President's under fire

[mpcavanaugh]

Recently I had a dinner with a few fellow reenacting types that have an interest from mid 18th century to well into the 19th. Anyway somehow myself and another guy got talking about presidents that were in the military (which there has been plenty), however, what we were trying to figure out is how many presidents we in a position during there service time to be under fire. So for example Eisenhower was in the military he was well behind the scene and never in mortal danger. However Kennedy, Bush Sr. and TR all come to mind as those that were in the thick of things.

Any comments etc. would be welcome,

Mike

[Rusty Ayers]

I can think of lots more, if you agree that 18th and 19th-century colonels and generals were close enough to the action to run the risk of getting killed. By that definition you would have to include:

-George Washington (7 yrs War/AWI)
-James Monroe (AWI)
-Andrew Jackson (Madison's War/Indian wars)
-William Henry Harrison (Indian Wars)
-Zachary Taylor (Mexican War)
-Franklin Pierce (Mex War)
-US Grant (Mex War/ACW)
-Rutherford B. Hayes (ACW-wounded in action)
-Benjamin Harrison (ACW)
-James Garfield (ACW)
-William McKinley (ACW)
-Herbert Hoover (came under fire building barricades as a civilian engineer in China during the Boxer Rebellion) and
-Harry Truman (WWI field artillery cmdr).

Nixon and LBJ were naval officers in the Pacific during WWII; LBJ got a Silver Star but it questionable whether he saw any real combat other than being under antiaircraft artillery fire a couple of times.

And of course when John Kerry is elected he will be a combat vet also. (Sorry, I couldn't resist)

[Rusty Ayers]

A true combat president, who I believe would have been as great a leader as Andy Jackson had he not died a month after taking office. As a kid in Indiana we learned about him in school and I have visited his home "Grouseland" in Vincennes, where he was territorial governor.

An interesting anecdote from the Battle of Tippecanoe:

"During this fiercely fought and bloody conflict General Harrison displayed great bravery and courage, moving about over the battlefield on horseback. He made able disposition of his forces, strengthening those parts of the lines where the Indian attack was severest. Though entreated by his officers to refrain from exposing his person, he persisted in taking an active and open part in the engagement, doing much by word and example toward encouraging his men to remain firm under the galling fire in the darkness of the morning.

A major, whose person and uniform resembled those of the general, was found by some of the men lying with face down in front of the lines, having been fatally shot. And as Harrison had shortly before been seen in that quarter of the field, the word soon spread along the line that the general had fallen. But Harrison presently appeared in that section of the field and allayed their fears, being received with loud huzzas. The person of the general was a special target for the Indian bullets. They conspired to assassinate him early in the battle.

General Harrison had two horses. The one he usually rode was a white one. It was kept saddled and bridled during the night before the battle. The stake to which it was tied was pulled up and the animal hitched by a servant to the wheel of a wagon. When the attack was made this servant was so frightened that he could not remember where he had placed the horse. Major Taylor loaned General Harrison his horse. Early in the battle one of the general's aids, who rode a white horse, was shot, it is believed, by Indians who mistook him for Harrison. During the fight Harrison's hat rim was pierced and his hair grazed by a rifle ball. The Indians chewed the bullets they used in battle, that wounds created might be more lacerating. This partially accounts for the large mortality among the wounded. On the day of the battle the American army had no meat except boiled horse flesh. This day was spent in caring for the wounded, burying the dead and fortifying the camp.

Upon the night previous to the engagement three Indians were found in the American camp. Whether they were there as spies, or, as is more probable, for the purpose of assassinating the general, is not known. They were seized and sent back to The Prophet with a demand of him for a negro, named Ben, who had deserted the American army under very suspicious circumstances. The negro had been employed as a bullock driver in the American army. When the force approached The Prophet's Town, he stated to his negro companions that he was not afraid to enter the Indian town. This they questioned, whereupon Ben started to prove his assertion. He was met by two Indians and conducted into camp. Some time after dark, Captain Wilson seized Ben while he was lurking near General Harrison's tent. The negro pleaded innocence of desertion; he claimed that he was forcibly taken into the Indian town, and had been released upon the return of the three Indians. He entered the American camp unchallenged by the sentinels. But the manner of the negro and the circumstances attending his capture by Captain Wilson, and the fact that no one had seen him in the camp prior to his capture, made it very probable that he was acting in the interest of the Indians. It was believed that he was reconnoitering in view to point out General Harrison's tent, that he might be assassinated. The fellow was tried on the same day of the battle by a drum-head court-martial. A sentence of death was pronounced upon him. General Harrison, though he believed him to be guilty, was so much moved by pity that he could not find it in his heart to enforce the verdict. He referred the matter to his officers, who after deliberation, agreed to release Ben from the death sentence. This result was brought about by the influence of Captain Snelling. The reasons for this lenity, explained by General Harrison in a letter to General Scott of Kentucky, do honor to his heart:

TEXT

From "THE BATTLE of TIPPECANOE
HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE FAMOUS FIELD UPON WHICH GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON WON RENOWN THAT AIDED HIM IN REACHING THE PRESIDENCY

LIVES OF THE PROPHET AND TECUMSEH WITH MANY INTERESTING INCIDENTS OF THEIR RISE AND OVERTHROW

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1888 AND THE ELECTION OF GENERAL BENJAMIN HARRISON

BY REED BEARD
AUTHOR OF "BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS"
FOURTH EDITION
Copyright, 1911

Hammond Press
W. B. Conkey Company
Chicago

*****************************

On Wabash, when the sun withdrew,
and chill November's tempest blew,
Dark rolled thy waves, Tippecanoe,
Amidst that lonely solitude.
But Wabash saw another sight;
A martial host, in armor bright,
Encamped upon the shore that night,
And lighted up her scenery."

"Bold Boyd led on his steady band,
With bristling bayonets burnished bright.
What could their dauntless charge withstand?
What stay the warriors' matchless might?
Rushing amain they cleared the field;
The savage foe constrained to yield
To Harrison, who, near and far
Gave form and spirit to the war."

"Sound, sound the charge ! spur, spur the steed,
And swift the fugitives pursue:
Tis vain: rein in -- your utmost speed
Could not o'ertake the recreant crew.
In lowland marsh, in dell or cave
Each Indian sought his life to save;
Whence peering forth with fear and ire,
He saw his Prophet's town on fire."

[Cliff Krainik]

On July 11, Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early's exhausted Confederates reached the outskirts of Washington near Silver Spring. Skirmishers advanced to feel the fortifications which at the time were manned only by Home Guards, clerks, and convalescent troops. During the night, veteran units from the Union VI Corps disembarked from troop transports and marched north through the streets of Washington to bolster the defenses.

On July 12, Early was finally in position to make a strong demonstration, which was repulsed by the veteran Union troops. In the afternoon, VI Corps units sortied against the Confederate skirmishers, driving them back from their advanced positions in front of Forts Stevens and DeRussy.

President Lincoln watched the action from Fort Stevens and came under fire from Confederate sharpshooters. Recognizing that the Union Capitol was now defended by veterans, Early abandoned any thought of taking the city. Early withdrew during the night, marching toward White's Ford on the Potomac, ending his invasion of Maryland. "We didn't take Washington," Early told his staff officers, "but we scared Abe Lincoln like Hell."

americancivilwar.com/statepic/dc/dc001.html

Cliff Krainik

[Cliff Krainik]

"On July 12, President Abraham Lincoln went out to Fort Stevens with his wife and other officers and stood on the parapet calmly watching the battle. The Battle of Fort Stevens thus marks the only battle in which a President was present and under enemy fire while in office. "


americancivilwar.com/statepic/dc/dc001.html

Cliff Krainik

[Larry Koschkee]

Following Mike's inquiry about presidents being in harms way while in the military service... I would like to add to Mike and Rusty's list. Jutted jaw, fist pounding, Rough Rider Theodore Roosevelt. Tomorrow, July 1, will be the 106th anniversary of Roosevelt's charge up Kettle/San Juan Hill in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.

Sorry to see Rusty slip in a political statement in this thread. Would not like to see this message board fall upon the slippery slope of left and right.

Larry K.

[Rusty Ayers]

This lurking liberal promises to be good from now on. That's why Bob and I remain such good friends... we don't talk about politics past about 1876 or so.