Look up at William Henry Harrison on horseback here in Cincinnati's Piatt Park, unveiled on Decoration Day, 1896. This monumental statue was designed by sculptor Louis Rebisso and unveiled on Decoration Day, 1896. You can feel the long effort that went into placing this image here: a commission began work in 1886 and organized a competition that solicited sculptors’ proposals by September 10, 1887.
The figure you look at embodies a life that stretched from a Virginia planter family to the nation’s highest office. Harrison was born into that planter class in Virginia in 1773, joined the Regular Army in 1791 and took part in the Northwest Indian War. In 1798 he entered politics, serving in the Northwest Territory and later the Indiana Territory.
After military service in the War of 1812 he returned to politics in the newly created state of Ohio and was elected President in the 1840 election, only to die shortly after his inauguration — the first American president to die in office. He is also remembered here as the first of eight American presidents from Ohio. Beyond the mounted figure stretch the park and the city that framed this memorial.