Lives of the Presidents Told in Words of One SyllableRemy, Jean S.
History
Lives of the Presidents Told in Words of One Syllable
Remy, Jean S.
Presidents -- United States -- Biography
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.
JOHN TY-LER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account