[Presidential] Harrison, William Henry: Autograph Document, signed

Harrison, William Henry
Autograph Document, signed
Greenville, (Ohio), Aug(ust) 8th, 1795. Single oblong sheet, 2 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (70 x 197 mm). Autograph document, signed by William Henry Harrison as aide-de-camp at Fort Greenville, likely for Isaac Williams, Jr., liaison and delegate of the Wyandot people, requisitioning supplies for them from the Commissary of Fort Greenville: "Williams…For the Wyandots one hundred & six pounds of beef & flour & seventy one gills of whisky--Wm. H. Harrison a.d.c."; docketed on verso, "No. 158". Creasing from contemporary folds. In mat with engraved portrait of Harrison, and in frame, 14 3/4 x 13 1/4 in. (375 x 336 mm).

A scarce document signed by future president William Henry Harrison five days after the signing of the Treaty of Greenville, requisitioning food and goods for the Wyandot people. Signed on August 3, the Treaty of Greenville temporarily ended hostilities in the Northwest between the United States and a coalition of Native American tribes, consisting of the Wyandot, Shawnee, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Miami, Pottawatomi, and others. The Treaty redefined the boundary line between Native America and the United States, with the tribes ceding most of modern-day Ohio and parts of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. In addition, the tribes received $20,000 dollars worth of goods, including a $9,500 annuity divided among each of the twelve tribes, and made up the things such as domestic animals, instruments for husbandry, etc. Here Harrison, then serving as an aide-de-camp to Major General Anthony Wayne, requisitions supplies like beef, flour, and whiskey. This receipt is presumably made out for Isaac Williams, Jr., a Wyandot trader from Sandusky and a liaison with the American Army who had signed the Treaty of Greenville on behalf of the Wyandot. Williams, Jr., (1765-1857), was born to a white man, and Wyandot women; his brother, Abraham, was a witness and interpreter at the signing of the Treaty of Greenville.

Collection of Dr. Vernon Morgan, Waverly, Pennsylvania.