President William Henry Harrison (1773–1841): A Diagnosis Lost to Time

An equestrian statue of President William Henry Harrison sits surrounded by flowers in Piatt Park in Cincinnati, Ohio (Figure 1). Born on 9 February 1773, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Harrison became the ninth President of the United States and the first from Ohio. He was sworn into office on 4 March 1841. Three weeks later, on 27 March, Harrison took ill with a severe chill, for which he was given a laxative and had mustard paste applied to his abdomen. ¹ Harrison's attending physician, Thomas Miller, prescribed symptomatic treatments for what he thought was right lung pneumonia; however, he avoided general bloodletting, the standard pneumonia treatment, due to the patient's weakened state. ² Harrison's condition worsened on 3 April when he developed severe diarrhea, a distended abdomen, poor peripheral perfusion, and delirium. ¹ He passed in the early morning of 4 April, uttering his final words, meant for Vice President John Tyler:

“Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of government; I wish them carried out, I ask nothing more.”^1,2

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Figure 1.

President William Henry Harrison’s statue in Cincinnati, Ohio. Designed by Louis T. Rebisso and unveiled on Memorial Day, 1896.

With the nation in shock and demanding answers, Dr. Miller pointed to pneumonia as the primary suspect. However, even he had reservations: “The disease was not viewed as a case of pure pneumonia; but as this was the most palpable affection, the term pneumonia afforded a succinct and intelligible answer to the innumerable questions as to the nature of the attack.” ¹ In subsequent lines, though, Miller remarks, “It was in fact one of our ordinary winter fevers… and, apart from the distinction of its subject, presents but few points of medical interest.” ¹

The medical community has recently taken an interest in Harrison's diagnosis, with some believing that he contracted enteric (typhoid) fever. ³ The infection is caused by Salmonella Typhi or Salmonella Paratyphi A ⁴ and is linked to the unhygienic conditions of Antebellum America, which had no sewer system in 1841. ³ Interestingly, like Harrison, Presidents James Knox Polk (1795–1849) ⁵ and Zachary Taylor (1784–1850) ⁶ suffered from gastroenteritis while residing at the White House. Regardless of his questionable diagnosis, President William Henry Harrison's death sparked a constitutional crisis based on the ambiguity of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the U.S. Constitution, which concerns the death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency.