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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	GROUSELAND Indiana
Knox County, Scott and Park Streets, Vincennes. Grouseland Foundation

Ownership and Administration. Francis Vigo Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Significance. This mansion, now surrounded by the city of Vincennes, preserves the memory of William Henry Harrison—Indian fighter, military leader in the War of 1812, Governor of Indiana Territory, and ninth President of the United States. He built Grouseland and lived in it during his term as Territorial Governor, when he helped bring peace to the old Northwest and opened to white settlement a vast territory between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes.

In 1800 Congress created the Indiana Territory out of a part of the old Northwest Territory, and President Adams appointed Harrison as Governor. Arriving in the small Territorial capital of Vincennes the next year, Harrison purchased a 300-acre tract of land just north of town, which he called Grouseland, and in 1803-4 built a mansion on it. As Territorial Governor, he sought to protect white settlers against Indian tribes blocking the tide of westward expansion. He negotiated a series of treaties with tribal leaders of the Northwest that called for the cession of Indian lands. In 1810 Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader, warned that his people would fight white encroachment.

Apparently learning from Tecumseh that he was going south to seek allies, in September 1811 Harrison left Grouseland and traveled northward to Terre Haute, where his troops constructed Fort Harrison to serve as an advance base for an attack on the stronghold of the Shawnees and their allies at Tippecanoe Creek, near present Lafayette, Ind. Late in October he resumed his march northward and at the Battle of Tippecanoe—precipitated by a premature attack on the whites led by Tecumseh's half-brother, "The Prophet"—scattered Tecumseh's followers. Harrison had heavy losses and the victory was indecisive, but he was soon to have his day.

Not long after the Battle of Tippecanoe, once the War of 1812 broke out, Harrison obtained a commission in the Army as brigadier general, left Grouseland to command U.S. forces in the old Northwest, and the next year became a major general. Harrison's forces finally drove the British and their Shawnee and other Indian allies into Canada and decisively defeated them at the Battle of the Thames (1813). After years of diplomatic struggle and frontier war, this victory assured U.S. domination of the old Northwest. It made Harrison a national figure and contributed to his popularity and election to the Presidency in 1840. In 1814, after resigning his commission, he returned to a house that he had built at North Bend, Ohio, instead of to Grouseland; in 1813 he had been replaced as Governor of Indiana Territory.

The next occupant of Grouseland after Harrison was Judge Benjamin Parke, who lived there until about 1819. John Harrison, William Henry's son, Receiver of the Land Office in Vincennes, then resided in the mansion for about a decade. It soon fell into ruins and the city encroached upon it. By 1850 ownership had passed out of the Harrison family hands, and during the decade the mansion served as a grain storehouse and a hotel. From 1860 to 1909 it was again a private residence. In 1909 the Vincennes Water Co. purchased it and planned to raze it, but the Francis Vigo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution collected enough money to acquire, furnish, restore, and open it to the public as a historic house museum.

William Henry Harrison built this mansion on his Grouseland estate in 1803-4 and lived there while serving as Governor of Indiana Territory. He later achieved fame as a military leader in the War of 1812 and served as ninth President of the United States.

Present Appearance. Grouseland is a two-story Georgian house. To its rear is a one-story annex, joined by a covered passage. The house contains 26 rooms, an attic, and a basement. The architect is unknown. Features incorporated for protection against the Indians include two false windows in front of the house, a lookout in the attic, heavily barred basement windows, powder magazine, and basement well. All the rooms are furnished with period pieces. On display are articles associated with the Harrisons, as well as with Francis Vigo, fur trader and merchant of Vincennes who was friendly to the American cause during the War for Independence. Adjoining Grouseland is the Indiana Territory Capitol State Memorial, where the first Indiana Territorial Legislature met. This building stood elsewhere in Vincennes until 1919, when it was moved opposite Grouseland.

NHL Designation: 12/19/60