The gunfire signaled the Inauguration Day of America’s ninth president, the Whig Party’s Gen. William Henry “Old Tippecanoe” Harrison of Ohio, and his vice president, John Tyler of Virginia.

President William Henry Harrison died exactly one month after he delivered a nearly two hour inaugural address in the rain and cold.

During the 1840 election, an editorialist wrote that then-candidate William Henry Harrison was too old to be president, believing that he would be better served drinking hard cider in his log cabin.

Did delivering a two-hour long inauguration speech in the cold—and without a coat—really have anything to do with William Henry Harrison’s death?

A lithograph depicting William Henry Harrison's presidential inauguration, in 1841. Library of Congress/The Washington Post Naturally, the Democrats did their best to malign Harrison.

William Henry Harrison's 1841 speech was the longest, clocking in at 8,460 words and taking 1 hour and 45 minutes to deliver on a particularly blustery day.

The worst weather for an inaugural came in March 1909, when 10 inches of snow forced William H. Taft to move indoors to be sworn in.

Who had the shortest presidency? William Henry Harrison has the notorious standing of giving the longest inaugural address but having the shortest presidency.

General William Henry Harrison led Americans to victory in the Battle of the Thames on this day in history, Oct. 5, 1813, routing the British and Native forces led by Shawnee chief Tecumseh.