HARRISON, BENJAMIN (1833-1901), the 23rd presi dent of the United States, was born at North Bend, near Cincin nati, 0., on Aug. 20, 1833. His great-grandfather, Benjamin Har rison of Virginia (c. 1740-91), was a signer of the Declaration of Tndependence. His grandfather, William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), was 9th president of the United States. His father, John Scott Harrison (1804-78), represented his district in the National House of Representatives in Benjamin's youth was passed upon the ancestral farm, and as opportunity afforded he attended school in the log school-house near his home. He was prepared for college by a private tutor, studied for two years at the Farmers college, near Cincinnati, and in 1852 graduated from Miami university. From his youth he was diligent in his studies and a great reader, and during his college life showed a marked talent for extemporaneous speaking. He pursued the study of law, partly in the office of Bellamy Storer (1798-1875), a leading lawyer and judge of Cincinnati, and in 1853 he was admitted to the bar. At the age of 21 he removed to Indianapolis, Indiana. He had but one acquaintance in the place, the clerk of the Federal court, who permitted him to occupy a desk in his office and place at the door his sign as a lawyer. Within a few years he took rank among the leading members of the profession at a bar which in cluded some of the ablest lawyers of the country.
His legal career was early interrupted by the Civil War. His whole heart was enlisted in the anti-slavery cause, and during the second year of the war he accepted a commission from the gov ernor of the State as second-lieutenant and speedily raised a regi ment. He became its colonel, and as such continued in the Union army until the close of the war, and on Jan. 23, 1865, was breveted a brigadier-general of volunteers for "ability and manifest energy and gallantry in command of brigade." He participated with his regiment in various engagements during Gen. Don Carlos Buell's campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee in 1862 and 1863; took part in Gen. W. T. Sherman's march on Atlanta in 1864 and in the Nashville campaign of the same year ; and was transferred early in 1865 to Sherman's army in its march through the Caro linas. As the commander of a brigade he served with particular distinction in the battles of Kenesaw Mountain (June 29—July 3, 1864), Peach Tree Creek (July 2o, 1864) and Nashville (Dec. 15-16, 1864).
Allowing for this interval of military service, he applied him self exclusively for 24 years to his legal work. He was a devoted member of the Republican Party, but not a politician in the strict sense. He took a deep interest in the campaign which resulted in the election of James A. Garfield as president, and was offered by him a place in his cabinet ; but this he declined, having been elected a member of the U.S. Senate, in which he took his seat on March 4, 1881. He was chairman of the committee on terri tories, and took an active part in urging the admission as States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Idaho and Mon tana, which finally came into the Union during his presidency. He served also on the committee on military and Indian affairs, the committee on foreign relations and others, was prominent in the discussion of matters brought before the Senate from these com mittees, advocated the enlargement of the navy and the reform of the civil service, and opposed the pension veto messages of President Cleveland. Having failed to secure a re-election to the Senate in 1887, Harrison was nominated by the Republican Party for the presidency in 1888, and defeated Grover Cleveland, the candidate of the Democratic Party, receiving 233 electoral votes to Cleveland's 168. Among the measures and events distinguish ing his term as president were the following : the meeting of the Pan American Congress at Washington; the passage of the Mc Kinley tariff bill and of the Sherman silver bill of 1890 ; the sup pressing of the Louisiana lottery; the enlargement of the navy; further advance in civil service reform ; the convocation by the United States of an international monetary conference; the estab lishment of commercial reciprocity with many countries of America and Europe ; the peaceful settlement of a controversy with Chile ; the settlement of difficulties with Germany concerning the Samoan islands, and the adjustment by arbitration with Great Britain of the Bering sea fur-seal question. His administration was marked by a revival of American industries and a reduction of the public debt. He was nominated by his party in 1892 for re-election, but was defeated by Cleveland, this result being due, at least in part, to the strikes which occurred during the presi dential campaign and arrayed the labour unions against the tariff party.
After leaving public life he resumed the practice of the law, and in 1898 was retained by the Government of Venezuela as its lead ing counsel in the arbitration of its boundary dispute with Great Britain. In this capacity he appeared before the international tribunal of arbitration at Paris in 1899. He wrote This Country of Ours (1897), treating of the organization and administration of the Government of the United States, and a collection of essays by him was published posthumously, in 19o1, under the title Views of an Ex-President. He died at Indianapolis on March 13, 1901. Harrison's distinguishing trait of character, to which his success is to be most largely attributed, was his thoroughness. He was somewhat reserved in manner, and this led to the charge in political circles that he was cold and unsympathetic ; but no one gathered around him more devoted and loyal friends, and his dig nified bearing in and out of office commanded the hearty respect of his countrymen.
President Harrison was twice married; in 1853 to Miss Caroline Lavinia Scott, by whom he had a son and a daughter, and in 1896 to Mrs. Mary Scott Lord Dimmock, by whom he had a daughter.
A "campaign" biography was published by Lew Wallace (Phila delphia, i888), and a sketch of his life may be found in Presidents of the United States (1894), edited by James Grant Wilson. See also U.S. Government Printing Office, Public Papers and Addresses of Benjamin Harrison (1893) ; and W. W. Thorton, "Benjamin Harrison a Lawyer and an Orator," in Green Bag, vol. xiv., pp. (1902).
(J. W. F.)