THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages
EXTRACTS FROM THE UNPUBLISHED REMINISCENCES OF H. R. KINCAID
Go it Tip, come it Tyler,
Beat Old Van, or bust your biler.
While living in Madison County, Indiana, my native home, in my fifth year, 1840, I remember distinctly hearing men riding along the road in front of our house, and singing: "Go it Tip, come it Tyler, beat old Van, or bust your biler."
William Henry Harrison, the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe, was the Whig candidate for President, and John Tyler, the candidate for Vice-President, against Martin Van Buren, the Democratic candidate. Both were elected. That was the fourteenth Presidential election, but Harrison was the ninth President. Harrison died April 4, 1841, one month after his inauguration, and Tyler became President.
In 1844 I remember hearing men riding past our house, singing:
High O, the Ho osier boys, lay Polk low.
Henry Clay was the Whig candidate for President and James K. Polk was the Democratic candidate. The Democrats were shouting for war with Mexico, while the Whigs were trying to be neutral or were keeping still. That elected
