Grouseland, President William Henry Harrison Mansion

From the Book
Southwest Indiana Day Trips

Transcript:

Grouseland, President William Henry Harrison Mansion

Greetings, today I will talk about Grouseland, the home Indiana’s first Territorial Governor built in Vincennes Indiana.

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The Daughters of the American Revolution, Francis Vigo Chapter, own Grouseland.
When you visit Grouseland a volunteer from the group will conduct a guided tour of the mansion.

During the approximately hour-long tour, visitors learn many facts about the building and William Henry Harrison and his family. The DAR has furnished the home with period furniture, some of which Governor Harrison owned while living there with his family. The building, the first brick structure built east of the Allegheny Mountains, served as home to his family, his office for running the huge territory, and as a meeting place in which he and the native tribes concluded many treaties. The home also served as a fortress against native attack. Fortress features included twenty-inch thick exterior and interior walls, interior and exterior shutters, and a basement. The basement had a well for water access and a powder magazine.
The DAR does not allow photos of the inside of the museum for security reasons.

Indiana Territorial Governor William Henry built Grouseland at his own expense, completing it in 1804. Since Vincennes was on the frontier, he had to import everything for the home that would serve as the social and official life of the territory. From the mansion, he would govern a larger territory than the national capital at Washington D. C. controlled. He called the mansion Grouseland because of the multitudes of grouse that lived in the area. Also called the “White House of the West,” the structure is the first brick building constructed in the Indiana Territory.

The mansion’s meeting chamber served as the location for many meetings between Harrison and representatives of the local Amerindian tribes and many treaties were signed there. This included the Grouseland Treaty in 1805.
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Harrison family retained ownership of the mansion until the 1840’s. The home deteriorated over the years until the Daughters of the American Revolution purchased the property. After restoring the property, they placed care of the structure in the care of the Grouseland Foundation. The Foundation manages the property and events. Vincennes University’s campus adjoins the property and several of Vincennes historic buildings have been moved there. These include the Territorial Capitol and several others.
Grouseland
3 West Scott Street
Vincennes, IN 47591

William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841)
The youngest son of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Bassett, William Henry Harrison was a native of Charles City County, Virginia. As he was the youngest son, his chances of inheriting the family’s Berkeley Plantation were small. His father was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Virginia. William attended Presbyterian Hampden–Sydney College until 1790, when his father removed him to escape the influence of anti-slavery Quakers. He moved William to Philadelphia to the University of Pennsylvania to study medicine while boarding with Robert Morris. His father died in 1791, leaving Harrison without the funds he needed to continue his schooling. His father’s friend, Governor Henry Lee of Virginia persuaded William to enter the military, which he did. He inherited a portion of the family estate, including several slaves, at his mother’s death in 1793. Harrison, still in the army, sold his land and slaves to his brother. Upon entering, he received the rank of ensign. His unit received assignment to Cincinnati, which was in the Northwest Territory and at the forefront of the Indian Wars.
Promotion and Marriage
Under the command of General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, Harrison’s strict attention to discipline gained him promotion to lieutenant and then to Wayne’s aide-de-camp. During Wayne’s campaigns, Harrison learned how to command an army, a lesson that served him well. He took part in Wayne’s successful Battle of Fallen Timbers and became one of the signers of the Treaty of Greenville. By 1795 Harrison had fallen in love with Anna Tuthill Symmes, the daughter of John Cleves Symmes, a prominent judge and lawmaker in the Northwest Territory. The judge refused William’s request to marry his daughter, so the couple eloped when the judge left town. The judge took many years to accept the union that produced ten children.
Northwest Territory
He left the army in 1798 and received appointment as Secretary of the Northwest Territory. Arthur St. Clair was the governor. William Henry Harrison stood in for St. Clair during times St. Clair was absent. Harrison gained election to the United States Congress as a non-voting delegate in 1798. His status allowed him to introduce legislation, but not vote on it. At the beginning of his term, land was expensive to purchase in the Northwest Territory and had to be purchased in large lots. He helped pass the Harrison Land Act that lowered land prices and allowed smaller tract sales. he also served on the committee that oversaw the division of the Ohio Territory and the Indiana Territory in 1800.

President John Adams nominated Harrison to serve as governor of the new Indiana Territory. Harrison had not been informed of the fact until after Congress approved him the day after Adams nominated him. Harrison accepted the post and moved to Vincennes on January 10, 1801.

Forces under the command of General William Henry Harrison met in battle with the Shawnee leader, The Prophet, during the early morning hours and fought a battle that temporarily destroyed Prophetstown, the Shawnee center of power in the Indiana Territory.

Conflict and Tecumseh’s Confederation
The Shawnee chief Tecumseh had not signed the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne and had opposed white settlement into his people’s territory. In response, he began forming a confederation of Amerindian tribes to oppose further settlement, using Prophetstown as the center of his operations. On August 11, 1808, Tecumseh had visited Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison at Vincennes, warning him to negate the treaty or there would be trouble. After the meeting, Tecumseh departed for region of the Appalachain Mountains to recruit among the Cherokee tribes. He warned the Prophet not to attack Harrison during his absence, as he was not yet ready to go to war against the whites.
Prelude to Battle
Harrison had departed Vincennes after the meeting with Tecumseh, traveling to Ketucky. Acting Governor John Gibson, during Harrison’s absence, learned of impending attacks against the white settlements in the Territory. He mobilized local militia units,Including famed Yellow Jackets and the Indiana Rangers.
Yellow Jackets
Led by Knox County Sheriff Captain Spier Spencer, the unit gained its name from their bright yellow uniforms. The company included sixty men led by four sergeants and four corporals. The unit comprised men from each of the four townships in Knox County. The unit had formed in 1801 and would see action until the end of the War of 1812 in 1814.
Indiana Rangers
Formed in 1807 to safeguard the Vincennes Trace which linked Vincennes with Louisville, Kentucky, the Indiana Rangers was a well trained unit that modeled itself on General Anthony Wayne’s mounted troops at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Captain James Bigger commanded the units of the Rangers that participated in the Battle of Tippecanoe.
Harrison Gathers his Forces
Harrison returned from Kentucky with a unit of American army regulars and orders to try to resolve the problems with the Shawnee peacefully. The government had authorized him to raise a force and move against Prophetstown. Finding that Gibson had already begun preparations, Harrison gathered his force at Fort Knox, just north of Vincennes on the Wabash River. He departed with this combined force of army regulars, Kentucky volunteers and militia units in late September. His force numbered around 1100 men.
The March
Harrison’s army reached the site of current Terra Haute on the Wabash River on October 3, 1811. He halted at the site to await supplies arriving by river. He had his men construct Fort Harrison. A native force ambushed a unit of Yellow Jackets that were out foraging for food. Several soldiers died in the attack, which prevented the army from any more hunting expeditions. Supplies arrived from Vincennes on October 28. The army resumed its advance towards Prophetstown the next day.
Arrival at Prophetstown
Harrison’s force arrived at Prophetstown on November 6. The Shawnee had been aware of his approach. Tenskwatawa sent a messenger bearing a white flag and a message that Tenskwatawa wished to parley with Harrison the next day. Harrison, urged by his officers to attack, demurred. he knew that the whites had never defeated a native force that had roughly equal numbers to a white force. Tenskwatawa had nearly 1000 warriors to oppose Harrison’s. Thus, he hoped for a peaceful resolution. The army camped on a slight rise, roughly twelve feet above the surrounding countryside. After setting his army in battle formation and posting sentries, Harrison’s army settled in for the night.
The Plan
Tenskwatawa decided that the best way to defeat the army was to murder Harrison in the pre-dawn hours and then defeat the demoralized army. In the darkness of the early morning he assembled his warriors in positions encircling the army and sent two warriors to get inside the camp. He assured his warriors that he had cast charms that would protect them from the white man’s bullets and confuse them. Guided by the directions of an escaped slave that had deserted, the two warriors crawled through the tall grass surrounding the camp. They intended to enter the camp, and kill Harrison. A sentry spotted them and fired a shot, hitting one of the warriors. His cry of pain alerted Harrison that the natives were planning a battle. The army, already in battle formation, rose to fight.
The Battle
The Battle of Tippecanoe lasted about two hours. The cry of alarm had started hostilities before the natives had completed their Tenskwatawa’s charms failed, as the bullets fired by the soldiers did do harm and they were not confused. By daybreak the desperate natives made one last attempt to break into the camp and failed. The battle lost, the warriors fled. They deserted Prophestown, leaving it for Harrison’s troops to burn, along with the native’s food supply, the next day.
Aftermath
The battle broke Tecumseh’s confederation. Tecumseh would return from his southern expedition in December to find his dream dead. he would die at the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812.Tenskwatawa would eventually die at a village he founded near Kansas City, Missouri in 1836. The natives did return to Prophetstown and again used it as a base of operations during the following War of 1812. The natives launched many attacks against the encroaching whites in the ensuing months, including the Pigeon Roost Massacre on September 3, 1812. A second campaign in 1812 destroyed the village, ending its threat.

He served in that capacity until 1814, concluding thirteen treaties which brought more than 60,000,000 acres if land from native Indian control to the United States. He also defeated the Shawnee tribe at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1812, breaking that tribe’s power.
Private Life and President
After ending his term as Governor of the Northwest Territory in 1814, Harrison returned to private life and took up residence on his farm near North Bend, Ohio. He remained semi-retired until 1836, when he ran on the Whig ticket for President. That year he was defeated, but won, the 1840 campaigned. His presidency, which saw his inauguration on March 4, 1841, bears several notes. he was the last president that had been a British citizen. He served the shortest term by becoming the first President to die in office on April 4, 1841 of pneumonia.
Harrison is interred at the William Henry Harrison Tomb State Memorial on Bower Road near North Bend, Ohio.
Access to the state memorial is via US 50, exiting onto Miami Avenue, then west on Bower Road to Cliff Road.

The episode is based upon my book, Southwest Indiana Road Trips, available on the web site, http://www.mossyfeetbooks.com. The book is the first book in the 9 volume Road Trip Indiana Series. The books include all the historical markers, as of 2022, in Indiana with the text and back story. The books also include a nearly complete listing of virtually every tourism destination in the state. The destinations include parks, museums, drive in theaters, bowling alleys, wineries and much, much more. I encourage you to visit the web site and subscribe to it.
You can find my books locally at the Walnut Street Variety Shop in Batesville, Indiana.
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