William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was born February 9, 1773, in Charles City County, Virginia, the last president born a British subject before independence and a son of Founding Father Benjamin Harrison V. He made his name as a military officer: he fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, led forces against Tecumseh's confederacy at Tippecanoe in 1811 (earning the nickname "Old Tippecanoe"), and commanded American troops to victory at the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812. His political career began in 1798 as secretary of the Northwest Territory, and he served as governor of Indiana Territory from 1801, negotiating treaties that transferred millions of acres of indigenous land to the United States. He later represented Ohio in the House in 1816 and won election to the Senate in 1824 before a brief stint as minister to Gran Colombia in 1828. The Whig Party ran him for president in 1836 and he lost to Martin Van Buren, then nominated him again in 1840 with the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" - and this time he won. Three weeks after his inauguration on March 4, 1841, he fell ill; he died on April 4, triggering the unresolved question of whether Vice Pres