American Presidents: Totalus Rankium - 9.1 William H Harrison

Episode Date: November 3, 2018

We now come to one of the most famous and inspiring leaders in US history - the one all the history books are about, the one that- sorry? Lincoln’s later? Oh. I suppose it’s William Harrison this time then. He is famous for one thing, and one thing only. But at time of recording, Jamie does not know what that is. This episode however, we look at his early life: His time as a apprentice Dr, his time in the army, his dealings with Tecumseh, and obviously - his log cabin.

Welcome to Totalus Rankium. This week, William H. Harrison. Part 1. Hello, welcome to American Presidents Total a Spookium. I am Jamie. And I'm Rob. And you've thrown me there. Ranking all of the presidents. That's it. From Washington to Trump. And this is episode 9.1, William Henry Harrison.

And when's this being released? Is it already Halloween? Halloween tomorrow at the time of recording. Oh, you see. On Wednesday. So when it's released then it's not going to be Halloween anymore. We've got to be a bit Halloween-y. Oh, okay.

I'm sorry. Imagine this episode like they're all ghosts. Yeah. Well, they are because they're all dead. Exactly. Spooky. Ooh. Very spooky.

Very spooky-um. Right. New president. Never heard of spooky. Very spooky. Right, new president. Never heard of him. Never heard of him. Expectations on a scale of 1 to 10? Well, I've never heard of him. And everyone says it's a bit of a slump period from where the last one was. Three?

Okay, well, we'll see, shall we? Maybe he did good things as a president. Maybe he did. I don't know. No. So let's say he'll achieve a six a surprising six as president okay are you ready to jump in the time machine to go back to the start yes here we go today you're about to whistle a tune yeah yeah i didn't like because you cut me

off rightly so was it a time travel tune yeah oh. Oh, that's nice. Well, the listeners can imagine their own tune. Insert tune here. Because today we open in Jamestown, 1633. That's going back. Oh, yes. If you remember, we've looked at Jamestown briefly before in our pre-presidents episode. Yeah, we did. This is the colony where the residents had a 1 in 10 chance of survival.

And there was evidence they turned to cannibalism. Yes, and they started growing tobacco eventually. Yeah, yeah. Now we're just over a decade past the really tricky period. We're past the whole, pass me the leg bit is gone. Yeah, the whole eating Mildred things

10 years gone now. So I mean, everyone knows it happens no one talks about it no no one looks each other in the eye on the 27th of may which was mildred's birthday oh yeah also a death day as well that was a sad day it was a very sad day yeah she became her own birthday cake it's a hand sticking out the top see sp? Spookium. Yes, yes, there we go. Gone grim already. Yeah. So anyway, that's where we are. It's still a very tough place to be,

even though people have stopped eating each other. It's not suddenly magic and roses. No. No. And off a boat steps one Benjamin Harrison. He's a present later on, isn't he? Oh, he is, yes. You told me earlier before we started. Yeah, we'll figure out the link between this Benjamin Harrison. He's a president later on, isn't he? Oh, he is, yes. You told me earlier before we started.

Yeah, we'll figure out the link between this Benjamin Harrison and future president Benjamin Harrison, because there is one. Oh, really? Oh, yes, definitely. Okay, I was just taking that. No, no, no, definitely is. Yeah, so this is Benjamin Harrison. He comes from a relatively well-to-do English family.

He's been educated. And because of that, he was able to get himself a job as a clerk in the Virginian Governor's Council. These are early days. There's not many people who can read and write. No, it's true. Most of them are just butchers of human flesh. Spooky. Spooky.

Yeah. of human flesh. Spooky. Spooky. Yeah. So, yeah, he gets himself a job as a clerk for the Governor's Council, which is a council of about 12 men appointed by the king to run this particular colony in Virginia. Within a few years,

he himself was serving in the Virginian House as a legislator. So he's making some of the rules, such as stop eating Mildred, please. She really doesn't like that. So, family montage time here, because we're not going to cover all of William Harrison's ancestors,

so we're going to flip through them. Okay. Yep. Benjamin... That was my montage song, but it's fine. You carry on. You carry on, Rob. That's two songs I've interrupted. Yeah, no, it's fine. just carry on you carry on that's two songs i've interrupted yeah i apologize not bothered it's fine i only took a day to write well benjamin

harrison had a son and his name was benjamin oh yes yeah yeah uh true unimaginative naming style his name was benjamin harrison 2 at least that's how it's written in the books. I don't know if they called him Benjamin Harrison II. I'd like to think they did. Better call him Little Benji when he was young. Possibly Little Benji. Benji II. Ben II.

That's what we're going to call him. Anyway, he became a sheriff. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And also served in the House of Burgesses. Less exciting. And then on the Governor's Council. So did even

better than his father nice very nice his son stab in the dark at his name benjamin benjamin harrison yes this is ben three he did even better he became the speaker of the house of burgesses and the treasurer of the colony with his money he was able to start up a plantation. Hooray! Slaves! Which future Harrison's built up. So there you go. Third Benjamin. Right. Does alright for himself. So yeah, family on the up and up. It's looking pretty good.

He has a son. Want to guess his name? You're going to throw a curveball here, isn't it? It's going to be William or it's going to be Benjamin again. It's Benjamin again. This is Benjamin IV. Benjamin IV dabbled in politics. However, less ambitious in that regard than his forefathers. But he did

achieve marrying the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the continent. That's handy. That is handy. So, quite good. Yeah. Got a badge that day. Nice. Then he poured the money into the plantation that his father had built. So still on the up and up. And then we get day. Nice. Yeah. Then he poured the money into the plantation that his father had built. Yay.

So still on the up and up. And then we get to his son. Ben? Oh, yeah. Benjamin Five, who at the age of 19 became the head of the family when his father walked past a window in a storm. So he's inside the house. He was going up the stairs and he went past the window.

And? Take a guess. Hit by lightning? Oh, yes. Lightning comes through the stairs and went past the window. And? Take a guess. Hit by lightning? Oh, yes. Lightning comes through the window and kills him dead. Spooky. Spooky. Yeah.

A story that would perhaps be darkly amusing if it didn't also kill his two young daughters at the same time. It just becomes really quite tragic. That's horrible. Yeah. It's those iron shoes. Yeah. And the tin hat. Yeah, it's not helpful. With the massive spike on. And the gauntlets. Yeah. It's those iron shoes. Yeah, and the tin hat.

Yeah, it's not helpful. With the massive spike on. And the gauntlets. Yeah. Yeah, that's terrible. Anyway, Benjamin V, therefore, young age of 19, head of the family, and he was apparently a bear of a man. Rawr.

Maybe not literally, but at least figuratively. I think he liked to pretend he was. Maybe. Rawr. He stood at six foot four. That's really tall. He was tall, but he least figuratively. I think he liked to pretend he was. Maybe. He stood at six foot four. That's really tall. He was tall, but he was also wide and girthy. That's tall now, but back then that's like giant size.

So yeah, Benjamin Harrison V was just as prominent in Virginian politics as his ancestors. Only by now, we're coming up to the revolution. We've covered quite a period of time there and he was in the perfect place to make the most of it he had developed a nickname for himself the signer he's very helpful for for people hard of hearing yeah or he loved doing his signature more the second one and what was famously signed at this time the declaration of independence yes the declaration of independence definitely he signed it he signed the hell out of that document he did so you can stop ben stop ben grab him yeah uh when they were about to sign the document which for all they knew would be

their death warrant i mean this is them putting their name to treason. Yeah. He turned to Albridge Jerry. Remember the guy with the pet gerrymander on his shoulder? Yes, related to Mungo. Yeah. Anyway, he turned to Jerry and said, I shall have a great advantage over you. He spoke like Brian Blessed. Oh, brilliant.

Yeah, he was Brian Blessed. I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Cherry, he said, when we're all hung for what we're now doing. Ho, ho, ho! Yeah, he stated that given his weight, he would die very quickly when he was hung, whereas poor Jerry would, and I quote, dance in the air for an hour or so before dying.

Ho, ho, ho! It's hilarious. I imagine Jerry just having a very fixed grin while signing the document. Another story from this time comes down to us about the signer, Benjamin Five. During the Second Continental Congress, there was a debate on who should chair the meeting.

The signer, fed up on all this chatting, literally picked up John Hancock and plonked him in the chairman's seat to settle the matter. You'll do. You boy, sit in the chair. Come and sit on my lap first. Tell me your woes. So yeah, that's Benjamin 5. But I'm sure you're wondering, when is it we're going to get to our person for today? Yes. Well, it's now. Oh, okay. Yeah. Nice segue. Did you like

that? I did. It was very subtle. Didn't see it coming. Yeah. Benjamin 5 and his wife Elizabeth had a son. Aww. And guess what his name was? William. No. Benjamin, obviously. Come on, keep up. This is Benjamin VI.

However, he also had another son. And what was his name? I don't want to play anyone. William? No, no, it's Carter. Yeah. And then Elizabeth and Anne and Lucy and Sarah. But then their seventh child

go on. What's it going to be? No, you hit me when I get it wrong. Yes, yes. It's William. So there we go. We've caught up. We now have William Harrison. The seventh child of Brian Blessed.

He was born on the 9th of February 1773. So just before the 9th of February 1773. So just before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yeah. So he's not American. He's going to be very old as well when he's president. Oh, yeah. No, he's aging a bit.

Yeah. So, yeah, he was born on the Berkeley Plantation, the one his family owned. Okay. And was still running. So, yeah, like I mentioned, this makes him the last US president not born American. But his family's been there. Oh, he's been for the signing. Yeah, it's a British colony.

Yeah, I see. Technically. So he's a dirty Brit. He is. Horribly so. Oh, terrible. Yeah. Gosh, darn it.

So when Wee William, or Little Billy as he was perhaps called, that's not just idle speculation there. No. No. He quite possibly was, but it's hard to tell. We have little detail on his early life. But I'm going to call him Little Billy. He was small and the family had to flee the British troops led by Benedict Arnold

as he swept through the area. Something I've noticed studying American history. It's very hard to find Benedict Arnold's name written down without the words The Traitor in front of it. Really? Yeah, you see it, The Traitor Benedict Arnold. It's almost like he's been given a title by history. You need to get over it.

Yeah, I just think he was a reasonable guy who made the right decision. Exactly, yeah. Get back to those damn colonists. We will have to do an episode on Benedict Arnold one day. He is a fascinating guy but anyway um he was leading the troops like the dirty traitor he was he's leading the redcoats through the area so the harrisons had to flee little billy his mother and sisters left the plantation went and stayed with family but when they returned they discovered in my notes it says

the mouse was still standing but i'm guessing that's a typo. What was it supposed to be? The house, I think. Okay. But maybe there was a very determined mouse. Slightly charred. Yeah, the house was still there, but the inside had been completely gutted. All their livestock was gone.

gutted. All their livestock was gone. One day after the war had ended, a British visitor to the house mentioned that, despite the fine building, the interior was somewhat bare. He couldn't help notice. The signer was furious. And I quote here, I can account for my paintings

and decorations, sir. Your soldiers burned them in my backyard. Then backhanded him. Throw him through a window. Oh, brilliant. Probably. Possibly not. I think he did. Yeah. Anyway, William was described as a delicate boy.

Whatever that means. And he was educated at home until the age of 14. At one point, his father became the governor of Virginia, so he got to stay in the governor's mansion for a while. Nice. Which was very nice. We finally have a home. His elder brothers were, by now, men in their own right.

Quite a bit of an age gap there. They were off pursuing the usual paths of business and law. It was decided little Billy, though, as the youngest of the children, would go into medicine. Okay. We're not really sure why, but that was decided. Be a doctor.

Yeah, well, it's not usual at the time. Business and law in particular, as we've seen, was definitely the way forward for those in the upper classes. Maybe they didn't think that highly of him. You're the youngest, you're the most feeble. Be a doctor. There is that possibility, definitely. That's a shame.

Not only that, the family had definitely suffered during the war. Money was becoming a bit of a problem. William needed to be able to support himself in later life. Perhaps he should learn something useful. My house will fix people up. Yeah. So instead of going to William and Mary, do you remember that's the...

University. Yes, which all the high-ups went to. Yes. Including his brothers. Not for William, unfortunately, no. No. He was sent to Hampden Sydney College, the college that placed a lot of emphasis on learning the classics,

in particular, the Roman classics. Ooh. Yeah, people were high-fiving themselves all day over that. Carpe diem. Whey! Drinking wine. Romans drank that. Whey! It was hard to walk down the corridor you just had to keep your hand up the whole time oh red raw by the end of the four years there well william

developed a lifelong obsession with the romans and the greeks to be fair at this point and for years afterwards he'd carry a pocket edition of Cicero's famous works in his pocket. Like you do. That's like you. Even I'm not that bad. However, he didn't stay in this college for very long. After three years, he was pulled out quite suddenly. Like, pulled out of the school in a kind of...

Literal way. Possibly. Dad's arms through the window. Yeah. You boy! Come here! Yeah. Well, it's possibly because his father disapproved of the reported evangelical revival that was sweeping parts of the school.

And Daddy didn't like that. But Daddy, I worship Jupiter! No! Yeah, instead he was moved to Richmond to study under a doctor. That's in Virginia. Yes, it is. Richmond, Virginia. I've heard of it. Yeah, that's doctor. That's in Virginia. Yes, it is. Richmond, Virginia, I've heard of it. Yeah, that's good.

It's the capital of Virginia at the time. It's just been moved there. Anyway, things are a bit difficult to pin down at this time. There's some debate, but it appears that this wasn't a fancy doctor. It was just a typical doctor who worked down by the docks. Ugh. Yeah. STIs and... A man who fixed things oh yeah got things

done remove warts yeah and now considering not many years before harrison was in the governor's mansion just down the road while his father's ran things this could well have been quite a culture shock for for harrison i didn't know we could turn that colour just got a picture of him in an apron holding a bone saw, looking really scared. Wishing to be reading Cicero again.

Something we do know, Harrison hit his rebellious years at this point. Did he turn over cattle? No, it's not quite the putting cattle in amusing places that we've seen before. His father had a political opponent called Robert Pleasence. Pleasence was a staunch abolitionist who fought for the freedom of slaves

and had set up the Humane Society. Nice. A society with crazy ideas such as you shouldn't own people. And let's just be nice. Yeah. Harrison joins up. Oh, yes. Now, this is probably the closest Harrison ever gets for fighting for slave rights.

And there is a good chance that he only did this just as rebellion against his father. But it was useful later on in his career. Anti-slavery groups, he could point to this and say, oh, no, I used to be part of the Humane Society. And pro-slavery groups, he could point to this and say oh no i used to be part of the humane society and pro-slavery groups he could point to this and say that was a small little thing in my teenage years i didn't know what i was doing anyway again he wasn't actually there for very long he was on the move again quite possibly his father wasn't impressed with uh what he was getting up to possibly pulled through a window yet again oh boy boy! Daddy's not doing it! We're going to Philadelphia! So off to Philadelphia he went to go and study under his father's friend.

Someone can keep an eye on the young whippet snapper. What was he studying? Still medicine. This is when Philadelphia was the capital. So perhaps Harrison was excited to go and see the capital. He'll be excited. However and see the capital. It will be excited.

However, upon the arrival in the city, he received some shocking news. Philadelphia's not a real place. That would have been shocking. Spooky and fast. No, it wasn't that. His father was dead. Aww. Yeah.

It's halfway through a U-Boy. He just dropped down dead. Yeah. Aww. And there you through a you boy. You just drop down to head. You boy. Yeah. Oh. And there you go. This turned the life of the 18-year-old Harrison upside down, not literally. No more head lacerations for him, though.

Well, yes, exactly. Before, he was following the instructions that his father had given him, and his father was paying for him to become a doctor. Now, his much older brothers made it perfectly clear that the money for his training was not going to continue. Sorry little brother, that's not happening anymore. Do you think he was happy about that? Well it's hard to say but he gives up the idea of becoming a doctor very quickly so we do get the idea that his heart wasn't really in it. He thinks he's told to. Yeah, exactly. But he's now

got all his options open to him. I mean, what's he going to do? Exciting, yes, but no safety net. That's scary. Yeah, true. So to begin with, he attempts to get a job in the government. After all, he was the signer's son. But this didn't work out. He's still quite young.

He's got no experience. So it just didn't work out. He's still quite young. He's got no experience. So it just doesn't really work. What he did manage, however, was to get an audience with the governor of Virginia who was visiting Philadelphia. Nice. Using his family name, he was able to get a commission in the US Army. A field medic?

No, nothing to do with medicine whatsoever. Oh, okay. He was going to become an officer. After all, he was part of the Virginian aristocracy. Are you sure, little William? I mean, do you even know what this is? I saw how you reacted to the bone saw. Well, this was met with mixed reactions by Harrison's

friends and family. I mean, the army may have been something that all rich patriots signed up to during the war. After all, it was your patriotic duty to go and fight the damn Redcoats. Yes, of course. Yes, but the war's over now. I mean, shouldn't Harrison be doing something more gentlemanly?

Like reading. Yeah. Becoming a lawyer. Playing cribbage. Yes, maybe that. After all, there's no glory in all the fighting at the moment. Mainly, it was fighting off Indian raiders, and who wants to do that? you can't talk about your glory

against the redcoats let the poor people do that yeah yeah that was generally the attitude from the more wealthy fair enough i guess they still see it as like a grubby job yeah maybe he's thinking about he's like greco-roman love though you know you join the army you rise through the ranks yes you do. Well, whatever he thought, he was determined to make a go at it. His name took him quite far to begin with because he instantly became an Ensign, which is a lower-ranked lieutenant. Or an Ensign, as they say in the US.

Is that what they say? I did wonder how you pronounced that. I only know that from Star Trek. Oh, nice. Okay. Ensign. They say Ensign. Yeah, okay. Fair enough. I'm glad you're here. Do we have an Ensign in the UK? I only know that from Star Trek. Oh, nice. Okay. Ensign. They say Ensign. Yeah, okay.

Fair enough. I'm glad you're here. Do we have an ensign in the UK? I don't know. No, I looked it up. It's an obsolete rank now. Second lieutenant is now more commonly used, apparently. Because we say left tenant, don't we?

We do. Which is stupid. Only if they're on your left. Or it's a right tenant. Yes. Chuck go the wee. Way. Might it's the right tenant. Yes. Check out the week! Might as well stop recording now, it doesn't get better than that. It's all downhill.

Yeah, not only was he essentially a lieutenant, he also became a recruiting officer. Well done, young William. Go and round up some men willing to fight for practically nothing at all, and then meet us on the battlefield. Find some people willing to fight for practically nothing at all and then meet us on the battlefield find some people willing to die yes so off he went with the help of a drummer it just said drummer not drummer boy but i like the idea that he was given a small boy with a

drum kit i'm told you just go and do some recruiting he does quite well he manages to round up cheers that's all all the time yeah just following him the whole time yeah yeah trying to talk just big smile on harrison's face to begin with yeah and then just cut to an hour later the smiles faded slightly hair slightly askew red eyes another cut his eyes twitching oh another cut The boy's dead. Impel his own drumstick. But the grin's back on Harrison's face. Yeah. Yeah.

Anyway, after burying the boy, he managed to recruit about 80 people who felt they had nothing to lose. Might as well sign up to the army. Their pay would be $2.10 a month. I imagine that's a bit more than it is now. It is, but not much. That's about $50 in today.10 a month. I imagine that's a bit more than it is now. It is, but not much. That's about $50 in today's money a month. Ooh, that's not much.

Yeah, but they would in theory be fed and have somewhere to sleep. So it's something you could save. You get free food. Yeah, and you're not going to die of starvation in the streets, which was another career opportunity for these people. Yeah. What the new recruits thought of their young and pompous officer is not recorded. Probably isn't he young and pompous, but who knows?

The fact he still had his Cicero book with him perhaps didn't go down too well. No. No. Because you've got these really rough kids from the street, you know, been through a lot. Yeah. I mean, some of these men would have fought in the revolutionary war and now coming back to the army they there would be people with experience and like you say there'd be young people who have had life experience and they're

being led by this slightly nerdy in my head it is hugh laurie from blackadder yes yeah that's who i've got in my head at the moment. Yeah, yeah. Lieutenant George or Prince George? They're the same, aren't they? Lieutenant George. Yeah, brilliant. Yeah, that is exactly who I got.

Excellent. He took his new men and they got on boats and headed down the Ohio River to the frontier. Nice. The Northwest Territory. They reach a fort. And in this case, it was Fort Washington. Yay! Fort Washington eventually would become the city Cincinnati.

Oh, really? High fives all around on the day they came up with that name. Roman! Oh, yes. But yeah, I don't know how many other cities are named after Romans. Rome? In the US. There probably is a Rome in the US. I don't know. Write to us in a postcard

how many US cities are named after Roman people. Vermont? That's a state. That's a state because that's the only problem with that answer. Anyway, so it's not Cincinnati at the moment. It is just Fort Washington, which is a fort made of logs covering about an acre of land with about 30 cabins, nearby housing settlers who mainly made a living off the military presence. So you've got some civilians in some log cabins, you've got the fort. There's no roads, no infrastructure, no hope. Nice. It's all a bit grim on the frontier. Harrison arrived to troubling news. The governor of the territory, Arthur St. Clair, had just been crushed,

utterly crushed, by the native population in the area. Both sides had had about a thousand men when they attacked each other. The Native Americans ended up with around 60 killed or wounded. Arthur St. Clair's men on the US side ended with around 930 men killed or wounded. Wow! Yeah, I mean, this was just utter... Have the natives, like, invented semi-automatic rifles or something in this time? No, I think Arthur St. Clair was just a bit useless.

Oh. Yeah. Put your guns away, lads! Tops off. Trousers off. This is hands down the biggest defeat that the US suffered against the Native American president. How?

I don't understand how that can happen. Right, Ben, we're wearing blindfolds today. Had a bit more challenge. Yeah. I said we could beat them with one arm tied behind our backs. And by Jove, that's what we're going to do. Quite possibly. And I said we could beat them with one arm tied behind our backs. And by Jove, that's what we're going to do. Quite possibly.

Yeah, it goes to show life on the frontier was tough. Yeah, wow. And, yeah, Native Americans were fighting back hard against the U.S. expansion. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Harrison got to the fort just in time to see the stragglers of this battle return. And they were not in the mood to be in the

army anymore. Morale plummeted, discipline broke apart, the store of alcohol was broken into, and Harrison later said that the first two days of being at Fort Washington, he witnessed more drunken men than he'd ever seen in his entire life put together. Still, time to make a good impression, he witnessed more drunken men than he'd ever seen in his entire life put together.

Still, time to make a good impression, he thought. He's there. He's going to do a good job. So, time to put some backbone into it. Some elbow grease. Make something of himself. Oh dear. But he could not help feel he was being given the cold shoulder slightly by the other officers. Everyone kept muttering things as he walked past. Idiot.

Well, it turned out that a very well-liked son of one of the captains from the fort had wanted the position that Harrison had been given. That's not what you want to find out on the first day of a job, is it? Oh, no. Oh, so you're the man who has Andrew's

job. How nice to meet you. Can't wait to work with you. Oh, that's an awfully firm handshake. Yeah, the son of the captain was someone with actual experience. Ah, oh. Yeah. Also, all the other officers were vets from the Revolutionary War, like veterans.

They weren't fixing up the animals. Which is something that honestly confused me when I was really small. People talked about vets. Army vets. Yeah. I saw the horses out. Yeah, honestly, I thought they were like medics until someone explained it to me. Yes.

So with all the officers being very experienced and having seen war before, you suddenly had in their midst this young Harrison clutching his Cicero. Soon, there was a mission to go out and recover all the equipment that St. Clair had abandoned. Middle of winter. Snow's coming down quite heavily. Who wants to do this job?

Everyone took a step backwards. Harrison's still reading Cicero. He didn't notice. No, he looked up. What's that? Wonderful. The new boyicero. Yeah, he didn't notice. No, he looked up. What? What's that? Wonderful. The new boy can go. Yeah, not a fun time. Harrison set out with a group of men. They found that their hair was frozen to the floor when they woke up.

Ooh. Yeah. That's not pleasant. That's not pleasant. However, Harrison got on with the job. Didn't have a great time, but he did it. He got the job done. Sounds like most of the didn't have a great time, but he did it. He got the job done. Sounds like most of the others were having a good time, though,

because Harrison reported that the drinking became out of control. Now, quote here, at least four-fifths of my brother officers died from the effects of intoxication. Four-fifths. Yeah, that seems a bit of hyperbole there. I think so. But he does say the effects of intoxication. So falling off your horse or out the window

or trying to do a balancing game using your pistols, perhaps. Trying to get a kebab all in one. Yes, maybe. But yeah, four-fifths seems high. I imagine four out of a hundred, maybe. Yeah, but still, things not good. No. Low morale, things not good. No. Low morale, discipline all over the place.

Everyone's expecting to be killed. The web is horrible. That's lovely. Yeah. However, things take a turn for the better when Mad Antony turns up. He sounds fun. This is Antony Wayne. They called him Mad Antony as a homage to, obviously, Mark Anthony.

High fives all around. Obsessed they were. They really were. Yeah, he took over the region and therefore took over the running of the fort. Generally sorted things out a little bit. Harrison was promoted to lieutenant at this time, which was nice, and then shortly afterwards

promoted to captain. Because his captain got into an argument over a sergeant's wife. Oh. And suddenly couldn't be captain anymore. Weird, that. Yeah. So Harrison took the position. So there you go.

Quick succession of promotions. More importantly, though, he became Mad Antony's aide-de-camp. Ooh. Which is French for helpful man. Yes. Yeah. This gave him a salary of 64 a month wow slightly better than uh what the regulars were getting yeah yeah but that's an addition to his other salary um oh i don't think so i think that's in total that doesn't seem as much

you'd think for it it's still not i mean uh maybe a captain though yeah it's quite good it's all right rank but i mean he is the son of a virginian aristocrat so i'm not saying he's short of cash but yeah he he would be used to more at least his family standing would be but it's still not to be sniffed at in this day and age yeah anyway by this in his life, word would have reached him that his mother was also dead. Oh. Yeah, he's now an orphan. No longer feeling tied to his home state of Virginia whatsoever, he sold the land that he had inherited there to his brother

and then traded it for land in Kentucky, which ultimately didn't really get him anything. This was quite a bad deal. Something that crops up quite a lot in Harrison's life. Oh. Yeah. Oh dear. Anyway, now that Mayor Anthony was in charge of the area,

there was hopes that the troops would be able to be whipped into shape, and the area dealt with. In 1793, the US forces marched north to confront the Indian Confederacy, led by a chief known as Blue Jacket. Those Native Americans fighting were upset because, according to them, and this is crazy, I know, a signature on a piece of paper from someone

in another tribe that they had never met did not mean that the US now owned all the land. Well, yeah, but you're all Indians, aren't you? Unfortunately, it was the attitude, yes. You're all the same. Yeah. So, there were some people not happy about what was going on fair enough no unfortunately we don't have time to

go into detail here but the battle of fallen trees took place which was a battle that took place next to some fallen trees good naming yeah no it. To be fair, it's better than most battle names, which are just the place. But it goes to show what region they're in. There aren't really any place names. This is the frontier. That's the point, yeah. The Battle of Ant Hill.

Yes. The Battle of somewhere over here. The Battle of where I saw that wasp one day. Yeah. Anyway, the battle takes place and Harrison sees fighting for the first time from very far away.

Well, no, no. He's in the battle. He spends most of the battle trying to keep the battle lines in order, riding here, there and everywhere, just trying to keep some discipline. Yeah. The two sides were roughly equal in numbers,

yet again, but the US were able to rout the Native American fighters. The Native American troops fell back. It's fine, they had a plan. There was a nearby British fort, we're not far from the Canadian border here, and Britain had a habit of just having forts in territory that didn't technically belong to them. It's the British way. So the Native Americans thought, we'll fall back to the British fort.

They've promised us their assistance. Yay! One thing about British, Wes, very trustworthy. Oh yes, definitely. The British, who had been supplying Blue Jackets people with food and weapons, decided that actually giving them shelter and fighting on their behalf

was a step too far. We've just finished the war. We don't want another. Yeah, exactly. If we get involved, this could actually escalate. I mean, we're more than fine giving you weapons to go and fight on our behalf. Don't get us wrong. Just don't get us involved. So they literally shut the doors. Oh, that's a shame. Yeah. Just in case you were under the impression that it was just the US who were awful to the Native Americans. Oh, that's a shame. Yeah. Just in case you were under the impression

that it was just the US who were awful to the Native Americans. Oh, no. No, it was everyone. Yeah. In the end, the casualties were similar on both sides, actually, but the US had managed to take the region

and build a fort there and shattered the alliance between Blue Jacket and the British. So all in all, the US took that as a win. Days later, envoys from the Native Americans came along and asked for peace. Not that everyone was happy with this surrender, because there was a young chief who refused to join in the discussion. His name was Tecumseh.

And we will be talking about him later. But just for now, imagine someone with a steely look. A bit miffed. A bit miffed. A bit miffed, steely look, square jaw. Give him a square jaw. Oh, he's got a square jaw. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, dishy. Right, we'll come back to him. Anyway, meanwhile, Harrison was heading back to Fort Washington. There he was assigned to a settlement 14 miles west of the fort to maintain order there. So, small village nearby. Go and keep an eye on things. It was here that he got to know Anna Sims. Anna was the daughter of the Colonel John Sims, who happened to live there.

He was a widower who loved his daughter dearly, as you could imagine. Oh. Yeah. Loved him enough that he was really not happy about this young officer who was sniffing around his daughter. Yeah. Yeah. I literally stopped sniffing. Oh, wait, Loved him enough that he was really not happy about this young officer who was sniffing around his daughter. Yeah. Yeah. I literally stopped sniffing.

Oh, wait, what are you doing? It's weird. No, don't sniff there. Anna was very well educated for the time. She was interested in politics and very keen to read newspapers and journals. And love dogs. Quite possibly. She'd even attended a boarding school with Martha Washington's granddaughter.

Wow. Yeah. Educated outside the home, which really was quite rare. Perhaps this is what attracted Harrison to her. Now, Harrison and Anne had actually met in Lexington at a party before, so it's not where he met her. And they would later tell their children it was love at first sight, which is nice.

Yeah. Yeah. So, he's now posted where she lived, and it did not take long before Harrison proposed to the 20-year-old Anne. Her father refused. After all. I wasn't asking you, sir. Oh, yes, of course.

I am flattered, but... Yeah, no, her father said this can't happen. He had heard some unpleasant stories about this young officer. Harrison apparently had been somewhat overzealous in his enforcing of the rules around drinking. Anyone found drunk outside the walls of the fort were to be given 50 lashes. That's why we now say, your lash, you go out on a lash.

Yeah, yeah. Because you're going to get drunk, then you get whipped. Are you making that up? Oh, yeah. No, no, because it's true is it is that that is a theory wow i'm sure we mentioned this in washington's episode i don't yeah i don't know whether it's definitely true but there certainly is a theory that going out on the lash is linked to the lashes you get given so yeah oh so i was being silly oh no but no that i don't know i don't know if it's true, though. But I have heard that before. Do Americans say on the lash?

I don't know. Get wasted. They say that as well, yeah. Yeah, anyway, as I've said, the drinking was a huge problem and Harrison was not happy with all this drinking going on and he was more than happy to enforce the rules. One day, he came across a drunk man outside the fort. He ordered the full punishment, 50 lashes.

Sir, I'm not drunk. Wasn't that. It was, but sir, I'm not a soldier. Oh. Yeah. That didn't stop Harrison, though. I'm not wearing a uniform. I'm literally, I'm just not part of your life.

I'm not involved in the army. Look, here's my flock of sheep, mate. Yeah, it literally was like that. Anne's father, who was part of the civilian governing body at the time, had to deal with this and was not impressed at all. At one point, Sims asked Harrison, how do you suppose to support my daughter? And Harrison is said to have replied,

my sword is my means of support, sir. Ooh. Ooh, sir. Ooh. Ooh, said the father. Now, how the two young lovers married is actually up to debate. We're not entirely sure. A couple of stories have surfaced. Church and a minister? Well, possibly.

We're going to choose. Here they are. Yes. Either they waited until the colonel was out of town, invited a bunch of people round to the house, and got married quickly, and just told the father afterwards and said deal with it. Yeah.

Or the father was talked round, but halfway through the service, he stormed out of the ceremony in disgust. Because Harrison ordered lashings during the ceremony someone proposed a toast and harrison was not happy no no no i saw someone nipping from the hip flask yeah you pay for drinks here well i don't know which which one is better oh the first one oh yeah secret wedding yeah he's gone he's gone quick quick quick gather bunting get the straight quartet in yeah where's your veil where's your veil either way they're now married he's got a young wife he starts to think about how he can support his new family

because he realized just saying my sword is my means of support is he doesn't really mean anything it's not literal no so he now needs to actually think of something so with the money that he's got inherited from his family he he starts getting into business. He invested in a sawmill, a gristmill, and a whiskey distillery. Oh, yeah. None of these turned out well. He kind of lost money on all of them. That's a shame.

And again, the curse strikes. Yeah. He also moved to a 160-acre farm near the village that he had been posted in, so he's nearby. He lived in a house made of logs, like a lot of them were in the region. This house was large for the area, but it was made out of logs. You may be wondering why I keep mentioning the logs.

Yeah. It becomes important in the next episode. So just remember he lived in a house made of logs. Something to do with the White House? No, no, not that. You'll find out. You'll find out.

He still lives in the house, even though he should be in the White House. No, not that. You'll find out. You're not going to guess it. No, I want to know. You'll find out next episode. Tune in next week. I can't wait two weeks.

Well, tough. Anyway, within a year, Anne gave birth to the first of their ten children. Wow. Yeah, they were busy. A girl called Elizabeth, which is all very nice. Over the next couple of years, Harrison did quite well. His close connection to Mad Antony meant that he was primed to become commander of Fort Washington when the spot opened up.

So, another promotion for him. But, by this point, Harrison had had enough of the army life. He wanted to get a job in government. He resigned from the army and shortly afterwards started writing to anyone he could about job vacancies. And I'll quote here,

I have been so long in these woods that I have had no opportunity of making myself known to the officers of government, he wrote to a congressman that he knew. He has no connections at all, he claimed. I mean, okay, his brother was currently in Congress, and he was the son of someone who signed the Declaration of Independence, but no connections at all.

No. And, yeah, if only someone could get him a job. It's a fake modesty thing, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, after quite a few letters, he finally gets a job that It's a fake modesty thing, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. After quite a few letters, he finally gets a job that he's looking for, which is the secretary of the Northwest Territory. Essentially a job that meant he was in charge of the record keeping. It's a filing. Yeah. It wasn't hugely prestigious, but it was a stepping stone and one that he needed. It did help that the

governor of the region at this time, St. Clair, yes, he's still hanging around, was frequently absent. So Harrison was actually acting as governor quite a lot, getting some experience. And shortly afterwards, this pays off, because he is elected by one vote as the territory's delegate to Congress. He managed to defeat his opponent by one vote.

And his opponent was St. Clair's son. Oh, okay. That must have been awkward. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Anyway, he's now the representative of the territory in Congress. Now, the Northwest Territory, obviously not a state.

So he can't do everything that all the representatives would be doing. He couldn't vote on bills, for example, but he could submit legislation and he could join committees, which he did so straight away. His main achievement in this time being the Land Act of 1800, a bill that made it easier for people to buy land in his territory. Which is nice. Of course, this means he's now in Philadelphia, which is still the capital.

John Adams is currently president. That's where we are. He was quickly able to make acquaintances with many of his father's old friends. Gets his name in. Does the rounds. Yeah, good, good, good. He's still only 26.

Oh, he's still really young. Yeah, yeah. So as a 26-year-old, this young man with his lovely young wife from the wild western frontier, after all. Yee-haw. He was an instant success in the Philadelphia scene. He'd seen things. He's got stories to tell.

He'd been in some battles. And ones that weren't from the Revolutionary War. So then he knew stories. Ooh. Yeah. So he was soon having dinner with the president himself. Oh, wow. Again, Harrison found himself perfectly situated because Ohio becomes a state.

And therefore, the Northwest Territory changes, shrank a bit. And this territory needed a governor. It's a new territory. A new governor needed it. And who better than this impressive young man who had just come from the Northwest? Yeah. There we go. Harrison, young age, not even yet 30, becomes the governor of the Northwest Territory. He's got three children and a wife, and he heads off to the remote capital of the region. I say capital, it's Port Vincennes, which is a settlement of about 700 people.

Okay. Yeah. Mainly descendants of French trappers who had married Native American women. Anne wrote to her mother that the place consisted of around 460 French families and only 40 American ones. There were also no roads. The buildings were log cabins. There was no government apart from Harrison himself and three judges. That was it for the entire

region. This government, if you can call it that, the four people, had permission to adopt laws from other states, but they couldn't make up their own laws. Because that would be silly. Yeah. We really are. We're on the frontier.

People living in isolated small hamlets. A little shantytown. Yeah, with log cabins, no roads, just tracks that go in between. Descendants from the French who used to live there, Native American tribes, and a few American families that have joined. It's an interesting time to try and imagine and get your head round. Anyway, in this world,

Harrison built a mansion. Made of brick. It was two stories high. It even had glass in the windows that had been imported from England. Wow. That's a hazard there, isn't it?

Especially glass back then was like real glass, glass. Brittle. And barely, barely translucent. Yeah. Just imagine how much that glass would have shattered on the way, surely. How did they transport it? They didn't have bubble wrap. You have to overbuy

because there are going to be breakages. Yeah. And then transporting it from the coast on a, you know, no roads, on a little donkey. The glass donkey, they called him. Yes. Just imagine, though,

trying to unpack your glass. It's come all the way from England. It's cost a fortune. And then you break it. You'd have to cover each each pane and like cotton or something and you have to have a custom size i guess they could shape when they got i guess i'm guessing these aren't huge planes though are they there'd be like little diamonds oh yeah no that's a point yeah it must be yeah surely no that's a good point he hasn't got like

sets of bay windows conservatory yeah maybe maybe it's the first one too maybe it's got a greenhouse at the back as well yeah this this kid keeps kicking the ball in here he's like oh you move that board away i'll kill you crystal palace in london actually was modeled on his mansion yeah impressive stuff yeah anyway um it was sort of like that more brick yeah it was impressive though i mean considering everyone else had huts to live in uh here's this brick mansion being built weird like in the middle of basically what i imagine is sort of like a forested area yeah with like a big like mile area of cut down stuff and mud tracks a few yeah log cabins like a massive brick house in the

middle yeah essentially he called it grouse land oh yeah that's a bird i'm guessing there were grouse around yeah anyway for the next 12 years harrison ran the territory he did things such as establish a library he supported the creation of schools. He encouraged the development of newspapers. Generally, he did a lot to modernise the territory. And when the territory is people living in tents and huts and dirt tracks, modernisation, not too tricky, but at the same time, very tricky. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what he does. However, all that wasn't his main job, not the main reason why he was there. His main reason for being in the territory

was to create the state of Indiana. And to do that, the US settlers needed land to farm. And to farm the land, the land needed to belong to the United States. Not just in the eyes of the United States, but also in the eyes of those who actually lived on the land. Or owned them. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get rid of the Indian threat. Establish clear boundaries with Britain. Those were the two things he had to do, basically. Okay. Yeah.

Now, the best way to do this was through treaties. Yay. Yay. Yay. Harrison used every trick in the book. To begin with, he used his experience of the area and the ways of the Native American population. He did understand how to bargain. For example, traditionally long hours would be spent smoking and talking small talk until business would begin in Native American tribes and Harrison understood that so wouldn't just barge in demanding things he'd talk to them in a

way that was understood I wonder what point is you sit around a campfire smoking what point you'd go right now we talk about business or just sort of is it sort of subtly hinted at to start with, and it's all skirted around, a bit of innuendo. Yeah, yeah. Ooh, check out the size of my deal. Yeah, maybe not that kind of innuendo. I have a massive deal on right now. Maybe. Do you want to check out my contract?

Well, this is it. Harrison knew the right things to say, unlike some people who would just go in and whip out their contract straight away. You've got to ease into this. So there you go. Actually knowing how to talk with the native population was one way. That was the nicest way. Yeah, that helped.

Yeah, the others are slightly less nice, shall we say. A popular negotiating tactic at this time was to supply the tribes with plenty of alcohol to help the process along. Oh, no. That's mean. Yeah. Well, it's actually worse than that. It's not just get them drunk. It's get them hooked on alcohol.

Let them run up a debt. Oh. Then use that debt to help the transition of land. That's mean. Yeah. That's mean. Yeah. That's drugging them. Jefferson actually writes to Harrison at one point suggesting this being a sensible way of doing things.

That's how I got all the rights to Tatarank in there from you. Yes, no, it's true. Definitely. Still paying off that debt. Yeah. It was only one shot of whiskey as well. I know. Another tactic was to offer aid to tribes that were suffering from an illness,

common at the time due to the influx of bacteria from the US settlers. So help out the tribes. Yeah. Give them medicine. Thank you, O.S. And then once the tribe was dependent on these things, use it as leverage. Oh. Yeah.

One of the best methods, however, is one I've already alluded to. Yeah. One of the best methods, however, is one I've already alluded to. Get a small tribe in the region to sign away huge portions of land. Harrison was able, at one point, to get a tribe of less than 50 people to sign away 8 million acres in southern Illinois. Oh my goodness. Yeah. It didn't matter that countless other people counted that land as their home. This small tribe has signed it away. It's legal. It's fine.

That's awful. Yeah. I can't even comprehend it. A million acres. That's big. Oh, yeah. Bigger than my garden. Harrison got a lot of land.

Wow. Yeah. He estimated around 50 million acres. Estimates put it up to 60. Did not take long for him to acquire this huge portion of land and just fold it into his territory. Large portions of modern Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, and obviously Indiana were purchased through dubious methods. Oh, dubious.

Yeah. Harrison himself took pride in how he treated those Indian tribes that had dealt with him, and at times lamented on the racism that had infested the area. He hasn't helped. Well, he complained that it was impossible to get a white jury to convict a white man of murdering an Indian man. Oh. Yeah, due to this and other reasons, he sadly stated that, and I quote,

the name of America has become almost universally odious to the tribes on the frontier. Can't understand why. Yeah, he further wrote that the charges that the Native American tribes brought against the US settlers were mostly true, that they were being killed by white men with impunity, their land settled on illegally, their game hunted, and their young men turned to drink. He wrote, and I quote again, the truths of these charges, I am well convinced. Sir Harrison saw this happening and was disgusted by it. It's terrible. He deplored the racism that was going on. And equally,

he could not see the link between his actions on behalf of the government and those of the settlers. It's a classic example of how a person in power, because they do not believe themselves to be racist, is completely incapable of recognising the institutionalised racism that they are spreading. But we've grown as a society. Yeah. Isn't that good? It's good that that doesn't happen now. Yeah.

Anyway, let's leave this particular issue of misery and turn to the other issue that dominated the age. Slavery. Yeah. Because Congress had decided that slavery was banned in the Northwest Territory. No slavery up there. No, thank you. As governor, Harrison interpreted this law in a particular way.

If I don't know about it, you can do it. When you say no slaves, I assume you mean slaves. Lots of. Well, he argued that this meant no one was allowed to buy or sell slaves in the Northwest Territory. So you could just bring your own from another place. So you could just bring your own from another place. Exactly. Harrison and other like-minded people in the area, mainly people from Virginia,

felt that stopping slavery would discourage growth in the territory. I mean, these men, known as the Virginian set, envisioned a state ran like their home state. They wanted another Virginia in the Northwest. Anyway, Congress got wind of this and said, essentially, no, no, when we say slavery is banned, we mean slavery is banned. Harrison and the three judges, remember, that is it. Yeah.

Yeah. Responded with a series of, put it bluntly, racist laws. Excellent. Yeah, that made it very clear that black men were not on par with white men. For example, black men were not allowed to testify against white men in court. What? Yeah, and black men were not permitted to buy white indentured servants. I mean, the optics on that were just wrong.

Yeah. Talking of indentured servants, they were allowed the optics on that were just wrong. Yeah. Talking of indentured servants, they were allowed in the Northwest Territory. So you get men, women, young children, who would give several years of their life over as a servant. And in the end, they were given land or something in return. Harrison pushed through a law that meant that slaves coming into the territory would automatically become indentured servants. No slaves, indentured servants. Change the label.

Small bit of print there at the bottom though. No time limit on their servitude. And you don't need to actually compensate them with money or land. That's awful. It literally was. Fine, no slavery. We will just call them a different thing then. Yeah. They're still enslaved. As you

can imagine, this caused a large stir in the region between pro and anti-slavery groups. This, with other factors that we don't have time to cover, unfortunately, caused a formal split in the now very large territory with the more western Illinois territory and the more eastern Indiana territory. So you're getting this split starting to happen. Not only did Harrison find himself in charge of the smaller area once it split, the anti-slavery movement had taken hold in the land he now controlled and his pro-slavery laws isolated him from many in the territory. He's finding his popularity waning slightly.

He would. But around this time, Harrison had something else to distract him. Harrison, as governor, was also in charge of the militia. Oh. Oh yes. And this militia was finding itself in more and more problems with the Shawnee, which were a Native American tribe led by two brothers, Tecumseh and the Prophet. The Prophet. Oh yeah, good name, isn't it? Yeah.

Now, Tecumseh is a fascinating man who, again, is on the ever-growing list of people who are going to get a special episode at some point. Obviously, we only have time for highlights in Harrison's episode, but here they are, highlights. Born in 1768, so he's five years older than Harrison. Right. The year Tecumseh was born, his tribe was done over by one of the U.S.'s land territories. A weakened Iroquois tribe had sold the Shawnee tribe's land to the U.S. without the Shawnee knowing about it.

So they fought back and ultimately lost and Tecumseh lost his father in the fighting also. So a sad start. And then as he grew up it became clear to many around him that there was something a little bit special about Tecumseh. Oh yes. One of Harrison's officers later would describe him, and I quote here, as perhaps the finest looking man I ever saw. About six feet high, an altogether daring, bold looking fellow. This is a bit dishy. Oh yeah. Smouldering.

He was smouldering. Yeah, that's why he had a square jaw earlier. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I mean, he looked damn good. Apparently many people commented on just how charismatic, good looking and generally followable, if that's a word, he was. Whenever he walks into a room, he just flicks his hair back. Yeah. Or the wind went, ah!

Or the wind went, ooh. Yeah. Just a, ooh, yeah. Yeah, pretty much. Nice. Yeah, hard to pin down, but he seemed to have that certain X factor. A bit like Captain Carrot. Yes.

In the Toe Patcher books. A bit like Majorian from our other podcast. Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. Sexy. Yes. Yeah, he had a charisma that some people in history seem to have

that inspire other people to follow them. Nice. Yeah. He was fluent in English, both speaking and writing, and seems to have spoken French as well, giving him command of most of the languages used in the area by the white population. Hadn't he? Yeah. Harrison would later say that if Tecumseh had not been born in the way of the United States, he would surely have founded an empire. But Tecumseh was not the only man leading the Shawnee, because he had his brother, the Prophet, with him.

And like his brother, the Prophet was, shall we say, less physically impressive. Oh dear. Yeah. He grew up, I'm guessing, in his brother's shadow and became an alcoholic. Which many of the young men in the native population became when the white population kept plying them with alcohol. Weird that. Yeah. Anyway, one day he awoke after a heavy night's drinking.

Huge hangover. Oh my God, I want to do that again. Yes, is exactly what he did yeah it's literally a case of i'm never drinking again oh in fact he went further and said that when he was drunk he had had a vision from a god to sort his life out and to lead his people away from the evils of drink i mean that must be a severe hangover. Yeah. From that moment he became a man of medicine, of wisdom, of religion. A prophet. Nice.

Yeah. So together you've got these two brothers who were able to sway people's hearts and minds. And soon it was not just their own tribe who were listening to them. Many others started to as well. They argued that the white man were invading in more ways than one and encouraged people to refrain from the white man's clothing and the use of alcohol.

So to push against the cultural invasion as well as the actual invasion. The prophets would preach to their followers while Tukumse would visit other tribes, showing up support to resist the US. Word of this eventually reaches Harrison and he is not happy. Upon hearing that one of the brothers claimed to be

a prophet, he announced, if he's really a prophet, ask him to cause the sun to stand still. And at this point I'm guessing sensible Samuel, who was staying in the manor at the time, reading in a corner, just looked up and groaned slightly. Oh no. I should not have said that.

He knows things. Because it so happened that a solar eclipse was due any day now. Excellent. Yeah. And the prophet knew about this. Wonderful. Yeah. So he gathered all his supporters around him and ordered the sun to go dark,

which it did. It just takes hours. Just imagine that. He was just going there going, I order you to go dark. Now wait for it, everyone. And don't stare directly at the sun whilst it does it.

I have these special glasses. Are you looking at the sun? Just don't look at the sun. Don't look at the sun look at the sun burn your retinas yeah it's like that and then about two hours later is it is it changing i think it's changing i do love this though this is a classic example of someone doing something yes impressive and it's impressive enough that no one notices that it's not actually what harrison said harrison said make the sun stand still.

No. Which is not what happened at all. The sun went dark, but everyone was like, wow, that's really impressive. That must be what Harrison said. I imagine Harrison was fuming slightly. Not what I wanted. Yeah.

But anyway, so as you can imagine, the prophet and Komsai come out of this looking good amongst their people. the prophet, and come out of this looking good amongst their people. In 1808, the brothers move into Harrison's territory directly and established a village near the mouth of the river Tippecanoe. Tippecanoe! Oh, yes. You remember that from last time, then. Yeah.

So you know that Harrison eventually is nicknamed Tippecanoe. Probably guess why he's nicknamed Tippecanoe. Probably guess why he's nicknamed Tippecanoe. Remember the song. We'll get to it. Anyway, this village... Did he fall in the river? No. This village gained the nickname Prophetstown, which I suppose just turned into its name rather than a nickname. I'll try that

again. This village gained the name Prophetstown. It was a large settlement by Native American standards of the time. It had 200 houses in, a council house, a hospital and the House of the Stranger, which is just a really cool way of calling the boarding house or the hotel essentially. For visitors. That's quite cool. Please take a room at the House of the Str stranger. Spooky.

Breakfast included. Anyway, obviously the brothers claimed that the establishment of this settlement was completely peaceful. Yeah. And in a broad sense, it was. They just went and settled there. They weren't doing anything. But equally, it was against the wishes of another local tribe the miami miami not linked to the name miami what no that was a different tribe um cool that's just confusing yeah yeah i'd argue

about which one was first quite possibly they both fought for a trademark and then interestingly as far as i could tell this miami is spout the same way the state is spout but the miami that the state is named after is not, which is all very confusing. But maybe I looked into that incorrectly. US has a habit of spelling things phonetically better than the UK does, because it's just a weird language.

So that might be why it makes more sense to spell it this way. But yeah, this is not a group of people from... It's not even a state, is it? I've been calling it a state. The state's Florida. Yeah, Miami's a big city. Yeah. I think it's the city.'s not even a state is it i've been calling it a state states florida yeah miami is a big city yeah it's one of them i think it's the city it's the capital of florida well i don't know their capitals are weird it's not always the biggest i'm gonna have to say that again it's not the miami that the city's named after um in the state of florida in the state

of florida yes no one would call the state Miami by accident. That would be foolish. Anyway, the Miami up in the Northwest Territory asked Tecumseh not to settle in the area. If you don't mind, Tecumseh said, no, we're going to settle in the area. Screw you guys. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, so the Miami weren't too pleased, and the white settlers in the region also took it as an aggressive move. Of course they would.

Tecumseh and the Prophet ordered their followers to remain peaceful, but obviously tensions grew. Disputes over livestock start on both sides. That's my cow. Yeah. That's my cow. Arguments start up, reports of fighting. Generally, things aren't going well. Yeah.

Eventually, because of this escalation, the prophet pays Harrison a visit, reassuring the governor that all he wanted to do was live peacefully, and then asked Harrison to help keeping the settlement alcohol-free, something Harrison approved of. Yeah. So the prophet actually impressed Harrison enough that after the meeting, Harrison was reassured. Everything's going to be fine. You're a stand-up bloke. Yeah, meeting the man seemed to dispel some of the myth that was around him. However, despite this positive meeting,

as time went on, more and more disputes between Prophet's town and the US settlers occurred, mostly around horses and livestock. Eventually, Harrison had enough and wrote to the prophet demanding whether the town wanted war. He wrote that he knew that the town's warriors were brave, but so were his men, and he had a lot more of them. He then asked the prophet to come to a formal meeting. However, it was none other than Tecumseh who came to the meeting. Always charisma. Oh, yes was none other than Tecumseh who came to the meeting. Oh, his charisma.

Oh, yes. Glowing hair. With a retinue of a large number of his best soldiers around him. Yeah, so you've got Tecumseh looking pretty sharp. Yeah. Striding. He was striding towards Harrison's mansion. Almost cantering. Yeah. And everyone's a bit, he's trying to be a horse.

Harrison had set up a table outside his mansion. So he's there in the fronttering. Yeah. And everyone's trying to be a horse. Harrison had set up a table outside his mansion. So he's there in the front garden. Yeah. At a table. The three judges are there. So the whole government and the army officers as well from the militia put on a good show after all. Yeah. Yeah. Tecumseh and his men arrive. They ride up, they dismount. Big meeting about to happen. Tecumseh was offered a seat by Harrison, or very polite. Tecumseh replied, he did not need a seat, and then sat on the grass. He stated that this was the best place, and I quote, at the bosom of their mother.

Aww. I'm guessing Harrison groaned inwardly at this point and just thought, oh, it's going to be one of those kind of meetings. This is not going to be easy. Now, this meeting was actually a series of meetings that lasted several days. But to sum it up, Tecumseh pointed out that the treaties the US were creating were, frankly, ridiculous. The land does not belong to one tribe but to all, and none have the right to sell it. He then added that if the US continued with the treaties, and I quote here,

I do not see how we can remain at peace with you. Them's fighting words. Exactly. Well, Harrison, feeling a bit annoyed by this point, he's not used to dealing with chiefs that were quite this forceful. Or so damn good looking. It was a distraction. I kept getting lost in his eyes.

Well, he responded by saying that if the land belonged to all tribes, that indicated that they were one nation. But if they were one nation, why did the Great Spirit not give them all the same language? And then probably had a bit of a smug smile on his face as if he'd just won the argument. Theological debate. Yeah. Well, Tecumseh did not like this.

He rose angrily, and some of his men reached for various weapons. Now, there were no guns allowed at this meeting, but men on both sides carried sharp objects. Pointy sticks. Pointy sticks. Axes. Tomahawk swords. Oh, okay. Yeah. sides carried sharp objects pointy sticks pointy pointy sticks axes tom hawks swords um yeah people were armed they just didn't have guns yeah a whisk there's a generally anything to get your hands on yeah okay maybe the whisk is ridiculous but in all seriousness apparently some harrison's guards pulled the fence rails up to quickly get a weapon. Really?

Yeah, which I imagine Harrison really winced at. Oh, not the nose! Not the fence! Think of the begonias! Think of the begonias! He literally just put that up. Oh, look at my geraniums. Harrison himself drew a sword,

perhaps aiming to get his own soldiers, just ruined his fence. Who knows? Stand-off situation. People suddenly holding sharp things when they weren't before. You could argue that's when the negotiations aren't going well. Yes, yeah. The meeting broke up without incident, fortunately, but tensions were high.

Tecumseh later apologised for losing his call. but tensions were high. Tecumseh later apologised for losing his call. So he went to Harrison, well, sent word to Harrison that he was sorry for the meeting ending that way. That's a manly thing to do. Yeah, but, I mean, it still didn't help. The meetings were clearly going nowhere. In a parting conversation, Harrison stated

that he would pass Tecumseh's argument to the president. After all, he wasn't in charge.umseh's argument to the president. After all, he wasn't in charge. He was just the governor of the region. Tecumseh responded, and I quote here, President will not be injured by the war. He may still sit in his town and drink his wine, while you and I will have to fight it out. Nice. Yeah. So both sides prepare for the fight that's obviously coming. Tecumseh headed south to raise troops. Harrison called up the militia. In 1811, Harrison led about a thousand men towards Prophetstown. It was, as always in this time and place, a bit of a ragtag army,

full of militiamen who had never actually seen battle. Oh dear. Yeah. When Harrison ordered the building of a fort, many men nearly mutinied after a couple of days of building. So I didn't sign up for this. I just want to stab things with my whisk. Yes.

Well, Harrison did the typical, if you want to go, then go. I will stay here and stay with my brave men who decide to stay. Nice. Yeah. That wouldn't work on me. And then crossed his fingers and just really, really hyped. You can say that wouldn't work on me at all. Yeah. Well, in this case, it did work. No, that's good.

I'm sure there were many times in history where that speech hasn't worked, but that speech has then been lost to history. After they all got wiped out. Yeah. But yeah, in this case, it worked and people stayed, but morale's shaky. Meanwhile, in nearby Prophetstown, more warriors were arriving for the Native American side, sent by Tecumseh, who was still away. So the Prophet's there, but Tecumseh's not.

He'd left orders with his brother, resist any temptation to fight. We're outnumbered, the time's not right. Just don't get drawn into battle. You've got one instruction. Look at me. Look at me. Put that down. Look at me. Don't fight.

Repeat it. Say it. Don't fight. Look at me. Don't fight. Yeah, it was pretty much like that. He fought, didn't he? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's worth seeing at the moment. Anyway, on the 6th of November, Harrison marched towards the town and then stopped when it was within sight. So imagine them all up on a hill looking down on Prophetstown. Yeah. He waited. What would happen next?

Turns out nothing. I don't know. Yeah. Reports then came back from some scouts that women and children were still in the town. It's odd. It's almost like no one's there ready to fight. It's like all the men are somewhere else. Where could they be?

Sir, I'm seeing no weapons either. How odd. Can you go wrestling, sir? No. But it's not quite that. Because after a while, some envoys from the town came forward. And they proposed a council to discuss their differences to Harrison. That's nice.

Yeah. This is clearly leading to fighting. I've been told by my brother not to fight, so let's not fight. Let's talk. Yeah. And also, Harrison, whilst you're waiting, because we'll meet tomorrow to talk, obviously, that hill over there, you see that field? Isn't that a perfect place for you to stay?

So why don't you make camp on that field there? Over there? Yeah. No, not that one. Left. One left. There we go. Just there.

You stay there tonight, and tomorrow we'll talk. Yeah. You mean this hill here is surrounded by the other high hills? Surrounded by the forests. Big, thick forests. That's the one, yeah. There could by the forests. Big, thick forests. That's the one, yeah. There could be perfect camouflage. Yep, there it is.

Harrison obviously immediately took his troops and camped in the field. Yeah, but he would have no reason to suspect it, would he? He's trying to be nice and go, yes, we'll follow your instructions because we want the best out of this. Yeah, I mean, perhaps would be slightly unfair to Harrison, but so were people later on in his life about this decision yeah um but it has been argued the area actually was the most sensible place to camp it had good visibility it was on the

high ground it was near a wood for firewood and for defenses and excellent target practice yeah um however he doesn't really excuse the fact that he did not fortify his position whatsoever ah yeah uh perhaps thinking of the near mutiny the last time he asked his men to build something uh he just set up some tents and a few campfires and put some men on watch and it must be a lot of effort to build a camp you've got to like cut down trees and didn't't stop the Romans. Yeah, but it would have taken days. Caesar made a camp every night, a new one.

This is why they won all the time. Ikea. Yes. Yeah, but you probably had more soldiers. They probably had like 20,000 soldiers. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's huge. It's not a surprise.

Yeah. Whereas this is just a thousand moaning men. Could you pick a bit of wood and bracken, please, for the fire? Oh, for goodness sake. I just want to stab someone. Yeah. Anyway, so campfires made nightfalls. Do you want to hazard a guess what happens?

Lovely peaceful night. Yeah. Nothing happens. Yeah, in the middle of the night, the gunshots start ringing out. Oh dear. Yeah. The fire's causing more shadows than actually helping illuminate what's going on. Yeah, well, they had to flicker, don't they?

Yeah. Your night vision's gone. So they weren't really helpful. Jeff, stop staring at the fire. That's not helping you. He's convinced it's going to help him see in the dark. Yeah, because if he gets all the light in his eyes, then he'll be able to see better.

Yeah, like rays shooting out. It makes sense. So the fighting starts and continues until dawn. It's impossible for either side to fully figure out what was going on so it's just death in the dark basically harrison spent his time riding here and there trying to maintain discipline but generally finding lots of dead soldiers yeah well you're in a very awkward position because you're basically in a little area and you're surrounded by darkness they can just just fire things at the litter area yeah pretty much um at one point a bullet whistled through the brim of his hat oh yeah that's close yeah but didn't kill him yeah because it was just

a hat damaged his hat though yeah yeah he was sad about that however once the sun started to rise the superior numbers and weapons of the US forces got the upper hand, and the Prophet's men fled. So, despite the ambush, it did ultimately fail. Harrison was able to enter the village and razed it to the ground. This skirmish, because that's essentially what it was, it wasn't a full battle, it was an ambush that got pushed back, became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe.

Yes, because they're on the river of Tippecanoe. News of the fighting reached the capital, and Madison announced it as a fine victory. Because, obviously, it would. Yeah. A fine victory, eventually. And then,

the War of 1812 started. Yes, because we're only one year off that. Well, in fact, now we're not because it is now 1812. The fact that Tecumseh's forces were scattered at the start of the war was advantageous for the US because it meant that they were not able to fully ally with the British in Canada so easily. Yes. But it is only a matter of time

and that's where we're going to leave it oh the breakout of the war of 1812 all right and there you go so that is uh the first half of harrison so why why is he a log cabin fetish oh you'll find out about log cabin next time is it the ribbed effect of the walls maybe you'll find out okay yeah yeah all right so there you go thoughts um he's not standing out as somebody amazing he's not he's had a few lucky chances and but most of it's been bad news and death and destruction he comes across as a bit of a pompous aristocrat that got a couple of lucky breaks. But they're not that lucky because he was born into the aristocracy. Yeah. And, yeah, he then does all right in the army, but not amazingly.

No. And then he becomes the governor and is quite hideous to the native population. And he is horrible, introducing all the horribly racist laws. And that's about it. Yeah. Yeah. Not liking him. Still, we'll find out what happens next time.

Maybe he'll swing it all around. Maybe he'll have an amazing presidency. Maybe he will. You're laughing. Oh, dear. And so is anyone else listening to this episode who even vaguely knows u.s history right don't respond on facebook and say why yeah no no jeremy it's not allowed to find out anyway

but maybe you will maybe it will be so you just like ruin the economy or something or just another war golden age it's going to be a golden age is this like the revolution no it's too early for revolution isn't it that's civil war to us um yeah no we're still okay slightly too early yeah this is gonna be so really bad or very pathetic we'll see we'll see okay anyway thank you very much for listening um we apologize for the delay for the release of this episode um that's kind of my fault well it's kind of our fault We didn't talk to each other That reminds me though How was Harrison?

Harrison Hamilton Hamilton there we go Took a while Was it as good as I don't think Lin-Manuel Miranda is going to be writing a musical about Harrison anytime soon But Hamilton was amazing Were you singing along?

It was so so so so so, so, so good. It's like one of the best things I've ever seen. Really? Yeah. Did your partner like it as much as you? Or were they just sort of putting up with it? She had never heard it before and was only going along because she knew I really wanted to. To hear me, yeah.

But she came out saying not only was that better than i was expecting it to be but i'm actually convinced it's now really good i'm now a fan of hamilton so yeah she loved it as well what was it because in my head it's all just like crappy hip-hop and stuff like that um what was the setting like was it quite spectacular in that sense or was it only like was it mainly story singing driven i'll say singing rappy, rubbish driven. You have no idea what you're talking about. No, I really don't. No, you don't. I've only heard what he put on in the car.

The songs are amazing. The writing is amazing. Just everything about it. If you've not heard Hamilton, just go and listen to it. If you're a history fan, an American history fan in particular, which surely you are if you're listening to this, then you owe it to yourself to get to know Hamilton. Do you know what, though?

Since you brought it up, lots of people on my Facebook page, my friends, quite a few of them have gone to see it as well. I know they know nothing about history, because they know it's a big thing, so they're going to see it. Yeah, I think Hamilton fans fall into three circles of a venn diagram of like hip-hop fans musical fans and history fans okay i think i'm one of the very few fans of hamilton that really only falls into the history fan because i'm not a fan of musicals at all i've never particularly got into hip-hop uh whereas now it's like oh this is brilliant yeah

love loving it it's great it was great how was your star trek convention bloody brilliant was it though it really was the the costumes were fantastic uh sat to william shatner 45 minutes he's as crazy as you'd expect absolutely mental did you touch him didn't get a chance i was dragged away but i almost walked into two of the characters though two actors we're on the way out from the last talk one of the talks and i bumped into uh tilly and michael burnham if you've watched discovery star trek discovery and um i almost bumped into the two actors and i and yeah that was that was fun i almost touched them i'm i'm i'm pleased for you it was so good and in this box next to me is a model that i ordered when i was there a model not a toy

yeah scale model replica that's what it is oh i love how geeky we both are but in different ways yeah but i'm the cool geeky that's that's the difference really yeah you've you've got a toy plane in a box it's not a plane it's a starship anyway don't forget you can uh follow us on facebook and twitter and download us from podbean itunes and stitcher um and that leaves us all to say goodbye goodbye and uh part two released next week so we catch up with the schedule. Yes. So, thank you for listening. Goodbye. Bye. You there! Me?

Yes. Who are you? Um, my name's Billy Harrison. Ah, little Billy, you're here for the apprenticeship, yes? Yeah, yes. Ah, want to be a doctor, eh? No. Wonderful stuff. Always glad to see the youth of today wanting a career in medicine. You remind me of myself at my age, at your age, yes.

Just wanting to find out the miracles of the body, yes? What? No. in medicine. You remind me of myself at your age, at my age, at your age. Yes, just wanting to find out the miracles of the body. Yes, what? No. Yes, wonderful. Hold this. Don't squeeze it, man. It's still attached in the that later. Right. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, of course. So what inspired you to become a doctor then? Well, my dad sort of said I had to. Sorry, just just clamp down on his mouth there and stop the screaming. Ah, he bit my fingers. Yes, that would be the pain. Sorry,

I interrupted you. So what inspired you? My dad sort of forced me to. So your father a doctor then, I take it, yes? No, he's a... Put some pressure on that. The blood's on the ceiling now, man. Come on. It's on me as well. Of course it's on you.

Did you put the apron on? What apron? Always wear an apron. Rule number one of doctoring. Apron and then the whiskey. You give them whiskey? The whiskey's for us, man. Catch up.

This is gruesome stuff. Have you not noticed? Sometimes it's hard to get through a day past the bone saw. So there you go. Third Benjamin. Right. Does all right for himself. Yeah.

Again, the family on the upward trajectory. Nice. That's a word. Trajectory. Traject. Traject. Traject. Traject.

Oh, I can't say that. No! Spooky. Anyway, he took his new men, and they all got on some boats, and they headed down the Ohio. The Ohio. That's a hard couple of words to put together. The Ohio.

Oh, gosh. Yeah, that is, isn't it? The Ohio. Wow. Spooky. What's going on?