Don’t you people read? There are lists on this very Internet which show that Clinton is a killing machine. The body count must be up to 750,000 by now, maybe a million. He even killed my dog, Fritz, when I was a child. Oh, yeah, Fritz was hit by a car - but I saw the driver and he was smoking a very moist cigar.
Geez, why did I tell y’all this? I’ll be next number on the hit parade, fer shure. Yep, one-in-a-million, that’s me.
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
Eisenhower was a ‘political general’. He was commissioned as an officer in 1916, and therefore should have seen action in WWII, but I think he managed to stay stateside, working as an aide to various officers.
Washington and Wm. Henry Harrison fought in the French & Indian war, not as generals but as young line officers. Washington was in the thick of it at Great Meadows.
Monroe fought as a young lieutenant during the early Revolution and was severely wounded at Trenton.
Taylor made his name as a young captain at Tippecanoe (3 Sept 1812), where he and some 50 troops defended a fort against a much larger group of Indians. The assault lasted all night and the Indian losses were very heavy.
Grant and Lincoln did not really do any fighting as young officers, though Grant was nearly killed by riding through artillery fire in Mexico.
Hayes and Garfield were Generals in the Civil War and saw plenty of combat, horses shot out from under them etc. so who knows.
I should note that, while MODERN generals are often situated in safe quarters FAR from the battle, that was not always the case. In the Civil War, generals actually had HIGHER casulaty rates than privates! So, don’t assume that because a President was a general, he wasn’t in any real danger.
I find it interesting about Andrew Jackson: Much was made in 1828 of his duels and how many people he allegedly killed. I note, however:
He won in 1828 and 1832 (He might have won in 1824, but the issue was given to the House of Representatives since no candidate had an electoral majority), despite the mudslinging his opponenets reveled in. (He had a plurality in the * popular * vote all three times.)
Nothing * was made of his “killings,” in the 1832 campaign. Rachel was dead (I guess the opponets * wanted her dead) so the opposition had to find a different issue. The “killings” didn’t wow ‘em in 1828, so in 1832 they spread rumors that he was born out of the country. the * Book of Lists 2 * claimed: “If he had admitted to his foreign birth, he would not have been eligible to the presidency.” He was born in 1767 and so was a citizen at the time the Coinstitutuion was adopted, so that’s not an issue.
But the * Book of Lists * swallowed the Whigs’ 1832 lie about Jackson hook, line, and sinker. It makes me suspect whatever they said about him in 1828.
After all, Nicholas Biddle, whose Bank of the United States Jackson refused to re-charter, conducted the 1832 campaign against Jackson and the 1840 campaign against Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren. The credibility of Jackson’s “killing” record is thus suspect to me. And while we’re on the subject, who stopped the British from sacking New Orleans in 1815? Jackson, that’s who!
RTA- I think you’re a little confused about WH Harrison and Z. Taylor. The F&I war took place more than 70 years before Harrison was elected. Harrison was the hero of Tippicanoe(I don’t know if Taylor was there) . Taylor was the hero of the war with Mexico.
RRRrrriiiiight but it WAS Indians that Harrison fought, so just ignore the “French and” part.
Yet the exposed and isolated fort Taylor heroically defended was in the same area as the Tippecanoe victory (a year before) of his commanding officer WH Harrison. It was called, not coincidentally, Fort Harrison.
And he received great attention in the press for his valiant defense of it, being promoted to Major in the process. He was a well known military man long before the Mexican War.
So his victory was indeed “at Tippecanoe” like I said but not the same battle that produced the more famous “Tippecanoe and Tyler too”. THAT was Harrison.
As far as Jackson not killing anyone, well, I don’t know. A recent test on some of his remains showed that while he did have elevated levels of lead in his body, he was not suffering from lead poisoning per se.
The two bullets he was carrying around were acquired from duelling, not from his extensive combat experience. So we know that he either lost or tied, twice. The other guys may not have been as lucky as he.
Also, I dimly recall that Jackson’s method of recruiting in New Orleans before that battle involved personal coercion at gunpoint. Anyone remember if he used that gun?
Having two bullets in him doesn’t mean he lost (or tied) twice. If Jackson is shot in the leg and lives, while X is shot in the heart and dies, I don’t think anyone but the most pedantic would argue that was a “tie”. X, in particular, would probably disagree.
Jacskon recruited backwoodsmen, pirates, and convicts. Remember The Dirty Dozen? Maybe some of those had to be recruited at gunpoint. It’s like getting drafted these days.
Jackson’s recruiting a gunpoint was not entirely out of line for the early 19th century in a critical situation. Not everyone was eager to stand in the way of the British Army, and not everyone was particularly loyal to the United States in New Orleans.
William Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana Territory, ‘defeated’ (WAY too strong a term - he survived a night-time attack and then marched into the abandoned village the next day) an Amerind force at ‘Tippecanoe’ (a village founded by Tecumseh on the Tippecanoe river near its junction with the Wabash, where present day Lafayette is).
Zachary Taylor, Captain, in command of Fort Harrison, located near Terra Haute on the east bank of the Wabash river, in 1812 survived a nighttime assault on the fort. For this, he was made the first brevet major of the Army; he was later confirmed in that rank in 1815.
He later won battles against Black Hawk in 1832 and the Seminoles in 1837. He later became famous for his string of victories over the Mexican forces in 1846 and 1847, culminating in the victory at Buena Vista over General Santa Anna, which victory (made more difficult by political manoevering of President Polk), made him so well known, he was chosen in 1848 to lead the Whig party into the election for President.
Thus, while Taylor certainly did have a victory over Amerinds in Indiana, it was not at ‘Tippecanoe’, nor really very close. He was, however, well known for his results as a commander before the Mexican-American War, but it was his victory at Buena Vista that made him popular (with the ample help of the Whig press).
Maybe it was because both Whig candidates who were elected, Harrison and Taylor, died in office, leaving the Presidency to also-rans like Tyler and Fillmore, that the Whig party elected no more Presidential candidates and died a quiet death. Henry Clay didn’t have that much charisma…
“If you drive an automobile, please drive carefully–because I walk in my sleep.”–Victor Borge