d of Fort Meigs when General Proctor, with a force of
British troops and Indians, laid unsuccessful siege to it from April 28
to May 9, 1813. Transporting his army to Canada, he fought the battle of
the Thames on October 5, defeating General Proctor's army of 800
regulars and 1,200 Indians, the latter led by the celebrated Tecumseh,
who was killed. This battle, together with Perry's victory on Lake Erie,
gave the United States possession of the chain of lakes above Erie and
put an end to the war in uppermost Canada. For this victory he was
praised by President Madison in his annual message to Congress and by
the legislatures of the different States. Through a misunderstanding
with General John Armstrong, Secretary of War, he resigned his
commission in the Army May 31, 1814. In 1814, and again in 1815, he was
appointed on commissions that concluded Indian treaties, and in 1816 was
chosen to Congress to fill a vacancy, serving till 1819. On March 30,
1818, Congress unanimously voted him a gold medal for his victory of the
Thames. In 1819 he was chosen to the senate of Ohio, and in 1822 was an
unsuccessful candidate for Congress. In 1824 was a Presidential elector,
voting for Henry Clay, and in the same year was sent to the United
States Senate, and succeeded Andrew Jackson as chairman of the Committee
on Military Affairs. He resigned in 1828, having been appointed by
President John Quincy Adams minister to the United States of Colombia.
He was recalled at the outset of Jackson's Administration, and retired
to his farm at North Bend, near Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1835 was nominated
for the Presidency by Whig State conventions in Pennsylvania, New York,
Ohio, and other States, but at the election on November 8, 1836, was
defeated by Martin Van Buren, receiving only 73 electoral votes to the
latter's 170. December 4, 1839, he was nominated for the Presidency by
the national Whig convention at Harrisburg, Pa., and was elected on
November 10, 1840, receiving 234 electoral votes to Van Buren's 60. Was
inaugurated March 4, 1841. Called Congress to meet in extra session on
May 31. He died on Sunday morning, April 4, 1841. His body was interred
in the Congressional Cemetery at Washington, but in June, 1841, it was
removed to North Bend and placed in a tomb overlooking the Ohio River.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

Called from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for the
residue of my life to fill the chief executive office