Born in Charles City County, Virginia, William Henry Harrison joined the army in 1791 and fought against American Indian tribes in the Northwest Territory. In 1798 he became secretary of the Northwest Territory, and in 1800 he began a 12-year stint as governor of the Indiana Territory. In 1811 he won a battle against Indians near Tippecanoe Creek. In 1812 he commanded the U.S. Army of the Northwest and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. During the War of 1812 he fought and won decisive battles against the British and the American Indian Confederacy. He was soon thereafter promoted to major general. Harrison won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1816 and served for three years. In 1825 he won a seat in the Senate. In the election of 1836 he ran for president as a Whig Party candidate but lost. He won the 1840 presidential election. One month after his inauguration, he caught pneumonia and died, becoming the first U.S. president to die in office.
