at all, after the latter's abandonment of Malden, had it not been for Gov. Shelby; but the latter denied this in a letter that was read before the senate, and gave Gen. Harrison the highest praise for his promptitude and vigilance. While in congress, Harrison drew up and advocated a general militia bill, which was not successful, and also proposed a measure for the relief of soldiers, which was passed.
In 1819 Gen. Harrison was chosen to the senate of
Ohio, and in 1822 was a candidate for congress, but
was defeated on account of his vote against the
admission of Missouri to the Union with the restriction
that slavery was to be prohibited there. In
1824 he was a presidential elector, voting for Henry
Clay, and in the same year he was sent to the U. S.
senate, where he succeeded Andrew Jackson as
chairman of the committee on military affairs,
introduced a bill to prevent desertions, and exerted
himself to obtain pensions for old soldiers. He
resigned in 1828, having been appointed by President
John Quincy Adams U. S. minister to the
United States of Colombia. While there he wrote
a letter to Gen. Simon Bolivar urging him not to
accept dictatorial powers. He was recalled at the
outset of Jackson's administration, as is asserted
by some, at the demand of Gen. Bolivar, and
retired to his farm at North Bend, near Cincinnati,
Ohio, where he lived quietly, filling the offices of
clerk of the county court and president of the
county agricultural society. In 1835 Gen. Harrison
was nominated for the presidency by meetings
in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and other states;
but the opposition to Van Buren was not united on
him, and he received only 73 electoral votes to the
former's 170. Four years later the National Whig
convention, which was called at Harrisburg, Pa.,
for 4 Dec., 1839, to decide between the claims of
several rival candidates, nominated him for the
same office, with John Tyler, of Virginia, for
vice-president. The Democrats renominated President
Van Buren. The canvass that followed has been
often called the “log-cabin and hard-cider cam-
paign.” The eastern end of Gen. Harrison's house
at North Bend consisted of a log-cabin that had
been built by one of the first settlers of Ohio, but
which had long since been covered with clapboards.
The republican simplicity of his home was extolled
by his admirers, and a political biography of that
time says that “his table, instead of being covered
with exciting wines, is well supplied with the best
cider.” Log-cabins and hard cider, then, became
the party emblems, and both were features of all
the political demonstrations of the canvass, which
witnessed the introduction of the enormous
mass-meetings and processions that have since been
common just before presidential elections. The
result of the contest was the choice of Harrison,
who received 234 electoral votes to Van Buren's
60. He was inaugurated at Washington on 4
March, 1841. and immediately sent to the senate
his nominations for cabinet officers, which were
confirmed. They were Daniel Webster, of
Massachusetts,
secretary of state; Thomas Ewing, of
Ohio, secretary of the treasury; John Bell, of
Tennessee, secretary of war; George E. Badger, of
North Carolina, secretary of the navy; Francis
Granger, of New York, postmaster-general; and
John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, attorney-general.
The senate adjourned on 15 March, and two days
afterward the president called congress together in
extra session to consider financial measures. On
27 March, after several days of indisposition, he
was prostrated by a chill, which was followed by
bilious pneumonia, and on Sunday morning, 4
April, he died. The end came so suddenly that
his wife, who had remained at North Bend on
account of illness, was unable to be present at his
death-bed. The event was a shock to the country,
the more so that a chief magistrate had never
before died in office, and especially to the Whig
party, who had formed high hopes of his
administration. His body was interred in the congressional
cemetery at Washington; but a few years
later, at the request of his family, it was removed
to North Bend, where it was placed in a tomb
overlooking the Ohio river. This was subsequently
allowed to fall into neglect, but afterward Gen.
Harrison's son, John Scott, deeded it and the
surrounding land to the state of Ohio, on condition
that it should be kept in repair. In 1887 the
legislature of the state voted to raise money by taxation
for the purpose of erecting a monument to
Gen. Harrison's memory. He was the author of
a “Discourse on the Aborigines of the Valley of
the Ohio” (Cincinnati, 1838). His life has been
written by Moses Dawson (Cincinnati, 1834); by
James Hall (Philadelphia, 1836); by Richard
Hildreth (1839); by Samuel J. Burr (New York, 1840);
by Isaac R. Jackson; and by H. Montgomery
(New York, 1853). —
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His wife, Anna, b. near Morristown, N. J., 25 July, 1775; d. near North Bend, Ohio, 25 Feb., 1864, was a daughter of John Cleves Symmes, and married Gen. Harrison 22 Nov., 1795. After her husband's death she lived at North Bend till 1855, when she went to the house of her son, John Scott Harrison, a few miles distant. Her funeral sermon was preached by Horace Bushnell, and her body lies by the side of her husband at North Bend. — Their son, John Scott, b. in Vincennes, Ind., 4 Oct., 1804; d. near North Bend, Ohio, 26 May, 1878, received a liberal education, and was elected to congress as a Whig, serving from 5 Dec., 1853, till 3 March, 1857. — A daughter, Lucy, b. in Richmond, Va.; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 7 April, 1826, became the wife of David K. Este, of the latter city, and was noted for her piety and benevolence. —
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Benjamin, son of John Scott, senator, b. in North Bend, Ohio, 20 Aug., 1833, was graduated at Miami university, Ohio, in 1852, studied law in Cincinnati, and in 1854 removed to Indianapolis, Ind., where he has since resided. He was elected reporter of the state supreme court in 1860, and in 1862 entered the army as a 2d lieutenant of Indiana volunteers. After a short service he organized
