Wil-liam Hen-ry Har-ri-son was born in Berke-ly, Vir-gin-i-a, on
Feb-ru-a-ry 9th, 1773; his fath-er, Ben-ja-min Har-ri-son, was not a
rich man, but lived at ease on a small farm; he was a man of much force
in his state, and was at one time its gov-ern-or. He was a brave, strong
man, and taught his small son to be like him; now while lit-tle Wil-liam
was hard at work at school, he heard much talk of the In-di-an wars;
and his heart was full of long-ing to fight these cru-el foes of the
white men.
So, though he went to Hamp-den Syd-ney Col-lege, he did not stay long,
but left to join the ar-my. He was such a brave fight-er that, when he
was twen-ty-one, Wash-ing-ton put him in charge of the troops at Fort
Wash-ing-ton, just the place where the In-di-ans were strong-est and
most cru-el.
Ma-jor Gen-er-al Wayne was at the head of the ar-my, and so rash and
fear-less was he, that his troops called him "Mad An-tho-ny." He knew
well how to fight the red men though, and in 1794 beat them in a fierce
fight, on the spot where the cit-y of De-troit now stands. So brave was
young Har-ri-son at this time, that he was made a cap-tain; for six
years Har-ri-son was in the heat of the In-di-an wars; and learned all
the sav-age ways of war; then he went home to rest, but was soon sent to
Congress. So well did he do his work here, that In-di-an-a now chose
him for gov-ern-or; and here he was so much liked that he kept his seat
three terms; the hard-est task that he had to do while gov-ern-or was to
keep peace with the In-di-ans; and side by side with his name, stands
that of a great and good In-di-an chief Te-cum-seh; for years these two
men tried to help the In-di-ans and teach them to live in peace; but at
last the hate of the red men for the whites who were forc-ing them
from their lands, end-ed in a great fight at Tip-pe-ca-noe, where the
In-di-ans lost the bat-tle. So brave had Har-ri-son been in this fight,
that he was made a gen-er-al; and in the War of 1812 was put at the head
of the ar-my. At the close of the war, the brave old In-di-an fight-er
went to live on his farm at South Bend, In-di-an-a, in the then state of
O-hi-o; but he was too great a man to live a qui-et life, and was sent
to Con-gress twice and once a-broad in his coun-try's serv-ice. Then in
1836, he ran for Pres-i-dent, but did not get the most votes; four years
la-ter he was put up once more, and he and John Ty-ler won by a big
vote. It was in this race for Pres-i-dent, that the song was sung, whose
cho-rus you hear to-day: "Tip-pe-ca-noe and Ty-ler, too."
On the 4th of March, 1841, Wil-liam Hen-ry Har-ri-son, the old In-di-an
fight-er, now six-ty-eight years old, came from years of qui-et home
life, to take up the cares and wor-ries of a pres-i-dent's life, but the
task was too much for him, and a month af-ter-ward, on A-pril 4th, 1841,
the brave old man died.