   [If that is what happened then Tyler really did work over Clay didn’t he?   Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself here]

·         As part of the pension Congress awarded to Anna, William Henry Harrisons wife, she was allowed to send mail postage free for the rest of her life.

·         Buried in North Bend, Ohio, atop a hill overlooking The Ohio River, tradition holds that vessel Captains blow their horn in tribute to Old Tippecanoe with every passing.   I very much want to witness this tradition someday as apparently it is still common practice.

A few noteworthy quotes to prove that he was well intentioned and leave us wondering what may have been had he survived the cold/torture that ended his life:

• "The strongest of all governments is that which is most free."  -- Expressed to Simon Bolivar during his stint in Columbia.
• "We admit of no government by divine right...The only ligitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed." -- Quote from his inaugural address (sounding a bit like Jefferson I thought)

Additional/bonus point:    I am fascinated by the views expressed by the Presidents that surround each POTUS.   It is rare that they like or even respect their predecessors or the successors and thanks to my Great Mom I have a really cool book entitled "In the Words of the Presidents" by Ian Crofton which provides noteworthy quotes from each President as well as about each President.   I am now using this book as supplemental research material to enhance this blog...I am currently maintaining the decipline of reading the few pages of recap plus quotes from and about each President only after I have read a biography about the President in question -- it's quite enjoyable actually as it gives me a big picture recap and easy access to good material in the form of quotes.   That stated, let me now share a quote about William Henry I found somewhat comical, if not surprising, considering the quotee:

• "Our present imbecile chief."  -- Andrew Jackson when asked about Harrison, apparently during his 30 day term.    So Jackson I simply have to appreciate it.  

    The book ended with a detailed history of the keeping of W. Henry Harrison's tomb (allowed to go into disrepair regularly due to funds shortages etc.), which was, well...a bit much considering it made up 15-20% of the book.   I understand the tomb is now in good shape, so I will spare you the minutia and leave you looking forward to John Tyler, or at least happy to be finished with the above -- Tyler is interesting, hopefully I can do a better job relaying that, we shall see...