Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/120

ginia conventions to organize resistance, he acted with the party led by Pendleton in favor of "general united opposition." On 10 June, 1776, as chairman of the committee of the whole house of congress, he introduced the resolution that had been offered three days before by Richard Henry Lee, declaring the independence of the American colonies, and on 4 July he reported the Declaration of Independence, of which he was one of the signers. On his return from congress he became a member of the Virginia house of delegates under the new constitution, was chosen speaker, and filled that office until 1781, when he was twice elected governor of the commonwealth. As a delegate to the Virginia convention of 1788, he opposed the ratification of the Federal constitution, taking the ground of Patrick Henry, James Monroe, and others, that it was a national and not a Federal government, though when the instrument was adopted he gave it his hearty support. At the time of his death he was a member of the Virginia legislature. In person Benjamin Harrison was large and fleshy; in spite of his suffering from gout, his good humor was unfailing. Although without conspicuous intellectual endowments, he was a man of excellent judgment and the highest sense of honor, with a courage and cheerfulness that never faltered, and a "downright candor" and sincerity of character which conciliated the affection and respect of all who knew him. — His third and youngest son, William Henry, ninth president of the United States, b. in Berkeley, Charles City co., Va., 9 Feb., 1773 : d. in Washington, D. C, 4 April, 1841, was educated at Hampden Sidney college, Virginia, and began the study of medicine, but before he had finished it accounts of the Indian outrages that had been committed on the western frontier raised in him a desire to enter the army for its defence. Robert Morris, who had been appointed his guardian on the death of his father in 1791, endeavored to dissuade him, but his purpose was approved by Washington, who had been his father's friend, and he was commissioned ensign in the 1st infantry on 16 Aug., 1791. He joined his regiment at Fort Washington, Ohio, was appointed lieutenant of the 1st sublegion, to rank from June, 1792, and afterward joined the new army under Gen. Anthony Wayne. He was made aide-de-camp to the commanding officer, took part, in December, 1793, in the expedition that erected Fort Recovery on the battlefield where St. Clair had been defeated two years before, and, with others, was thanked by name in general orders for his services. He participated in the engagements with the Indians that began on 30 June, 1794, and on 19 Aug., at a council of war, submitted a plan of march, which was adopted and led to the victory on the Miami on the following day. Lieut. Harrison was specially complimented by Gen. Wayne, in his despatch to the secretary of war, for gallantry in this fight, and in May, 1797, was made captain, and given command of Fort Washington. Here he was intrusted with the duty of receiving and forwarding troops, arms, and provisions to the forts in the northwest that had been evacuated by the British in obedience to the Jay treaty of 1794. and was also instructed to report to the commanding general on all movements in the south, and to prevent the passage of French agents with military stores intended for an invasion of Louisiana. While in command of this fort he formed an attachment for Anna, daughter of John Cleves Symmes. Her father refused his consent to the match, but the young couple were married in his house during his temporary absence, and Symmes soon became reconciled to his son-in-law. Peace having been made with the Indians, Capt. Harrison resigned his commission on 1 June, 1798, and was immediately appointed by President John Adams secretary of the northwest territory, under Gen. Arthur St. Clair as governor, but in October, 1799, resigned to take his seat as territorial delegate in congress. In his one year of service, though he was opposed by speculators, he secured the sub-division of the public lands into small tracts, and the passage of other measures for the welfare of the settlers. During the session, part of the northwest territory was formed into the territory of Indiana, including the present states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and Harrison was made its governor and superintendent of Indian affairs. Resigning his seat in congress, he entered on the duties of his office, which inciuded the confirmation of land-grants, the defining of townships, and others that were equally important. Gov. Harrison was reappointed successively by President Jefferson and President Madison. He organized the legislature at Vincennes in 1805, and applied himself especially to improving the condition of the Indians, trying to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors among them, and to introduce inoculation for the small-pox. He frequently held councils with them, and, although his life was sometimes endangered, succeeded by his calmness and courage in averting many outbreaks. On 30 Sept., 1809, he concluded a treaty with several tribes by which they sold to the United States about 3,000,000 acres of land on Wabash and White rivers. This, and the former treaties of cession that had been made, were condemned by Tecumseh (q. v.) and other chiefs on the ground that the consent of all the tribes was necessary to a legal sale. The discontent was increased by the action of speculators in ejecting Indians from the lands, by agents.of the British government, and by the preaching of Tecumseh's brother, the "prophet" (see Ellskwatawa), and it was evident that an outbreak was at hand. The governor pursued a conciliatory course, gave to needy Indians provisions from the public stores, and in July, 1810, invited Tecumseh and his brother, the prophet, to a council at Vincennes, requesting them to bring with them not more than thirty men. In response, the chief, accompanied by 400 fully armed warriors, arrived at Vincennes on 12 Aug. The council, which was held under the trees in front of the governor's house, was nearly terminated by bloodshed on the first day, but Harrison, who foresaw the importance of conciliating Tecumseh, prevented, by his coolness, a conflict that almost had been precipitated by the latter. The discussion was resumed on the next day, but with no result, the Indians insisting on the return of all the lands that had recently been acquired by treaty. On the day after the council Harrison visited Tecumseh at his camp, accompanied only by an interpreter, but without success. In the following spring depredations by the savages were frequent, and the governor sent word to Tecumseh that, unless they should cease, the Indians would be punished. The chief promised another interview, and appeared at Vincennes on 27 July, 1811, with 300 followers, but, awed probably by the presence of 750 militia, professed to be friendly. Soon afterward, Harrison, convinced of the chief's insincerity, but not approving the plan of the government to seize him as a hostage, proposed, instead, the establishment of a military post near Tippecanoe, a town that had been established by the prophet on the upper Wabash. The news that the government had given