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William Henry Harrison: Months
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In 1841, William Henry Harrison rode to his inauguration in a rainstorm. It rained throughout his inaugural ceremony at the Capitol and continued through his inaugural address. Nonetheless, Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address on record 8,441 words. A month later, he passed away after catching a cold that developed into pneumonia.
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From Lousiville, Harrison went to Frankfort. To clarify the command situation, on 24 September he was made Major-General in the Kentucky militia so he would outrank the several brigadier generals around, such as Winchester (who agreed). This was an extraordinary measure, since Harrison was not a citizen of Kentucky, but he was supported by all, especially the troops. He and Winchester set out for Cincinnati on the 25th, arriving there on the 27th. He took command of 3 regiments of Kentucky infantry, Colonel Wells's detachment, and a troop of 12-month volunteer Kentucky dragoons, about 2100 men in all, most of whom did not know one end of a musket from the other. As for artillery, there was only one iron 4-pounder in the west.
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Harrison was inaugurated amid great enthusiasm and gave one of the longest inaugural speeches in history (nearly an hour and a half) outdoors in early March without a hat, gloves, or an overcoat. He soon came down with a cold, which grew progressively worse and eventually developed into pneumonia. He died less than a month later, on April 4, 1841, in Washington, D.C., at age sixty-eight.
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A few months later, most of the Whig representatives had changed their votes to Harrison. Harrison was to be the Whig nominee after the most passive campaign in the history of the United States. After someone woke him up so they could tell him, he began planning the campaign he never thought about having. When asked, the original representative was even more proud of himself, saying, "I just nominated William Henry Harrison."
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