Comments on: Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time by Freeman Cleaves

By: John

John — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:11:00 +0000

I had heard from a college professor that Tecumseh was thought to be buried in northeast Kansas or northwest Missouri near the KCI airport. Have you ever heard that?

Thanks

By: James

James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:50:48 +0000

“The Army court martialed Hull for the unpardonable crime of losing to Canadians.”

Boooo.

Incidentally that 1812 conflict has spawned generation upon generation of smug Canadians, who can always look back at that result and say to their powerful American neighbors, “yeah, but we really *whupped* you back then, didn’t we?”

By: Francie Curran

Francie Curran — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:51:09 +0000

You so need to write a history book! I never laughed when I read my history books; and I liked history. Thanks for giving me an easy reference for the Super Bowl number.

By: Bob Timmermann

Bob Timmermann — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:50:26 +0000

It’s interesting, but there’s not enough references to Henry Clay.
I also am 44. But, it wasn’t until the last Super Bowl did I realize that my age and the number of the Super Bowl were always the same.

By: berkowit28

berkowit28 — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:52:38 +0000

In the current New Yorker magazine, issue of Jan. 18, there’s a piece (“Smackdown Dept.”) in the “Talk of the Town” section about someone – a Philadelphia freelance sportswriter called Don Steinberg – who noticed that we are on our 44th President and this year is the XLIVth Super Bowl. (Last year he advised President Obama to invite Hank Aaron – who wore no. 44 – to the White House.)

He decided to set up a website “to create a showdown in which each President goes up against his corresponding Super Bowl, in a Supra-Super battle for national supremacy”. William Henry Harrison gets a mention (in the New Yorker piece). “His opponent, a Steelers defeat of the Vikings in 1975, was a lousy entertainment (The score at halftime that year was a grim 2-0) but, as Steinberg remarks, ‘at least they played the whole thing’…”

Here’s Steinberg’s website: http://americabowl.net/

He seems to know enough about the presidents (and the Super Bowls) – perhaps from an encyclopedia, who knows? You’re not quoted anywhere I’ve seen yet, so this site is presumable unknown to him. Perhaps you’d like to cross-reference it there and enter the fray? (It’s a blog, with comments.) Or I can do so, but am unlikely to comment otherwise. I think you (BT) could make quite a dialog of it…

By: Bob Timmermann

Bob Timmermann — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:38:39 +0000

Dad had a Tecumseh brand compressor on the walk-in refrigerator at the dairy. When it broke down one night in the summer, the guy who came out to fix it put in a Tecumseh. He said it was the best brand on the market. Dad thought it cost too much. However, his refrigerator was broken.

By: Bob Timmermann

Bob Timmermann — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:37:23 +0000

I need more Whig party infighting to keep me interested.

By: Beth Greene

Beth Greene — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:12:18 +0000

Thanks for saving all of us from this book, Bob. Who would have thought someone with such a cool nickname would be so uninteresting?

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:40:07 +0000

Oh…where to start, there’s so much to comment on here:

“In 1840, it was hip to be a country bumpkin.”
–I think this has perhaps been true more often than not, in the US. Certainly GWB’s election was based on this. And the recent hiring of Sarah Palin by Fox News, fits the pattern.

“William Henry Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin, would become President in 1889.”
–Why is that when a President’s progeny becomes President, that both sides of the equation are mediocre at best?

“Harrison, contemptuously referred to by Clay as nothing more than “a Trajan”, beat Van Buren easily.”
–It’s good to be back in Henry Clay territory again…

“The congenial general from Ohio would run for President despite being a relatively elderly 67 years old at the time.”
–Yes, I could look this up in a couple of mouse clicks, but it’s more fun to ask…is this a first-term record? Or was Reagan older when elected in 1980?

“Tecumseh’s final resting place is unknown. He does have a line of air conditioners named after him.”
–I just don’t know where to start with this one…

By: Bob Hendley

Bob Hendley — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:14:16 +0000

So, WHH can be given credit for the fact that the Big Ten football doesn’t use Canadian rules.