William Henry Harrison: Old Tippecanoe Quiz

Answer: False

Although it was promoted during the 1840 presidential campaign that he was born in a log cabin, Harrison was born in a stately mansion on his father's Virginia plantation, Berkeley, in 1773. The log cabin story was an attempt by the Democratic newspaper, the Baltimore American, to paint Harrison as a backwards bumpkin. It backfired. The voters began to see Harrison as the candidate of the people and President Martin Van Buren, Harrison's opponent, as the candidate of the elitists. The Whigs capitalized on this by holding rallies in log cabins throughout the countryside.

Answer: Anthony Wayne

Appointed 3rd aide-de-camp to "Mad" Anthony, Harrison served under the General in the Indian Wars of the Northwest Territory from 1793 to 1795.

Answer: Ohio State Representative

While never a state representative, Harrison did serve as a state senator in Ohio. He was also a congressman from Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. senator for Ohio and governor of Indiana Territory. When he was elected president in 1840, Harrison had been serving as clerk of the court of common pleas for Hamilton County, Ohio, since 1834.

Answer: Henry Clay

Clay was the front-runner for the Whig presidential nomination early on in 1840. He was also a member of the Masons. Anti-Masonic factions, which were plentiful and powerful at the convention, managed to whittle away at Clay's support until Harrison managed to garner enough votes to secure the nomination.

In spite of the major disappointment, Clay played the role of faithful party man and campaigned for Harrison. As a sort of consolation prize, and probably out of appreciation, Harrison offered the State post to Clay, but he declined the position. John Tyler, Harrison running mate, was placed on the ticket partly because he was a pro-Clay delegate, for even though he lost the nomination, Clay still wielded a lot of power and could have made it difficult for Harrison to win. Crittendon served in the Harrison and Tyler administrations as Attorney General. Scott, who would soon be the hero of the Mexican War, was one of the other front-runners for the Whig nomination.

Although it eluded the grasp of "Old Fuss and Feathers" in 1840, he was the Whig candidate in 1852, losing to one of his former subordinates in the Mexican War, Franklin Pierce.

Answer: Tecumseh

Two years earlier, Harrison had faced a band of warriors organized by Tecumseh and led by his brother, the Prophet, in the Battle of Tippecanoe. This, of course, is where William earned his most famous nickname. In the Battle of the Thames, Harrison led a force of almost 2500 men, comprised of Kentucky volunteers and friendly Indians, among others, against a force of 1700 British and Indians.

This victory helped secure the Northwest for the United States and made Harrison a household name, or as much as one could be in 1813.

Answer: Physician

Home-schooled by tutors at his family's plantation, Harrison enrolled in Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, at the ripe old age of 14. After dropping out due to religious differences (Harrison was a lifelong Episcopalian and the school was becoming decidedly Methodist), he enrolled at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia in 1791.

His father's death shortly thereafter permanently curtailed his medical studies, as he had no money to continue. He joined the army in August of 1791, and the rest, they say, is history.

Answer: Benedict Arnold

As a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Harrison's father, Benjamin V, had a big bulls-eye on his chest. Maybe not as big as the yellow streak of traitor that Arnold had on his back, but dangerous, nonetheless. The family had been forewarned of the impending attack, and was able to escape unharmed.

Their property, however, was a total loss, as they lost all their possessions, including furnishings and livestock. The family went to live with William's grandfather, Benjamin IV, in Richmond, where he was serving as governor of Virginia.

Answer: Richard M. Johnson

Johnson made this statement while a major serving under Harrison in the War of 1812. He had fought with Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe, where he was severely wounded. Johnson was also Vice-President in Martin Van Buren's administration, but wasn't on the ticket in 1840.

A native of Kentucky, Johnson had angered the folks in power in the South by taking a slave as his common-law wife and raising their children as free individuals. He had originally been placed in the ticket in 1836 by then-President Andrew Jackson, to whom Johnson was a loyal supporter.

Answer: Harrison Land Act of 1800.

The Harrison Land Act was a piece of legislature that Harrison introduced while he was a non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from 1799-1800, representing the Northwest Territory. This act opened up the Territory to settlers who were less than wealthy by offering more favorable credit terms on small parcels of land.

Answer: False

While this fate did not befall Old Tippecanoe, one of his sons was not so lucky after leaving this world for his heavenly reward. Shortly after his death in 1878, John Scott Harrison, son of William Henry Harrison, our 9th President, and father of Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President, and himself a former U.S. congressman, wound up at the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati. Seems he had been pilfered in the dead of night (sorry, couldn't resist my baser instincts) and sold to the school, which apparently wasn't in the habit of asking questions.

It was his son, John Harrison, who made the gruesome discovery when he went to the college for business purposes and found his father's body hanging by his neck at the end of a rope. Needless to say, no endowments from the Harrison family were forthcoming to the school after that.