Beschreibung:

HARRISON, WILLIAM HENRY President . Autograph letter signed ("W H Harrison") to Col. Jonathon O'Fallon, North Bend, [Ohio], 14 February 1840. 2 pages, folio, one corner chipped, small fold separation, several small tears at lower edge neatly reinforced. THE HERO OF TIPPECANOE DEFENDS HIS MILITARY RECORD AGAINST ACCUSATIONS OF "RANK COWARDICE" AND LOOKS FORWARD TO THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION An impassioned anguished letter from a war hero being accused of cowardice by his political opponents. Harrison, since December the Whig candidate for President, had already come under attack by Democrats and supporters of the incumbent President, although Van Buren was not formally nominated until May 1840). "...The friends of the [Van Buren] Administration believing that their cause is desparate are resorting to every and the basest means to prop it up. A continuous stream of abuse is poured upon me in their infamous papers....What do you think of accusations made in our House of Representatives, that I was not in the battle of the Thames [5 October 1813] but having skulked somewhere & not to be found. [They claim that] Col. Johnston made all the arrangements for the fight, won the battle & then had magnanimity enough to let me have the credit of it & that thus it comes that the histories make me the commander...I having actually not been in the battle." His supporters, Harrison reports, have asked him "to enquire for testimony from some living witnesses." O'Fallon , Harrison goes on, will receive a letter from Moses Corwin of the House asking "what I did in relation to the arrangement for the battle and drawing up the army....What was the position of the troops, the order of battle and when I was with my staff during the conflict. "As you were with me at Tippecanoe and Fort Meigs also you may insert some remarks upon my conduct on those occasions. If rank cowardice is not attributed to me at both places it comes as near it as possible. The Speaker of the House doubted whether I had ever been in any danger in any battle in my life....Bitter and humiliating as it is to be obliged to resort to such measures (procuring testimony)..the evil times in which we have fallen makes it necessary....I receive every day information from all parts of the Union stating the triumphant progress of our cause. Mr [Henry] Clay says that so great a change in the public sentiment in so short a period was never known. Letters received both from Mr. [Daniel] Webster & Gov. Edward Everett declare that I will receive from 10 to 15000 majority in their state [Massachusetts]...." In September 1813, Harrison had recaptured Detroit from the British and their Indian allies. and pursued them up the Thames River, into Canada. At Chatham, Ontario, Harrison's force took some 600 prisoners and recaptured cannon taken from the Americans 35 years before in the Revolution. Among those killed on the British side was Chief Tecumseh. The victory at the Battle of Thames secured the Northwest frontier and made Harrison a national hero. In November, his distinguished military record undiminished by the Democrats' false allegations, Harrison and Tyler won the electoral votes of 19 states, including Massachusetts, for a total of 234 electoral votes to Van Buren's feeble 60.R