3/11/2006 - Chatham, ON

Today I pass through Chatham, home of Ontario's largest indoor amusement park. My best guess is that Chatham has about 40,000 folks in it, it's around 600 feet higher than Cambridge, MA.

It was near Chatham that the Battle of the Thames (War of 1812) took place. In this battle, General William Henry Harrison lead the American forces against a fairly week British army and a fairly strong Native American army, the latter led by Tecumseh. Tecumseh was a chieftan of the Shawnee tribe who worked to unite other tribes against the Americans.

As the legend goes, in dying, Tecumseh put a curse on Harrison. In 1840, Harrison (also known as old Tippecanoe) won the U.S. Presidency under the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." At his inaugural address he spoke for 100 minutes in the snow without hat or overcoat and died 32 days later.

And you wonder why I wear a hat when I go walking.

18,000 well dressed steps today. Cheers,