Beschreibung:

HARRISON, WILLIAM HENRY 1773-1841, President . Manuscript signed ("WH Harrison") as Ohio Representative (with about 15 words added in text by Harrison, and with an initialled autograph postscript), entitled "Genl Harrison's Answer to Genl Winchester To the Editors of the National Intelligencer," Northbend, Ohio, 12 June 1819. 11 pages, folio, 350 x 210mm. (13 3/4 x 8 3/8 in.), edges worn, dampstains (mostly minor) and light soiling, separations at folds . A FUTURE PRESIDENT'S 11-PAGE DEFENSE AGAINST AN ATTACK ON HIS "CHARACTER AND CONDUCT" AS AN OFFICER ON THE NORTHWEST FRONTIER A long, remarkably detailed and spirited defense, in which Harrison responds (for a newpaper) to accusations by General James Winchester relating to Harrison's "character and conduct" in the Ohio campaigns in the War of 1812. Harrison writes: "...My character and conduct in the command of the North Western Army has been subjected in various ways to the severest scrutiny & the result has been such as to leave no regret on my own account that I had ever been assailed...The most malevolent of Genl Winchester's publications was immediately followed by an act of the National Legislature conferring upon me for my military services 'the highest reward'...From the people of Ohio and Kentucky who were nearest the scene of action in the late war I have received repeated estimations of confidence and respect...I could have no motive for replying to Genl Winchester and should have certainly declined it had I not through your paper given the public a solemn pledge that I should answer him..." Harrison gives his own view of 1813 Ohio campaign against the British and their Indian allies. At the end, in a postscript on the otherwise blank last page, he wrotes: "The Editors of those papers who have published Genl. Winchester's number will no doubt do me the Justice to publish my reply. W.H.H." In August 1812, Harrison had taken command of a large force of militia sent to the Northwest to relieve besieged Detroit. At Cincinnati, he was joined by additional troops enlisted by Winchester; Harrison was given overall command, with Winchester in charge of the army's left wing. Harrison -- perhaps unwisely -- divided his forces in thirds to march north across Ohio to rendezvous at the Miami River. Unfortunately, Winchester reached the Miami River well before the other forces in January 1813 and made a bold and unsupported advance into present-day Michigan, where he and his army were surprised and captured by the British. (Harrison went on military glory, retaking Detroit and defeating the British and Indians at the Battle of Thames.) In 1816 a published account of the campaign (Robert McAfee, History of the Late War in the Western Country ) accused Winchester of gross negligence and military incapacity... "Winchester unsuccessfully demanded an official inquiry, and wrote a defense of his actions in which he blamed Harrison for failing to send promised reinforcements. The dispute grew bitter, but, ultimately, impassable roads and negligence on the part of both Generals were deemed the primary causes of the massacre (DAB).