William Henry Harrison

**William Henry Harrison** (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the 9th president of the United States. His nickname was "Old Tippecanoe," and he was a well-respected war veteran. Harrison served the shortest term of any president, exactly one month.

He was elected president in 1840 and took the oath of office on March 4, 1841. His inauguration speech lasted an hour and forty minutes. He caught a serious case of pneumonia and on April 4, he died. He was the first president to die in office.

Harrison was the oldest president to take office, at 68 years and 23 days, until the record was broken in 1981 by Ronald Reagan, who became president at the age of 69. He was the last president to be born before the Declaration of Independence.

His grandson was the 23rd president, Benjamin Harrison.

## Early life

Harrison was born on February 9, 1773 and is the youngest of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Bassett's seven children. They lived in Berkeley Plantation, in Charles City County, Virginia.

His father was a planter and a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1777),  signed the Declaration of Independence, and was the governor of Virginia between 1781 and 1784.

William's older brother Carter Bassett Harrison would be elected a representative of Virginia in the US House of Representatives.

In 1787, William attended the Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College from 1787 to 1790. He was fluent in Latin and French.

## Marriage and family

Harrison married Anna Symmes in 1795.They had ten children.

## Presidency

He was elected as president in 1840, the last one to be born as a British subject or before the Declaration of Independence.

He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841. His inaugural address was the longest in American history, at 8,460 words and lasting almost two hours.

Harrison's inaugural address was a detailed statement of the Whig Party's agenda, mainly opposition to the policies of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.

Harrison promised to re-establish the Bank of the United States and to extend its maximum amount for credit by issuing paper currency, as Henry Clay supported .

Harrison was the president with the shortest term in office by serving only 30 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes.

## Illness and death

On March 26, 1841, Harrison became ill with a cold. His illness was believed to have been caused by the bad weather at the inauguration, which was on a cold and wet day.

The cold worsened and quickly turned to pneumonia and pleurisy. He tried to rest in the White House but could not find a quiet room because of the crowd of office-seekers. His very busy social schedule made it harder for him to have time to rest.

His doctors tried cures of applying opium, castor oil, leeches, and Virginia snakeweed, but the treatments only made him worse, and he became restless.

Harrison died on his 32nd day as president, on April 4, 1841, at 12:30 a.m. of pneumonia, jaundice, and septicima. He was 68 years old and the first president to die in office.

Harrison's funeral took place in Wesley Chapel in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 7, 1841, three days after his death. His original interment was in Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He was later buried in North Bend, Ohio.

## Other websites

- William Henry Harrison's White House biography

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: William Henry Harrison
- **image**: File:William Henry Harrison crop.jpg
- **caption**: Portrait, 1840
- **order**: 9th
- **office**: President of the United States
- **vicepresident**: John Tyler
- **term start**: March 4, 1841
- **term end**: April 4, 1841
- **predecessor**: Martin Van Buren
- **successor**: John Tyler
- **office1**: List of ambassadors of the United States to Colombia, United States Minister to Gran Colombia
- **term start1**: February 5, 1829
- **term end1**: September 26, 1829
- **predecessor1**: Beaufort Taylor Watts
- **successor1**: Thomas Patrick Moore
- **jr/sr2**: United States Senator
- **state2**: Ohio
- **term start2**: March 4, 1825
- **term end2**: May 20, 1828
- **predecessor2**: Ethan Allen Brown
- **successor2**: Jacob Burnet
- **state senate3**: Ohio
- **district3**: Hamilton County, Ohio, Hamilton County
- **term start3**: December 5, 1819
- **term end3**: December 2, 1821
- **predecessor3**: Ephraim Brown
- **successor3**: Ephraim Brown
- **state4**: Ohio
- **term start4**: October 8, 1816
- **term end4**: March 3, 1819
- **predecessor4**: John McLean
- **successor4**: Thomas R. Ross
- **office5**: 1st Governor of Indiana, Governor of the Indiana Territory
- **appointer5**: John Adams
- **term start5**: January 10, 1801
- **term end5**: December 28, 1812
- **predecessor5**: Office established
- **successor5**: Thomas Posey
- **term start6**: March 4, 1799
- **term end6**: May 14, 1800
- **predecessor6**: Constituency established
- **successor6**: William McMillan (congressman), William McMillan
- **office7**: 2nd Ohio Secretary of State, Secretary of the Northwest Territory
- **governor7**: Arthur St. Clair
- **term start7**: June 28, 1798
- **term end7**: October 1, 1799
- **predecessor7**: Winthrop Sargent
- **successor7**: Charles Willing Byrd
- **birth place**: Charles City County, Virginia, British America
- **death place**: Washington, D.C., U.S.
- **death cause**: Enteric fever
- **restingplace**: William Henry Harrison Tomb State Memorial, Harrison Tomb State Memorial
- **children**: 10, including John Scott Harrison, John, 2 with Dilsia, including Marie Harrison
- **relatives**: Harrison family of Virginia
- **father**: Benjamin Harrison V
- **signature**: William Henry Harrison Signature-full.svg
- **signature alt**: Cursive signature in ink
- **rank**: Major general (United States), Major general
- **unit**: Legion of the United States
- **commands**: Army of the Northwest (United States), Army of the Northwest
- **battles**: *Northwest Indian War
**Siege of Fort Recovery
**Battle of Fallen Timbers
*Tecumseh's War
**Battle of Tippecanoe
*War of 1812
**Siege of Fort Wayne
**Battle of the Thames