The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-06-06

VISIT TO THE NORTH BEND.
When in my boyhood, much after the thrill
ling events upon our South Western Frontier,
though not so long that the events were not
fresh upon the memories of all, read the histo-
nv Of the last War as carried on in Ohio, India
ma, Michigan, and Upper Canada, felt long
ing desire to see, not only the Theatre of these
events, but the great actors in them. Tippeca-
noe, Fort Meigs, Sandusky, and thcyT names
have been classic ground in my fancy, as Their
mopylg, or Marathon--and / have felt that it
was ms much a duty for the American to make
his pilgrimage TO the battle fields where the
West wrestled with the savage or the British
and the savage, as TO Bunker Hill, or Concord,
or Lexington. II is not the magnitude of the
slaughter that makes the Battle Ground immor-
tal, but the magnitude of the events it deter
mines, and thus Tippecanoe and the Thames
are as great events in the eyes of the West as
Bunker Hill and Saratoga in the eyes Of the
East. first felt il a duty to pay my respects to
the Commander-in-Chie Of the Army or Ar
mics that liberated US from the savages Of the
North West, freed Ohio, Indiana and Michigan
of the British, and ended his campaigns SO glo-
riously by the rout of Proctor and the death Of
Tecumseh on the Thames in Upper Canada.
| met General Harrison in Cincinnati at the
table of a common friend, and having received
an invitation from the old soldier to visit him on
his Farm at the North Bend, Is miles below
Cincinnati, had no disposition not to accept
his hospitality and the invitation. was to meet
him by appointment on the Levee to take the
steamboat down the river, but being there first,
and having time to look about, could not but
be struck with the simplicity and republicanism
of his manners, as he approached with his sad
die bags on one arm, and tin pail on the other,
the first having his wardrobe | presume, as is
the custom often in the West and the other
some little necessaries, probably, for his family.
As he stopped to talk moment OF so with a
friend, large group, stimulated by curiosity,
soon gathered about him, among the many Of
the boatmen Of the Levee, strangers from Ten
nessee, Illinois and Missouri, and other places
on the river, draymen and teamsters, &c. &c.,
with whom the steamboat Levee is so often
thronged The crowd becoming Inpleasantly
large, though in the highest degree respectful.
and probably all his friends, for he exchanged
cvilities with many, and he seems TO know al
most every body he withdrew to the steamboat
where, however, he was followed by considera-
BILE body of teamsters from Indiana, who with
their long stout whips under the arms of their
linsey woolsey frocks, as they chatted pleasant
" with the venerable old Chief before them,
made picture, Rome in its best days might
envy. They told him they were his ''Hoos-hier
Boys" and bid him good bye" only when the
ny away.
In an hour or little more we were at the
North Bend-so called from a Northern Bend
in the Ohio river. Gen. Harrison's Farm en-
circles this Bend directly upon the river, and
much of it is bottom land, of an excellent quail
ty. 1t is very large Farm, but has been much
larger, once stretching over to the Miami river
but the General has sold some, and given away
more TO his children, who are settled around
4 A Al Wy
ter Canal hereafter, is upon. the margin of the
river, and in wet weather, it is muddy and diff
cult TO pass. A large number of laborers are at
present at work upon it, Irishmen and Ger
mans, who adore the General and who rally for
him TO man and they are tunnelling huge
hill, on the sides of which is his orchard and
through this tunnel this Canal is TO stretch into
Indiana to bring the trade of the eastern part Of
that State TO Cincinnati. BY contract, the
| General has got out the stone and is now get
| ting cord wood to burn the bricks that make the
arch Of the tunnel.
| As we approached the residence of Gen. Har-
rson, all in view of the river, and vet some dis
lance from it, he remarked that there was his
dwelling, and he added that when in ridicue il
was called Log Cabin, the starters of the story
had more Of fact TO found the jeer upon than
many were aware of, for in the range land the
residence is a collection Of small houses, all
humble, and yet all comfortable and neat,) of
one of the buildings is a bona fde Log Cabin,
now well boarded though, and well painted,
which he had kept, and connected with the
others, on account of some attachment he had
formed for it, it having been the residence of
some of his family. A beautiful lawn is before
the house soping towards the river, and direct
ly in front is fence Of hewn posts connected
by plain iron rods. The cattle were grazing
about this lawn in front, and among them were
several mich cows as STAT as butter.n A flock
of sheep were on the other side of the lawn,
just over the creek, now swollen BY the back OF
the Ohio,--and the barns and out-houses are in
the rear of the dwellings. The farm and dwell
i ings have the appearance Of many in the valley
Of Virginia and Of some in New England,