#general harrison

Yes, there are actually quite a bit more than you might expect. Now, I'm not including every President who had any sort of military service. These are just the Presidents who saw real combat where they faced fire or fired at the enemy in anger. GEORGE WASHINGTON Involved in fighting while serving in the British Colonial Army during the French & Indian War and definitely saw combat as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

JAMES MONROE Monroe took part in Washington's famous Crossing of the Delaware during the American Revolutionary War. At the Battle of Trenton, Monroe was seriously wounded and very nearly died.

ANDREW JACKSON Served in the American Revolutionary War despite only being a teenager and was slightly wounded after being captured by the British. He's the only President who was ever a Prisoner of War. Later saw combat in Indian Wars like the Seminole War and the War of 1812, rising to Major General.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON Saw combat during Indian Wars in the Northwest Territories (Ohio/Indiana/Michigan) and War of 1812, rising to Major General.

ZACHARY TAYLOR Spent a 40-year career in the military and saw combat in the War of 1812, Indian Wars, and the Mexican-American War, ultimately ending up a Major General.

FRANKLIN PIERCE Rose to Brigadier General in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War and was injured in battle.

ANDREW JOHNSON* While Johnson wasn't technically a soldier during the Civil War, he was appointed Military Governor of Tennessee and given the rank of Brigadier General and there was quite a bit of unrest and violence in the state during the rebellion, so I'm including him with an asterisk.

ULYSSES S. GRANT Obviously was the Union's most important Commanding General during the Civil War and saw some of the bloodiest action throughout the war. Grant also faced combat during the Mexican-American War and was the first President who graduated from West Point. Along with Washington and WWI commander John J. Pershing, Grant is one of just three Americans to be named General of the Armies.

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES Hayes was involved in significant fighting during the Civil War and wounded several times. Other than Grant, he saw the most action of any President in the Civil War, and ended the war as a Major General.

JAMES GARFIELD Was elevated to Major General in the Union Army during the Civil War and involved in a number of battles.

BENJAMIN HARRISON Saw action during the Civil War and rose to Brigadier General in the Union Army.

WILLIAM McKINLEY The youngest of the Presidents who served in the Civil War, McKinley was recognized for bravery under fire while serving in the Union Army. One of his commanders was future President Hayes.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT Famously led the Rough Riders calvary regiment of volunteers in action in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. HARRY S. TRUMAN As mentioned recently, Truman commanded an artillery regiment during World War I and actually fired one of the last shots of the war in France just hours before the Armistice went into effect.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER* Eisenhower also gets an asterisk because he is obviously one of the most revered military leaders in American history and was Supreme Commander of all Allied forces during World War II. And while he organized and commanded the largest invasion in the history of humanity, he didn't actually face fire in the same way that even a General Patton or General MacArthur did.

JOHN F. KENNEDY As a young U.S. Navy commander during World War II, JFK's PT boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer in the South Pacific, killing some of his crew. JFK was badly injured, but rescued another injured member of his crew by swimming to deserted island while dragging him by the life jacket with his teeth. After searching and finding an inhabited island, JFK carved a message in a coconut for a native islander to deliver to Allied forces who were eventually able to rescue him. JFK was the first (and only) President to be awarded a Purple Heart.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON LBJ was serving in Congress when World War II broke out but joined the U.S. Navy Reserve. In 1942, President Roosevelt sent LBJ on a fact-finding mission to the South Pacific. According to some accounts, during on observation flight, LBJ's plane was attacked by Japanese fighters but successfully completed its mission. General Douglas MacArthur awarded LBJ the Silver Star for the mission, but there have been questions and controversies over the years about what actually happened on the flight. Either way, General MacArthur's citation praised LBJ for his service and he proudly wore his Silver Star decoration for the rest of his life.

GERALD FORD During World War II, Ford joined the U.S. Navy Reserve and after requesting duty at sea was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Monterey. An active and popular junior officer on the carrier, Ford and the USS Monterey took part, according to one historian, in "virtually all the major battles in the South Pacific." Ford received ten battle stars while on the ship and, in a frightening incident, was nearly washed overboard when a massive typhoon struck the Third Fleet, causing a fire on the Monterey and sinking several ships.

In 1849, news that gold had been discovered in California swept through the United States. Tens of thousands of people left homes and families to chase the dream of quick riches. For most of the world, the ocean was the only way to reach California. Which meant that a lot of ships were needed. 

In 2001, one of these ships the General Harrison, an 1840 vessel built in Newburyport, Massachusetts, was discovered underground near downtown San Francisco. She was a full rigged, three-masted ship and she was 126 feet (38,4m) long, and 26.7 (8,4m) feet wide. Inside her 13,5 feet (4,11m) deep hold, the ship could carry up to 409 tons of cargo.

"At 30 minutes past midnight this morning of Palm-Sunday the 4th of April 1841, died William Henry Harrison, precisely one calendar month as President of the United States after his inauguration. The first impression of this event, here where it occurred is of the frailty of all human enjoyments, and the awful vicissitudes woven into the lot of mortal man. He had reached but one short month since the pinnacle of honour and power in his own country. He lies a lifeless corpse in the Palace provided by his Country for his abode. He was amiable and benevolent. Sympathy for his sufferings and his fate, is the prevailing sentiment of his fellow-citizens. The bereavement and distress of his family, is felt intensely, albeit they are strangers here, and known to scarcely any one. His wife had not yet even left his residence at North Bend, Ohio, to join him here. An express was sent for her two or three days since, but the tidings of death must meet her before she can reach this city.

The influence of this event upon the condition and history of the Country, can scarcely be foreseen. It makes the Vice-President of the United States, John Tyler, acting President of the Union, for four years, less one month. Tyler is a political sectarian of the Slave-driving, Virginian Jeffersonian school. Principled against all improvement. With all the interests and passions, and vices of Slavery rooted in his moral and political constitution -- with talents not above mediocrity, and a spirit incapable of expansion to the dimensions of the station upon which he has been cast by the hand of Providence unseen through the apparent agency of chance. I trust in humble hope of the good, which it always brings forth out of evil. In upwards of half a century, this is the first instance of a Vice-President's being called to act as President of the United States, and brings to the test that provision of the Constitution which places in the Executive Chair a man never thought of for it by any body. This day was in every sense gloomy."

-- Former President John Quincy Adams, who spent almost his entire post-Presidential life serving in the U.S. House of Representatives after leaving the White House, on the death of President William Henry Harrison and succession of John Tyler, in an entry to JQA's personal diary, April 4, 1841.

Since President Harrison was the first President to die in office and Tyler the first Vice President to succeed to office, it was not entirely clear whether that meant Tyler was merely "acting President" or had fully assumed the Presidency. Adams was one of many leaders who believed that Tyler's role was meant to be that of a caretaker, but Tyler claimed all the powers and trappings of an incumbent President, setting the "Tyler Precedent", which established Presidential succession for everyone who followed.