UNI\ 
 
THE LIFE, 
 
 SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD, 
 
 TWENTIETH PRESIDENT OF THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS 
 
 ASSASSINATION, LINGERING PAIN, DEATH, 
 AND BURIAL. 
 
 BY 
 
 RUSSELL H. CONWELL, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "LIFE OF PRESIDENT HAYES," "LIFE OF BAYARD TAYLOR," 
 "GREAT FIRE IN BOSTON," ETC., ETC. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN D. LONG, 
 
 GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 BOSTON 
 PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: QUAKER CITY PUBLISHING HOUSE 
 DETROIT: TYLER & CO., AND R D. S TYLER & CO 
 
 1881. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
Copyright, 1881, 
 BY GEORGE STINSON & CO. 
 
TO MRS. ELIZA GARFIELD, AND TO HER SISTER, MRS. ALPHA 
 BOYNTON, PIONEERS AND CO-WORKERS IN THE DE 
 VELOPMENT OF A GREAT STATE, THIS BOOK IS 
 GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. FROM SUCH 
 SPRANG THE NOBLEST AND MOST 
 POWERFUL RACES OF MANKIND. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 HISTORY is but the aggregate of individual biog 
 raphies, and it sometimes happens in the history of 
 great nations that the biography of a single man, 
 comprehensively written, contains all the important 
 history of the government through a series of years. 
 The study of biography in the records of nearly 
 every nation furnishes the surest and easiest means 
 of obtaining certain and lasting information concern 
 ing the institutions, character, events, and time. It 
 is, however, in the moral effect upon the readers 
 that the writing and study of biography places its 
 highest claims. It encourages the young, gives hope 
 to the hopeless, warns the careless, cautions the fool 
 ish, and by its descent into the little details of prac 
 tical life furnishes a guide, companion, and counsel 
 or to every student. 
 
 The life of the martyred President, James Abram 
 Garfield, furnishes a record of peculiar advantage to 
 the young men of our land in their choice of habits, 
 professions, companions, and political principles. It 
 is surely a remarkably transparent and pure life. 
 Yet we have too much confidence in our nation to 
 think that even his life is a very great exception. 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 His biography is of equal importance to the women 
 of the land, abounding as it does in incidents of 
 motherly devotion, heroism, and love, and in accounts 
 of the sublime courage, affection, and self-sacrifices 
 of true wifehood. 
 
 It is the earnest hope of the writer that the biog 
 raphy of General Garfield in some form may find 
 its way into every library, and that the interest in 
 it may long outlive any present excitement concern 
 ing it ; for the lessons it teaches, the courage it im 
 parts, the love of honor and truth it awakens, and 
 the sweet pictures of domestic affection, filial devo 
 tion, patriotic heroism, and religious faith which it 
 reveals in our American life, cannot be valued too 
 highly in the education of future generations. Of 
 such a life it is a duty and a pleasure to write, and 
 of such he believes it will be a duty and a pleasure 
 to read. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, i 
 
 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, BOSTON, September 27, 1881.) 
 
 MY DEAR COLONEL, In answer to your letter, I 
 regret very much that I have not time to write an 
 extended introduction to your biography of General 
 Garfield, which, now that his noble life is ended, I 
 am glad to know is to be revised and again published. 
 I cordially furnish you, however, my remarks at the 
 dinner, last July, of the alumni of Williams College. 
 But no tribute can do justice either to him or to the 
 deep and loving sentiment of admiration and sym 
 pathy in which he is held in the hearts of the peo 
 ple. The best tribute is in the simple story of his 
 heroic and ascending life and character. The youth 
 of America will read it, and be reminded that they, 
 too, can make their " lives sublime." 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 JOHN D. LONG. 
 COLONEL R. H. CONWELL. 
 
 The days that cluster around our glorious Fourth, 
 turning its glory into sadness, are days not of alarm, 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but sorrow. The heart of the nation is broken and 
 melts in tears, but its faith and courage are un 
 shaken. For the second time in the history of our 
 republic a President has been shot by an assassin. 
 But this time, thank God, no organized political^ or 
 social purpose or significance crouches close behind 
 the deed. The great victim lies not a sacrifice to 
 partisan, or sectional malignity. The party of half 
 the people whose gallant candidate he defeated ; the 
 belt of humbled States which stood solid against his 
 election, as they stood solid less than twenty years 
 ago against his sword ; and even the embittered mal 
 contents in his own ranks, had no hand in his mur 
 der ; but all alike, in the better nobility of human 
 nature, now stand in common horror and pity over 
 his wounds. Nay, the whole world, betraying its gen 
 uine faith and hope in the American republic, lifts 
 its outstretched arms, and its hands are filled with 
 the lilies of sympathy for us and for him. No decree 
 issued through the secret channels of banded social 
 ists made his assailant their slave and tool. The 
 Czar fell beneath the avenging and relentless pursuit 
 of organized murder. Abraham Lincoln fell the last 
 and noblest martyr of a civil war which, victorious 
 upon the field, yet carried in its train the forked 
 and hissing flames of treachery and assassination. 
 But Garfield, in a time of profound peace, when, 
 aided by his own generous words, the sympathies of 
 the Union were welding into their old fraternity, of 
 which there could be no better proof than the trib 
 utes of sympathy that have come up to him from 
 every quarter ; in a time of universal prosperity, 
 when the whole land smiles with the promise of 
 plenteous harvests and with the happy homes and 
 returns of thrifty industry ; in a country the very 
 atmosphere of which is freedom, where no man's lips 
 are tied, and where no man lives who has not before 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 the law equal redress with every other man, ay, 
 and full redress for every grievance ; in a country 
 which is a very asylum for the oppressed of the 
 whole world else, Garfield, the embodiment of 
 American humanity ; whose name a year ago was on 
 these walls as the hope and example not only of the 
 scholar, but of the poor and humble ; whose heart 
 never had an ungenerous throb ; upon whom the 
 only criticism was the boyish and bubbling sympathy 
 of his nature; who had risked his life in battle for 
 his fellow-men, and pitched his voice in peace to the 
 highest notes of liberty, Garfield falls bleeding be 
 neath the crazy pistol-shot of a fool. The monstrous 
 meaninglessness of the purpose robs the deed of 
 something of its horror. But not meaningless is the 
 lesson. If the will that did the killing was that of a 
 maniac, yet the maniac takes his cue as well as other 
 men. This time, so far as he took it from the Nihil 
 ists' sophistry and the spectacle of the czar's death, 
 let it be a warning. So far as he took it from the 
 poisonous example of great party leaders dragging 
 the honor of American politics into the mire of spoils 
 and plunder, let it be a warning. So far as he took 
 it from a system which makes the holding of civil 
 office the reward of the most persistent camp-fol 
 lower and go-between, let it be a warning. 
 
 These are lessons which this awful calamity teaches. 
 But it does not shake the foundations of that " gov 
 ernment of the people which shall not perish from 
 the earth." If the murderer was of sound mind, let 
 his punishment be stern, swift, and sure. If not, or, 
 in any event, terrible as is the blow, it is like the 
 lightning which knows no respect of persons, save 
 that the tallest monarch of the forest oftenest at 
 tracts and takes the stroke. Let no worshiper of 
 more absolute government find in this event a charge 
 against our own. In the prophetic and reverent words 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the President himself upon the death of Lincoln, 
 reverent alike toward heaven and, as is his wont, 
 toward his fellow-men, " God reigns, and the gov 
 ernment at Washington still lives." And God grant, 
 is the fervent prayer of Massachusetts, that our now 
 stricken President may rise from his wounds to the 
 renewed love and loyalty of his people, and to the 
 yet better administration of their affairs. So shall 
 our chastisement work our welfare. Yes, while Pres 
 ident Garfield's administration had not yet worked 
 out of port into the open sea, nevertheless this sud 
 den peril of his life has reawakened us to the great, 
 undoubted nobility of his life, his services, and his 
 character. Whatever else was true, in him a great 
 American heart throbbed at the centre of govern 
 ment. ' There may have been question of some of 
 his personal selections, but the nation's relation to 
 other nations has suffered nothing in dignity or right, 
 its material and financial interests have been secure, 
 and the frauds that had been suffered to fester in 
 its flesh have been put to the curing and stern knife 
 of excoriation. 
 
 And yet, when the rumor came, as it came at first, 
 that Garfield was dead, we called up less the Presi 
 dent than the man. What a graceful tribute to our 
 government of the people it is that, North, South, 
 East, and West, not a true citizen is there whose 
 heart did not go out with the sympathy and tender 
 ness of comradeship ! It is one of our own number 
 that has been stricken down. It is the poor boy of 
 our own youth, bare of foot and weighted with pov 
 erty, lifting his eyes through humble toil to the 
 heights of American education and opportunity. It 
 is our own classmate, revisiting the college halls and 
 classic scenes of his youth to lay the wreath of his 
 great glory at the feet of his alma mater, and to read 
 in the loving eyes of his wife and children the hon- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 est pride that comes from the hand-clasp and con 
 gratulations of those who knew and loved him in 
 early days. It is the comrade of our own veterans, 
 who fought with him at Chickamauga. It is our 
 own tribune, who, on the floor of Congress, upon the 
 platform, in many a brave and inspiring word to his 
 countrymen, young and old, has spoken so nobly for 
 humanity, for equal rights, for honest money, for 
 high ideals and systems of political service, and for 
 the national advancement. And it is to the wife and 
 mother, not of the President, but of one of our own 
 number, that our tenderest sympathies go forth as 
 we recall the ripe and bending years of the one, 
 whose brow is still happy with the inauguration kiss 
 of her boy, and whose life spans at once the Western 
 pioneer's cabin and the White House, a tragedy at 
 either end, or recall the devotion of the other from 
 school-days till now, who has alike brightened his 
 simple Western home, and to-day, in this terrible 
 crisis, sitting at his bedside, stands for the heroism 
 of American womanhood. 
 
 Amid these halls for the education of American 
 youth, most earnestly do I claim that such a crime is 
 utterly un-American, as shocking and irrelevant as 
 the monstrosities that now and then sully the fair 
 perfection of nature herself. All the more for that 
 reason the contrast brings out the normal placidity 
 and security of our freedom. Grief and pity and 
 sorrow are ours, but with them come the lesson and 
 the duty, to stand closer, to raise the standard 
 higher, to rise above the meanness of wrangle and 
 selfish plundering, to scatter the miasmatic fog of 
 fanaticism with common sense and good example, 
 and to live more for ourselves by living less for our 
 selves and more for our fellow-men and country. I 
 offer the prayer which is in all your hearts, and 
 which is breathed by the whole Commonwealth, from 
 
1 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Greylock's top to the pebbles upon the beach at 
 Provincetown, prayer for the restoration to health 
 and duty, and for the return another year to these 
 beautiful scenes, with which his name and memory 
 will be forever associated, of Williams' foremost grad 
 uate, Massachusetts' distinguished descendant, and 
 the nation's beloved President, James A. Garfield ! 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Genealogy of the Garfield Family. Earliest Mention of them in Eng 
 land. Associated with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favor 
 ite of Queen Elizabeth. The Family in Wales. The Home of 
 Edward Garfield in Chester, England. The First oi the Family 
 in America. The Coat of Arms. History of Captain Benjamin 
 Garfield. Abraham Garfield at the Concord Fight, in 1775. 
 Emigration of Solomon to New York State. Death of Thomas 
 at Worcester, N. Y. Birth of Abraham Garfield. His removal 
 to Ohio. His Marriage with Eliza Ballou. Brothers marry Sis 
 ters. Their Remarkable Characteristics. Early Married Life 
 along the New Canal. Birth of the first Children. Selection of 
 a Home in the Woods, 25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The Opening of Ohio to Settlers. The Early Habitations. The 
 Primitive Forests. Wild Beasts. Appearance of Cleveland. 
 Fertility of the Soil. Abram Garfield and his Wife. Excursion 
 of the Brothers into the Woods. Selection of a Home. The 
 first Clearing. Small Quarters. Arrival of the Boynton Family. 
 The first Cabin. The Removal of the Garfield Family. The 
 Forest Road. Two Families in One. Joy of the Sisters. No 
 Place like One's own Home. The Garfield Log Cabin, Settle 
 ments opened about Them. Clearing their Farm. The School- 
 House, ' 38 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BIRTH OF JAMES AND DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 
 
 Birth of James. The Fourth Child of the Family. Rejoicings. 
 Humble Surroundings. Named after his Uncle and his Father. 
 Effect of that Calamity. Sympathy of the Neighbors. In 
 Debt. Widow advised to give away her Children. Attempting 
 to save the Home. Finishing the Rail Fence. Industry of 
 Thomas. His Self-sacrifice. Occupation of the Widow. Her 
 Love for Reading. Teaching Little James, .... 46 
 
1 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HABITS AND INCIDENTS OF HIS BOYHOOD. 
 
 Not precocious. His Plays. A petted youngest Child. His early 
 Tasks. Absence of a Father's Discipline. His absolute Truth 
 fulness. Could not lie to his Mother. Ashamed to be called a 
 Coward. His Uncle Amos. Wholesome Fear. Love of Poe 
 try. Names the Trees and Rocks after Heroes and Heroines. 
 Beading at home. Country Lyceum. Mother's Watch-care, 55 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 YOUTHFUL OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 Early Maturity. Boiling Salts. A Man's Work at Harvesting. 
 Ambition to be a Carpenter. New Frame House at Orange. 
 Learning the Trade. Out of Work. Chopping Wood. Wish 
 es to be a Sailor. Visits a Ship at Cleveland. Abandons the 
 Idea of being a Sailor. Finds Employment on the Ohio Canal. 
 
 A Driver Boy. Fever and Ague. A Quarrel. An Acci 
 dent. Goes Home to his Mother, 67 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EFFORTS TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION. 
 
 Slow Recovery. Meeting with Mr. Bates. A Private Tutor. De 
 termined Beginning. The Geauga Seminary. Estimates the 
 Cost of a Term at School. Earns a small Sum to start with. 
 His Mother's Help. Boarding himself at Chester. Pudding and 
 Molasses. Advantages of a healthy Body, Teaching School. 
 Vacation Work, Interest in Religion. Disciples of Christ. 
 Religious Persecution. Trustworthy Work. A Good Name, 78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SCHOLAR AND TEACHER AT HIRAM. 
 
 Leaving Chester. Description of Hiram. The Crown of Ohio. 
 The Eclectic Institute. Course of Study. A Leader among the 
 Students. Janitor of the Building. Urged to become a Preach 
 er. Determined to attend College. The Debating Club. A 
 Revolt. Outside Studies. Work as a teacher. Works on alone 
 into the College Text-books. Borrows money of his Uncle 
 Thomas. Starts for Williamstown College, . . . .91 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LIFE AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 
 
 His Health. Appearance of the Hoosac Valley. Scenery about 
 Williams College. The Great Natural Amphitheatre. The 
 Mountains in October. Character of the Students. Garfield's 
 Habits as a Student. Enters the Junior Class. His Modesty. 
 
 Friendship of President Hopkins and Professor Chadbourne. 
 His Truthfulness at College. His Graduation. Classmates, 102 
 
CONTENTS. 19 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 
 
 A PREACHER AND PROFESSOR. 
 
 A Preacher in the Church of the Disciples. Estimation of his Abil 
 ities among his old Neighbors. Rise of Infidelity at Chagrin 
 Falls. Spiritualism and Christianity. Exciting public Discus 
 sion. Professor Denton vs. Professor Garfield. How the Victo 
 ry was won. Mr. Garfield's Popularity as a Teacher. Testimo 
 ny of Students. Marriage with Miss Lucretia Rudolph. His 
 Speech at Hiram, Ill 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 POLITICIAN AND LAWYER. 
 
 Political Sympathies. Hope of making the Law a Profession. En 
 ters his Name as a Student, Years of hard Study. Profitable 
 Use of all his Time. His Legal Research. Interest in Local 
 Politics. A Stump-speaker's Challenge. First Speech. Nom 
 ination for the State Senate. In the Service of the State. 
 Leaving the Gospel for Politics. Mrs. Garfield's Love of Domes 
 tic Life, 124 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE EVENTFUL YEAR OF 1 86 1. 
 
 Admission to the Bar. "Withdraws from Ministerial Work. Oppo 
 sition to Slavery. Leadership in the State Senate. The Gov 
 ernor's Assistant. Providing for the Troops. The Regiment of 
 Hiram Students. Depletion of the Classes. Appointment as 
 Lieutenant-Colonel. Promotion. Departure for the Field. 
 Consultation with General Buel. Plan of a Campaign. March 
 against Marshall. Battle of Prestonburgh. The Account of F. 
 H. Mason. Promotion, 134 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 
 
 Lack of Provisions. The Great Flood. Dangerous Situation of the 
 Troops. General Garfield goes to the Ohio River. Perilous 
 Voyage up the Big Sandy. Reception by the Hungry Troops. 
 Expedition against the Enemy at Pound Gap. General Orders 
 connected with his Campaign. His Transfer to Louisville. His 
 New Command. Forced Marches. The Battle of Corinth. 
 Refusal to return Slaves to their Masters. Election to Congress. 
 Appointment as Chief of General Rosecrans' Staff. Battle of 
 Chickamauga. Promotion to Major-General. Resignation. 157 
 
20 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 REVIEW OF HIS MILITARY CAREER. 
 
 Fitness for Military Affairs. How he became familiar with Infantry 
 Tactics. Carries the chief Characteristics of his Boyhood into 
 Army Life. His Knowledge of Law. Military Trials. The 
 Tullahoma Campaign. His Ability as an Engineer. His great 
 Plan for an onward Movement from Murfreesboro.' His Official 
 Report. Compliment from General Rosecrans. His Resigna 
 tion 175 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SERVICE AS A LEGISLATOR. 
 
 A new Field. The highest Test of human Greatness. The Ameri 
 can Congress. Frequent Failures of noted Men. The Trials of 
 that Crisis. Placed on the Military Committee. The Style of 
 his Speeches. His Industry. His Reply to Mr. Long. An 
 impromptu Speech. The Compliments of Old Members, . 187 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EARLY SPEECHES. 
 
 His Position concerning the Draft for the Army. Differs with his 
 own Party. Contends for Frankness and Truth. Hopeful View 
 of the Nation's Success. National Conscience and Slavery. 
 Emancipation the Remedy for National Evils. Defense of Gen 
 eral Rosecrans. Tribute to General Thomas. His Account of 
 the Battle of Chickamauga. The Doctrine of State Rights. 
 Camden and Amboy Railroad vs. the United States. W hat is 
 the Power and Prerogative of the Nation, . ... 202 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 EULOGIES OF NOTED MEN. 
 
 To Abraham Lincoln. The Anniversary of Mr. Lincoln's Death. 
 Cause of the Assassination. Effect of his Death. A Beautiful 
 Tribute. Oration on Carpenter's Painting. Signing the Eman 
 cipation Proclamation. Its Place in History. John Winthrop 
 and Samuel Adams. The Gift of Massachusetts, General Gar- 
 field's Tribute to New England. The Lesson of Self-restraint. 
 Remarks upon the Death of Senator Morton, . . . .216 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. . 
 
 PERIOD OF UNPOPULARITY. 
 
 His Practice of Law. His first Case in the Supreme Court. His 
 success as a Lawyer. Unpopularity of his Defense of Rebels in 
 Court. His Connection with a Matter called the De Golyer 
 
CONTENTS. 21 
 
 Pavement Case. How he was Maligned. Persistency of Enemies. 
 The great Credit Mobilier Case Vindication of General Garfield. 
 His Story of his Dealings with Oakes Ames. His Opposition to the 
 Increase of Salaries in Congress. The Censure of his Constituents. 
 His Explanation. Restoration to Public Favor .... 244 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 LABORS IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Appointment on Committees. Variety of Work. His Leadership. List 
 of Speeches. The Electoral Commission. Speech in Wall Street. 
 His Views on Finances. Resumption of Specie Payments . . 318 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SENATOR AND CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 Action of his Old Neighbors. Election to the U. S. Senate by the Ohio 
 Legislature. His Speech. Views of his Family. Their New Home 
 at Mentor. The Chicago Convention. Strange Prophecies. The 
 Great Partisan Conflict. His Nomination on the 36th Ballot. The 
 Slanderous Campaign. General Garfield' s Behavior. Triumphant 
 Election , 324 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 INAUGURATION. 
 
 Assailed by Office Seekers. The Responsibilities and Annoyances of a Pres 
 ident.' Methods of Securing a Hearing. General Garfield's Self -Sac 
 rifice. His Home Life Broken Up. Ceremonies of Inauguration. 
 Difficulties in Selection of Counselors. The Cabinet . . . . 335 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION. 
 
 Charles J. Guiteau. Seeking an Appointment. Events of his Life. His 
 Dishonesty. A Lawyer, Writer, and Stump Speaker. Applies for a 
 Consulship. The Refusal. Deadly Purpose. Encouragement from 
 the Political Contest in the Senate. Determines to Murder the Presi 
 dent. Hopes of Escape. Following the President. Failure of his 
 Courage. Mrs. Garfield's Pale Face saves the President. The Final 
 Attempt. The Meeting. The Fatal Shot. The Prison. The 
 White House. Universal Grief. Exhibitions of Heroic Devotion and 
 Love. The Prisoner in his Cell 342 
 
22 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DEATH AND BURIAL. 
 
 Removal to Long Branch. The Francklyn Cottage. Views of the Sea. 
 Pictures of Grief. The Physicians. The Attendants. Last Mo 
 ments. Sympathy of the People and of the Nations. The Funeral 
 Procession/ Iii State at Washington. Funeral at Cleveland. His 
 Resting Place ... . 354 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 Incidents, Anecdotes, Tributes, and Reflections 377 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF GENERAL GARFIELD. Steel. 
 
 FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF MRS. GARFIELD. Steel. Opposite pagre 120 
 
 EARLY HOME OF GENERAL GARFIELD. " 44 
 
 TOW BOY ....... " "74 
 
 HIRAM COLLEGE .-'*'. . . . " "93 
 
 CAPITOL AT COLUMBUS . . . ' . . . "135 
 ''GIVE 'EM HAIL COLUMBIA" . . . Opposite page 140 
 
 PLAN OF CHICKAMAUGA BATTLE-FIELD " " 171 
 
 CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON .... "191 
 
 RESIDENCE AT MENTOR . . . . Opposite " 326 
 
 WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON . ' , . . " 341 
 
 ASSASSINATION ...... " "350 
 
 SCENE IN SICK ROOM " "354 
 
 FRANCKLYN COTTAGE AT LONG BRANCH " " 355 
 
 PORTRAIT OF HIS MOTHER ..." " 357 
 
 GROUP OF HIS FIVE CHILDREN. . " " 359 
 
 LYING IN STATE AT THE CAPITOL . " " 363 
 
 VIEW OF PROCESSION, CLEVELAND . " " 374 
 VIEW IN LAKE VIEW CEMETERY, THE 
 
 LAST RESTING-PLACE OF PRESIDENT 
 
 GARFIELD " " 376 
 
THE LIFE, 
 
 OF 
 
 GEN. JAMES A. GABFIELD 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENEALOGY OF THE GABFIELD FAMILT. EARLIEST MENTION OF THEM 
 IN ENGLAND. ASSOCIATED WITH BOBEBT DUDLEY, EABL OF LEI- 
 CESTEB, FAVOBTTE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. THE FAMILY IN WALES. 
 THE HOME OF EDWABD GABFIELD IN CHESTEB, ENGLAND. THB 
 FIRST OF THE FAMILY IN AMEBICA. THE COAT OF ARMS. HIS- 
 TOBY OF CAPTAIN BENJAMIN GABFIELD. ABRAHAM GABFIELD AT 
 THB CONCOBD FIGHT, IN 1775. EMIGRATION OF SOLOMON TO NEW 
 YOBK STATE. DEATH OF THOMAS AT WOBCESTEB, N. Y. BIBTH 
 OF ABBAM GABFIELD. HIS BEMOVAL TO OHIO. HIS MABBIAGE 
 WITH ELIZA BALLOU. BBOTHEBS MABBY SISTERS. THEEB BE- 
 MABKABLB CHABACTEBISTICS. EABLY MABBIED LIFB ALONG THB 
 NEW CANAL. BIBTH OF THJI FIBST CHILDREN. SELECTION OF 
 A HOME IN THB WOODS. 
 
 SHOULD the time ever come when it shall be 
 proven by scientific investigators that man, as a be 
 ing, is but " the aggregation of minute developments 
 and of varied experiences," the genealogical history 
 of his ancestors will be shown to be of the first im 
 portance in forming an estimate of his ability and 
 
26 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 character. If it be true, as now claimed by scien 
 tific leaders of modern thought, that the child is born 
 with all the experiences and mental accumulations oi 
 his progenitors, paternal and maternal, latent in his 
 brain and system ; then, to gain a knowledge of his 
 physical mould and of his mental peculiarities, the 
 student of biography would need to secure impossi 
 ble information about the lives of the generations 
 past in order to measure the physical power and 
 mental capabilities of the man whose life he studies. 
 Whether the writers and scholars who devote so 
 much of their time to genealogical studies take this 
 scientific view of the matter or not,it is certain that, 
 for some reason, the study of genealogy is taking a 
 prominent place in the pursuits of scholarly men. 
 Having, however, no faith in the theory that the 
 men of to-day are but the aggregations of experi 
 ences and developments in the past, and giving but 
 little credit to the aristocratic claim that ancestry 
 makes the nobleman, we give the line of the Garfield 
 family for the benefit of such as may deem it import 
 ant. The tendency of this record is to show that all 
 the individuals of the different races are born into 
 the world with very similar characteristics and with 
 much greater equality in mental endowments than 
 aristocracy is willing to admit. It shows, too, that it 
 is not what our fathers were so much as what we 
 make of ourselves, that determines our right to no 
 bility or praise. Ancestry and health wield a per 
 ceptible and sometimes a strong influence ; but the 
 capital we are born with may be increased a hundred 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 27 
 
 fold by our own exertions. It is this increase which 
 constitutes the noblest claim to human greatness. 
 
 The earliest known mention of the Garfield family 
 is in 1587, when it appears that one James Garfield 
 (or Gearfeldt), was given a tract of land on the bor 
 ders of Wales, near Chester, England, through the 
 influence of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. A 
 natural inference would be that he had performed 
 some military service on the Continent, under that 
 celebrated favorite of Royalty, or was of some special 
 service to Robert at Kenilworth or London. The 
 estate thus conferred is said to be situated near Os- 
 westry, and not far from the most beautiful and cele 
 brated vale of Llangollen, on the border of Wales. 
 What was the nationality of James Garfield, whether 
 Welch or English, German or Dutch, does not ap 
 pear. The most probable conjecture is that he was 
 Welch, and was a warrior of some note, perhaps a de 
 scendant of the old Knights of Gaerfili Castle, The 
 estate conferred upon him was either released by 
 him, taken from him, or for some reason his children 
 did not inherit it, and no mention of them appears, 
 so far as is now known, in any record of the Garfield 
 family until 1630, when Edward Gearfield, of Ches 
 ter, England, came to America, in a company of 
 colonists, who embarked with his family under the 
 auspices of Governor John Winthrop. 
 
 The name appears again at Watertown, Massachu 
 setts, in 1635, and is probably the same man. He 
 was born in 1575. Of this Edward Garfield (or Gear- 
 field) quite full accounts come down to us, and curi- 
 
28 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 ous searchers into the family history claim to have 
 discovered his Coat of Arms. If the following de 
 scription of the family escutcheon be correct, as 
 claimed by those who have given the matter study, 
 it goes far to confirm the previous conclusion that 
 the Garfields were a martial family of wealth and in 
 fluence in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and perhaps 
 in the Crusades. It had three horizontal bars of red 
 on a field, or background, of gold in the center of 
 the shield, and a red Maltese cross on an ermine can 
 ton or corner piece. The crest consisted of a helmet 
 with the visor raised, and an uplifted arm holding a 
 drawn sword. For a motto were the words : "In 
 cruce vinco," (by the cross I conquer). 
 
 This Edward Garfield, from whom the present 
 large Garfield family in America has descended, ap 
 pears to have taken no great pride in his lineage or 
 lordly titles, for he took a personal and laborious 
 share in the manual labor connected with the clearing 
 of his land in Watertown, and left but a meager trace 
 of his armorial badge. His house was built on a 
 beautiful spot in Watertown, overlooking the Charles 
 River, and the site is still pointed out to visitors, 
 near the railroad station of the Fitchburg railroad. 
 In this house he lived but a few years before he was 
 able to purchase a much larger estate in the western 
 part of Watertown, near the present location of the 
 Waltham town line. On this land he erected a capa 
 cious mansion, and surrounded himself with all the 
 comforts and elegance of the " gentleman " of that 
 period; and the estate now known as the " Gov. Gore 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2Q 
 
 place," still holds its position as one of the most 
 beautiful and valuable estates in Massachusetts. Ed- 
 ward Garfield, Sr., had two sons, viz., Edward, Jr., 
 and Samuel. The latter lived a bachelor's life, but 
 Edward, Jr., was a selectman three years, and mar 
 ried a lady of Newton, Massachusetts, who died April 
 1 6, 1 66 1. She had, however, before her death, given 
 birth to three sons and two daughters, viz., Samuel, 
 the date of whose birth we cannot ascertain, but who 
 died November 20, 1684; Joseph, who was born 
 August 14, 1631 ; Rebecca, who was born March 10, 
 1640; Benjamin, who was born in 1643, and died 
 November 28, 1717; and Abigail, who was born 
 June 29, 1646. 
 
 BENJAMIN GARFIELD, Edward, Jr.'s fourth child, 
 remained at home in the old mansion, and married 
 Mehitable Hawkins, in 1673. After the birth of two 
 children, viz., Benjamin and Benoni, she died De 
 cember 9, 1675, and her gravestone is still standing 
 in the cemetery at Watertown. Benjamin married 
 Elizabeth Bridge, of Watertown, for his secon4 wife, 
 January 17, 1677. By this second marriage there 
 were born to him Elizabeth, whose birth was June 30, 
 1679; Thomas, born December 12, 1680, and who 
 died in Weston, Mass., February, 1752; Anne, who 
 was born June 2, 1683 ; Abigail, who was born July 
 13, 1685; Mehitable, whose birth was December 7, 
 1687; Samuel, whose birth was September 3, 1690; 
 and Mary, who was born October 2, 1695. 
 
 Captain Benjamin Garfield, the father, was a dis 
 tinguished citizen of Watertown, and was given a 
 
3O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 captain's commission by the Governor, in the Colonial 
 Militia. He held numerous town offices, and was 
 elected nine times to the Colonial Legislature. He 
 was a stout, broad-shouldered man, with an open, 
 cheerful countenance, and most affable and kind in 
 his manners. His light complexion, and especially 
 the light hair, appear to have descended to the pres 
 ent generation. 
 
 It appears, from the old records, that Captain Gar- 
 field's house and barn were burned on the night of 
 March 29, 168-, by his negro servant, Joshua, and 
 on the night of April Qth, Joshua was discovered with 
 his throat cut, a knife clasped in his hand. He had, 
 perhaps, committed suicide out of remorse. In 1684 
 the captain's fence was burned by Christopher Thomp 
 son, who was ordered to be sold into a neighboring 
 colony. Both of these were probably slaves. 
 
 His eldest son by his second wife, LIEUT. THOMAS 
 GARFIELD, was married to Mercy Bigelow, daughter 
 of Joshua and Elizabeth (Flagg) Bigelow, January 2, 
 1706, and he also made his home at the old home 
 stead. At his death, the estate passed out of the 
 family. He appears to have inherited many of his 
 father's natural qualities, and to have won for himself 
 the esteem and friendship of the people of his town. 
 He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Militia, 
 and saw active service in a campaign against the In 
 dians. His wife died February 28, 1744. He died 
 February 4, 1752. They had twelve children, viz,, 
 Elizabeth, born August 10, 1708; Eunice, born Aug 
 ust 23, 1710; THOMAS, JR., March, 1713, and who 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 31 
 
 died January 3, 1774; Thankful, born February 15, 
 1715 ; Isaac, born February 19, 1716; John, born 
 December 3, 1718; Samuel, born April n, 1720; 
 Mercy, born June 17, 1722 ; Ann, born June i, 1724; 
 Lucy, October 5, 1725 ; Elisha, November n, 1728; 
 and Enoch, June 23, 1730. 
 
 THOMAS GARFIELD, JR., married Rebecca Johnson, 
 daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Johnson, of Lunen- 
 burg, Mass., and moved to Weston, and afterwards 
 to Lincoln, Mass., where he owned a large farm, and 
 where he died, January 3, 1774. Their children 
 were born as follows, viz., Solomon, July 18, 1743; 
 Rebecca, September 23, 1745 ; Abraham, April 3, 
 1748; Hannah, August 15, 1750; Lucy, March 3, 
 
 I754- 
 
 SOLOMON GARFIELD, the eldest son of Thomas, Jr., 
 married Sarah Stimson, of Sudbury, May 20, 1766, 
 and soon after his marriage they moved to Worces 
 ter, Otsego County, N. Y., where he purchased a 
 farm. He was accidentally killed by falling from a 
 beam in his barn, in 1806. His children were 
 Thomas, Solomon, Rebecca, Hannah, and Lucy. 
 
 Solomon's brother Abraham was an earnest devo 
 tee of American independence, and lived at Lincoln, 
 Massachusetts, when the Revolutionary war began. 
 He was^one of the first volunteers who enlisted in 
 defense of the Colonies, and was in the fight at Con 
 cord, and was side by side with the ancestors of many 
 illustrious Americans, including Judge E. Rockwood 
 Hoar of Massachusetts. The signature of Judge 
 Hoar's great-grandfather, John Hoar, and Abraham 
 
32 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Garfield are still preserved, and the curious docu 
 ment they signed was an important matter in its 
 time. 
 
 At the beginning of the revolution, separation from 
 England was not generally meditated, and it was 
 deemed important to endeavor to fix the responsi 
 bility for the beginning of the conflict, showing 
 which side struck the first blow, in the event of a 
 settlement of the troubles. Therefore the affidavits 
 of many persons concerned were secured and pre 
 served. Their deposition, showing how the attach 
 on Concord Bridge began, was as follows : 
 
 LEXINGTON, April 23, 1775. 
 
 WE, John Hoar, John Whithead, Abraham Gar- 
 field, Benjamin Munroe, Isaac Parker, William Hos- 
 mer, John Adams, Gregory Stone, all of Lincoln, in 
 the County of Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, all of 
 lawful age, do testify and say that, on Wednesday 
 last, we were assembled at Concord, in the morning 
 of said day, in consequence of information received 
 that a brigade of regular troops were on their 
 march to the said town of Concord, who had killed 
 six men at the town of Lexington ; about an hour 
 afterwards we saw them approaching, to the number, 
 as we apprehended, of about 1200, on which we re 
 treated to a hill about 80 rods back, and the said 
 troops then took possession of the hill where we were 
 first posted ; presently after this, we saw the troops 
 moving toward the north bridge, about one mile from 
 the said Concord meeting-house ; we then immedi 
 ately went before them and passed the bridge, just 
 before a party of them, to the number of about 200, 
 arrived ; they then left about one-half of their 200 at 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 33 
 
 the bridge, and proceeded, with the rest, toward 
 Col. Barrett's, about two miles from the said bridge ; 
 and the troops that were stationed there, observing 
 our approach, marched back over the bridge and 
 then took up some of the planks ; we then hastened 
 our march toward the bridge, and when we had got 
 near the bridge, they fired on our men, first, three 
 guns, one after the other, and then a considerable 
 number more; and then, and not before (having or 
 ders from our commanding officer not to fire till we 
 were fired upon), we fired upon the regulars and they 
 retreated. On their retreat through the town of 
 Lexington to Charlestown they ravaged and de 
 stroyed private property and burnt three houses, one 
 barn, and one shop. 
 
 Signed by each of the above deponents. 
 
 Solomon was also a strong advocate of American 
 Independence, and met with a company on training- 
 day, but for some reason was not called into the militia. 
 
 Solomon's eldest son, THOMAS GARFIELD, was 
 born in 1775, and lived a farmer's life at Worcester, 
 Otsego County, N. Y., and married Asenath Hill, 
 of Sharon, N. Y. Their children were Polly, Betsey, 
 Abram, and Thomas. Abram was named for his 
 patriotic uncle, who fought at Concord. 
 
 This Abram Garfield was the father of James A. 
 Garfield, the subject of this biography. Abram was 
 born December 28, 1 799, at Worcester, Otsego County, 
 N. Y., and, as his father, Thomas Garfield, was an 
 industrious man, and not a wealthy farmer, he kept 
 Abram at close and hard labor during his early years. 
 Abram had but little opportunity for obtaining an 
 education, although naturally a gifted and thoughtful 
 3 
 
34 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 man. The construction of the Erie Canal gave em 
 ployment to a large number of people along the line 
 during the time of Abram's later youth and early 
 manhood; and the first money he was able to save, is 
 said to have been in connection with a job as a la 
 borer on the Erie Canal. 
 
 When the Government decided to construct the 
 Ohio Canal, and thus open to communication with the 
 East the beautiful lands of Ohio, many people living 
 in the State of New York moved into Ohio, and 
 quite a number of the contractors and laborers who 
 had found employment on the Erie Canal, sought the 
 same opportunity on the Ohio Canal. Through the 
 influence of friends who had moved from Worcester 
 to Ohio, Abram Garfield and his half-brother, Amos 
 Boynton, secured an interest in a contract on the 
 Ohio Canal, and they went to Ohio when Abram 
 was twenty-one years old. 
 
 At the town of Perry, Muskingum County, Abram 
 met again with one of his old playmates, Miss Eliza 
 Ballou, who had accompanied her family to Perry a 
 year or two before. They had been confidential 
 friends in Worcester and the friendship of youth 
 ripened into the love of maturer years. Miss Ballou 
 is represented to have been an unusually attractive 
 young lady, petite, sprightly, and possessing the spirit 
 of tireless activity. Eliza and her sister Alpha were 
 such industrious, intelligent girls, as to cause the 
 "Ballou Sisters" to be held up by parents in the 
 neighborhood as examples of neatness and activity. 
 
 It appears that Abram and his half-brother Amos, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 35 
 
 did not have a very easy courtship, so far as com 
 municating or meeting with their sweethearts affected 
 their happiness, for their work was arduous, and their 
 abode much of the time away on the banks of the 
 unfilled canal. However, with but little capital and 
 less household furniture with which to begin life, 
 Abram married Eliza, and Amos married Alpha. 
 
 Abram and Eliza immediately after their marriage 
 in 1819, removed to the town of Independence, Cuy- 
 ahoga County, Ohio, where Abram was engaged in 
 excavating for the canal. From the first day of their 
 marriage, Eliza entered upon the work of gaining a 
 livelihood with a will, and by weaving, knitting, keep 
 ing as boarders the workmen on the canal, she con 
 tributed her full share to the gains of the partnership. 
 She inherited many of the noble qualities of her 
 ancestry; and the heroism of her brother, James Ballon, 
 in the war of 1812, or of that distinguished uncle, Ho- 
 sea Ballou, in his controversy with his Baptist breth 
 ren over his Universalist belief, was never greater 
 nor more worthy of respect than the ceaseless, and 
 good-natured self-sacrifice of their little niece on the 
 banks of the Ohio Canal. Many of the Ballou family 
 have held high positions. In New Hampshire where 
 the family first settled, in Vermont to which one 
 branch early emigrated, and in Boston, where, as the 
 President of Tufts College, as the Editor of the 
 Universalist Magazine, as the preacher of sermons, 
 now classic, as the author of the History of the 
 Crusades, the editor of Balloits Pictorial, and The 
 Flag of our Union, and as the editor and founder of 
 
36 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 the Boston Daily Globe, they have been known and 
 honored ; but neither the Ballou family, nor the In- 
 galls family, from whom they descended on their 
 mother's side, throughout all their scholarly ranks 
 can show a more lovable and admirable character 
 than that displayed by those remarkable sisters 
 Eliza and Alpha, in the wilds of Ohio. 
 
 But it is somewhat aside from the purpose of this 
 volume to give in lengthy detail the life of the pa 
 rents and we turn with regret from a chapter that 
 may never be written. After the canal was com 
 pleted at and near Independence, Abram moved 
 to Newburgh, a town which has since become a ward 
 of the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Meantime, there 
 were born to him three children, viz., Mehitable, 
 now Mrs. Trowbridge, of Solon, Ohio, Thomas, now 
 a farmer at Jamestown, Ottawa County, Michigan, 
 and Mary, now Mrs. Larabee, of Solon, Ohio, her 
 husband being a second cousin of General U. S. 
 Grant. 
 
 Those early years of their married life from 1819 
 to 1829 were full of unremittent toil and hardship, 
 and after ten years of such self-denial, Abram and 
 Amos found themselves with a very meager sum on 
 hand for future capital, They had labored dili 
 gently, they had saved scrupulously, they had availed 
 themselves of every known opportunity, yet the re 
 sult of the decade's work was most unsatisfactory- 
 They had no home. Abram and Eliza had built air 
 castles, planned, discussed and dreamed of a home 
 in which they and their children could dwell in the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 37 
 
 sweet retirement of domestic love and joy. Yet their 
 children were growing up without the sweet influ 
 ences and hallowed associations which brighten the 
 life and sharpen the intellects of those who enjoy 
 the ownership of a country home, while the presence 
 of boarders and the objectionable people, who, for a 
 time, sought employment on the canal and congre 
 gated at its terminus, made it almost imperative for 
 these upright, devoted parents to seek other associa 
 tions for their children. 
 
 Just at that time, 1829, there was quite an excite 
 ment over the advance in the prices of land in Ohio, 
 which very naturally turned the attention of the peo 
 ple toward the purchase of wild land and toward the 
 desirability and profitableness of a farmer's life. With 
 a view to locating somewhere, and clearing a tract of 
 land for a farm, Abram with his half-brother Amos 
 made many excursions into the interior for the pur 
 pose of selecting a site; and in the summer of 1829 
 they concluded a bargain for fifty acres of land for 
 each, at a cost of $2.00 per acre, and situated in the 
 township of Orange, about sixteen miles south-east of 
 Cleveland. It was a heavily wooded tract of land of 
 the " forest primeval," and it must have required a 
 very active and hopeful imagination to have foreseen 
 in the gloom of that silent woodland, a future farmer's 
 home, with waving fields of grain, cows feeding in 
 the pastures, and children sporting on a wide door- 
 yard lawn. Yet they were happy in such dreams; 
 and our history will begin by an account, in the next 
 chapter, of their removal to their forest home where 
 James was born. / 
 
38 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 
 
 THE OPENING OF OHIO TO SETTLERS. THE EARLY HABITATIONS. 
 THE PRIMITIVE FORESTS. WILD BEASTS. APPEARANCE OF CLEVE 
 LAND. FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. ABRAM GARFIELD AND HIS 
 WIFE. EXCURSION OF THE BROTHERS INTO THE WOODS. SELEC 
 TION OF A HOME. THE FIRST CLEARING. SMALL QUARTERS. 
 ARRIVAL OF THE BOYNTON FAMILY. THE FIRST CABIN. THE 
 REMOVAL OF THE GARFIELD FAMILY. THE FOREST ROAD. TWO 
 FAMILIES IN ONE. JOY OF THE SISTERS. NO PLACE LIKE ONE'S 
 OWN HOME. THE GA.RFIELD LOG CABIN. SETTLEMENTS OPENED 
 ABOUT THEM. CLEARING THEIR FARM . THE SCHOOL-HOUSE. 
 
 OHIO, as early as 1803, had taken her place 
 among the States of the nation, and the " Western 
 Reserve" lands, belonging to the State of Connec 
 ticut, had been nearly all sold to settlers and speculat 
 ors when Cleveland was incorporated as a village, in 
 1814. But the State had not, as late as 1828, as 
 sumed that thrifty and mature appearance which to 
 day reminds the traveler so forcibly of that New 
 England from whence so many of the people came. 
 The tracts of land which had been cleared had not 
 parted with their primitive stumps, and the towns 
 were composed largely of log houses, or low, one- 
 story wooden dwellings, put up in the cheapest and 
 most hasty manner, as if for a mere temporary stop 
 ping place, to be occupied but for a few weeks. 
 There were vast forests still untouched in which the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 39 
 
 bears, deer, raccoons and foxes still found hiding 
 places ; and there were prairies still unbroken, where 
 the wildest and fiercest of wolves secreted them 
 selves by day and howled hideously by night. 
 Cleveland, now such a stately, populous city, with a 
 shipping that equals many old seaports of the Atlan 
 tic, was, in 1828-9, a village with several small 
 stores, and three or four diminutive churches. The 
 highways were few and most rudely graded, and it 
 was not an uncommon thing to hear of settlers 
 whose little cabins were twenty miles from any pas 
 sable highway ; in which case, they worked their 
 way across the country to the public road as best 
 they could, choosing their own route. The Indians 
 had not been so completely exterminated by General 
 Wayne as to be altogether unknown, and Indian 
 squaws and Indian hunters were frequently met in the 
 forests and seen begging at the cabin doors in the 
 clearings. It seems hardly credible that within the 
 memory of men and women living, such a condition 
 of things existed in that Ohio, which to-day is so 
 stable, so dignified, so enterprising in all the arts of 
 this progressive age, having the appearance of cen 
 turies of civilization. 
 
 But one cannot trust to his eyes in a country like 
 this. Ohio possessed a soil so surcharged with veg 
 etable life, that the grains of civilization felt instant 
 ly its vivifying touch, and leaped like intelligent be 
 ings into luxuriant maturity, and danced as they 
 ripened in the breezes of the lakes. 
 
 To clear the forests, to break up the prairie, to 
 
4O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 construct the canals, railroads, highways, dwellings, 
 barns, fences, and sow the grain, was at first a task 
 that required strong arms, persevering minds, and 
 fearless spirits. Ohio had many of them in 1828. 
 But the equal of any man, and the superior of many 
 was Abram Garfield. He was large, robust, of light 
 complexion, auburn hair and with a high forehead. 
 Physically, he was one of the strongest men in Ohio. 
 He seldom met his equal in feats of physical strength; 
 and if there was found any huge boulder, or large 
 log which the men on the canal or in the woods 
 could not handle, they called for " Abe Garfield," and 
 the obstruction was removed. He was a fearless, 
 frank, energetic man, less rude than the majority of 
 his associates, and giving the heartiest expressions 
 of his love for his family, and his good will toward 
 his neighbors. 
 
 Such was the man, who, with his younger half- 
 brother, Amos Boynton, went into the wilderness of 
 Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to clear a spot for their 
 homes. Their land was two miles and a half from 
 the nearest open road, and they were obliged to cut 
 .the way for their ox team through the underbrush, 
 and to build a rude hut to occupy at night. It is 
 said the two young pioneers shook hands as they 
 took the axes to fell the first tree on the line be 
 tween their lands, and said they would live and die 
 together there. They had never owned a foot of 
 land before. This was their own. Wolves might 
 howl, and bears might threaten, they were happy in 
 the consciousness of superior strength and right. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 4! 
 
 The forest steadily and surely melted away before 
 the vigorous woodsmen, and the proper logs having 
 been saved from fire and axe for the purpose, the 
 work of constructing a log house for Amos was be 
 gun. They had no thought of pride then, and but 
 little of convenience; but, influenced by the over 
 mastering desire to get a home of their own as soon 
 as possible, they constructed a building which was 
 said afterwards to be too small for a convenient loom 
 house. 
 
 A few days after their first arrival, Amos con 
 cluded to bring his family and lodge them in a log 
 shed or weaving-cabin belonging to their nearest 
 neighbor, about a mile and a half from their clearing. 
 So the family were brought and stowed away in that 
 little cabin, scarcely twelve feet square, and there 
 on the ground they set their rude furniture and 
 waited day by day for the completion of their new 
 home. One child, Mr. Henry B. Boynton, was born 
 in that little structure. 
 
 When the cabin for Amos was covered, and a floor 
 laid in one end of it for the beds, Amos moved his 
 family in, and, according to the previous understand 
 ing, Abram wenttoNewburghfor his family. It was 
 New Year's day, 1830. There was a heavy fall of 
 snow, and in the clearings it had drifted badly. He 
 was obliged to unyoke the oxen often, and drive 
 them wallowing over a ravine, and returning drag the 
 rude ox sled himself through the snow. The road 
 had improved somewhat before his return, but what 
 was gained in more solid snow banks, was lost in be- 
 
42 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 ing heavily loaded with his household goods and fam 
 ily. That trip from Newburgh to their clearing in 
 Orange away back in January, 1830, Mrs. Garfield 
 never has forgotten, notwithstanding the subsequent 
 bitter and dangerous experiences. The oldest boy, 
 Thomas, was then nine or ten years of age, and, in 
 heriting his father's hardy qualities, gave considera 
 ble assistance. But it was a long, weird, cold and 
 exciting journey through an almost unbroken forest, 
 on a road such as the woodmen now would consider 
 to be unfit and unsafe for the transportation of 
 wood. 
 
 Yet the whole family, with a feeling akin to that 
 the traveler on the ocean feels when longing for 
 land, looked forward with joyful anticipation to the 
 establishment of a home and the erection of those 
 household gods with which all childhood homes 
 abound. 
 
 It was a joyful meeting at the log hut there in the 
 woods. Two brothers, two sisters and their fami 
 lies, with the one distant neighbor, were to be a com 
 munity, a State, a law unto themselves, and they de 
 termined that love should abolish the need of law. 
 Rough in manners, some of them might have been, 
 and probably were; uncouthly dressed, perhaps, if 
 judged by the standards of the Boulevards or Broad 
 way, rough hands there must have been; but the 
 great hearts and strong brains which make nobles 
 of the laborers, and found great nations, were there 
 also. 
 
 " Is this your house. Uncle Amos ? " asked the 
 children. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 43 
 
 "Yes, and yours, too, for a while," said Amos. 
 
 Mrs. Garfield is said to have been delighted with 
 the consciousness that she could stand on their own 
 soil. 
 
 "Is this our own land, Abram ? " said she. "I 
 cannot realize it." 
 
 Years afterward, and even to this day, the sisters 
 visit frequently the spot where first they set foot on 
 their own land, and each lives over again the sensa 
 tions of those good old days. So frequently did 
 Alpha visit the place where she first slopped and 
 asked : " Amos, is this our land ? " and so sacred did 
 she hold it, that the children gave it the name of 
 " Mother's retreat," and always scrupulously left her 
 to herself whenever they saw her put on her bonnet 
 and start in the direction of the place. Births, mar 
 riages, deaths, have come since then. The strong 
 men are laid low, the children are scattered, and the 
 trees have been cleared away and grown again, but 
 the two women live to visit their sacred "retreats,'* 
 and to recite the tales of their early adventures in 
 the ears of a wondering generation. 
 
 When the two families were safely packed away in 
 the little cabin with one room and one fire-place, the 
 brothers began the construction of Abram's house. 
 
 They selected a spot about forty rods from the 
 other cabin, and on an elevated mound, behind which 
 was a little ravine and a diminutive streamlet. A 
 short distance down the ravine was a living spring, 
 which was found aftej-ward to be a most convenient 
 and valuable household appendage. 
 
44 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 There, with the ox team for the transportation of 
 timber from the adjacent forest, and with their own 
 natural Yankee skill to hew it, and their own strong 
 arms to raise it, they constructed the old log cabin, 
 without a " raising," and, as Amos always took pride 
 in adding, " without whiskey." 
 
 This log house was nearly square, with the front 
 door in the middle, and the windows, about two feet 
 square, in each end. It was ready for occupancy in 
 the early spring, and in time to sow the front yard 
 with wheat. During the summer other cabins were 
 erected within a circuit of a mile and a half, so that 
 they did not long feel the weight of an almost com 
 plete isolation. It required the closest management 
 for the new farmer to secure a livelihood through the 
 months preceding the sale of the first crop, and no lit 
 tle watching to keep his family from the wolves and 
 from the possible visits of fiercer beasts. But all 
 seem to have willingly endured all the privations of 
 poverty and isolation with cheerfulness, often making 
 jokes of their greatest hardships. The brothers often 
 exchanged work, and so together cleared the fields 
 of stumps, constructed fences, and set out fruit trees. 
 Such saplings, seeds, or stock as they needed, one 
 or the other procured at Cleveland. So that at the 
 close of the autumn of 1830 both farms were in a 
 prosperous -condition, giving promise of rich harvests 
 in the year to come. 
 
 Other relatives, and many of his former acquaint 
 ances, purchased tracts of land in the county and in 
 adjoining counties, and the three years which fol- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 45 
 
 lowed Abram's removal to his new home saw many 
 clearings and improvements made in that whole 
 region. His fifty-acre tract of land underwent a 
 complete transformation. Early and late he toiled 
 with the oxen ; and such a share did those beasts of 
 burden have in the establishment and improvement 
 of his home that Abram regarded them with affec 
 tionate fondness, and treated them with the most 
 friendly and patient consideration. 
 
 It was a grand thing to see the forest and wild- 
 wood give place to the garden of vegetables, the. 
 fields of grain, and the orchards of apples. Abram- 
 and Eliza appreciated the wonderful change. Those 
 were their sweetest, best days, when they watched 
 for the sprouts of corn and wheat with the eagerness 
 and innocence of children, when the whole family 
 joined in the gathering of the harvest, or when about 
 the roaring winter fire they sat and talked of the 
 past or planned for the future. 
 
 Soon a log school-house was constructed, across 
 the ravine at th"e back of Abram's house, and at one 
 corner of his clearing. This furnished a means of 
 education for their children, and Abram and Eliza 
 were happy. 
 
46 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BIRTH OF JAMES AND DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 
 
 BIRTH OF JAMES. THE FOURTH CHILD IN THE FAMILY. REJOICINGS. 
 HUMBLE SURROUNDINGS. NAMED AFTER HIS UNCLE AND HIS 
 FATHER. DEATH OF HIS FATHER. THE EFFECT OF THAT 
 CALAMITY. THE SYMPATHY OF THE NEIGHBORS. IN DEBT. 
 WIDOW ADVISED TO GIVE AWAY HER CHILDREN. ATTEMPTING TO 
 SAVE THE HOME. FINISHING THE RAIL FENCE. INDUSTRY OF 
 THOMAS. HIS SELF-SACRIFICE. OCCUPATIONS OF THE WIDOW. 
 HER LOVE FOR READING. TEACHING LITTLE JAMES. 
 
 NOVEMBER 19, 1831, nearly two years after Abram 
 had taken his family to their new home at Orange, 
 the household was made happier by the birth of an 
 other son. Yet, so far as the child was concerned, 
 it cannot be said to be a very auspicious beginning 
 of life. It had been a difficult task to feed the chil 
 dren already in the family. The gloomy log cabin, 
 made more shadowy by the attempts to shut out the 
 cold winds of November, could not be said to be an 
 augury of future brightness. The crying of a child 
 within the humble abode, and the barking of wolves 
 in the woodland near at hand, suggest nothing unu 
 sual, prophetic, or propitious. Such circumstances 
 have surrounded the birth of many men, and will 
 attend the nativity of many more. These circum 
 stances neither make nor unmake men. But they do 
 present the encouraging thought that if, from such 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 47 
 
 humble beginnings, a useful life may be made, then 
 there are none so poor and humble but they may 
 improve their condition and become benefactors. 
 
 Yet the infant was welcomed heartily by his large- 
 hearted father, and his appearance was made the 
 occasion for congratulations among all the neigh 
 bors. For in the woods then, there were loving and 
 honest neighborly sympathy and interest in each 
 other's welfare, which the non-conducting brick walls 
 of a city prevent or destroy. Then, if a person died 
 within twenty miles, all the farmers, in sincere sym 
 pathy, left their work, and appeared at the sad rites. 
 If there was a birth or. marriage all rejoiced. If 
 there was a "raising," where help was needed, all 
 were there. Children of the cities often grow up 
 be narrow, useless, weakly men and women, for the 
 lack of this wholesome large-hearted spirit which 
 nature and freedom impart. 
 
 When the time came to name the baby, he was 
 given the name of James Abram, the first being 
 that of his uncle in his mother's family, and the 
 last being that of his father. There could have been 
 none of those poetic high hopes of the child's future 
 greatness on the part of his parents, which we often 
 find mentioned in biographical works, or they would 
 have selected some other name than James, which 
 in that region was simply a suggestion to call him 
 "Jim." Neither his father nor his mother had any 
 loftier hopes than that he would become an honest 
 man and a good citizen. 
 
 But when the child was about a year and a half 
 
48 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 old an event happened which suddenly left the fam 
 ily in the greatest gloom. 
 
 Abram Garfield had been fighting fire. From sev 
 eral heaps of burning brush, a conflagration had 
 spread to . his fences, woodland, and fields, and 
 threatened destruction to everything around. In 
 the contest, which lasted for many hours, the strong 
 man became so heated and fatigued, that he eagerly 
 sought the shade and breeze of his cabin doorway. 
 He had been warned of the danger that lurked in 
 cold drafts of air, but, trusting in his robust health 
 and past escapes, sat in the draft and fanned himself 
 with his hat. It was a fatal mistake. For in three 
 days the husband and father lay in the log cabin a 
 corpse. Who can imagine the shock to the wife and 
 mother? So unexpected and so terrible. The neigh 
 bors could not for a .while credit the rumor that 
 Abram Garfield was dead. He had been the most 
 certain of a long life, of any man they knew. Could 
 it be that Abram Garfield had actually died of 
 disease ? 
 
 To the widow it was for a while a paralyzing 
 shock, which she could not comprehend. But when 
 little James, just toddling about and beginning to 
 speak whole words, pulled at the sheets of his 
 father's bier, as the body lay on the boards across 
 two chairs, and piteously called for his papa, she 
 must have felt the keenest agony. The other chil 
 dren, Thomas, Mehitable, and Mary, were older, and 
 could understand what death meant. But little 
 Jimmy would not be quiet while his papa slept such 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 49 
 
 an unusual sleep. He could read in the sorrowful 
 faces and sobs of all about him that something sad 
 had happened ; so from one to another the baby 
 wandered, with his large eyes filled with tears, touch- 
 ingly and hesitatingly saying to each, " Papa." 
 
 "What a pity/' said one, "that such a helpless 
 little child should be left fatherless ! " 
 
 " His mother cannot support him," said another ; 
 " at all events, some of the children will have to be 
 given away or bound out." 
 
 " She must sell the farm at once," said a third, 
 "for there is no one now to complete the fences nor 
 cultivate the farm. Poor soul ! This will kill her ! " 
 
 Yet the sorrowing woman did have one comfort. 
 Her .husband was loved by all and she had deep and 
 hearty human sympathy. Have you ever been poor 
 and imprisoned in a great city, with the body of a 
 child, or wife, or husband, or a mother, or a father 
 lying in death in your front room ? Have you ever 
 in your grief glanced at the passing crowds, and 
 longed for one look of sympathy? Have you ever 
 wished that your next neighbor would stop the piano, 
 or his loud, careless laughter, or quiet his noisy chil 
 dren at play about your door? Did not the per 
 sistent calls of traders, market men and beggars har 
 row up your stricken soul and cover your cheeks 
 with the hot tears of unutterable woe ? Like the 
 "Ancient Mariner's" surfeit of water with none to 
 drink, you sat wretched and lone, friendless and un 
 noticed in your sorrow, while around you an ocean 
 of humanity surged and rolled, wasting its super- 
 
5O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 abundance of sympathy on poodle pets and hardened 
 criminals ; and caring not if the dirty gamins in the 
 gutters pelted your meager funeral procession with 
 sticks and stones. 
 
 If you have experienced this not uncommon woe, 
 your heart will bless those Ohio pioneers, whose 
 children whispered about their doors and hushed 
 their voices in the plays of school recess, saying, 
 ' Poor Jimmy's father is dead/' you will have a sincere 
 yearning for their friendship, as you hear how the 
 hardy plowmen came from many miles away, and 
 with tears coursing their rough cheeks, offered 
 consolation and help. All mourned in sincerity, all 
 remembered the widow and the fatherless in that 
 hour of trial. 
 
 The funeral which soon followed was unostenta 
 tious and simple, but called out a large attendance of 
 friends and neighbors. Little Jimmy was the re 
 cipient of many a sad caress on that occasion, and 
 tears freely flowed at the sight of his helplessness 
 and artlessness, from fountains which even the pres 
 ence of the stricken widow had not unloosed. 
 
 In that same year Sir Henry Taylor wrote " The 
 world knows nothing of its greatest men," and his 
 true saying would have been a wiser one had it 
 passed into literature that " The world knows nothing 
 of its greatest women." The situation in which 
 Eliza Garneld was left, was peculiarly disheartening 
 because she was a woman. To a man, with physical 
 strength, with opportunities for gain, with power to 
 compel respect for himself and his children, the cir- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 51 
 
 cumstances which follow the death of a consort are 
 not so appalling. But the utter despair which must 
 have rilled that widow's heart, when with her father 
 less little ones she entered alone their log home after 
 the burial, cannot be known to those who have not 
 had a like sorrow. The phantoms which his pres 
 ence had kept aloof from their cabin, the shadows 
 which his face had ever dispelled, came boldly in at 
 the door, and lurked in the corners at the approach 
 of every evening. The farm was not fully fenced. 
 The stock was not paid for, and the orchard of trees 
 which Abram had planted had not reached its fruit 
 age. There was but a meager stock of provisions or 
 clothing on hand, and the crop which had been sowed, 
 she seemed helpless to gather. The reader may say 
 that there is nothing very uncommon in their situa 
 tion, and may say that other women have been in 
 even worse circumstances; but such facts do not 
 make this experience any the less interesting, nor 
 these evidences of womanly heroism any the less 
 striking. If she sold all their personal property to 
 pay the debts, she must still leave some unpaid. To 
 the men of business, there seemed no way but to sell 
 the farm and everything of personal property con 
 nected with it, put the children out into families 
 where they could be adopted, or be made to pay their 
 way doing errands and light work, while she could 
 probably support herself by weaving, or by house 
 hold labor in the families of those who knew her. 
 
 It does not appear that the brave woman ever 
 entertained the thought of following their advice. 
 
52 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Her love was too strong, her capabilities for self- 
 sacrifice too great to admit of a separation without a 
 struggle to maintain her family. In her resolution 
 she had the sympathy of every one, even of such as 
 looked upon it as a foolhardy undertaking. 
 
 Tn order to pay the outstanding debts, she con 
 cluded to sell a part of the little farm and finally 
 disposed of twenty acres, for a sum which left her 
 thirty acres and two cows, free of debt. The dimen 
 sions were reduced but it was still their home. 
 
 Thomas was a robust and active boy, and appears 
 to have taken hold of labor with a heroic devoted- 
 ness worthy of his mother. It is said that he and 
 his mother actually attempted to complete the unfin 
 ished rail fence along one side of their farm, but she 
 was too light and small to be of much use at a man's 
 work of driving stakes or splitting rails. Yet the 
 attempt shows the determined and independent 
 spirit with which she took upon herself the office of 
 father in addition to that of mother. With the help 
 of kind neighbors and her brother-in-law, Amos, 
 who was still her nearest neighbor, the first crop was 
 gathered, and odd jobs of employment found for 
 Thomas. Living on the plainest food, wearing the 
 coarsest clothing; and denying themselves every 
 luxury, the little family struggled on from day to day 
 managing so as to keep out of debt and retain their 
 hold on their home. Mrs. Garfield sought employ 
 ment for herself among the people of that vicinity, 
 and appears to have earned considerable in spinning, 
 weaving and knitting, at which she was an expert. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 53 
 
 While she was engaged at work, little Jimmy was 
 left in the care of the girls, or, in case the girls also 
 found some work, he was left with the family of his 
 Uncle Amos. She occasionally had an opportunity 
 of letting a few acres of her land to be cultivated on 
 shares, and secured some of her firewood in that 
 way, while the remainder was brought in by herself 
 and children by hand from the borders of the wood 
 land. 
 
 Of Thomas, whose industry as a boy, and whose 
 self-denying faithfulness to his mother in her needs 
 was remarkable, the people still retain most 
 praiseworthy traditions. Whenever he could work 
 extra hours and earn a few pennies more, he never 
 neglected the opportunity, and always with most 
 touching indications of joy carried home to his 
 mother with alacrity every cent of his earnings. He 
 seemed never to have thought that he was entitled to 
 any share of it for amusement or luxury. It is still 
 related of him, how he walked to Cleveland and back 
 on an errand, saving the small cost of a horse, with a 
 determination to " get money enough extra to buy 
 Jimmy a pair of shoes," so that the little fellow could 
 go to "the Sunday meetings in the School-House." 
 However, the clothing for the family was usually 
 secured by Mrs. Garfield in exchange for her work. 
 When shoes became a necessity she would weave or 
 sew for the shoemaker, and he would come to her 
 cabin and make the shoes on the spot and fit them 
 as he put them together. 
 
 Yet it seems that amid all this excessive labor and 
 
54 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 mental strain, Mrs. Garfield found time to read papers 
 and books such as the neighborhood contained. Her 
 Sabbaths, doubly sacred for the gathering of her 
 family about her, were also improved by her in read 
 ing, and often she read aloud to the children, In 
 this way, no doubt, young James gained that first 
 love for books which afterwards led him into the 
 higher walks of life. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HABITS AND INCIDENTS OF HIS BOYHOOD. 
 
 NOT PRECOCIOUS. HIS PLAYS. HIS GARDEN. THE PETTED YOUNG 
 EST CHILD. HIS EARLY TASKS. ABSENCE OF A FATHER'S DISCI 
 PLINE. HIS ABSOLUTE TRUTHFULNESS. COULD NOT LIE TO HIS 
 MOTHER. ASHAMED TO BE CALLED A COWARD. HIS UNCLE 
 AMOS. WHOLESOME FEAR. LOVE OF POETRY. NAMES THE 
 TREES AND ROCKS AFTER HEROES AND HEROINES. THE APPLE 
 ORCHARD. AMBITION TO BE A SAILOR, CARELESS USE OF TOOLS. 
 READING AT HOME. COUNTRY LYCEUM. MOTHER'S WATCH- 
 CARE. 
 
 THE boyhood of James is interesting and encoura 
 ging to the youth of our land, inasmuch as it lacks 
 those extraordinary and unusual features which 
 would adorn a romance or a fable. It was so much 
 like the life of many other boys, and so little varied 
 from the common experience, that it shows the pos 
 sibility that goodness, greatness and fame are within 
 the reach of many other poor country lads. The 
 hardihood and intelligence of his mother may have 
 contained a blessing which is exceptional in such 
 circumstances ; but the life he led in his earlier 
 years was, in its daily routine, very similar to that of 
 other fatherless farmers' boys. He brought in at 
 night the wood for the morning fire ; his bare feet 
 made solid the often trodden path down to the 
 
56 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 spring ; and he was not unusually precocious in his 
 desire for knowledge or in his willingness to work. 
 
 He constructed mud dams and set up rude toy mills 
 at the little stream in the ravine below the spring. 
 He sought out the shady nooks in the near wood 
 land for summer shade, and made caves in the wood 
 pile in winter, to secure a sheltered playhouse. He 
 planted his little garden in the spring, and often lost 
 his interest in it after the wonderful resurrection of 
 the beans and cucumbers had ceased to astonish 
 him. He was the pet of his mother and the pride 
 of his brother and sisters, but poverty prevented 
 anything like a dangerous indulgence. Yet its 
 tendency was to make him less inclined to work 
 either in school or in the field. But he often entered- 
 into the sports of the boys in the neighborhood with 
 enthusiasm, and sometimes with unhealthy zeal. If 
 he was given a job of work to do, and a certain time 
 was allotted him in which to perform the task, his 
 whole soul engaged in the work, and the- job was 
 pushed to completion with startling vigor. 
 
 His early life lacked, however, that energy and 
 promptness which is ever the result when a boy loses 
 the discipline of a father's presence and example. It 
 is a surprise that he was so active. Many boys have 
 been led away into laziness and its consequent vices 
 and crimes, for the lack of a father's stern and digni 
 fied commands. 
 
 But there was one feature of little James's charac 
 ter which will account for his final triumph under all 
 these discouraging circumstances of his life. His 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 57 
 
 mother's training, his inherited disposition, and the 
 habits of the rather remarkably religious neighbor 
 hood of Orange at that time, kept his boyhood life in 
 the way of the most scrupulous truthfulness. He 
 did not and would not lie. While that anchor held, 
 his character and future were safe. No boy or man 
 can be selfish, self-indulgent, or lazy, without being 
 dishonest. He cannot steal, nor cheat, nor play 
 truant, nor indulge in vicious habits, unless he will 
 lie. Absolute truthfulness and a useless or vicious 
 life are incompatible and impossible. 
 
 A traditional incident, illustrating his love of 
 truth, is related of him, which may or may not be 
 exact in its details, yet which is an apt illustration 
 of his whole character in that early day. His uncle, 
 Thomas Garfield, lived three or four miles from his 
 mother's house, and the road led through a lonely 
 country, a part of which was thickly wooded. It 
 often happened that he was sent on errands, to and 
 fro, over this road. One evening, while he was at 
 his uncle's, there came up a sudden shower which 
 turned into a storm, and darkness came on suddenly. 
 He had probably heard the usual ghost and Indian 
 stones which terrified the youth of his time and was 
 somewhat timid. He disliked to traverse the road 
 alone in the night, yet he felt that he must go home. 
 His cousins and aunt tried to persuade him to stay 
 all night, but he would not: He started boldly out 
 into the night. It was wet, cold, and pitchy dark. 
 The wind groaned among the maples, and the great 
 beech trees cracked and creaked ominously. It was 
 
58 THE LIFE, SPEECHES AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 too much for his boyish courage, and, after going a 
 half mile, he turned back. 
 
 But on reaching his uncle's house he felt ashamed 
 of his weakness and determined to start again. 
 
 "I would not try it again, James," said a work 
 man. 
 
 44 But mother will worry about me," said the little 
 fellow. 
 
 " O stay all night, and tell her the mud was too 
 deep to get home," said the workman. 
 
 " I shall not tell her that, and I won't tell her I 
 was afraid," said James. And off he started a second 
 time. This time he went bravely through the dark 
 woods to his home, and it may be that his mother 
 never knew how much he endured that night rather 
 than tell her a falsehood or confess that he was 
 afraid. 
 
 That tradition is in accord with many others and 
 shows that truthfulness requires a brave spirit and a 
 self-sacrificing life. The truth was his good angel. 
 It kept him from everything which he would be 
 ashamed to confess. It overcame his indisposition 
 to labor. It guided him safely over the dangerous 
 bar of a petted boyhood. Inasmuch as he was more 
 true in his speech and actions than other boys, just 
 that much was his boyhood nobler and more promis 
 ing than theirs, and no more In all other things he 
 was like the multitude. The determination and habit 
 of speaking the simple truth was a badge of honor, 
 more honorable and more respected than the kingly 
 ermine on the heraldic shields of his ancestors. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 59 
 
 Wild and rough oftentimes, rude in his sports 
 and awkward in the presence of visitors, often in 
 rags and dust he had carelessly made, with no other 
 title or claim to respect and no other capital to begin 
 life upon, he found in his truth-telling an infallible 
 guide to nobility and human greatness. This was 
 the only very remarkable thing about his young life, 
 and we shall see how curiously and surely it guided 
 him upward. 
 
 Romances have been constructed about the boy 
 hood of James, in which he has figured as the heroic 
 representative of Ohio boys. But the dress of fiction 
 adds nothing to th'e moral of his noble life. He was 
 no more of a hero, loved his books no better, enjoyed 
 hard labor no more than the hardy boys of his neigh 
 borhood. There was nothing in his boyhood, save 
 that single characteristic of honesty in speech, which 
 could be said to be indicative of superior gifts. 
 
 Fortunately for James, his uncle, Amos Boynton, 
 had a heart broad enough to take in more than his 
 own family ; and the uncle's example, precepts and 
 threats were most efficacious in keeping the children 
 of the Garfield family decorous and respectful. James 
 was not always good-natured nor always in the mood 
 for immediate obedience to his mother's commands. 
 But when he was inclined to mischief or willfulness, 
 his mother had but to say, " I will tell Uncle Amos," 
 arid he was as meek as the lambs. 
 
 Uncle Amos was a valuable man in the commu 
 nity, and appears to have had, in his eccentric way, 
 a most excellent influence over the young people of 
 
6O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Orange township. He was a devoted member of the 
 Disciples' Church, loved the Bible, and despised lazy 
 or dishonest people. He took an active part in or 
 ganizing and sustaining local lyceum debates among 
 the young men at the school-houses. The singing- 
 schools, spelling matches, out-door games, and re 
 ligious gatherings had his personal assistance, and 
 his encouragement and advice had a great influence 
 with James, who stood in most reverential awe of his 
 uncle. 
 
 His early school-days were not remarkably brill 
 iant, nor did he particularly distinguish himself at 
 that time, in any direction, beyond the majority of 
 his school-fellows. He possessed a good memory, 
 and made reasonable progress in such rudiments as 
 were taught in the log school-houses of that time. 
 He loved to hear his mother read poetry, and com 
 mitted many verses to memory. His nature was 
 poetical, and he loved to wander alone in the fields 
 and woods, and in imagination act the part of some 
 of the poetical characters of which he had heard. 
 When he was old enough to read story books for 
 himself, he found, somewhere, the " Pirates, Own 
 Book," "Tales of the Sea," "Indian Stories," and 
 other kindred volumes, in which he seems to have 
 been greatly interested. Pet calves and sheep were 
 named by him after some favorite hero or heroine 
 mentioned in romance, and even the rocks and high 
 lands came in for a share in the titles of nobility he 
 conferred. 
 
 The apple orchard of one hundred trees, which 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 6 1 
 
 his father planted and which had already spread 
 wide its fruitful branches, and in the shade of which 
 he passed the happiest days of his boyhood, was to 
 his active imagination an army of warriors, or a host 
 of Indians. Every tree soon had its name by which 
 it was known, not only to him, but to all his play 
 mates in the neighborhood. Each tree was named 
 after some noted Indian warrior, or after some old 
 saint ; or, as was occasionally the case, for the lack 
 of other names, he applied those of neighbors, 
 preachers and school teachers. He appears to have 
 felt no lonesomeness when left to himself, but was 
 able to imagine the presence of others with him, or 
 himself to be in some distant and attractive place, 
 and "was never less alone than when by himself." 
 
 Very early in his life some story of the sea awak 
 ened his keen interest in the sailors' lives, and he 
 formed many plans concerning a visit to the great 
 ocean, to be carried out when he should become a 
 man. He dreamed of the surging billows and longed 
 for a sight of the white-fringed breakers. He would 
 some day be a sailor. He would climb to the top of 
 the masts. He would one day command a man-of- 
 war. He would fight battles and win victories on 
 every ocean and sea. He was often overheard re 
 peating the commands of the heroic captains, about 
 whom he had read, and with a stern and loud voice 
 he often bade his imaginary men to " clear the deck 
 for action." 
 
 He early imbibed a love for the Bible, which he 
 found was always his mother's dearest companion. 
 
62 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Its warriors, prophets, saints and apostles were char 
 acters as real and familiar to his active imagination 
 as were the people he had actually met. In his 
 work and at his play he saw and felt more than some 
 other boys, because of this power to call about him 
 imaginary characters. 
 
 It may have been this habit of thinking on distant 
 things that caused him, as a workman, to meet with 
 so many accidents. 
 
 He found much comfort in the society of a little 
 black dog, which seemed to understand the language 
 and wishes of James, like a human being. The dog 
 was considered a wonder by the other boys. For 
 several years the little creature was seen with James 
 at all his work, whether chopping wood, riding the 
 horses for the plow, or going to the pastures for the 
 neighbors' cows. 
 
 To all the beasts of the farm he was a kind and 
 patient instructor, teaching them many curious and 
 useful things. In all this he was, however, under 
 his mother's careful oversight, and most faithfully 
 did she watch over the "four saplings," of which 
 James was the youngest, and which her husband, on 
 his death-bed, had said he must leave to her care. 
 For him she felt and exhibited that special solicitude 
 which mothers usually feel for their youngest child. 
 She was determined that he should avail himself of 
 the school privileges during the few winter months 
 in which it was held, and she labored very hard to 
 supply him with the necessary clothes and books. 
 The teachers of the school parted with Mrs. Garfield 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 63 
 
 in the spring with great reluctance, for the school- 
 house being on one corner of her farm, they were 
 often obliged to seek favors from her, and thus be 
 came familiar friends. At no place in all the district 
 was the teacher more welcome than at Mrs. Garfield's 
 cabin, and although the loft in her home was perhaps 
 more lonely, and the bed less easy than many others, 
 they were glad when the time came in their " board 
 ing around," to go to her abode. Many years after 
 wards they told of her love for learning, and of her 
 desire that her children should have a thorough 
 education. 
 
 James was favored with opportunities for reading 
 which the other members of that industrious family 
 did not get. It was usually accidental, however. 
 He was a careless, awkward boy in the use of tools 
 in his work, and was often laid up by self-inflicted 
 wounds. He cut his feet with his axe or scythe. 
 He wrenched his back by the fall of a fence rail 
 upon him. He fell from the barn upon a pile of 
 wood. .So that while he was not perhaps more care 
 less or awkward than boys of his age usually are, yet 
 he was more often confined to the house as a result 
 of accidents, and the hours of his retirement he 
 most earnestly employed in studying all the books 
 they had in the house, and all he could borrow of 
 the neighbors. It was to his credit that he used his 
 books with great care, and any neighbor was willing 
 to intrust their volumes to him. His neighbors say 
 that he learned much more in his early days by read 
 ing history and studying stories of scientific discov- 
 
64 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 ery out of school than he ever gained from teachers. 
 He was greatly interested in the debates and literary 
 exercises which were often held on winter evenmgs 
 at the school-house ; and it is said that, as a critic, 
 he was dreaded by some of the old men before he 
 was ten years of age 
 
 In 1842, when he was about eleven years old, the 
 boys in Orange, by the advice of "Uncle Amos," 
 organized a lyceum of their own, and it was the first 
 place of the kind in which James ever ventured to 
 speak. 
 
 His speech was not preserved, even in tradition 
 But the speech of the last disputant has never ceased 
 to be a funny circumstance in the minds of the old 
 people who heard of it at the time. The subject for 
 discussion contained a clause in which it was resolved 
 that navigation was of superior importance to some 
 other branch of human industry. The young orator 
 " supposed a case " where a meal of victuals awaited 
 a hungry, drunken man, but he could not get to them. 
 " Now," said the speaker, " that man is too drunk to 
 navigate himself. He will have no supper. Now, 
 of what use are all the beans, potatoes, sausages, 
 pork and doughnuts to a man who can't navigate?" 
 That speech was conclusive, and by a unanimous 
 vote it was seriously declared that it was of the high 
 est importance that men be able "to navigate." 
 
 These debates quickened James's desire for read 
 ing, and in less than two years he had read and re 
 membered so much concerning the current topics of 
 lyceum debates that he successfully held his own as 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 65 
 
 a " principal " debater with the old men. Those 
 evenings at the lyceum were the happiest, perhaps, 
 in his youthful life. It was an escape for an hour or 
 two from his hard and incessant toil. It was a place 
 where he knew his mother was proud of him, and 
 where even " Uncle Amos " was inclined to be 
 more sparing of his critical suggestions than usual. 
 It was the opening of a new life to the poor boy, and 
 was suggestive of possible achievements which, until 
 then, he had considered wholly beyond his reach. 
 How many of our American statesmen can trace the 
 beginning of their career to the lyceum in the coun 
 try school-house ! On the popularity of that humble 
 and crude institution, the safety of the nation has 
 often rested. 
 
 During his training in those evening schools of 
 debate, he searched the neighborhood and drew upon 
 distant relatives for books and papers. He put his 
 soul into the work ; and with an eager longing looked 
 forward to each debate with ever increasing interest. 
 
 There was a high ledge of broken rocks in the 
 woods, about a quarter of a mile from his home, 
 where one large shaft of rock rose considerably above 
 its larger neighbors. To the top of that rock James 
 used often to climb, and from its summit deliver to 
 the rocks and trees around his prepared addresses 
 or impromptu harangues. The trees and stones were 
 an audience to him, and in his imagination they list 
 ened, sighed, and applauded, as, with excited tones, 
 he approached his peroration. He called that rock 
 his pulpit ; and never in the sacred desk or in the halls 
 
66 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 of the national councils found he a place in which 
 there seemed to him such necessity for dignity, for 
 grammatical accuracy, or for stirring illustration, as 
 on that forest rostrum among the aged maples. Where 
 will the American country youths find another such 
 an audience as they saw in the waving corn, the rows 
 of potatoes, the forest trees, or the astonished herds, 
 in those youthful days when the spirit of oratory 
 first touched their lips with its inspiring fire ? 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 6/ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 YOUTHFUL OCCUPATIONS 
 
 EARLY MATURITY. BOILING SALTS. A MAN'S WORK AT HARVESTING 
 
 AMBITION TO BE A CARPENTER. SELF-SACRIFICES OF THOMAS. 
 
 THE NEW FRAME HOUSE AT ORANGE. LEARNING THE TRADE 
 
 OUT OF WORK. CHOPPING WOOD. WISHES TO BE A SAILOR. 
 VISITS A SHIP AT CLEVELAND. ABANDONS THE IDEA OF BEING A 
 SAILOR. FINDS EMPLOYMENT ON THE OHIO CANAL. A DRIVER 
 BOY. 7EVER AND AGUE. A QUARREL. AN ACCIDENT. GOES 
 HOME TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 THE years of 1844 and 1845 included a period of 
 great uncertainty with James. His hard work and 
 the needs of life, felt by him unusually early, had 
 given to his mind a somewhat premature develop 
 ment. He possessed a tough, awkward body, and 
 features which were not very prepossessing. But his 
 mind was bright and mature. He labored very hard. 
 For a few months he found employment in " boiling 
 salts," which, in that early day, was made moder 
 ately profitable by the presence of immense quanti 
 ties of ashes left in the clearings. The . process of 
 leaching the ashes and extracting the salts by boiling 
 the liquid was a very dirty and unpleasant business, 
 
 The boy was often as black with soot as the follow 
 ers of the kindred trade of charcoal burning, and his 
 clothing was heavy with ashes and smoke. In this, 
 as in every other undertaking, he was determined to 
 
68 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 excel, and began early in the morning and worked 
 late at night. Another portion of that period he 
 spent in chopping wood, being paid by the cord. In 
 this he did a mature man's work, and received, 
 for the first time, a man's wages. He also en 
 gaged himself in harvesting, and swung the scythe 
 through the grass, the sickle in the grain, and the 
 rake over the meadow, the equal of the eldest. But 
 the work was so exhausting that he often heartily 
 wished that he could see some other way of securing 
 an honest living. 
 
 One day he saw a carpenter, with saw and chisel, 
 at work framing a barn, and it occurred to him that 
 the trade of a carpenter would suit him better than 
 the ceaseless drudgery of a pioneer farmer's life. 
 He had shown some adaptability for that trade in 
 the repairs he had from time to time made on his 
 mother's house and barn, and in the toys which he 
 had ingeniously constructed. On consulting with 
 his mother, he decided to lear-n the carpenter's trade. 
 But no opportunity presented itself just at that time, 
 and he worked on in his heavy labor, waiting for 
 some way to open to the lighter occupation. Thus, 
 at fifteen years of age, we find him an uncultured 
 country boy, with no acquaintance with the world 
 beyond the clearings and cabins of that new land. 
 He appears to have had no thought or ambition 
 above that of being able to earn a living. He had 
 given up attending the school in his district, in which 
 he had made good progress, and considered his edu 
 cation complete, as far as school-books were con- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 69 
 
 cerned. Certainly, his prospects for a place among 
 the learned of the nation could scarcely have been 
 more discouraging than it was then. What had 
 chopping wood, boiling salts, digging ditches in the 
 meadows, and milking cows, to do with refinement 
 and intellectual cultivation ? However, the industry 
 of the family was such that they began to accumu 
 late a little fund, with which they purposed to pur 
 chase the materials to construct a frame house. 
 
 They began laying up pennies for that object, and 
 to that small fund added dollars, and as the children 
 grew older and earned more, the prospect grew 
 brighter. At last, Thomas, whose fatherly interest 
 in the family was truly heroic, secured a contract for 
 clearing a large tract of land in Michigan, and chop 
 ping the wood. The profits of his labor in that un 
 dertaking were such that, after paying all his expenses, 
 the overjoyed young man was able to come back to 
 the home he had missed so much, and present to his 
 mother the sum of eighty dollars. That amount 
 having been added to the building fund, they felt 
 able to undertake the enterprise, for which they had 
 so long planned. 
 
 When they considered the matter of securing a 
 carpenter, to make the frame for their new house, 
 the opportunity for James to learn the trade seemed 
 to present itself. It was in the construction of this 
 little house of four rooms, near their log cabin, that 
 James performed his first work at the carpenter's 
 trade. The carpenter under whose tutelage James 
 succeeded in obtaining a good practical knowledge, 
 
7O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 was Jedediah Hubbell of Chagrin Falls, and 
 throughout a long life he was the staunch friend of 
 his former apprentice. 
 
 The year 1846, when James was fifteen years old, 
 was an eventful one in the life of the inexperienced 
 boy. They had a new house and he had entered 
 upon a new trade. Henceforth, he would be a car 
 penter, and his greatest pride was to be found in the 
 drawing of the shave and pushing the plane. % That 
 was a step upward. He could earn higher wages, 
 and it was less laborious than farming or clearing 
 away timber. Yet, he never became such an expert 
 at the trade as to deserve any especial praise. With 
 the opportunities he had, with the few tools he could 
 secure, and with employment only on the cheap farm 
 houses and barns of that day, it is no surprise that 
 he was an indifferent workman. His work was al 
 ways carefully done, and gave the satisfaction that 
 honest work gives to honest people. But in that 
 trade he exhibited no striking genius, and con 
 structed no buildings which would now be consid 
 ered monuments of art or of remarkable skill. 
 
 He could not always find work as a carpenter, and 
 was frequently, in the following years, compelled to 
 leave the plane, and take up the hoe and shovel. 
 Turning his hand to every kind of work that a young 
 man could do, he found life rather hard, and his in 
 crease in knowledge and property very slow. 
 
 He had not found his level. He began to feel it 
 severely when, after two years of toil, he found 
 himself with but little money left with which to 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. /I 
 
 open another season. At one time he became 
 utterly discouraged, and could see nothing before 
 him but the same poverty and the same arduous 
 toil. To be dissatisfied with one's trade or em 
 ployment is not always an evidence of a fitness for 
 any other station, although it often leads to the ac 
 complishment of higher tasks. James, however, was 
 not so much dissatisfied with his trade or work as 
 he was with the unprofitableness of it, owing to the 
 uncertainty of remunerative employment during the 
 entire year. 
 
 At one of these seasons of uncertainty, the old 
 longing to be a sailor returned with its pictures of the 
 ocean's grandeur and sublimity ; and for a time the old 
 spirit of his early boyhood was upon him. Homesick 
 for the sea ! Yearning for adventure ! Wishing to visit 
 the strange lands of which the story books had told ! 
 In this restless mood, he determined to find some 
 way in which to secure a place as a sailor on some 
 Atlantic ship. But the offer of a job of chopping 
 one hundred cords of wood made to him by his uncle, 
 Thomas Garfield, called his attention away for a 
 while, only to make it to return with greater deter 
 mination. 
 
 The woodland where he worked for his Uncle 
 Thomas, was situated near Newberg, and not very 
 far from Lake Erie,, and often, during his stay, 
 he walked over to look out upon the changing hues 
 of that ocean of fresh water. Once in a while he 
 saw stately ships enter the harbor and furl their 
 sails, and his heart beat fast with excited ambi- 
 
/2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 tion. Yet he purposed not to be a sailor on so 
 small a sea as Lake Erie. The mightiest oceans 
 seemed none too large for him ; and the idea of sail 
 ing on the lake, was unworthy of his ambition. 
 
 Yet it occurred to him, as he chopped and pon 
 dered, and chopping wood is a great promoter .if 
 thought, that he could learn something of shipping 
 by a trip on the lake and thus make more certain his 
 employment in some Atlantic port. Hence, with a 
 wisdom beyond his years, he resolved to try his hand 
 at the business nearer home ; and if he liked the 
 work, to seek some seaport as an experienced hand. 
 
 When the last stroke of the axe had been given, 
 and the wood was all firmly and evenly piled for 
 measurement, he started secretly and alone to Cleve 
 land to see what chance he might find to ship as a 
 deck-hand, or common sailor. He had heard that 
 sailors were wanted, and had no doubt of his 
 ability to find a place. Hence, with considerable 
 confidence the awkward wood-chopper searched 
 along the wharves for a vessel of such dimensions as 
 would be suitable for his purpose. At last he found 
 one large enough and with sails enough to be called 
 a "stately, gallant ship," and he stepped on the deck 
 from the wharf, alongside which the vessel was 
 moored. Several rough-looking men were at work 
 washing the deck and splicing the rigging. 
 
 " Where is the captain of this ship ? " asked he of 
 a sailor. 
 
 The sailor made no answer, but, with a queer 
 expression of countenance, stared at the intruder. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. /3 
 
 "Can you tell me where I can see the captain?" 
 asked he of another, The sailor with a motion of 
 the hand indicated that the captain was below, and 
 spoke not a word. 
 
 " Rather strict discipline I should say," thought 
 James, as he approached the hatchway. 
 
 Suddenly the captain appeared at the hatches, who 
 seemed at first astonished to see a stranger aboard 
 his ship. He was almost too drunk to walk and 
 James felt anxious lest the besotted, bloated wretch 
 should fall backward into the hold, 
 
 "I would like to speak to the captain," said James 
 to the drunken man. 
 
 For a stranger to board his ship without permis 
 sion was evidently no light offense in the eyes of 
 the captain. But to venture to speak to him, and 
 especially to be ignorant of the fact that he was the 
 captain, was too great an insult to be endured. The 
 captain's wrath was uncontrollable. 
 
 "What in the are you here for ? " yelled the 
 
 inebriate. " Get out of this yeare craft, you sneakin' 
 thief!" 
 
 There was not a fight, but if the captain had been 
 sober and had indulged in such abuse, profanity and 
 gesticulations, James would have picked up the rum- 
 soaked tyrant and ducked him in the harbor. For 
 James had inherited a powerful frame, and had 
 increased his natural strength greatly by hard work. 
 
 But he swallowed his wrath, and, leaving the 
 drunken wretch to vent his rage on some poor sailor, 
 he walked away with nearly all the poetry of a sail- 
 
74 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 or's life oozing swiftly out of his brain and heart 
 It was a great shock. It made him feel as if he had 
 met with a great loss. For he never again encour 
 aged the dreams of a sailor's happy life. His long 
 ing for the sea was never wholly overcome, but his 
 views of its hardships underwent an entire change. 
 
 In a discouraged mood he sought his uncle's house 
 with a hope, perhaps, of securing another job of work 
 in the woods. There he learned that his cousins 
 were soon to start out with a canal boat, owned by 
 his uncle, to bring coal from the mines to Cleve 
 land, on the Ohio Canal. Hearing of no other 
 employment, he asked the privilege of going with the 
 boat in some capacity. The only place they felt he 
 was capable of filling was a driver boy to lead the 
 horses along the bank of the canal, as they dragged 
 the boat toward its destination. It seems that it 
 never occurred to James that, by taking such employ 
 ment on the canal, he was throwing himself directly 
 into the company and into the work which his father 
 so much disliked, and to avoid which he had taken 
 his children into the forest. 
 
 He soon found it a calling for which he was not 
 fitted, or at least one which such a spirit as his could 
 not long endure. 
 
 He never complained of his treatment by his 
 employer or superiors. The captain, Jonathan 
 Myers, and his wife, were very favorably inclined 
 toward him because of his strict adherence to the 
 truth. The canal boys were notorious for their long 
 yarns, and often preferred to tell a lie when it was 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 75 
 
 much more for their interest to tell the truth. Hence, 
 his eccentric adherence to the facts made him unpop 
 ular with them. He was clearly out of his place. 
 He felt it, and told the kind captain that he should 
 not stay long. He had agreed to stay three months 
 at ten dollars per month, and, as long as he could, 
 he faithfully kept his contract. But the long, monot 
 onous tramps beside the horses, or the dull stops to 
 await the passage of crowded locks gave him consid 
 erable time to think. He knew that his mother had 
 always desired to have him in some way obtain a 
 liberal education. He felt keenly the fact that he 
 was engaged in a calling which had not her approval. 
 The cursing, fighting and low conversation among 
 the men were distasteful to him. Once he was com 
 pelled to defend himself from an attack of an over 
 bearing bully, and, it is said that James grappled 
 with his opponent like a lion, and with dangerous 
 precipitation sent the fellow rolling into the bottom 
 of a flat boat. Men and boys were respected there 
 according to their strength of muscle and powers of 
 endurance. These he possessed in an eminent 
 degree, and was seldom involved in any dispute. 
 
 Near the end of his term of three months, he was 
 offered a position as steersman with an advance of 
 wages. He had often been called upon to relieve 
 the steersman, and his judgment was so mature, and 
 his skill so apparent, that the captain's wife advised 
 him to make it his profession for life. She urged 
 the captain to secure the place for him, because 
 she " felt much safer when Jim was at the helm." 
 
76 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 But James could not be persuaded to make a new 
 contract, nor did the large-hearted captain urge the 
 matter. He said : 
 
 "Jim is too good a boy to stick to the canal. He 
 loves his books too well to be confined to this hard 
 life." 
 
 It was during this period that he met Dr. J. 
 P. Robinson, a physician and preacher, who has 
 been ever since that time a devoted friend. The 
 doctor was an able and talkative man, whose good 
 impulses were ever finding vent in some unexpected 
 deed of kindness, and he had a great liking for James 
 from the time of their first meeting. He advised 
 him to find some place where he could work for 
 his board and go to school, and told him of the great 
 things he might do, and the great name he might 
 gain by persevering in the attempt to obtain learn 
 ing. The advice was not lost upon James, and he 
 secretly resolved to find a place, if possible, where he 
 could follow the doctor's advice. 
 
 Near the close of his three months' engagement, 
 he began to be greatly afflicted with the fever and 
 ague, which was a sad enemy of all the canal boat 
 men. The disease increased in virulence with alarm 
 ing rapidity. His duties in caring for the careful 
 passage of the boat, when meeting another, often 
 required him to wade in the water, and sometimes 
 he ventured in waist-deep. Such frequent baths, 
 with the subsequent chill of the wet clothing which 
 he wore until it was dry, greatly aggravated the 
 disease. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 77 
 
 One day after he became so weak that he could 
 scarcely perform his work, while he was engaged in 
 fastening a rope at the stern of the boat, he reached 
 over the side to lift the rope from the water. He 
 did not realize how weak he had become. He could 
 not lift the rope. He tugged at it for a few moments, 
 and then, while attempting to get a firmer hold, lost, 
 his balance and fell headlong into the water. 
 
 He had never learned to swim and he was in great 
 danger of drowning. Fortunately, the rope which 
 was the cause of the accident lay in the water within 
 reach, and he had the presence of mind to clutch it, 
 while the hands on the boat pulled him out. The 
 shock and the chill of the cold water were more than 
 his weak frame could endure. All the symptoms of 
 a dangerous fever followed, and he determined to 
 hasten home. In his journey he was assisted as far 
 as Newberg by friends, but from that place, while 
 burning with fever and dizzy with the ague, he 
 walked determinedly home to his mother's cottage. 
 
/8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EFFORTS TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION. 
 
 SLOW RECOVERY. MEETING WITH MR. BATES. A PRIVATE TUTOR. 
 DETERMINED BEGINNING. THE GEAUGA SEMINARY. ESTI 
 MATES THE COST OF A TERM AT SCHOOL. EARNS A SMALL SUM TO 
 START WITH. IHS MOTHER'S HELP. BOARDING HIMSELF AT 
 CHESTER. PUDDING AND MOLASSES. THE ADVANTAGES OF A 
 HEALTHY BODY. TEACHING SCHOOL. VACATION WORK. IN 
 TEREST IN RELIGION. THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. RELIGIOUS 
 PERSECUTION. TRUSTWORTHY WORK. A GOOD NAME. 
 
 FOR weeks after his return to his home, he was 
 confined to his bed by the fever. He was very sick. 
 The disease was dangerous. The mercurial medicines 
 prescribed appear to have been more dangerous. Yet 
 after a few weeks he began slowly to recover, notwith 
 standing the depressing effects of exhaustion, ague 
 and calomel. His mother's faithful nursing overcame 
 both the disease and the prescription. 
 
 Again he was given an opportunity to think. He 
 could not work, play or read. He was compelled by 
 his inherited disposition to study, plan and dream of 
 the future. He would never be a sailor. That was 
 decided. He would never be a steersman on a canal. 
 That, too, was settled. He could not content him 
 self with the life of an indifferent carpenter, or even 
 with that of a successful wood-chopper. What would 
 he do after he had regained his strength? 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 79 
 
 This question was of untold importance to him 
 and to others. Far greater than he then dreamed. 
 The advice of Doctor Robinson, of the captain of 
 the canal boat, and the prayers of his mother were 
 not lost upon him. 
 
 His Uncle Amos, who frequently came to his bed 
 side, added his precepts to the already strong evi 
 dence of the value of scholarship. Lying day after 
 day, unable to move in his bed from one position 
 owing to the ague cake which stubbornly refused to 
 be reduced, he revolved in his mind various schemes 
 for securing an education. He had nearly decided 
 to try again the district school and swallow his pride, 
 provided a teacher was engaged who could help him 
 along, and had determined to seek the advice of 
 some suitable person about the books he might need, 
 when a most fortunate circumstance happened to 
 give direction to his plans. 
 
 Samuel D. Bates, who has since been extensively 
 known and revered as a Baptist preacher, was 
 employed to teach school in Orange, and his atten 
 tion was called to the studious and upright life which 
 James was reputed to have led. He was especially 
 impressed with the fact that it was said by all, 
 that, through the poverty, wants and temptations of 
 his life, James had not swerved from the honest 
 truth. Neither wealth, nor fame, nor culture could 
 have given the boy such a claim on the good man's 
 heart. Mr. Bates sought the acquaintance of the 
 Garfield family and was soon on intimate terms with 
 James. His advice to him was clear and decided. 
 
8O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 He told him that many boys as old and as ignorant 
 as himself, had become great and good by persever 
 ance and industry. Mr. Bates advised him to fix his 
 mind with unflinching determination on securing a 
 college education. Mrs. Garfield, with unmeasured 
 joy, saw the influence which Mr. Bates was having 
 upon James, and, with delight, saw in the behavior 
 and plans of her son, that he had set his face rsso- 
 lutely toward learning and its accompanying respon 
 sibilities. 
 
 On his recovery, which was exceedingly slow, he 
 abandoned the idea of attending further any public 
 school, and began a course of private instruction, 
 with Mr. Bates for his teacher. Under the impetus 
 of the fresh inspiration which James had obtained, 
 his progress was surprising even to himself. He 
 had feared that he was too backward to enter any 
 academy without being ashamed of himself, but with 
 this assistant, he would soon take rank with the 
 best. 
 
 It was a singular sight to see that awkward wood- 
 chopper, fresh from the timber lands and the canal 
 boat, pouring over a grammar or an arithmetic. 
 With features made coarse by exposure, and pallid 
 with sickness, with his stiff hair, which the sun had 
 made crisp and wiry, standing up in a great tuft 
 from his forehead, and with hands grim and horny, 
 he had a most unpromising appearance as a candi 
 date for literature or scholarship. There were those 
 who regarded the attempt which James was making, 
 as a very foolish effort of a country farm-hand " to 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 8 1 
 
 get above his business," and even said that it would 
 be better to advise the boy to lay up his money and 
 to help his mother, rather than waste his valuable 
 time in useless " book learning." Even Uncle Amos, 
 with all his reverence for the ministry, and admira 
 tion of able temperance lecturers, did not think it 
 worth while for any boy of such plebian stock as the 
 neighborhood of Orange was supposed to produce, 
 to spend his time in securing anything more than a 
 knowledge of the "common English branches." 
 But James had made an unchangeable resolution ; 
 and, with a keen love for books, and a heart greatly 
 moved by the religious interest which the Church of 
 the Disciples was awakening in that community, he 
 stubbornly compelled every hindering circumstance 
 to bend to his will. 
 
 At noon by his carpenter's bench, at evening after 
 his work on his mother's farm, he sought his books 
 and solved arithmetical problems. 
 
 At this time there stood on a beautiful eminence 
 about twelve miles from Orange, and in the town of 
 Chester, a commodious, three-story wooden building, 
 used for a school of a higher grade than the common 
 schools, and called the "Geauga Seminary." It was 
 in one of the most charming localities in Ohio. 
 The school was then in a very prosperous condition, 
 and attracted students from distant parts of the State. 
 It was established by the Freewill* Baptists as a 
 denominational school, and, but for the unfortunate 
 religious persecution in which that denomination in 
 Ohio was concerned with others, it would have con- 
 
82 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 tinued, doubtless, in their hands, and might long ago 
 have been a college. Its standard of education at 
 that time was not higher than the lower classes in 
 the high schools now. But that was a great advance 
 upon the rudimentary knowledge imparted in the 
 common schools. 
 
 Mr. Bates had been a student at the Geauga Sem 
 inary, and pointed out to James the great advantage 
 it would be to him if he could manage to attend that 
 school. At the time the suggestion was made to 
 James, there did not appear to be any probability or 
 possibility of his being able to attend the school. 
 He could neither spare the time from work, nor get 
 the money with which to pay his board. Yet his 
 courage abated not at the prospect. His mother 
 agreed with him that somehow and in some way he 
 must go. All his family, including Thomas, now 
 grown to manhood, and his sisters, Mehitable and 
 Mary, now in the ranks of womanhood, were kindly 
 disposed, but they were- poor. If he attended the 
 academy he must depend on himself and his mother. 
 
 When the advantages of the seminary at Chester 
 began to be discussed in the community, Uncle 
 Amos thought that it might be well to permit his 
 sons tb attend school there, provided they could earn 
 the money, as James must do. Long and anxious 
 discussions followed in both families, sometimes in a 
 kind of joint* convention, and sometimes in their 
 separate circles, upon the ways and means for 
 obtaining an academic education. They calculated 
 the cost of the tuition, then estimated how much 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 83 
 
 their food would cost if they had no luxuries at all 
 and boarded themselves on the very cheapest food, 
 such as hasty pudding, and corn bread. They were 
 compelled to add the cost of some stout cloth for a 
 suit of clothes, with a cap and a pair of boots for 
 each. How provokingly it did count up ! How 
 great were the difficulties in the way of those youn^ 
 men! 
 
 If they boarded themselves, how many dishes 
 would it take, how many knives and forks, how many 
 towels, and how many kettles ? All those must be 
 borrowed from home to save the expense of purchas 
 ing new. Yes, that could be arranged ; but yet the 
 project seemed very distant. 
 
 It was not until some months after the matter was 
 first talked of, that a way opened for James. He 
 had an opportunity to earn a few dollars on an 
 unusually profitable job of carpentering, and, although 
 the sum seemed a mere pittance for one in his cir 
 cumstances to begin such an undertaking, he resolved 
 to make a beginning and trust the future to open 
 the way to further advancement. 
 
 In 1849, that year made memorable by the discov 
 ery of gold in California, and which witnessed the 
 departure of so many young men for the gold fields, 
 James began his course of instruction at Chester. 
 It was the humblest beginning that could be made, 
 and it must have most severely wounded his pride to 
 be associated with scholars more advanced and so 
 much more favored in worldly possessions. He was 
 too brave to exhibit any misgivings, or let people 
 
$4 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 know that he noticed the distinctions which are al 
 ways, but often unconsciously, made between the 
 rich and poor by the best of men and women. 
 
 A description of their style of living at the Geauga 
 Seminary has been given to the author by one of his 
 room-mates who attended the school the second term 
 of James's stay at Chester. There were three of them 
 in one room James, his cousin, Henry Boynton, 
 and Orren Judd. The room was about ten feet wide 
 and twelve feet long, and was in a small farm-house 
 near the academy. They selected that room because 
 it was cheaper than those which were let in the 
 academy building, and for the same reason the three 
 boys occupied but one room. With the two narrow 
 beds, their cook-stove, boxes, and three chairs, there 
 was but little room for themselves. They divided 
 up the work, and each alternately prepared the meals 
 for a day. When the fire was burning in the old 
 box-stove, which had but one cover, the heat often 
 drove out all but the- cook. 
 
 Their meals, however, were often cold, and for 
 many weeks their only diet consisted of mush and 
 milk. When the bread from home gave out, the 
 supply being renewed nearly every week, they re 
 turned invariably to their hasty pudding, or to their 
 hot corn-cakes and molasses. They were at the 
 academy to study, and not to cook. To keep alive 
 was the only object in eating at all ; and whenever 
 they were compelled to eat, they did it with dispatch, 
 and returned to their books. Near the end of their 
 second term, the boys became very much dissatisfied 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 85 
 
 with their board, and made up their minds that 
 boarding themselves was not a successful enterprise. 
 James is said to have thrown down his spoon one day 
 as he finished his dish of pudding and molasses, 
 saying, 
 
 " I won't eat any more of that stuff, if I starve! " 
 But all their drawbacks did not appear to hinder 
 their progress in their studies. James worked very 
 hard, and made such masterly strides upward that he 
 soon had reason to feel proud of his achievements. 
 His hard fare, hard work, and close application made 
 no impression upon the hardy constitution which 
 had been disciplined by chopping wood, planting 
 crops, and drawing the plane ; and while his class 
 mates and room-mates faltered and weakened under 
 the strain and the privations, he kept steadily pull 
 ing onward, with his health and strength unim 
 paired. 
 
 How few successful men have spent their entire 
 youth in school. The keenest intellects and the 
 greatest minds of earth have almost universally been 
 found with those whose youth was inured to hard 
 ships, and whose early years were spent in physical 
 hard work. With a healthy body, no man need de 
 spair of getting an education, even if he must begin 
 in middle age. A college education is such a very 
 small part of the learning necessary, in this day, to 
 entitle a person to a position among scholars or men 
 of letters, that it is universally regarded by cultivated 
 men as only a beginning. No man with a rugged 
 body and a thoughtful mind need lack a college edu- 
 
86 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 cation. The knowledge of mathematics, of science, 
 of the languages, or of history is no more valuable 
 because it has been learned inside the halls of a col 
 lege building. They can all be learned elsewhere ; 
 and to be a leader among men, much that is more 
 difficult and more profound must be acquired away 
 from them. The boy who has graduated from a col 
 lege has only just begun, if he really hopes for suc 
 cess ; and this after-education cannot be acquired in 
 the rough contact with the cares of life, without a 
 sound body to draw upon. Many men who never 
 heard a college lecture, and never darkened the 
 doors of the humblest university, have started late 
 in life, with vigorous health, and acquired a fund of 
 learning beyond that of college professors, and per 
 formed great deeds, which precocious students had 
 not the strength to execute. All schools and colleges 
 are a help, but they are not an absolute necessity. 
 Health is always a necessity. It gives the late 
 scholar a strong advantage over an early one. It 
 gives the power to become learned and great to him, 
 who may have passed a score of years in ignorance. 
 It is an inestimable blessing to any one, and worth 
 the sacrifice of early school-days. Experience, as in 
 the case of James, has taught that a neglected early 
 education is no loss, if the young man possesses the 
 moral courage to acknowledge his ignorance, and 
 vigorously sets himself at the task of making up his 
 deficiencies. It often requires more fortitude than 
 to fight a battle. But he who wins in that contest 
 will conquer in all others. James lost nothing in the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 8/ 
 
 end by being poor and out of school in his boyhood, 
 and others need not. 
 
 Even the delay in his progress, caused by his ab 
 sence for the purpose of earning money enough to 
 pay his way, seems to have been easily made up. 
 Having an opportunity to teach a school in his na 
 tive town, he eagerly accepted the position, and was 
 absent from the academy the entire winter. 
 
 That school was a difficult one to control, and was 
 noted for its unruly boys. James was an enthusiast 
 then, on the subject of learning, and took the most 
 eager interest in all the lessons of the school. He 
 was also a believer in good order, and in his ability 
 to maintain it. It is told of him that several of the 
 boys, led by a stubborn young giant, attempted to 
 conduct themselves unseemly during the school 
 hours, and engaged in open rebellion. When the 
 rebellion was crushed, which was not long after the 
 teacher set about it-, there were several sore heads, 
 a giant with a lame back, and the most perfect de^- 
 corum throughout the school-room. 
 
 During these academic days, James took an active 
 and permanent interest in religious matters. His free 
 spirit and strong independence of character inclined 
 him toward the Church of the Disciples, the creed 
 of which, if it may be said to have had any in that 
 day, was untrammeled by traditions and unfettered by 
 any laws, save the words of the Bible, without change 
 or comment. They formed a religious community, 
 in which all were supposed to have an equal share, 
 and in which every one could preach, if he so de- 
 
88 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 sired, without the usual ceremony of ordination or 
 installation. It claimed then, as the large church 
 does now, to follow the example of Jesus, as the dis 
 ciples followed it, and to be as free from church or 
 ganization and creeds, as were the apostles. Alex 
 ander Campbell, the founder of the sect, was long a 
 member of the Baptist church, and claimed to differ 
 from them only in his disbelief in the binding force 
 of the church creed, and in the necessity of ministe 
 rial ordinations. Such, in the main, seems to be the 
 faith of the church he founded. 
 
 In 1848 and 1849, the religious movement in favor 
 of the Disciples was very strong in the northern 
 part of Ohio, and Mrs. Garfield was one of its early 
 converts. With her, were many members of the 
 families. in Orange, including " Uncle Amos." They 
 were a sensible, devout, sincere and unobtrusive sect, 
 and their belief and example naturally appealed to 
 the large-hearted, plain people of Ohio. 
 
 It may be that the church would not have grown 
 with such rapidity, had it not been for a most absurd 
 persecution which sprung up among the Baptist and 
 Freewill Baptist churches. Opposition and unjust 
 persecution have ever been meat and drink for new 
 religious movements. Churches thrive under oppo 
 sition, and lag in profound peace. Many of the 
 Freewill Baptists, having gained considerable 
 strength themselves by the persecution they had 
 endured, were foolish enough to repeat the ever- 
 recurring event of the past history, and in turn be 
 gan the persecution of the Disciples. It was a 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 89 
 
 movement discountenanced by many of the best 
 members, and few churches, as a body, took a share 
 in it. But the spirit of persecution 'showed itself in 
 little acts of discourtesy, in refusing to speak when 
 accosted, in shunning companionship, in refusing 
 to allow the children to play together, in favoritism 
 in school, and on public occasions, and sometimes in 
 angry personal disputes. 
 
 James had no sympathy whatever with that spirit, 
 and sympathized deeply with the inoffensive yet 
 injured party. The Geauga Seminary at Chester 
 felt the effects of public opinion, and became the 
 scene of frequent disputes and of unpleasant religious 
 controversy. The same feeling existed in other 
 schools ; and as the " Disciples of Christ " grew 
 stronger and bolder, the necessity for an institution 
 of learning for their sons and daughters forced itself 
 on their attention, and led to the foundation of an 
 academy at Hiram, Portage county, of which we 
 shall speak further in the next chapter. 
 
 In all the discussions on religious topics, James 
 was the outspoken champion of entire religious free 
 dom, and fought with all his heart against any ostra 
 cism or persecution because of religious opinions. He 
 claimed the right to follow the faith the Bible appear 
 ed to him to teach, and stoutly maintained that every 
 other person should be given the same sacred right. 
 His Christian faith and his behavior were both open, 
 courageous, generous and impartial, and his advocacy 
 of the Disciples did much in that early day to 
 strengthen the stakes of their tabernacle. 
 
QO THE 'LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 His life as a Christian young man did much to 
 assist the creed to which he adhered For no oppos 
 ing politician has ever been found, and they are the 
 most merciless of critics, who would venture to say 
 that James led an inconsistent life. One old gentle 
 man residing in Mayfield, who knew James in that 
 early day, said of him afterwards, that, 
 
 " His conscience kinder went ahead on him inter 
 his work, an' ye could allers trust him to du any job, 
 hoein', rakin,' hewin', planin', teachin', or any other 
 thing, fur he'd feel much the wust ef he left any 
 out as it hadn't dorter be. He didn't cover up 
 nothin' h'ed spiled, an' he'd work just as fast if the 
 man who paid him warnt around. He was right-up- 
 'n down squar ! " 
 
 Such is the universal testimony of those for whom 
 he labored in field and shop, woodland and school 
 room during his vacations, and when the strongest 
 temptations which ever beset a young man urged 
 him to slight his work and obtain money without 
 giving an honest equivalent. Such a name was 
 of inestimable value to him in after years, and to the 
 church whose cause he thus early espoused. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 9 1 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SCHOLAR AND TEACHER AT HIRAM. 
 
 LEAVING CHESTER. DESCRIPTION OF HIRAM. THB CROWN OF OHIO. 
 THE ECLECTIC INSTITUTE. THE COURSE OF STUDY. A LEADER 
 AMONG THE STUDENTS. JANITOR OF THE BUILDING. URGED TO 
 BECOME A PREACHER. DETERMINED TO ATTEND COLLEGE. THE 
 DEBATING CLUB. A REVOLT. OUTSIDE STUDIES. WORK A3 A 
 TEACHER. WORKS ON ALONE INTO THE COLLEGE TEXT-BOOKS. 
 BORROWS MONEY OF HIS UNCLE THOMAS. STARTS FOR WILLIAMS- 
 TOWN COLLEGE. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING all his hardships and annoy 
 ances at Chester, James parted with the school and 
 town, at the end of his last term there, with feel 
 ings of sincere regret. 'It had opened a new life to 
 him, and he was profoundly grateful. It was an 
 excellent school. Its teachers were faithful, kind 
 and competent. The boys and girls who attended 
 there went for the purpose of making themselves 
 useful in the future, and they had been most con 
 genial companions. The wide landscape, which 
 stretched far away in every direction from the pleas 
 ant hill -top where the academy stood, was one he 
 often loved to contemplate, and it had exercised its 
 useful influence in shaping the course of his life. 
 There, among other pleasant faces, he had been 
 gratified to meet the modest, quiet girl they called 
 
Q2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 'Crete Rudolph, whose home was in Hiram, and 
 who was to cross his path again. He had obtained 
 in that recitation room, they called " the chapel," 
 many new ideas, and a fund of encouragement. He 
 came to it a coarse and awkward woodsman, and in 
 portions of two years, it had lifted him into an aspir 
 ing scholar, with attainments worthy of any of his 
 age. It had made the world more beautiful, more 
 valuable, and life more earnest and sublime. It had 
 revealed to him the latent power within himself. 
 It had shown him the distant mountain-tops of fame 
 and greatness, and set his feet in the path that led 
 heavenward. It is said of him that he- was wise 
 enough to see and appreciate it all, and if he did, 
 his heart throbbed sadly as he turned away from 
 those beloved scenes. 
 
 His life at the Chester Academy had much of 
 sunshine in it after all. He had not always worn 
 the coarsest clothes, nor had 'he every term boarded 
 himself. For to-day, teachers will show to the 
 visitor the battered and narrow chamber in the third 
 story of the academy, in which he slept during the 
 two terms he boarded in the building, and the same 
 old stove at which he warmed himself. 
 
 Thus, with feelings of gratitude for the past, and 
 with high hopes of the future, James turned from 
 Chester toward Hiram. He had no more capital 
 then, than when he came to Chester, except the 
 ability to command higher wages as a teacher, and 
 the increased skill which a few months more of 
 practice had given him as a carpenter. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 93 
 
 The town of Hiram is in Portage county, and its 
 situation is such that it might be styled "the crown 
 of Ohio." It is located very close to that elevated 
 line where the waters divide, one part flowing south 
 ward to the Ohio river, and the other portion north 
 ward to Lake Erie. From the commanding eminence 
 where the college is located, the panorama is beauti 
 ful and extensive. The spectator looks down upon 
 fields of grain and tracks of woodland, and aw^iy to 
 hills and forests, with glimpses of the neatest of 
 farm-houses in the country, and of clustered dwell 
 ings in the distant villages, adding the romance of 
 art to the attractions of nature. So varied is the 
 landscape and so serenely quiet seems everything in 
 sight, that many beholders stand and gaze, and gaze 
 again, with an inexhaustible satisfaction. It is one 
 of those sweet and quiet retreats whose embowered 
 walks and shady lawns seem most consistent with a 
 thoughtful mood and a virtuous mind. Strikingly 
 suggestive of the sylvan shades of antiquity, in the 
 shape of the hills and the verdure of its trees, the 
 college seems to be a part of the natural landscape. 
 
 There, in 1849, the leaders among the Churches of 
 the Disciples decided to locate their academy ; and 
 March i, 1850, the legislature of Ohio granted them 
 a charter, under the name of "The Western Reserve 
 Eclectic Institute." Among the founders of the 
 institute was Mr. Zeb Rudolph, the father of Lucretia 
 Rudolph, of whom mention was made in the last 
 chapter. There was a flourishing church of their 
 faith near the spot which they selected, and a neigh- 
 
94 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 borhood composed of very intelligent farmers, many of 
 whom were born in New England. Professor B. A. 
 Hinsdale, in writing for the "Centennial History of 
 Education in Ohio," thus speaks of the aims which 
 the founders had in establishing the school : 
 
 " The aims of the school were both general and 
 special ; more narrowly they were these : 
 
 (1) To provide a sound scientific and literary 
 education. 
 
 (2) To temper and sweeten such education with 
 moral and scriptural knowledge. 
 
 (3) To educate young men for the ministry. 
 One peculiar tenet of the religious movement in 
 
 which it originated, was impressed upon the Eclec 
 tic Institute at its organization. The Disciples 
 believed that the Bible had been in a degree obscur 
 ed by the theological speculations and ecclesiastical 
 systems. Hence, their religious movement was a 
 revolt from the theology of the schools, and an over 
 ture to men to come face to face with the Scriptures. 
 They believed, also, that to the Holy Writings be 
 longed a iarger place in general culture than had yet 
 been accorded to them. Accordingly, in all their 
 educational institutions they have emphasized the 
 Bible and its related branches of knowledge. This 
 may be called the distinctive feature of their schools. 
 The charter of the Eclectic Institute, therefore, de 
 clared the purpose of the institution to be : " The 
 instruction of youth of both sexes in the various 
 branches of literature and science, especially of moral 
 science as based on the facts and precepts of the 
 Holy Scriptures." 
 
 " The Institute rose at once to a high degree of 
 popularity. On the opening day, eighty-four students 
 were in attendance, and soon the number rose to 
 two or three hundred per term. Students came 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. . 95 
 
 from a wide region of country. Ohio furnished the 
 larger number, but there was a liberal patronage 
 from Canada, New York, and Pennsylvania ; a con 
 siderable number came from the Southern States, 
 and a still larger from the Western. These students 
 differed widely in age, ability, culture, and wants. 
 Some received grammar school instruction ; others 
 high school instruction ; while others still pushed 
 on far into the regular college course. Classes were 
 organized and taught in the collegiate studies as they 
 were called for ; Language, Mathematics, Literature, 
 Science, Pnilosophy, and History. No degrees were 
 conferred, and no students were graduated. After 
 they had mastered the English studies, students were 
 allowed a wide range of choice. The principle of 
 election had free course. A course of study was 
 published in the catalogue after the first year or two ; 
 but it was rather a list of studies taught as they were 
 called for than a curriculum that students pretended 
 closely to follow." 
 
 The Institute had passed through one term when 
 James appeared at Hiram ready for work, He was 
 as courageous and as poor as ever. His cousins were 
 with him, but they had abandoned the expectation of 
 keeping pace with him. He carved his own -way 
 and was, at that time, a " law unto himself." He had 
 won the battle for mental supremacy before he entered 
 at Hiram, and ever after he was treated by the 
 many students who came to Hiram from Chester, and 
 soon by all at Hiram, as though he was of a different 
 mould from the masses, and one who was expected 
 to learn faster and know more than his class-mates. 
 
 Still the weights of poverty hung to his feet and 
 the struggles for a livelihood were long, severe, bitter. 
 
96 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 One of the first attempts he made to make sure of 
 food while he studied, was to secure the place of 
 janitor of the building, where he might build the fires, 
 sweep the recitation rooms, and ring the bell for a 
 small sum per month. He that afterwards became 
 a professor in the same rooms he had swept as a 
 young man ; he that was to be the President of that 
 college, the bell of which he was glad of a chance to 
 ring, began at the very lowest and stooped to con 
 quer. 
 
 The good Christian people who took an active share 
 in supporting the institute, noticed his meekness 
 and recognized his superior abilities. They regard 
 ed him as providentially adapted to the work of 
 preaching the gospel, and repeatedly urged him to 
 follow that profession. They did not find in him 
 any disinclination to do his duty; but there was at 
 one time a hesitancy, on his part, about entering the 
 ministry, owing to his distrust of his ability and 
 fitness. He began, however, as early as his twenty- 
 first year to fill the pulpits in various churches of his 
 own denomination ; and before his graduation or de 
 parture from Hiram, he was in most flattering demand 
 to supply vacant pastorates in the vicinity. 
 
 Some urged him to be satisfied with the instruction at 
 the institute, which was not for many years after a col 
 lege, and to abandon his plans for a collegiate course 
 But no offer, however large, and no place however 
 high, could induce him to rest satisfied with anything 
 less than the highest educational culture. 
 
 Living upon the simplest farmer's fare, and sleep- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 97 
 
 ing in the humblest and plainest of the basement 
 rooms in the college, he kept steadily before him 
 the hope of being able to stand among the highest 
 and best in the land. He was a lover of college 
 sports, and was eager to win the games in which he 
 took part. 
 
 But the place he loved most to visit was the de [ 
 bating club which was to him both a recreation and 
 a study. The debates were always vigorous and 
 scholarly on the part of a portion of the students, 
 and somewhat light and jocose on the part of others ; 
 and it appears that the debating club to which James 
 belonged had a serious division, owing to a differ 
 ence in the tastes of the members. As is usually 
 the case, those who enjoyed frivolity better than 
 sound sense were in the majority and could carry by 
 a preponderance of votes any measure which they 
 brought before the club. 
 
 The contest over some matter concerning a public 
 debate, become so serious and bitter that young 
 Garfield arose, in considerable anger, and declared 
 that sooner than be compelled to waste his time in 
 such nonsense as the majority proposed, he would 
 form another society, if he had to debate alone with 
 himself. Believing the minority had rights which 
 the majority were bound to respect, he demanded 
 concessions from the party in power, or he would 
 withdraw. The concessions were not made, and he 
 set up the standard of revolt. To his colors the 
 leading students flocked, and a second society was 
 
 7 
 
98 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 formed with him for President which long outlived 
 the one from which they withdrew. 
 
 It is said that he did not confine himself to the 
 regular studies of the institute, but used his extra 
 hours in reading history and theological works. 
 The work which he accomplished must have been 
 nearly double that of many students. Yet he found 
 time for many vigorous games. He soon left many 
 of the classes behind, and at the opening of his sec 
 ond year he was appointed as a teacher of some of 
 the lower classes. In that way, by doubling his 
 hours of work, and taking for study, many hours of 
 the night, he was able to keep on in his recitations 
 with the advanced classes, while he taught the lower 
 grades. The way did not open for him to secure the 
 funds with which to go to college, at the time when 
 he had prepared himself for the Freshman classes, 
 and so he kept on teaching, and preaching, and 
 studying the text books of the regular college 
 courses. It was for a long time in doubt whether he 
 would be able to enter any college, his financial 
 means were so limited. But he never abandoned 
 the hope, sooner or later, in some way, to obtain the 
 money. He was not one of those young men who 
 wished to graduate from college for the social stand 
 ing which it was supposed, through the ignorance 
 of the public, to give a man, whether he had learned 
 little or much. He desired the opportunities which 
 colleges, libraries, and learned men could give to en 
 large the field of his study. He knew that he could 
 obtain elsewhere all that the colleges could give, and 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 99 
 
 more, by persevering hard work over the books, and 
 actually did secure for himself the first two years' 
 course of college classes. Yet he saw that he' could 
 progress faster with congenial associates and among 
 men more learned than he. 
 
 One day, he thought of his uncle, Thomas Gar- 
 field, whose various enterprises had been successful, 
 and who had acquired a fortune. It occurred to him 
 that his uncle might be willing to lend him enough 
 to enable him to attend two years at Williams Col 
 lege in Massachusetts, where he heard that the ex 
 pense was not great, and the standard of scholarship 
 high. He had studied so faithfully that he felt very 
 sure of entering two years in advance. 
 
 But he disliked very much to ask any person to 
 lend him money. It was a most humiliating step to 
 take. He sought advice from relatives, and they 
 told him to try it. So he reluctantly went to his 
 uncle, and asked for the use of five hundred dollars, 
 until he could finish his college course, and earn that 
 sum by teaching. His uncle had always been kind 
 to him, and had seemed to take a friendly interest in 
 his welfare ; but yet the nephew had the strongest 
 doubt regarding the success of his petition for so 
 large an amount of money. It was a large sum for 
 a poor young man to borrow, but a very small sum 
 on which to undertake two years of college life, five 
 hundred miles from home. 
 
 His uncle met him in a generous manner, and say 
 ing that he felt sure of his pay, if his nephew lived, 
 loaned young Garfield the sum for which he asked. 
 
100 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 The young man, conscientiously desiring that his 
 uncle should be secured in case of his death while in 
 college, procured a policy on his life, in a Life Insur 
 ance company, for five hundred dollars, payable in 
 case of his death to his uncle. 
 
 Thus the way opened to him, at last, for a col 
 legiate education, and young Garfield, full of joy and t 
 ambition, took leave of his mother at Orange, and of 
 his school-mate, Lucretia Rudolph, at Hiram, and 
 with the sum his uncle had lent him, slightly aug 
 mented by a little sum he had saved, started on his 
 long journey toward the classic Berkshire hills of the 
 old Bay State. 
 
 Just before his departure for Williams he wrote a 
 private letter to a friend, explaining his reasons for 
 choosing Williams rather than the college of his 
 denomination at Bethany. A part of it was as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " After thinking it all over I have made up my 
 mind to go to Williamstown, Massachusetts. * * * 
 There are three reasons why I have decided not to 
 go to Bethany. 1st. The course of study is not so 
 extensive or thorough as in Eastern colleges. 2d. 
 Bethany leans too heavily toward slavery. 3d. I 
 ,im the son of Disciple parents, am one myself, and 
 have had but little acquaintance with people of other 
 views ; and, having always lived in the West, I 
 think it will make me more liberal, both in my relig 
 ious and general views and sentiments, to go into 
 a new circle, where I shall be under new influence. 
 These considerations led me to conclude to go to 
 some New England college. I therefore wrote to 
 the President of Brown University, Yale and Wil- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. IOI 
 
 Hams, setting forth the amount of study I had done, 
 and asking how long it would take me to finish their 
 course. 
 
 " These answers are now before me. All tell me 
 I can graduate in two years. They are all brief, 
 business notes, but President Hopkins concludes 
 with this sentence : ' If you come here we shall be 
 glad to do what we can for you.' Other things 
 being so nearly equal, this sentence, which seems to 
 be a kind of friendly grasp of the hand, has settled 
 that question for me. I shall start for Williams next 
 week." 
 
IO2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LIFE AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, 
 
 HIS HEALTH. APPEARANCE OF THE HOOSAC VALLEY. THE SCEN 
 ERY ABOUT WILLIAMS COLLEGE. THE GREAT NATURAL AMPHI 
 THEATRE. THE MOUNTAINS IN OCTOBER. CHARACTER OF THE 
 
 STUDENTS. GARFIELD'S HABITS AS A STUDENT. ENTERS THE 
 
 JUNIOR CLASS. HIS MODESTY. THE FRIENDSHIP OF PRESIDENT 
 HOPKINS AND PROFESSOR CHADBOURNE. HIS TRUTHFULNESS AT 
 COLLEGE. HIS GRADUATION. HIS CLASS-MATES. 
 
 THE three years of study at Hiram had not im 
 paired young Garfield's health, and when, in Septem 
 ber, 1854, at twenty-three years of age, he presented 
 himself before the faculty at Williamstown College, 
 for examination, he was a picture of health and 
 strength. His broad shoulders, large face, bright 
 blue eyes, high forehead, and brown hair were visi 
 ble over the heads of many of his fellow students, 
 and he was at once known among them as the " Ohio 
 giant." 
 
 He appears to have been delighted with the pro 
 fessors, with the locality in which the college was 
 situated, and with the extended mountain scenery. 
 In his letters to his friends in Ohio, he was quite en 
 thusiastic in his descriptions of the men and the 
 landscapes. In fact he had been especially favored 
 during his school days in the natural scenery which 
 surrounded academies and college. Williamstown is 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 103 
 
 situated on the Hoosac river, and among the most 
 majestic of those mountains of which the term "Berk 
 shire Hills" is both belittling and misleading. The 
 college building stands on the top of a natural emi 
 nence, overlooking a wide plain, which all around it 
 stretches away to the distant, towering mountains, 
 and reminds the traveler somewhat of the situation 
 of Jerusalem, where the city itself is on a hill, with 
 higher mountains all around looking down upon it. 
 But the great natural amphitheatre, in which the 
 college hill at Williamstown stands, is far more at 
 tractive, more extensive, more majestic. The lofty 
 mountains appear to enclose the plain, with no 
 opening apparent anywhere for the egress of the 
 streams whose clear waters unite below the town, to 
 form the Hoosac river. Extensive forests of never- 
 fading green crown the mountains, while woodlands 
 of maple, birch, beach, poplar, and ash, adorn the 
 mountain sides and checker the valley. 
 
 In October, and soon after the college term opened, 
 the frost and sunlight combined to beautify the land 
 scape, and nowhere in all the world can a more gor 
 geous scene be found than from the encircled plains 
 of Williamstown, in the brilliant October days. The 
 distant mountains, under their caps of green, are ar 
 rayed in all the varied hues and all the possible com 
 binations and shades which the prism can show. A 
 flowery landscape, as enchanting as the fabled beauty 
 of the ancient vale of Cashmere. No one will ob 
 tain any idea of its autumn splendor unless he sees 
 
IO4 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 it for himself, nor believe the accurate descriptions 
 of it until he visits the scene, and for himself 
 
 11 Sees old Hoosac on his throne, 
 With hills of beauty gathered round." 
 
 It is no overwrought figure which the Alumni of 
 Williams use when they sing : 
 
 " Dear Alma Mater, long as stand, 
 Like pillars of our native land, 
 
 These everlasting hills, 
 Thy grateful children shall proclaim 
 
 In every clime thy growing fame." 
 
 Aside from its scenery, Williams College possessed 
 various attractions for the young Ohio student, which 
 caused him to select that college as the most desira 
 ble place to pursue his studies. 
 
 The locality, the design of the founder and incor- 
 porators, the conservative character of the president, 
 whose highest aim was to sustain a safe college, the 
 class of students who frequented its halls, the ab 
 sence of offensive, aristocratic and senseless snobs, 
 and the quiet and honest habits of the little native 
 community, made it a most appropriate and desirable 
 institution for a self-made, country youth, like him. 
 His modesty, his dislike for dispjay, his indisposition 
 to go anywhere or do anything for the name of it, 
 and his desire to work undisturbed by outside attrac 
 tions, as well as his limited means, combined to make 
 congenial his opening days at Williams College. 
 
 He was admitted, without question, to the Junior 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 05 
 
 class, he having in three years' . time, in the work 
 of preparing for college and in the studies of the 
 Freshman and Junior years, accomplished the usual 
 work of six years. The achievement is made more 
 astonishing by the large amount of other labor, 
 physical and mental, which he performed during that 
 period, in order to secure his board, clothing and 
 tuition. 
 
 He became at once a favorite of President Hop 
 kins, and a close friend of Professor Chadbourne, 
 who had been elected a professor one year before. 
 It was a strong recommendation for young Garfield 
 to have the esteem and love of two such remarkable 
 men. Yet both those gifted scholars have kept him 
 fresh in their memories, and both have watcned his 
 career with unabated interest. It was among such 
 men that he made his closest friendship. Only 
 thoughtful, studious, and earnest men would have 
 seen anything attractive in him. His class-mates 
 testify that his life was so retiring and his behavior 
 so unostentatious, that he made no especial impres 
 sion on their memories. He studied hard, often 
 walked alone in the roads or fields, and attended to 
 all his duties with quiet promptness. It was under 
 stood that he was to enter the ministry, and in his 
 entire stay they saw nothing inconsistent with that 
 profession. He took an especial interest in meta 
 physical studies, rhetoric, and debate, and was a 
 leading mind among his class-mates on those topics. 
 
 During his collegiate course he tried to secure 
 small sums of money by teaching evening writing- 
 
IO6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 school, in the small towns around Williamstown, but 
 was never so successful, in that scattered community, 
 as to secure a very profitable number of scholars. 
 He dressed very plainly and cheaply, and was com 
 pelled to economize, in every way, in his board, 
 his books, and in his traveling expenses, in order 
 to make the small 'sum he had secured to last until his 
 graduation. He was the humblest of them all. He 
 was very poor, and was brave enough to frankly 
 acknowledge it. There is no more striking proof of 
 the fact, so little understood, that college life is but 
 a small part of the discipline and learning necessary 
 to a liberal education than is found in the history of 
 college classes. How often do we find that the 
 honored, brilliant, and influential students sink al 
 most immediately out of sight when they leave the 
 college halls and enter the breakers of actual life ; 
 while the silent, thoughtful one, whose presence in 
 the class is scarcely remembered, comes conspicu 
 ously to the surface, in civil or military life, and soon 
 towers above all his acquaintances and school-day 
 associates. Sometimes, in the annals of scientific 
 discovery, or of national leadership, the popular and 
 brilliant college student is found. Once in a while 
 the valedictorian is again heard of in the vanguard 
 of civilization, with the great and the good. But the 
 rarity of it is a curious and sad feature connected 
 with students' lives. It may be that the honors they 
 received led them to the fatal conclusion that at their 
 graduation they knew all that men need to learn, 
 and stopping, they were soon left behind and beneath 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. TO/ 
 
 by the less successful candidates for class-day 
 honors. 
 
 Garfield's student days appear to have impressed 
 him as but a portion of a whole life of study, and he 
 conducted himself as if his graduation was to make 
 no break in his pursuit of knowledge. Beginning it 
 as if for a long journey, on which it would be unwise, 
 at first, to hurry, he left the college as one who has 
 passed ihe first mile, and looks back upon his prog 
 ress with satisfaction, and forward with unflinching 
 determination. He does not appear to have been 
 actuated by any desire for fame, neither had he any 
 confidence in his ability to acquire riches. He pur 
 posed to do quiet, solid work, either as a preacher, 
 lawyer or teacher, and pictured to himself a life of 
 studious quiet and religious peace. 
 
 In his college days, his characteristic simplicity 
 and truthfulness were noticed and commended. He 
 was determined to appear to possess no more than 
 his actual acquirements would warrant. If he did 
 not understand his lesson, or for some reason was 
 behind in his studies, he manfully said so without 
 reserve. His teachers never over-estimated him ; for 
 his life was transparent, and his words bore the 
 intangible but positive impress of truth. This noble 
 trait of his character compelled him to make many 
 sacrifices. If he neglected his study, there was no 
 escape for him in manufactured excuses. If he was 
 inferior to other students in certain branches of the 
 college studies, he could not make up for it with 
 " ponies," stolen translations, or borrowed keys. If 
 
IO8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 he was late or absent at prayer-time, or at recitation, 
 he could not feign sickness, nor evade the monitor's 
 inquiries. Hence, he was forced, by his own rigid 
 morality, to be thorough in his studies and obedient 
 in his behavior. How much of human success and 
 human greatness depends on the strictness and wis 
 dom with which parents discipline and educate their 
 children into that sublimest and most necessary of 
 all acquirements, invariable and unshaken adher 
 ence to the simple truth ! 
 
 The two years of college life passed quickly with 
 him, as they do with all, and the joyful day of gradu 
 ation came to him as to thousands of others. But 
 his joy was enhanced by the reflection that he should 
 no longer be compelled to live on borrowed money. 
 He is said to have longed, even at that early day, to 
 be at work paying up his Uncle Thomas. With the 
 success of his studies he must have been well satis 
 fied. He had made solid progress. He had made 
 many warm friends, especially among the faculty. 
 He had secured the metaphysical honors of his class, 
 and had the respect of all. Yet, to enable him to 
 acquire this, he had drawn upon the future, and he 
 longed to be at work. How the desire to see his 
 mother, and that other lady at Hiram, may have 
 influenced his joy on his graduation day, the histo 
 rian at present can only surmise. 
 
 The class-mates of Mr. Garfield are now scattered 
 through the different States of the Union, and are 
 nearly all of that steady, sturdy character for which 
 he was remarkable. William Rowe Baxter was a 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 09 
 
 captain in the regular service, and was killed in 
 Mississippi, June 1864; Stephen W. Bowles is a phy 
 sician in Springfield, Massachusetts ; Isaac Bronson 
 is a lawyer in New York; Elijah Cutler is a minister, 
 and agent of the Bible Society, Boston, Mass. ; Ham 
 ilton N. Eldridge is a lawyer in Chicago, and was 
 brevetted a brigadier-general in the war of the rebel 
 lion ; James E. Fay is a lawyer in Chicago ; James 
 Gillfillan is a lawyer, and was for a time in the gov 
 ernment service, .at Washington ; Charles S. Halsey 
 lives at Canandaigua, New York ; James K. Hazen, 
 was a Presbyterian minister in Alabama; Clement 
 H. Hill is a lawyer, and clerk of the United States 
 Court, in Boston, Massachusetts ; Silas R Hub- 
 bell is a lawyer at Champlain, New York ; Ferris 
 Jacobs is a lawyer at Delhi, New York, and was a 
 colonel in the war ; Henry M. Jones is a Baptist 
 minister ; Henry E. Knox is a lawyer in New York ; 
 John E. D. Lamberton died in 1857 ; Charles W. 
 McArthur is a Presbyterian minister ; Elizur N. Man- 
 ley is a Presbyterian minister at Oakfield, New York ; 
 James McLean is a Congregational minister in Wis 
 consin ; Robert J. Mitchell is a lawyer in New York ; 
 George B. Newcomb is a Congregational minister in 
 Connecticut ; Joseph F. Noble is a Presbyterian 
 minister at Brooklyn, New York ; John T. Pingree 
 is a lawyer at Auburn, New York ; Andrew Potter 
 is a lawyer at Bennington, and was a colonel during 
 the war; Arnold G. Potter is a lawyer at North 
 Adams, Massachusetts ; Edwin II . Pound is a law 
 yer in Iowa ; Nathan B. Robbins was a lawyer, and 
 was drowned in 1859; Albion T. Rocwkell is a phy- 
 
IIO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 sician in Washington, and has long been in the gov 
 ernment service ; he was a lieutenant-colonel in the 
 last war ; Lester C. Rogers is a minister of the Re 
 formed Dutch Church in New Jersey ; Henry Root 
 is a physician at Whitehall, New York ; Frank Shep- 
 ard is a teacher in Connecticut ; Oren C. Sikes is a 
 teacher at Lynn, Massachusetts ; Edward C. Smith 
 is a teacher in Philadelphia ; John T. Stoneman is a 
 lawyer in Iowa; John Tatlock is a Congregational 
 minister at Troy, New York ; Lemuel P. Webber is 
 a Presbyterian minister ; Charles Whittier is a Con 
 gregational minister in Maine ; Charles D. Wilbur 
 is a Professor of Geology in Illinois ; John H. Wil- 
 helm is a Baptist minister ; Samuel Williams is a 
 lawyer at St. Albans, Vermont, and Lavalette Wil 
 son is a teacher in New York State. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A PREACHER AND PROFESSOR. 
 
 A PREACHER IN THE CHURCH OF THE DISCIPLES. ESTIMATION OF HIS 
 ABILITIES AMONG HIS OLD NEIGHBORS. RISE OF INFIDELITY AT 
 CHAGRIN FALLS. SPIRITUALISM AND CHRISTIANITY. EXCITING 
 PUBLIC DISCUSSION. PROFESSOR DENTON VS. PROFESSOR GAR- 
 FIELD. HOW THE VICTORY WAS WON. MR. GARFIELD's POPU 
 LARITY ASA TEACHER. TESTIMONY OF STUDENTS. MARRIAGE 
 WITH MISS LUCRETIA RUDOLPH. HIS SPEECH AT HIRAM. 
 
 ON his return home Mr. Garfield was received 
 with great joy by all his friends. The founders and 
 supporters of Hiram College had already laid their 
 plans to engage hirn sooner or later as a teacher. 
 While many of the congregations of the Disciples, to 
 whom he had preached, had equally confident hopes 
 of securing him for a permanent pastor. It is said 
 that he had not definitely marked out a course for 
 himself, but told his friends that he should probably 
 follow preaching as a profession. With a seeming 
 view to that calling, he supplied many pulpits and 
 attended many general meetings of his denomina 
 tion. Among the people of the interior towns of 
 Ohio it was considered a very great achievement to 
 graduate from an Eastern college ; and Mr. Garfield 
 was at once received as a man of learning, and his 
 ideas on theological questions were accepted by the 
 
112 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 lay members at least, as the authoritative exposition 
 of scriptural truth. 
 
 He had ever been a close reasoner, and an enthu 
 siastic admirer of the Bible from his early academic 
 days. In some places he was looked upon with that 
 awe and respect with which they might receive a 
 prophet. In fact, it is seldom the lot of any man, in 
 Church or State, to receive such devoted and loving 
 expressions as those which were given to Mr. Gar- 
 field throughout his ministerial work. 
 
 An incident, illustrating both his ready wit, and 
 ability to cope with difficult questions in science, 
 philosophy and religion, and the respect in which he 
 was held by his denomination, occurred at Chagrin 
 Falls, near his old home. 
 
 Professor Denton, somewhat noted for his adher 
 ence to spiritualism, gave a series of lectures at 
 Chagrin Falls, and attempted to prove by scientific 
 discoveries that the Bible could not be true. 
 
 In the course of his discussion he had been able to 
 convince quite a number of people, and it began to 
 be boldly asserted, on the streets and in the facto 
 ries, that the Bible was only an ingenious fable. 
 
 Professor Denton was a critical scholar and had a 
 very plausible way of stating his theories ; and there 
 was no one found to withstand his arguments. Min 
 isters attacked him, but only with invectives, which 
 did more harm than good. Teachers and public 
 speakers often ridiculed him, but such things only 
 avail against a shallow reasoner, or one manifestly 
 unpopular. Professor Denton was gaining the think- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 113 
 
 ing men and women, and felt sure, as his adherents 
 boasted " of shutting up the churches and abolishing 
 the Bible from Chagrin Falls." It was one of those 
 strange, almost unaccountable freaks of public opin 
 ion, and men were drawn into it who, all their lives, 
 had been the most orthodox believers in the Holy 
 Bible, 
 
 The Churches of the Disciples viewed the success 
 of Professor Denton with the deepest dismay. The 
 church at Chagrin Falls seemed in danger of anni 
 hilation, and the whole denomination viewed its tot 
 tering condition with great alarm. It happened that 
 the noted professor had one weak point illustrating 
 the truth of that Book he was endeavoring to over 
 turn, wherein it says that "great men are not always 
 wise." He had a habit of boasting ; and one even 
 ing he went so far as to challenge any and every 
 believer of the Bible in Ohio to refute his statements. 
 He offered the use of the hall and ample time to any 
 person who dared to undertake the task. 
 
 At once, the listeners who adhered to the Bible 
 thought of Mr. Garfield. They had heard him 
 preach at Chagrin Falls and in the surrounding 
 country towns, and they felt that if any man could 
 cope with the learned professor, it would be he. 
 They felt that some one must champion their cause 
 or all would be lost. In a distress of mind not easily 
 realized by people living in other portions of the 
 religious world, these sincere and sorrowful Chris 
 tians turned toward Mr. Garfield for help. At first 
 be declined to meet the professor, thinking.it unbe- 
 8 
 
114 THE LIF> E, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 coming a Christian man to debate such questions 
 in a public hall. But the continued petition of his 
 friends and the alarm of the churches, caused him at 
 last to consent, and a committee of citizens was 
 appointed to arrange for the public discussion. 
 
 It was a great day at Chagrin Falls, and one which 
 will not soon be forgotten, when these two cham 
 pions met in the arena of serious, earnest, religious 
 debate. Mr. Garfield had never heard Professor 
 Denton and was consequently supposed to be igno 
 rant of just the position which the professor would 
 take. 
 
 But Mr. Garfield had been too wise to risk a cause 
 which he believed so holy, to the impulses and 
 guesses of an impromptu speech ; and, as soon as 
 he knew that he was to meet the professor, he had 
 taken steps to find out the arguments which the infi 
 del used. Having ascertained privately that tne pro 
 fessor was to lecture on the same topic in a distant 
 part of the State before the date of the discussion, 
 Mr. Garfield had sent a friend to hear these lectures, 
 and write them out for his use. 
 
 Of course the professor knew nothing of this, and 
 had no doubt of his ability to silence a man who had 
 not made science a special study. When, however* 
 Mr. Garfield had received the copies of the lectures, 
 he had at once sent in various directions and procured 
 the latest scientific books, together with those the 
 professor had quoted as being against the Bible. He 
 had also obtained learned opinions of distinguished 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 115 
 
 scholars, and, before the day of the discussion, was 
 thoroughly armed with arguments and authorities. 
 
 When the hour came for the discussion, the hall 
 was crowded to suffocation by an eager, and on the 
 part of the Disciples, an almost breathless audience. 
 i3ut they did not lose faith in Mr. Garfield. They 
 thought that if any one could overcome the learned 
 professor, then they had secured the right man. 
 
 The professor, amid the smiles of his followers and 
 with a perfect confidence in his ability, opened the 
 debate with his statements of scientific facts and 
 their bearing on the accounts of creation and the 
 miracles in the Bible. The professor did not try to 
 be precise and accurate in all his statements, for he 
 was sure that Mr. Garfield would not attack him on 
 scientific ground, and, when he stated any difficult 
 question, he explained it very kindly in " simple lan 
 guage " for Mr. Garfield's better understanding. He 
 repeated, however, almost verbatim, the lecture of 
 which Mr. Garfield had a copy. 
 
 Mr. Garfield said nothing until his turn came, and, 
 when he arose, it was apparent to all that the pro 
 fessor had predisposed the audience in favor of infi 
 delity. 
 
 When, however, Mr. Garfield coolly and with a 
 readiness and knowledge which really astounded his 
 hearers, took up the professor's arguments, one by 
 one, and, quoting voluminously from books and his 
 tory, using the professor's own authorities against 
 him and piling up unanswerable names above them, 
 there was such a sudden overturning as an earth- 
 
Il6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 quake might make. It seemed miraculous to the 
 people, who very reasonably supposed that Mr. Gar- 
 field had not heard the professor's arguments before. ' 
 
 The professor had the closing speech to make, 
 but he saw that he had lost the battle and that his 
 forces were too thoroughly routed to be rallied 
 again. So, while he claimed that with further 
 research he could yet establish his theories, he man 
 fully admitted that he was surprised and defeated for 
 the time, by the apparently inexhaustible learning of 
 his opponent. He said it was the first time he had 
 met so gifted and learned an adversary. Of course 
 the tide of unbelief in the Scriptures was stayed, and 
 from that day to this, the community has not been 
 again alarmed or disturbed by the popularity of any 
 anti-scriptural lectures. 
 
 Mr. Garfield's return from college was in 1856; 
 and from that time until 1861 he occupied the social 
 position in the community, of a minister of the gos 
 pel, preaching nearly every Sunday, and delivering 
 addresses at conferences and yearly meetings of the 
 church. 
 
 The school at Hiram in which he was appointed 
 a professor upon his return from college, was, as has 
 already been stated, a denominational institution, 
 and his position as a teacher in a school, a part of 
 the purposes of which was to educate young men 
 for the ministry, was a semi-pastoral one, and con 
 nected him closely with church work. 
 
 A year after his engagement as a teacher, Pro 
 fessor A. S. Hayden, the principal, resigned, and 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 1/ 
 
 Mr. Garfield was immediately elected to fill that 
 important post. 
 
 Of Mr. Garfield's three years of labor as a princi 
 pal of the school at Hiram, hundreds of students 
 speak in terms of almost extravagant praise. He 
 seems to have been loved as a father is loved, and 
 the affection of his scholars was returned in large- 
 hearted measure by him. He was remarkably suc 
 cessful in building up the school and in placing it on 
 a footing where its transformation into a college was 
 possible. He took an interest in the welfare of each 
 student and stood on terms of familiar yet dignified 
 acquaintance with them all. He taught them how 
 to study. He played with them on the green. 
 
 An illustration of the character which has since 
 made him famous is seen in an incident during his 
 career as principal. His complete control of the 
 school was the result of firmness and kindness. In 
 the school-room he was obeyed with alacrity ; on 
 the play ground he was a kind playmate. One day, 
 when he took his place in a game of ball, he chanced 
 to see some small boys in a fence corner, close by, 
 looking wistfully on. He said to the players : 
 
 "Are these boys not in the game ?" 
 
 " Those little tads ? Of course not. They'd spoil 
 the game." 
 
 " But," said the principal, " they want to play just 
 as much as we do. Let them come in." 
 
 " No," was the answer again, " it's no use to spoi] 
 the game ; they can't play." 
 
Il8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 " Well," said he, laying down his bat, " if they 
 can't play I won't." 
 
 "Well, well, let them come in," was the answer, 
 and his kind heart had won the victory. 
 
 He lived in simple style as a boarder saving his 
 money to repay his uncle, which, however, was soon 
 accomplished. Frank, cheerful, honest and truth 
 ful, he was honored by every one, and it is said with 
 every appearance of truth that, in 1859, he had not 
 an enemy in the world. 
 
 It was in 1858, during his successful administration 
 of the institute at Hiram, that he married Miss 
 Lucretia Rudolph, of that place. She had been his 
 class-mate at Chester, ten years before, had attendee' 
 the school at Hiram with him, and they had through 
 the whole decade sustained a familiar acquaintance. 
 She was then, as now, a most remarkably sweet 
 woman. She belonged to a most excellent family. 
 Her mother was the daughter of Elijah Mason of 
 Lebanon, Connecticut, and a descendant, on her 
 mother's side, of General Nathaniel Green. Mr. 
 Zeb Rudolph, the father of Mrs. Garfield, was a pros 
 perous farmer at Garrettsville, at the time the insti 
 tute at Hiram was established, and he was one of the 
 most influential of its founders. He still lives in 
 Hiram, his wife, Mrs. Garfield's mother, having died 
 in 1879. 
 
 After his marriage he continued to board in a 
 very plain style, his wife being one of those nota 
 ble young women whose pretty face and social 
 position in no way interfered with her common sense 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 19 
 
 and her willingness to make her life conform to 
 their financial circumstances. A kind Providence, 
 which for his good had often left him to hardships 
 and toil, most signally blessed his life through his 
 mother and his wife. Both women had a great in 
 fluence upon his later life. His wife, in her modesty, 
 industry, economy and intellectual keenness, was a 
 treasure of incalculable value to him in every walk 
 of life, and on the day of their marriage the line can 
 safely be drawn in his history, between the old, 
 rough, self sacrificing struggle with adversity, and 
 the new era of joy, prosperity and fame. 
 
 She was no less a favorite with the students than 
 Mr. Garfield himself, and having been a teacher in 
 the Cleveland schools, she understood well her hus 
 band's trials and needs. Many students came to 
 them both for advice and help ; and as one of the 
 graduates afterwards wrote for publication : " There 
 are men and women scattered over the United States 
 holding positions of honor and wealth, who began 
 the life which led them upward, by the advice and 
 with the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Garfield." Cer 
 tainly it is no over-stated tribute when we say that 
 the active, generous and pure life they led for two 
 years at Hiram, was a blessing to the world through 
 the influence of the students whose habits and 
 ambitions were shaped by them. 
 
 In a speech delivered at Hiram years afterwards, 
 Mr. Garfield thus spoke of his connection with the 
 institution : 
 
 I said that there were two chapters in the history 
 
I2O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 of this institution. You have heard the one relating 
 to the founders. They were all pioneers of this 
 Western Reserve, or nearly all ; they were all men 
 of knowledge and great force of character ; nearly all 
 not men of means, but they planted this little insti 
 tution. In 1850 it was a cornfield,with a solid, 
 plain brick building in the center of it, and that was 
 all. Almost all the rest has been done by the insti 
 tution itself. That is the second chapter. Without 
 a dollar of endowment, without a powerful friend 
 anywhere, but with a corps of teachers, who were 
 told to go on the ground and see what they could 
 make out of it, to find their own pay out of the little 
 tuition that they could receive. They invited stu 
 dents of their own spirit to come here on the ground 
 and find out what they could make out of it, and the 
 response has been that many have come, and the 
 chief part of the respondents I see in the faces around 
 and before me to-day. It was a simple question of 
 sinking or swimming for themselves. And I know 
 that we are all inclined to be a little clannish over 
 our own. We have, perhaps, a right to be ; but I 
 do not know of any place, I do not know of any 
 institution, that has accomplished more with so little 
 means as has this school on Hiram Hill. I know 
 of no place where the doctrine of self-help has a fuller 
 development, by necessity as well ns finally by 
 choice, as here on this hill. The doctrine of self-help 
 and of force has the chief place among these men 
 and women around here. As I said a great many 
 years ago about that, the act of Hiram was to throw 
 its young men and women overboard and let them 
 try it for themselves, and all those men able to 
 get ashore got ashore, and I think we have few 
 cases of drowning anywhere. 
 
 Now, I look over these faces and I mark the 
 several geological changes remarked by Mr. Atwater 
 
1^1 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 121 
 
 so well in his address, but in the few cases of change 
 of geological fact, there is, I find, no fossil. Some are 
 dead and glorified in our memories, but those who 
 are not, are alive I think all 
 
 The teachers and the students of this school built 
 it up in every sense. They made the cornfield into 
 Hiram Campus. Those fine groves you see across 
 the road, they planted. I well remember the day 
 when they turned out into the woods to find beauti 
 ful maples and brought them in ; when they raised a 
 little purse to purchase evergreen ; when each young 
 man, for himself one, and perhaps a second for some 
 young lady, if he was in love, planted two trees on 
 the campus, and then named them after himself. 
 There are several here to-day who remember Bowler. 
 Bowler planted there a tree, and Bowler has planted 
 a tree that has a luster Bowler was shot through 
 the heart at Cedar Mountain. 
 
 There are many here that can go and find the trees 
 that you named after yourselves. They are great 
 strong trees to-day, and your names, like your trees 
 are, I hope, growing still. 
 
 I believe, outside of or beyond the physical features 
 of the place, that there was a stronger pressure of 
 work to the square inch in the boilers that run this 
 establishment than any other that I know of ; and, as 
 has been so well said, that has told all the while with 
 these young men and women. The struggle, when 
 ever the uncouth and untutored farmer boys far 
 mers of . course that came here to try themselves 
 and find what kind of people they were. They came 
 here to go on a voyage of discovery. Your discovery 
 was yourselves, in many cases. I hope the discovery 
 was a fortune, and the friendships then formed out of 
 that have bound this group of people longer and 
 farther than most any, other I have known in life. 
 They are scattered all over the United States in 
 
122 THL LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 every field of activity, and if I had time to name them 
 the sun would go down before I had finished. 
 
 I believe the rules of this institution limit us to 
 time I think it is said, five minutes. I may have 
 overgone it already. We have so many already that 
 we want to hear from, we will all volunteer. We 
 expect now to wrestle a while with the work before 
 us. Some of these boys remember the time when I 
 had an exercise that I remember with pleasure. I 
 called a young lad out in class and said, in two min 
 utes you are to speak to the best of your ability on the 
 following subject, (naming it) and gave subject and 
 let him wrestle with it. It was a trying theory, and 
 I believe that wrestling was a good thing. I will 
 not vary the performance save in this. I will call 
 you and restrict you to five minutes, and let you 
 select your theme about the old days of Hiram. 
 
 In another speech on the same subject he said: 
 
 It always has given me pleasure to come here and 
 look upon these faces. It has always given me new 
 courage and new friends. It has brought back a 
 large share of that richness that belongs to those 
 things out of which come the joys of life. While I 
 have been sitting here this afternoon, watching your 
 faces and listening to the very interesting address 
 just delivered, it occurred to me that the best thing 
 you have that all men envy I mean all men who 
 have reached the meridian of life is, perhaps, the 
 thing you care for least, and that is your leisure. 
 The leisure you have to think in, the leisure you 
 have to be let alone, the leisure you have to throw 
 the plummet with your hands and sound the depths 
 and find wh^t is below, the leisure you have to walk 
 about the towers of yourselves, and find how strong 
 they are or how weak they are, and determine what 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 123 
 
 needs building up, and determine how to shape them 
 that you may be made the final being that you are 
 to be. Oh, these hours of building ! If the superior 
 Being of the universe would look down upon the 
 world to find the most interesting object, it would be 
 the unfinished and unformed character of young 
 men, and of young women. Those behind me have, 
 probably, in the main settled such questions. Those 
 who have passed middle manhood and middle wom 
 anhood are about what they shall always be, and 
 there is little left of interest or curiosity as to our 
 development ; but to your young, unformed natures, 
 no man knows the possibilities that lie treasured up 
 in your hearts and intellects. While you are work 
 ing up those possibilities with that splendid leisure, 
 you are the most envied of all classes of men and 
 women in the world. I congratulate you on your 
 leisure. I commend you to keep it as your gold, as 
 your wealth, as your means, out of which you can 
 demand all possible treasures that God laid down 
 when he formed your nature, and unveiled and de 
 veloped the possibility of your future. This place is 
 too full of memories for me to trust myself to speak 
 more, and I will not ; but I draw again to-day, as I 
 have for a quarter of a century, evidences of strength 
 and affection from the people who gather in this 
 place, and I thank you for the permission to see you 
 and meet you and greet you as I have done to-day. 
 
124 T-HE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 POLITICIAN AND LAWYER. 
 
 POLITICAL SYMPATHIES. HOPE OF MAKING THE LAW A PROFESSION. 
 ENTERS HIS NAME AS A STUDENT. YEARS OF HARD STUDY. 
 PROFITABLE USE OF ALL HIS TIME. HIS LEGAL RESEARCH, IN 
 TEREST IN LOCAL POLITICS. THE STUMP-SPEAKER'S CHALLENGE. 
 FIRST SPEECH. NOMINATION FOR THE STATE SENATE. IN THE 
 
 SERVICE OF THE STATE. LEAVING THE GOSPEL FOR POLITICS. 
 MRS. GARFIELD'S LOVE OF DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 AFTER Mr. Garfield's graduation from college, he 
 found more time to interest himself in the current 
 affairs of his time. Although his sympathies were 
 with the Republican party, at its birth, yet he had 
 been too much engaged in the arduous task of seen 1 * 
 ing an education to give much attention to politics. 
 But when he did have time to read and ponder upon 
 national questions, he began to be a vigorous and 
 persistent opponent of slavery, and often expressed 
 his regret that Fremont and Dayton were not elected. 
 Day by day, his interest in public affairs increased, 
 until he began to feel a great indignation at the con 
 duct of the Buchanan administration. 
 
 He also took a keen interest in local politics, and 
 watched with anxiety the measures which were be 
 fore the legislature of Ohio. This patriotic interest 
 in the welfare of his State and nation naturally led 
 his mind toward the laws which governed the coun- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 125 
 
 try, and the methods of making them. He was 
 never satisfied with a superficial knowledge of any 
 thing in which he had an interest, and without any 
 definite purpose, beyond a determination to under 
 stand the matter, he began to read such law books as 
 he could readily borrow. Soon, however, he inclined 
 to the hope of making -the law his profession, and 
 began a regular course of systematic and earnest 
 study. 
 
 Soon after he was married, he entered his name, in 
 the law office of Riddle & Williamson, attorneys, in 
 Cleveland, Ohio, as a student of law. This he was 
 required to do by the law, if he intended to be ad 
 mitted to the bar. He did not, however, study in 
 the office at all, and his purpose to become an attor 
 ney was kept a secret from all his relatives. 
 
 His ability to pursue hard study, day after day, 
 served him well in his legal researches, for he kept 
 evenly on with his teaching all the while, and was 
 not absent from his work, or from the evening exer 
 cises connected with the institute, during the term. 
 
 He had formed a habit of studying at odd times 
 and places, filling the entire day with some profitable 
 occupation or healthy sport. It would astonish the 
 great portion of mankind to reckon up the number of 
 hours in a year which they lose, in waiting, traveling, 
 or useless conversation. Thousands of men and 
 women might have acquired a mastery of law, medi 
 cine, science, or theology, in the odd hours which 
 they have thoughtlessly wasted. The busiest busi 
 ness life has its hours of waiting and delay, which 
 
126 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 could be profitably applied to acquiring knowledge 
 from books. Mr. Garfi eld's life clearly demonstrates 
 this statement He acquired a habit, which may 
 have been contracted under the influence of his 
 mother's early example, of having a profitable book 
 at hand for use, when his usual occupation was sus 
 pended or finished. In that way he prosecuted his 
 legal studies ; and that industry, with his natural de 
 sire to be thorough, as far as he went, gave him a 
 great advantage over young men of looser habits. 
 
 It is well known to attorneys how difficult it is for 
 a young man to comprehend legal terms and expres 
 sions, without an actual contact with the practice, 
 in the office and in the courts. It requires much 
 more study on the part of any person to obtain an 
 understanding of law away from the practice, while 
 the number is very limited who would succeed in ob 
 taining any useful understanding of it. 
 
 The success of Mr. Garfield, therefore, as we shall 
 see, was something so unusual and astonishing that 
 it may be regarded as the greatest intellectual 
 achievement of his life. He understood the laws of 
 his State and of the nation so well that, when he 
 was admitted to the bar, he was capable of stepping 
 from his little country home into the courts, of any 
 grade, and trying the most difficult cases. 
 
 So improbable will this seem to attorneys, whose 
 years of study and practice have left them none too 
 well-furnished with legal acumen, that it would not 
 be stated here, did not the most trustworthy of our 
 law reports fully corroborate it. 
 
CF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I2/ 
 
 During ail this critical study of the most dry 
 and difficult of all subjects, he neglected not his 
 preaching, his public addresses, his private corres 
 pondence, or his family. It was all accomplished by 
 the careful use of all his time. 
 
 His interest in. political matters, however, did not 
 lead him to take any public part in the campaigns, 
 and his appearance in the political field was sudden 
 and unexpected, both to the people and to him. 
 
 The story of his first political speech, and of his 
 first nomination, have embodied themselves in the 
 traditions of the neighborhood, and have thus been 
 preserved for the historian. 
 
 A Democratic speaker, of considerable ability and 
 notoriety, published a challenge for a political debate 
 which any person in Portage county was at liberty 
 to accept. In Ohio, they often used to engage in 
 political disputes, with the different parties repre 
 sented by speakers, in the same evening. Such was 
 to be the proposed debate. The Republicans, who 
 had heard Mr. Garfield speak on some minor politi 
 cal occasion, endeavored to persuade him to accept 
 the challenge, and more to satisfy the urgent de 
 mands of his circle of acquaintances than for any 
 other object, he consented to do so, and set the time. 
 He had no such advantage of his opponent in this 
 debate as that which he so shrewdly secured over 
 Professor Denton, and had to rely more on the suc 
 cess of an independent speech, than on any hope of 
 answering the precise arguments which his opponent 
 might put forth. He seems to have approached that 
 
128 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 contest with many misgivings. He could preach a 
 sermon worthy to be published, and that on a short 
 notice ; but a political stump speech was a much 
 more difficult matter to him. His opponent had 
 been in many campaigns, and had all the defects 
 and short-comings of the new Republican party by 
 heart. 
 
 The hall was again crowded, but there was not 
 much confidence expressed in the success of Mr. 
 Garfield, and some of the Republicans regretted, as 
 did Mr. Garfield, that they had not selected some 
 one else. 
 
 But his opponent was over-confident, and conse 
 quently said some things which he was sure this 
 young debater could know nothing about, but which 
 he stated in a way and with constructions to suit 
 himself. Of course, where a disputant is allowed to 
 manufacture his facts, and to base his arguments 
 upon them undisturbed, he is certain of victory. 
 
 Near the close of his speech, which was able and 
 convincing, the old politician read an extract from 
 the Congressional Globe, giving the official report of 
 some Abolitionist's speech, and it did put the Abo 
 litionist in Congress, and his party, before that audi 
 ence, in a very bad light. After reading the extract, 
 with great show of indignant disapproval, the excited 
 speaker threw the paper furiously down upon the 
 platform near him, and within Mr. Garfield's easy 
 reach. The latter had never before seen the official 
 reports of congressional debates, and with a feeling 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 of despair he took up the paper and glanced along 
 its columns, with no purpose but that of curiosity. 
 
 He carelessly looked down the column from which 
 the speaker had quoted, wondering all the while 
 how any man in Congress could make such absurd 
 remarks, when he noticed the name of a Democrat 
 in the column. On looking closer the name of the 
 Republican did not appear at all in that column, and 
 the unprincipled politician had been quoting a Dem- 
 cratic speech, and claiming it to be the official report 
 of the Republican's words. Mr. Garfield placed the 
 paper securely in his pocket, and, when his turn came 
 to speak, arose and addressed the audience calmly 
 and clearly, giving his views of the heinousness of 
 slavery and the right inherent in every man to life, 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When he came 
 to his opponent's arguments, he denied in toto all 
 the statements of the first speaker to the great aston 
 ishment of the audience. Mr. Garfield said : 
 
 " So absurd and untrue are they that I need not 
 spend your time and mine in discussing them. I 
 will, however, say this much, that I thank him for 
 saving me the trouble of criticizing the speech he 
 has read from the Congressional Globe, for its fool 
 ishness, absurdity and unpatriotic sentiments deserve 
 unqualified condemnation. The party, too, which 
 would support such a man for office, or would endorse 
 such sentiments should be crushed out of existence. 
 But the difference between the previous speaker and 
 myself is one of fact to be determined by you. He 
 says it was a speech made by a Republican. I claim 
 9 
 
I3O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 it was a speech made by a Democrat. Here is the 
 same paper. Here is the name of the speaker. 
 This is the speech. Any one doubting my word 
 will be kind enough to come to the platform and read 
 for himself." 
 
 There was a shout of laughter, then cheers, and 
 the "young preacher" bore off the honors of the 
 occasion. 
 
 His nomination for the State Senate came about 
 without the slightest effort on his part and against 
 his expectations. The senatorial district in which 
 he resided in 1859 was composed of two counties, 
 viz : Summit and Portage. In that year by the sys 
 tem of rotation adopted by the party, Portage county 
 had the right to name the candidate of the conven 
 tion. A friend of Mr. Garfield's who was dissatisfied 
 with the persons whose names were mentioned as 
 the probable candidates, was elected a delegate. 
 He thought of Mr. Garfield, and believed that the 
 presentation of his name at the right time might 
 secure success. But when the caucus met it was 
 found that so many delegates had been pledged 
 beforehand, that Mr. Garfield's name was not received 
 with the acclaim his friend expected. Yet the first 
 ballot, while there was no choice, showed that he had 
 a strong support. The difficulty was that the poli 
 ticians did not know him. His opponents also added 
 that he was too young. The young professor was a 
 delegate to the convention, but hardly knew what 
 all the whispering and private discussion were about. 
 After several ballots in which there was no choice, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 it became evident that on the next Mr. Garfield 
 would be nominated. Whereupon the opposition 
 determined to " bolt " and left the hall with boister 
 ous demonstrations of displeasure. Mr. Garfield was 
 nominated unanimously by those who remained; 
 and, on presentation of his name to the joint conven 
 tion, he was chosen as the candidate of the district, 
 with but little opposition. He was elected by a 
 sweeping majority and took his seat in the State 
 Senate of the following Legislature its youngest 
 member. 
 
 His acceptance of the nomination and election was 
 regarded quite unfavorably by many members of his 
 denomination. Those who were his political oppo 
 nents were especially loud in their expressions of 
 disapproval. To the defeated ones there seemed to 
 be an awful inconsistency in his conduct as a " Chris 
 tian minister." How could a good man belong to 
 any party but the one with which they affilliated ? 
 
 Even his political friends and old neighbors could 
 not avoid saying that "it was a sad day for 'the 
 cause' when Mr. Garfield gave up the gospel for 
 politics." Of course they knew nothing of his pur 
 pose to become a lawyer, and they had yet to learn, 
 as he soon taught them, that a sincere, generous 
 Christian may be a very successful and noble poli 
 tician. Yet, there remain a few old and stubborn 
 church members of his sect who felt his loss when 
 he practically retired from the ministry, as they 
 would have felt the loss of an inspired prophet, and 
 cannot be reconciled to the idea that their great 
 
132 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 . champion orator, and leader, should " descend so 
 low," as to be a statesman. 
 
 To him the election was a piece of good fortune. 
 It added something to the amount of his limited 
 income, and it gave him a most valuable and agree 
 able acquaintance with the public men of Ohio. It 
 gave him an opportunity to study in the law libra 
 ries of Columbus and gave him a deeper sense of 
 the importance of legal studies. It gave him an 
 opportunity to make practical use of the learning 
 which he had so assiduously accumulated. He was 
 a decided enemy of slavery and made several most 
 telling hits when a question of national jurisdiction 
 over slaves, as property, incidentally arose. He was 
 not distinguished however, so much for his speeches, 
 as for his persevering hard work in the preparation 
 of bills, reports and orders. " He had a genius for 
 hard work," and physical constitution able to support 
 it, for which he was much indebted to his severe 
 hardships and toil when a boy. 
 
 He did not resign his position as principal of the 
 Hiram school, nor did they secure a permanent 
 teacher of Latin and Greek to take his place as a 
 professor, for, neither he nor the managers of the 
 school expected that he would continue in public 
 life. His wife with her natural aversion to publicity 
 and display, was quite anxious that he should return 
 to his teaching, to his study of languages with her, 
 and to the holy quiet and rest of their first years of 
 married life. No honors, nor titles, nor wealth 
 would have induced her to give up their simple and 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 133 
 
 happy domestic life in Hiram. Nothing but some 
 great duty, some imperative call to help the weak or 
 free the enslaved was worth considering in the ques 
 tion of exchanging their simple life for one of excite 
 ment or parade. 
 
 But the home life so sweet and dear to them both 
 was broken then, never again to be renewed in its 
 holy retirement. A great duty called him; the 
 weak and enslaved asked for help, and he promptly 
 and cheerfully responded. 
 
134 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE EVENTFUL YEAR OF 1861. 
 
 ADMISSION TO THE BAR. WITHDRAWS FROM MINISTERIAL WORK. 
 OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY. LEADERSHIP IN THE STATE SENATE. 
 THE GOVERNOR'S ASSISTANT. PROVIDING FOR THE TROOPS. THE 
 REGIMENT OF HIRAM STUDENTS. DEPLETION OF THE CLASSES. 
 APPOINTMENT AS LIEUTENANT-COLONEL. PROMOTION. DEPAR 
 TURE FOR THE FIELD. CONSULTATION WITH GENERAL BUEL. 
 
 PLAN OF A CAMPAIGN. MARCH AGAINST MARSHALL. BATTLE OF 
 PRESTONBURG. THE ACCOUNT OF F. H. MASON. PROMOTION. 
 
 THE eventful year of 1861 found Mr. Garfield, at 
 its opening, ready to enter upon the practice of law, 
 so far as a knowledge of its principles was concerned. 
 But the announcement of his admission to the bar, 
 at Cleveland, was a surprise to nearly all his acquaint 
 ances, and completely dashed the hopes of the anx 
 ious members of his denomination, who were hoping 
 and praying for his active entry into the profession 
 of the ministry. Occasionally he took a part in the 
 services, on special occasions, such as Sabbath-school 
 conventions, yearly meetings of the churches, or at 
 dedications ; but thinking that the belief, so prevalent 
 then, that politics and religion were at variance, 
 would injure his influence for good, he wisely with 
 drew from any active participation as a preacher or 
 teacher in church services. He did not enter the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 135 
 
 practice of law at once after his admission to the bar, 
 as he was actively engaged in the State Senate ; and 
 it appears that he was hesitating between opening 
 an office in Cleveland and remaining as a teacher at 
 Hiram, when the war broke out. 
 
 His studies and public duties had called his atten 
 tion so much to the institutions of the nation, and 
 his natural disposition was so inclined toward a sym- 
 
 STATE CAPITOL OF OHIO. 
 
 pathy with the oppressed, that his heart was fired 
 with an almost uncontrollable patriotic fervor, at the 
 first news of the purposed rebellion. 
 
 As early as January, 1861, he stood up in his place 
 in the Ohio Senate and declared it to be his unalter 
 able determination to oppose the institution of slav 
 ery, or any compromise with it. It was a heinous 
 national sin, and he would not condescend to negoti- 
 
136 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 ate 'with it. Senators Monroe and Cox stood with 
 him then, and later, Senators Morse, Glass, Buck, 
 Parish and Smith voted with him. When the con 
 stitutional amendment was submitted to the Ohio Le 
 gislature, which would guarantee to the slave States 
 the perpetuity of slavery, he led the uncompromising 
 minority, and with a remarkable display of ability, 
 opposed, with pointed speeches and his vote, every 
 measure or resolution which could be construed into 
 a concession to the party in favor of human bondage. 
 He was in earnest. He had a ready command of 
 language. He knew the laws and their purpose. 
 He had been bred to hate every form of meanness, 
 unkindness, and oppression. Hence, his speeches 
 were eloquent, thoughtful, and sincere. He seemed 
 to care nothing for popularity, and expected only to 
 do his duty while there, and retire with a clear con 
 science to private life, when his term of office should 
 close. 
 
 But the earthquake of the rebellion overturned 
 many plans, and sent confusion and alarm into every 
 household in the nation. While he was yet in the 
 Senate, the attack on Fort Sumter, and the battle of 
 Bull Run added dismay to the already over-excited 
 public mind. Mr. Garfield, from the first, declared 
 his intention of going to the war, should it last more 
 than the "ninety days," and the regular militia of the 
 State prove insufficient. 
 
 At the adjournment of the Legislature, he offered 
 his services to Governor Dennison, to assist him in 
 the difficult task of organizing and providing supplies 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 137 
 
 for the troops, then flocking toward the camps. In 
 the multiplicity of duties, and the incessant annoy 
 ances which perplexed and harassed Governor Den- 
 nison, he appears to have overlooked Mr. Garfield's 
 ability and patriotism, and to have repeatedly pro 
 moted to high office, men of much inferior ability, 
 because, in some way, they were placed prominently 
 before the Governor's attention. Mr. Garfield would 
 never ask for an office, and worked diligently on in 
 his unofficial relation to the Governor for some 
 weeks, going hither and thither for arms, clothing, 
 ammunition, and provisions, never appearing to have 
 had a thought that, amid all these army promotions 
 and profitable stations, he might have secured a val 
 uable office for himself. If a high official position 
 had been offered him in the army, he would have re 
 fused it, with his usual excuse that he did not feel 
 competent to undertake it. 
 
 But when the news came to the Governor that the 
 students of Hiram College, over which Mr. Garfield 
 was still the official head, purposed to organize a 
 regiment, it at last occurred to him that Mr. Garfield 
 could possibly be spared in such an emergency, and 
 he asked the latter to recruit and organize it. 
 
 Mr. Garfield would not at first take the office of 
 colonel, saying that he should need some military 
 training before he could handle a regiment. He 
 seems to have forgotten that his less able colleagues 
 in the Legislature had taken commissions as briga 
 dier-generals, without the slightest hesitation. So - 
 he was appointed, August 14, 1861, a lieutenant- 
 
138 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 colonel, and entered upon the task of organizing his 
 command. 
 
 One of the first meetings for raising volunteers 
 for his regiment was held at Hiram, and the enthusi 
 asm was intense. The institution was almost wholly 
 depleted of its male students by the spontaneous 
 enlistment of the scholars. Graduates of the school 
 came from distant counties, and even from other 
 States, moved by the popularity of Mr. Garfield, and 
 the great enthusiasm of that early period of the war. 
 Although the regiment was filled almost immedi 
 ately, there were many delays, caused by the diffi 
 culty of securing arms and uniforms, and it did not 
 leave for the South until September I4th. Mean 
 time, the pressure upon the Governor, on the part of 
 the regiment and its friends, for the promotion of 
 Mr. Garfield to the head of the regiment, was so 
 unanimous and persistent that both the Governor 
 and Mr. Garfield were compelled to submit to the 
 demand. 
 
 September iSth, Colonel Garfi eld's regiment, the 
 42d Ohio, arrived at Cattletsburg, Kentucky, which 
 is close to the border of both Ohio and Virginia, the 
 two rivers at the junction of which it was situated 
 being the boundaries of the three States. Colonel 
 Garfield was ordered to report, in person, to General 
 Buel, at Louisville. 
 
 General Buel was a native of Ohio, as were also 
 Generals Grant, Sherman, McPherson, Sheridan, 
 McClellan, Rosecrans, Mitchel, Gilmore, McDowell, 
 Schenck, Custer, Hazen, Cox, Steadman, Weitzel, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 139 
 
 Stanley, Crook, Swain, McCook, and Leggett, surely 
 a most astounding leadership to be obtained so 
 honorably by a single State. General Buel was not 
 ignorant of Colonel Garfield's ability, nor of his pop 
 ularity in Ohio, and hoped to find in the new colonel 
 a vigorous supporter. The campaign in West Vir 
 ginia had succeeded passably well, and General Buel 
 hoped to be able to be equally successful in clearing 
 Kentucky of the rebels, and of capturing Nashville. 
 The general was a rather harsh disciplinarian, and 
 did many foolish things with his raw troops. His 
 ideas of military discipline were better adapted to a 
 military empire, or an established and unlimited 
 monarchy, than to the assemblies of free men, who 
 were fighting for themselves, and not for a king. 
 However, he was earnest, patriotic, and brave, and 
 recognizing those qualities in Colonel Garfield, he at 
 once confided to him the plan of the Kentucky cam 
 paign. Colonel Garfield did not pretend to be a 
 military strategist, but when he looked over the map 
 with General Buel, and heard how many rebel forces 
 were in Eastern Kentucky, and how many in Western 
 Kentucky, he thought it was folly to attempt to 
 march through the center of the State to Nashville, 
 with such, forces on both flanks. The general 
 thought that some movement ought to be made at 
 once, and if the colonel had any doubts about the 
 proposed plan it would be well to think the matter 
 over and consult again about it the next day. 
 
 The following morning Colonel Garfield brought 
 in a draft of his plan, which was to move into the 
 
I4O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 State in three columns, leaving no forces behind 
 them, and if either column defeated its opponent, it 
 could readily unite with the center and move on to 
 Nashville. After some discussion, and after the 
 general had asked the colonel if he would undertake 
 the direction of the eastern column, the plan sub 
 mitted was adopted so far as it could be without the 
 co-operation of General Halleck's command in Mis 
 souri. The general plan was, however, somewhat 
 modified by Zollicoffers entrance into Kentucky at 
 Cumberland Gap with a rebel army to co-operate 
 with General Humphrey Marshall, who was already 
 in Kentucky near Pound Gap. But General George 
 H. Thomas was sent to drive back ZollicofFer, and 
 Colonel Garfield's orders to attack Humphrey Mar 
 shall were not changed. 
 
 Thus we find him with a most important campaign 
 on his hands before he had any useful experience in 
 drilling a regiment in the manual of arms. The pur 
 posed movement was one of such importance, in view 
 of the necessity of keeping Marshall from moving to 
 Zollicoffer's aid and striking General Thomas's forces 
 on the flank, that it is a little surprising that General 
 Buel with his ideas of military manosuvers, should 
 have intrusted it to a commander so fresh from civil 
 life. Colonel GarQeld had never seen a skirmish nor 
 heard the crack of a single hostile rifle. It therefore 
 seemed somewhat inconsistent with Colonel Garfield's 
 well known character to assume the direction of so 
 important a military movement. It seems probable 
 that he did not know just how important it was, nor 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 14! 
 
 appreciate how eagerly the whole field was being 
 watched by President Lincoln and the authorities at 
 Washington for some signs of ultimate victory. It 
 was one of the gloomiest periods of the war; and 
 when the news of the selection of Colonel Garfield 
 for the expedition up the Big Sandy river to meet 
 Marshall was announced to Mr, Lincoln, he sought 
 Secretary Stanton, who was also a native of Ohio, 
 and asked who the man was they were sending 
 "into such dangerously close quarters." The Presi 
 dent anxiously awaited General Buel's forward 
 movement toward Bowling Green and Nashville; 
 and seeing how important the defeat of the rebel's 
 flank movements under Marshall and Zollicoffer had 
 become, he followed the movements of Colonel Gar- 
 field and General Thomas with the deepest interest. 
 
 Colonel Garfield's orders to proceed up the Sandy 
 Valley were delivered to him December I3th or I4th. 
 A few days later, he collected the forces entrusted to 
 him at the mouth of the Big Sandy river, and began 
 his march up the valley. His command, which was 
 called a brigade, did not number over twenty-three 
 hundred available men, and consisted of the Fortieth 
 and Forty-Second Ohio infantry, the Fourteenth and 
 Twenty-Second Kentucky infantry, and eight com 
 panies of cavalry. To these he hoped to add a small 
 force then stationed at Paris, and to which he sent 
 orders directing its commander to join him near 
 Paintville. 
 
 General Marshall had a force of five thousand men, 
 and was in a country with which he was familiar, 
 
142 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 while Colonel Garfield was in a strange region with 
 about one-half that number of troops. If there had 
 been any hesitation or delay on the part of the 
 union forces it would have encouraged Marshall to 
 attack them on their march, for the rebel general 
 was among his friends, and all the people acted as 
 spies and couriers in communicating the advance 
 and condition of the invading forces. But so deter 
 minedly and steadily did the troops march on, that it 
 seem to have created a fear of them in advance which 
 went far toward giving them the victory when the 
 battle came. 
 
 All the information which Garfield could gain 
 seemed to locate Marshall near Paintville, and hence, 
 he expected a contest at that point. But Marshall 
 retreated to Prestonburg before Garfield arrived, but 
 left a company of cavalry to hold the place and delay 
 the union troops. Garfield finding the enemy, and 
 supposing that the rebel army was immediately in 
 front, notwithstanding the fatigue of his troops, 
 moved immediately forward to attack them. 
 
 Directing his cavalry to engage the enemy in 
 front, Garfield made a circuit with his infantry, hop 
 ing to reach Marshall's rear. 
 
 It is said that when he had given his orders to 
 the cavalry, and had started forward on foot with the 
 infantry, he took off his coat and threw it into a tree, 
 and shouted back to the horsemen so soon to charge, 
 "Give 'em Hail Columbia, boys!" 
 
 But before his troops reached the road in the 
 rear, the vigorous charge of the union cavalry had 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD, 143 
 
 sent the enemy flying toward Prestonburg in such 
 haste as to leave their canteens, haversacks, blankets 
 and dead bodies strewing the highway. 
 
 This retreat was quite unexpected to General Gar- 
 field, and he had so confidently counted upon a bat 
 tle at that point, that his brigade was not supplied 
 with provisions for a march further into the interior. 
 To supply the necessary provisions caused a day's 
 delay, and compelled him to leave a portion of his 
 troops at Paintville while, he pressed on after Mar 
 shall. At Paintville, however, he was joined by the 
 troops from Paris, numbering about one thousand or 
 twelve hundred. 
 
 On the following day, which was the Qth of Jan 
 uary, Garfield followed Marshall to Prestonburg and 
 found that the rebels were posted on a hill in a 
 most advantageous position with their artillery in a 
 most effective range. Garfield had been misinformed 
 about Marshall's movements and was compelled to 
 ascertain the enemy's position by skirmishing and 
 feints. While awaiting the troops, which he decided 
 to order up from Paintville, his troops were constantly 
 engaged in skirmishing, and the whole command 
 was under fire, many of the men for the first time. 
 
 It must have given a much more serious appear 
 ance to the art of war, to see the line of gray, and 
 hear the shot and shell shriek over their heads. To 
 the colonel, on whose word and judgment hung the 
 lives of so many and, perhaps, the fate of a mighty 
 nation, the feeling -of responsibility must have been 
 great, while the peculiar sense of danger and dread 
 
144 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 of the unforeseen which fills the heart at the opening 
 of the first battle, must have been a trial in his inex 
 perience. 
 
 It was nearly dark when the reinforcements 
 arrived, and without delay, and amid the enthusias 
 tic cheering of the men, he ordered an advance, to 
 be followed by a charge upon the enemy's guns. 
 There was a sharp musketry fire for a short time, as 
 the enemy fell slowly back toward their guns, and 
 the artillery of the rebels was handled most skill 
 fully. 
 
 When, however, the lines of the union forces had 
 secured the desired position from which to make 
 their charge, Marshall suddenly sounded a retreat, 
 and left the field under cover of the darkness. 
 
 The sudden disappearance of the enemy and the 
 silence which prevailed, together with the uncer 
 tainty whether it was an actual retreat or a ruse, 
 made the hour following the disappearance, one of 
 great anxiety. The troops, fatigued and hungry, 
 moving cautiously about in the dark woodland and 
 fields, anxiously awaiting developments, were but a 
 counterpart of that other historical picture of the 
 great President at Washington, pacing his room at 
 that very hour, and saying, "I cannot bear this 
 dangerous delay. Have n't we any one who will 
 fight?" 
 
 General Garfield's suspense was not long, howevei, 
 for soon the clouds overhead began to assume an 
 unusual color, and a little later were lit up with the 
 lurid glare of distant fires. The distant mountains 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 145 
 
 stood out prominent in the unnatural light, and pil 
 lars of illumined smoke arose along the road toward 
 the gate to Virginia. It was clear, then, that Mar 
 shall was retreating out of Kentucky, and was burn 
 ing his immense military stores. 
 
 To pursue the rebels that night was impractica 
 ble, and after a short cavalry reconnoissance, the 
 tired troops used the light of the enemy's burning 
 camps to prepare their meager supper and hard beds. 
 The time, the circumstances, and the fact that the 
 enemy numbered forty-nine hundred, made the vic 
 tory an important one, while Colonel Garfield's brav 
 ery and ability, displayed in the march and engage 
 ment, placed him at once among the experienced and 
 trustworthy soldiers. 
 
 The next day the enemy was pursued to the 
 Virginia line, and the order was then given to return 
 to their camps near Piketon with their prisoners. 
 They had killed two hundred and fifty of the enemy 
 and taken forty prisoners, with a loss to the union 
 troops of only thirty-two men. Colonel Garfield's 
 commission as a brigadier-general was dated so as 
 to take effect from that battle at Prestonburg. 
 
 Mr. F. H. Mason, a private soldier connected 
 with the 42d Ohio has written the following most 
 excellent account of the battle. He says: 
 
 " The advance column marched all day, but the 
 roads were so wretched that it was night before it had 
 reached the foot of a high hill, north of the mouth 
 of Abbott's Creek, three miles below Prestonburg 
 and on the west side of the Big Sandy. Ascending 
 
146 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 this hill soon after dark, Colonel Garfield's advance 
 encountered at the summit a cavalry picket, which 
 fired a volley and retreated. Being evidently in the 
 immediate presence of a large force of the enemy, 
 Colonel Garfield brought his command to the top of 
 the hill, and with strong guards thrown out to the 
 front and rear, rested until morning. It was a bitter 
 January night. The rain which had fallen all day 
 turned to sleet, and a keen, biting gale from the 
 north whistled through the mountain pines and 
 stiffened the wet clothing of the soldiers with ice. 
 No fire could be permitted in such a situation, and 
 the men shivered and waited through the long, dreary 
 night as best they could. When morning dawned, 
 they found themselves on a high hill from which the 
 road descended by a steep, zig-zag course to the val 
 ley of Abbott's Creek. 
 
 Immediately after encountering the cavalry the 
 evening before, Colonel Garfield had sent back a mes 
 sage directing Colonel Cranor to put all the available 
 men at Paintville in motion at once and march to 
 his support. The order reached Cranor before day 
 light, and within an hour, twelve hundred men, made 
 up from all the regiments in the brigade, were on the 
 march. 
 
 The advance column, meanwhile, descended early 
 on the morning of the roth, to the valley of Abbott's 
 Creek, and found that the enemy had retired up the 
 stream and across the dividing ridge into the valley 
 of Middle Creek, which comes down from the mount 
 ains parallel with Abbott's Creek, and flows into the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 147 
 
 Big Sandy, about a mile further up than the mouth 
 of the latter. 
 
 It was at once apparent that Colonel Garfield was 
 in the presence of Marshall's entire force, and that 
 the latter was disposed to fight. Marshall was 
 known to have about thirty-five hundred men of all 
 arms, infantry, cavalry and artillery, and had come 
 into the Sandy Valley to spend the winter, and, by 
 occupying the country, promote enlistments into the 
 confederate service. This purpose he could not, of 
 course, relinquish without a fight, and he chose his 
 ground, for the encounter, deliberately and well. 
 
 Proceeding cautiously and deliberately, in order to 
 allow the reinforcements under Lieut-Col. Sheldon 
 to come up, Colonel Garfield passed up the valley of 
 Abbott's Creek, forded the stream, crossed the 
 ridge and descended into the valley of Middle Creek. 
 Here he found Marshall's cavalry drawn up in line 
 across the valley, but a few shots from the advance 
 drove them back. One cavalry man was cut off from 
 the main body, and in attempting to swim the creek, 
 was captured, the first prisoner of war taken by the 
 Forty-Second on a. battle-field. A heavy line of 
 skirmishers was thrown across the valley, and the 
 advance began. The enemy's cavalry made a formid 
 able show in the broad meadows, but kept at a dis 
 creet distance. Once, they formed behind a small 
 spur of hill that ran out into the valley, and from be 
 hind that cover charged down upon the advancing 
 column. Throwing his troops into a hollow square, 
 Colonel Garfield awaited the attack, and when the 
 
148 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 cavalry came within range, sent them a volley which 
 broke and turned them back. The skirmish line, 
 under command of Adjutant Olds, advanced again 
 and drove the cavalry from a spur behind which it 
 was attempting to rally. This little spur of high 
 ground upon which stood a log church, surrounded 
 by a few graves, was then occupied by the federal 
 force as a base from which to attack or defend, as 
 circumstances might require. Drawing up his little 
 force on the slope, Colonel Garfield saw that Mar 
 shall had come to a stand. Across the valley half a 
 mile distant was the confederate cavalry, and on the 
 same line near the foot of the hills, to the right of 
 the creek, a battery was in position, which, as the 
 skirmishers advanced, opened fire and gave the line 
 a momentary check. A few shells were also fired at 
 the main force on Graveyard Point ; but the guns 
 were badly trained and the shells buried themselves 
 harmlessly in the mud. The enemy's cavalry and 
 artillery being thus accounted for, it remained for 
 Colonel Garfield to discover the location of his in 
 fantry. On the south side of the creek to the right 
 of the battery rose a high hill, heavily timbered and 
 crowned with a ledge of rock. Around the foot of 
 the hill wound the creek, and close beside this, but 
 on the opposite side of the stream, lay the road. It 
 was at once conjectured that Marshall's infantry had 
 occupied the hill, and that the federal column, if it 
 advanced round the curve, would be caught by an 
 ambushed fire from the opposite bank. To verify 
 this theory, Garfield sent his escort, a handful of Ken- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 149 
 
 tucky cavalry, to charge up the road and draw the 
 fire of the main body. The ruse was boldly per 
 formed and was completely successful. As the little 
 group of horsemen galloped up the creek and round 
 the curve in the road, the battery fired harmlessly 
 over their heads, and the whole infantry force, with 
 the trepidation of new troops, opened fire at long 
 range, and completely unmasked their position. 
 They occupied the wooded hill from its base half 
 way to its summit. It was now time for real work. 
 
 About four hundred men of the Foitieth and 
 For'y-Second Ohio were sent to ford the creek, 
 climb the mountain and attack the rebel position in 
 front. Major Pardee of the Forty-Second, who was 
 practically in command of the fighting in that part 
 of the field, threw forward as skirmishers his detach 
 ments of Companies "A" and "F" of the Forty- 
 Second and Company "A" of the Fortieth, and 
 began the ascent. . The skirmish line was in com 
 mand of Captain F. A. Williams, who, like Major 
 Pardee, seemed to take naturally to the business of 
 fighting. Two companies of the Fourteenth Ken 
 tucky, under Lieutenant-Colonel Monroe of that 
 regiment, were sent to cross the creek lower down, 
 gain a narrow ledge or crest of a ridge that ran up 
 to the main hill, and by advancing along that ridge, 
 attack the enemy in the flank and save Williams' 
 little force from being overpowered. As Williams' 
 line advanced up the hill it soon encountered heavy 
 opposition. A sharp fire came from behind the trees, 
 logs and rocks, and the rebels swarmed down the 
 
I5O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 hill, shouting and firing as they came. Half of the 
 remaining reserve on Graveyard Point was sent to 
 Pardee's support, and thus strengthened, he pushed 
 forward. 
 
 The firing now became as hot as a thousand men 
 on one side and three thousand on the other could 
 make it. Had the casualties been proportionate to 
 the amount of powder burned, the union force, at 
 least, would have been annihilated. But the rebels 
 fired unaccountably wild. They were fighting down 
 a steep hill, and, as is usual with raw troops in such 
 a position, they overshot their mark, and their bullets, 
 .for the most part, merely barked and scarred the trees 
 over their enemies' heads. They were, moreover, 
 armed to a large extent with smooth-bore muskets 
 and squirrel rifles of small calibre, and fought like a 
 mob, without plan or unity of action. 
 
 The federal line, on the other hand, advanced 
 steadily, kept well under cover, fired deliberately, 
 and, as the result proved, with excellent effect. The 
 rebels were so numerous that the trees and logs 
 were insufficient to cover them. Four or five fre 
 quently fought behind one tree. Instead of rushing 
 down upon Williams' line, and profiting by the weight 
 of superior force, Marshall's men stood and skir 
 mished with an enemy whose very disparity of num 
 bers, by enabling every man to keep well under 
 cover, became almost a positive advantage. Firing 
 up hill with their heavy, long range Belgian rifles, 
 the Ohio men delivered a steady and effective fire 
 Gradually they pushed the enemy up the hill. Re- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFTELD. 15! 
 
 inforcements came up over the crest and down to the 
 rebel line, which seemed to be preparing for a change 
 down the slope, when, at the opportune moment, 
 Colonel Monroe's Kentuckians appeared on the 
 ridge to the left, and from the rocks on the flank and 
 rear of the enemy's line, opened an enfilading fire. 
 
 At the moment of Colonel Monroe's appearance in 
 the fight, Lieutenant-Colonel Sheldon, who, with 
 twelve hundred men, had left Paintville that morning 
 and marched through mud and water nearly twenty 
 miles, appeared round a curve in the road, a few 
 hundred yards in the rear of Garfield's little reserve 
 on Graveyard Point. The advancing column sent 
 up a cheer of encouragement, which was caught and 
 repeated by the reserves, and re-echoed by their 
 comrades fighting on the hill. 
 
 Dr. Pomerene, the kind-hearted, enthusiastic sur 
 geon of the Forty-Second, who had grown anxious 
 with the sight of this maiden battle, had discovered 
 Monroe's line streaming over the hill, and fancied 
 that Major Pardee's force was being surrounded. 
 The Twenty-Second Kentucky men were uniformed 
 in sky blue, the first we had seen, and through the 
 foggy afternoon the good doctor mistook their cloth 
 ing for gray. Mounting a horse, hatlessand distressed, 
 he came splashing through the mud to hurry up the 
 reinforcements. Coming within hail of Colonel 
 Sheldon, he begged him for God's sake to hurry, " or 
 the boys on the other side would be captured." 
 The men gave another cheer, tried hard to double- 
 quick through the mud, and promptly formed a line 
 
I$2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 across the road in the rear of the log church, where 
 the ground was so soft that some of the men mired, 
 and the line was moved up on Graveyard Point. The 
 effect of this new show of force was decisive, if, in 
 deed, there were needed anything more to decide 
 the victory of that day. 
 
 Marshall, though far outnumbering his assailants, 
 had been out-fought from the first, and his line, 
 pressed hard by Pardee, began to retreat up the hill. 
 Inspired by the cheers of their comrades from below, 
 the gallant Ohioans to whom that day's business 
 was the first baptism of war pushed stubbornly 
 forward, driving the rebels into the ledge of broken 
 rocks at the summit of the hill, which position they 
 held until the already gathering night closed the 
 fight. 
 
 Colonel Sheldon promptly, upon his arrival, forded 
 the creek and began to climb the hill ; but before 
 Major Pardee's position could be reached, darkness 
 had settled down upon the combatants, and the bat 
 tle was over. 
 
 The position not being one that could be safely or 
 advantageously held during the night, orders were 
 sent directing Monroe and Pardee to retire. They 
 came down the hill, carrying their wounded, crossed 
 the creek, and the whole of Colonel Garfield's force 
 was^ re-united for the night on Graveyard Point. 
 Strong pickets were posted up the road and beyond 
 the creek ; and notwithstanding the belief that a still 
 harder struggle would come on the morrow, the little 
 army slept proudly upon its first victory. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 153 
 
 Shortly after dark a brilliant light blazed up from 
 behind the hill upon which the fighting had taken 
 place during the afternoon. What it meant could 
 only be guessed, until the next morning, when a re- 
 connoissance at daylight showed the hill abandoned, 
 and the enemy gone. The illumination of the night 
 before had come from the funeral pile upon which 
 Marshall had sacrificed his wagons and baggage 
 everything that could impede his retreat through the 
 mountains to Pound Gap, the gateway of the Cum- 
 berlands into Southwestern Virginia. Pursuit was, 
 of course, useless. With ten hours' start, a perfect 
 knowledge of the country, and a competent rear 
 guard of cavalry, the now unencumbered enemy 
 could have safely retreated from any pursuers, how 
 ever formidable. 
 
 Colonel Garfield's little force was weary and short 
 of food. It had started with but two days' rations ; 
 the country afforded nothing, and it was necessary to 
 return to the river, from which supplies could be re 
 ceived. It remained only, therefore, to look over the 
 field of yesterday's fight, bury the dead, and carry 
 the wounded as carefully as possible to the river. A 
 careful survey of the ground upon which the fight 
 had taken place showed a remarkable disparity in 
 losses. On the federal side the entire loss was but 
 one killed and eleven wounded eight of the latter 
 being members of the Forty-Second. 
 
 The enemy suffered far more severely. Nineteen 
 dead were found on the hill-side, up which Marshall's 
 men had been driven by Williams' men, and among 
 
154 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 the rocks at the summit of the hill. The heartless 
 way in which the rebels disposed of their dead made 
 a strong impression upon the not yet callous-hearted 
 boys from Ohio. At one place eleven of the con 
 federate dead had been tumbled down into a large 
 fissure in the rocks. They were taken out by the 
 reconnoitering party next day, and decently buried. 
 A squad of the Fourteenth Kentucky still further 
 violated the decencies of war by stripping the corpses 
 of their buttons and trifling valuables. There was 
 abundant evidence that the confederate loss was by 
 no means limited to the nineteen dead soldiers found 
 on the hill. Seven graves were found at the foot of 
 the mountain, near where the baggage had been 
 burned. A native, whose hut was near the scene of 
 the burning, professed to have filled the graves dur 
 ing the night, and said that they contained the bodies 
 of officers. From his account, not less than fifty 
 wounded had been carried away in wagons by the 
 retreating enemy. 
 
 The remarkable disparity in losses is explained by 
 the facts already stated. The federals had the bet 
 ter weapons, they fired up hill from behind trees, 
 and fought from first to last with remarkable cool 
 ness and skill. The scars made by their bullets on 
 the trees were mainly less than five feet from the 
 ground. The bullet marks of the rebels, on the 
 other hand, were wild, being often ten and twenty 
 feet above the ground. 
 
 On the federal side, the battle of Middle Creek 
 was fought by less than a thousand men. The prin- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GA.RFIELD. 155 
 
 cipal fighting detachment was led by Captain Fred 
 erick A. Williams, of Company "A," Forty-Second 
 Ohio, who six months before had been a student at 
 Hiram. If there was a single man in his command 
 who had ever before been under fire, that fact was 
 not known then and is not known to-day. Colonel 
 Garfield accepted battle from an enemy whom he 
 knew to out-number his own force by at least three 
 to one, and the fight was won by simply attacking 
 the foe promptly in his own position, making intelli 
 gent use of whatever advantages the ground offered, 
 and fighting with steady courage and skill as long as 
 daylight lasted. 
 
 The Forty-Second regiment was engaged in many 
 bloodier and more renowned battles during its three 
 years of service, but it may be fairly questioned 
 whether the regiment ever performed a day's duty of 
 more timely and permanent value to the country. 
 The battle of Middle Creek, skirmish though it may 
 be considered, in comparison with later contests, was 
 the first substantial victory won for the union cause. 
 At Big Bethel, Bull Run, in Missouri, and at various 
 points at which the union and confederate forces 
 had come in contact, the latter had been uniformly 
 victorious. The people of the North, giving freely 
 of their men and their substance, in response to each 
 successive call of the Government, had long and 
 anxiously watched and waited for a little gleam of 
 victory to show that Northern valor was a match for 
 Southern impetuosity in the field. They had waited 
 in vain since the disaster at Bull Run, during the 
 
156 THE LITE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 previous summer, and hope had almost yielded to 
 despair. The story of Garfield's success at Middle 
 Creek came, therefore, like a benediction to the 
 union cause. Though won at a trifling cost, it was 
 decisive, so far as concerned the purposes of that im 
 mediate campaign. Marshall's force was driven from 
 Kentucky, and made no further attempt to occupy 
 the Sandy Valley. The important victories at Mill 
 Spring, Forts Donelson and Henry, and the repulse 
 at Shiloh followed. The' victory at Middle Creek 
 proved the first wave of a returning tide." 
 
OF. GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 
 
 LACK OF PROVISIONS. THE GREAT FLOOD. DANGEROUS SITUATION 
 OF THE TROOPS. GENERAL GARFIELD GOES TO THE OHIO RIVER. 
 PERILOUS VOYAGE UP THE BIG SANDY. RECEPTION BY THE 
 HUNGRY TROOPS. EXPEDITION AGAINST THE ENEMY AT POUND 
 GAP. GENERAL ORDERS CONNECTED WITH HIS CAMPAIGN. 
 HIS TRANSFER TO LOUISVILLE. HIS NEW COMMAND. FORCED 
 MARCHES. THE BATTLE OF CORINTH. REFUSAL TO RETURN 
 SLAVES TO THEIR MASTERS. ELECTION TO CONGRESS. APPOINT 
 MENT AS CHIEF OF GENERAL ROSECRANS* STAFF. BATTLE OF 
 CHICAMAUGA. PROMOTION TO MAJOR-GENERAL. RESIGNATION. 
 
 THE next day after establishing the brigade camp, 
 a heavy rain storm came on which laid a large por 
 tion of Sandy Valley under water. It was impossi 
 ble to march or to transport provisions over land. 
 The river became so swollen that the steamboats 
 were detained in the Ohio, and that source of supply 
 was also closed. It was a most alarming condition 
 of affairs, for it was impossible for the army to find 
 sufficient food in the surrounding region, even if they 
 transgressed the strict orders forbidding foraging. 
 When they had rations for two days only the puzzled 
 commander saw no way to save his little army from 
 actual starvation. If the army had been able to 
 march or wade through the mud, it would have been 
 a disobedience of orders to leave the country to be 
 again occupied by the enemy. 
 
I$8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 In his perplexity he decided to go for provisions 
 himself, thinking that he might find some boat along 
 the river which could be brought up in such an 
 extremity. 
 
 But he went as far as the Ohio river before he 
 found one. The great flood was so powerful that no 
 one dared venture into its surges. He found two or 
 three boatmen who said that a boat had once as 
 cended the Big Sandy in a flood like that, but it 
 was a miracle that it escaped destruction. 
 
 " Some boat must go up," said the general " My 
 men shall not starve! " 
 
 He found a rickety steamboat fastened to the bank 
 of the stream awaiting a subsidence of the flood, and 
 he ordered the captain to take a load of provisions 
 up the river to the camp. The captain refused, say 
 ing that it would be as bad as suicide to undertake 
 it. But Colonel Garfield insisted, and the captain and 
 men, thinking they might as well be drowned as be 
 shot for disobedience of military orders, allowed the 
 boat, with themselves, to be taken by the general for 
 the dangerous experiment. Finding no one he dared 
 to trust to take the wheel or who was strong enough 
 to manage it in the swift current, the general him 
 self took the wheel, and for two days and the greater 
 part of one night stood at his post. It required the 
 most cautious steering to avoid the projecting banks 
 and trees covered by the flood, and often the boat? 
 would graze an obstruction which would have sunk 
 it, if it had struck near the prow. 
 
 Once the craft ran aground on a hard sandbank 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 159 
 
 and refused to back off when the wheel was reversed, 
 and the general tried to induce some of the men to 
 take the small boat and go on shore to fasten a rope 
 so that they might pull the boat off the bank by the 
 aid of the windlass. Not one dared tempt the ter 
 rific flood. So the general took the boat and the 
 rope, and at a most hazardous risk of his life, espe 
 cially so, as the river navigation was new to him, he 
 crossed the stream and fastened the rope. 
 
 It was a triumphant hour for him, when he saw 
 the crowd of his anxious troops on the river bank 
 awaiting his coming, and one in which he blessed 
 the day. on which he learned to steer a canal boat. 
 
 The half-famished men, who had descended in 
 despair to the river, believing that no boat could 
 stem the flood, shouted themselves hoarse, and per 
 formed all kinds of childish antics, when they saw 
 their general skillfully steering the frail and trem 
 bling river steamer. They could scarcely believe 
 their own eyes ; and many a night about the camp 
 fires the soldiers afterwards told the story of the 
 general's dangerous trip up the Sandy, with rations 
 for his hungry men. 
 
 For three months the union troops remained at 
 or near Piketon, often making short expeditions to 
 drive out stray, bands of rebel marauders. 
 
 In the month of March, General Garfield deter 
 mined to drive out the rebels who were posted near 
 Pound Gap, on the Virginia side of the Cumberland 
 mountains ; and with seven hundred men, including 
 two hundred cavalry, he made a forced march of 
 
l6O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 forty miles, and encamped secretly near the enemy's 
 quarters. Early next morning, in a blinding snow 
 storm, he sent the cavalry through the Gap, while 
 the infantry clambered up by a difficult path to sur 
 prise the rebels in the rear. He was completely 
 successful in surprising the post, but the rebels 
 scattered so fast that he captured but few of them. 
 They left valuable stores of amunition and provisions 
 behind, of which he took possession. The next day 
 he burned the camp and returned to his quarters. A 
 few days later he was ordered to report with the 
 greater part of his command at Louisville. 
 
 The order of General Buel, which he had thus 
 obeyed so implicitly and fully, was dated December 
 17, 1 86 1, and reads as follows : 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KY., December 17, 1861. 
 SIR: The brigade, organized under your com 
 mand, is intended to operate against the rebel force 
 threatening, and, indeed, actually committing depre 
 dations in Kentucky, through the valley of the Big 
 Sandy. The actual force of the enemy, from the best 
 information I can gather, does not probably exceed 
 two thousand, or two thousand five hundred, though 
 rumor places it as high as seven thousand. I can 
 better ascertain the true state of the case when you 
 get on the ground. 
 
 You are apprised of the position of the troops 
 under your command. Go first to Lexington and 
 Paris, and place the 4Oth Ohio regiment in such 
 position as will best give a moral support to the peo 
 ple in the counties on the route to Prestonburg 
 and Piketon, and oppose any further advance of the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. l6l 
 
 enemy on that route. Then proceed with the least 
 possible delay to the mouth of the Sandy, and move, 
 with the force in that vicinity, up that river and 
 drive the enemy back or cut him off. Having done 
 that, Piketon will probably be in the best position 
 for you to occupy to guard against future incursions. 
 Artillery will be of little, if any, service to you in 
 that country. If the enemy have any, it will encum 
 ber and weaken, rather than strengthen them. 
 
 Your supplies must mainly be taken up the river, 
 and it ought to be done as soon as possible, while 
 the navigation is open. Purchase what you can in 
 the country through which you operate. Send your 
 requisitions to these head-quarters for funds and 
 advance stores, and to the Quartermasters and Com 
 missary at Cincinnati for other supplies. 
 
 The conversation 1 have had with you will sug 
 gest more details than can be given here. Report 
 frequently on all matters concerning your command. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 D. C. BUEL, 
 
 Brigadier-General Commanding. 
 
 v 
 
 The above order was followed by a congratulatory 
 order, dated January 20, 1862, which reads as fol 
 lows : 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, 
 LOUISVILLE, KY., January 20, 1862. 
 
 [General Orders No. 40.] 
 
 The general commanding takes occasion to thank 
 
 General Garfield and his troops for their successful 
 
 campaign against the rebel forces under General 
 
 Marshall on the Big Sandy, and their gallant con- 
 
 ii 
 
l62 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 duct in battle. They have overcome formidable dif 
 ficulties in the character of the country, the condi 
 tion of the roads, and the inclemency of the season ; 
 and without artillery, have, in several engagements 
 terminating in the battle on Middle Creek on the 
 loth, inst., driven the enemy from his entrenched 
 positions and forced him back into the mountains 
 with the loss of a large amount of baggage and 
 stores, and many of his men killed or captured. 
 These services called into action the highest quali 
 ties of a soldier, fortitude, perseverance, courage." 
 
 When General Garfield arrived at Louisville, he 
 found that General Buel was far away in Tennessee, 
 hurrying to the assistance of General Grant, at Pitts- 
 burg Landing. So General Garfield, obedient to fresh 
 orders,bade a hasty farewell to his comrades, and hur 
 ried on after the army. He overtook General Buel 
 at Columbia, Tennessee, and was at once assigned to 
 the command of the 2Oth brigade, in the division of 
 General T. J. Wood. 
 
 This change in his command was a great grief to 
 General Garfield, who had hoped to keep the Fortieth 
 Ohio in his brigade, and thus be with his old friends, 
 scholars and neighbors throughout the war. But 
 from that time their paths diverged, and never united 
 again during the entire contest. 
 
 The army, of which his new command formed a 
 part, made a forced march from Columbia to Savan 
 nah, on the Tennessee river, and from that point 
 they were in great haste hurried on by Boat to Pitts- 
 burg Landing. The battle of Shiloh had been rag 
 ing for more than a day, when these reinforcements 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 163 
 
 arrived. Without rest or time to enter camp they 
 hurried on to the field of battle, and General Garfield's 
 command was under fire during the final contest 
 which gave the victory to the federal troops. 
 
 The next day his brigade, with other forces under 
 General Sherman, was sent in pursuit of the retreat 
 ing enemy, and a short but hotly contested battle 
 was fought, in which General Garfield was conspicu 
 ously cool and brave. 
 
 During that tedious siege of Corinth, which fol 
 lowed, his brigade was nearly all the time at the out 
 posts, and was engaged often in skirmishes with the 
 rebels, and were with the first column that was 
 ordered forward when the town was evacuated by 
 Beauregard. 
 
 In June, 1862, his brigade was sent to repair and 
 protect the Memphis and Charleston railroad, be 
 tween Corinth and Decatur, after which he advanced 
 to Huntsville, Alabama, and gained no little credit 
 for his skill in military engineering, connected with 
 the fortifications. 
 
 It has been often related of him that while in com 
 mand of this brigade, a fugitive slave came rushing 
 into his camp, with a bloody head, and apparently 
 frightened almost to death. He had scarcely passed 
 the head-quarters, when a regular bully of a fellow 
 came riding up, and with a volley of oaths began to 
 ask after his "nigger." General Garfield was not 
 present, and he passed on to the division commander. 
 The division commander was a sympathizer with the 
 theory that fugitive slaves should be returned to their 
 
164 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 masters, and that the union soldiers should be made 
 the instruments for returning them. He accordingly 
 wrote a mandatory order to General Garfield, in 
 whose command the darkey was supposed to be hid 
 ing, telling him to hunt out and deliver over the 
 property of the outraged citizen. He took the order 
 and deliberately wrote on it the following indorse 
 ment : 
 
 " I respectively but positively decline to allow my 
 command to search for or deliver up any fugitive 
 slaves. I conceive that they 'are here for quite 
 another purpose. The command is open, and no ob 
 stacles will be placed in the way of search." 
 
 The indorsement frightened his staff officers, and 
 they expected that, if returned, the result would be 
 that the general would be court-martialed. He 
 simply replied, "The matter may as well be tested 
 first as last. Right is right, and I do not propose to 
 mince matters at all. My soldiers are here for other 
 purposes than hunting and returning fugitive slaves. 
 My people, on the Western Reserve of Ohio, did not 
 send my boys and myself down here to do that kind 
 of business, and they will back me up in my action." 
 He would not alter the indorsement, and the order 
 was returned. Nothing ever came of the matter 
 further. 
 
 June i$th, General Garfield was detailed to sit in 
 a trial by court-martial of a lieutenant of the Fifty- 
 Eighth Indiana volunteers. His skill in that case, 
 combined with his memory of judicial decisions, 
 caused the officers, sitting with him in the court, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 165 
 
 to commend him for his signal ability in such mat 
 ters. On July 5th, he was again detailed to act as 
 president of the important court-martial detailed to 
 try Colonel Turchin, of the Nineteenth Illinois. Of 
 that court, General Garfield's adjutant-general, Cap 
 tain P. T. Swain, acted as judge advocate. 
 
 July 3Oth, he was given a leave of absence, owing 
 to the return of the fever and ague, which had not 
 disturbed him until that season, from the spring 
 when he left the canal. For two months he lay at 
 Hiram, dangerously sick, and several important com 
 mands were offered him, which his illness compelled 
 him to decline. It was during this summer that he 
 paid for the small wooden dwelling in Hiram, which 
 was afterwards his home. 
 
 As soon as he was able to travel he was ordered 
 by the Secretary of War to report to the War De 
 partment, at Washington. This he did about the 
 25th of September. His fame as a jurist in martial 
 trials had reached Washington, and he was ordered 
 to sit on the court of inquiry in the case of General 
 McDowell. At one time he was ordered to proceed 
 to South Carolina, with General Hunter, but circum 
 stances intervened to keep them in Washington. 
 
 November 25, 1862, he was made a member of the 
 court in the celebrated trial of General Fitz-John 
 Porter for the failure to co-operate with General 
 Pope, at' the battle of Bull Run. At that trial he 
 had a delicate and important duty to perform, and 
 did his work with such wisdom as to secure the un- 
 
l66 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 solicited compliment from its president that " he 
 must have been a great lawyer in Ohio." 
 
 During his engagements at Washington, he was 
 called home by the illness and death of his only 
 child. It was a sad blow to a heart so tender as his ; 
 and it is said of him that while he held the body of 
 the sweet little child in his arms, after its death, he 
 remarked how inappropriate to everything about him 
 was his military uniform, and of .how little conse 
 quence, compared with the love and peace of a happy 
 home, were the, honors which men could bestow. 
 
 While he was at home, in the months of August 
 and September, as already stated, and confined to his 
 bed, there was no little agitation going on in that 
 congressional district, over a successor to the re 
 nowned anti-slavery champion, Joshua R. Giddings. 
 The excitement was caused by the fact that Mr. 
 Giddings had been defeated in the nominating con 
 vention, two years before, by some means, and his 
 friends laid all the blame on the successful candidate. 
 They therefore determined upon preventing the re- 
 nornination of Mr. Giddings' successor. In their 
 canvas for a candidate who would be sure to carry 
 the convention, as there was no hope that the health 
 of Mr. Giddings would admit of his return to Con 
 gress, even if he could have left his post as consul- 
 general of Canada, they hit upon General Garfield, 
 who at that time was recovering, but whose return to 
 the malarial districts was considered dangerous. His 
 name was one which was sure to overcome any com 
 bination or opposition. It does not appear that they 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. l6/ 
 
 consulted with General Garfield at all, but very care 
 fully concealed their design, both from him and the 
 opposition. On the presentation of his name to the 
 Republican congressional convention, in September, 
 it was received with all the enthusiasm that the 
 friends of the measure had expected. He was the 
 single man on the " Western Reserve " against 
 whom it would be a farce to make any opposition. 
 
 The movement did not at first meet with General 
 Garfield's approval, and he reserved his decision 
 whether he should refuse the honor, until he could 
 confer with President Lincoln. His pay as a general 
 was much larger than that of a congressman ; he 
 had entered the war to stay, and he disliked to leave 
 it. 
 
 On the other hand, his health might break down 
 if he returned to the South, and it was probable that 
 the war would be closed in the year which would in 
 tervene between his election and the opening of the 
 Congress to which he would be chosen. 
 
 When he visited the President, and told him the 
 circumstances, Mr. Lincoln bluntly remarked that 
 there were generals enough already and plenty more 
 to be had, but the number of congressmen who un 
 derstood the needs of the country were few, and if 
 the rebellion continued, it was likely to be lessened 
 by the death or enlistment of good men. Other 
 members of the Cabinet giving him the sajne advice, 
 he silently acquiesced in the nomination, and was 
 elected with unheard of unanimity. 
 
 In January he had so far recovered that he was 
 
1 68 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 ordered into thefield, and directed to report to Gen 
 eral Rosecrans, at Murfreesboro'. Immediately after 
 his arrival he was appointed chief of staff to General 
 Rosecrans, then commanding the army of the Cum 
 berland. 
 
 The writer of the history of the Forty-Second 
 Ohio regiment, whose sources of information were 
 so trustworthy, and whose gilts as a writer were so 
 apparent as to lead to his selection, by that regiment 
 of students, as their historian, wrote, in 1875, f 
 General Garfield's share in the campaigns of the 
 army of the Cumberland, as follows : 
 
 " He was assigned to duty as chief of staff of the 
 army of the Cumberland, in place of the lamented 
 Colonel Garesche, who had been killed in the battle 
 of Stone river. Early in the spring of that year 
 Captain D. G. Swain, his adjutant-general since the 
 previous April, was directed to organize a Bureau of 
 Military Information. By a system of police and 
 scout reports, very full and trustworthy information 
 was obtained of the organization, strength, and posi 
 tion of the enemy's forces. 
 
 Early in June the general commanding required 
 each general of a corps and division of the army of 
 the Cumberland, to report his opinions, in writing, in 
 reference to an early or immediate advance against 
 the forces of General Bragg. Seventeen general 
 officers submitted written opinions on that subject. 
 Most of them were adverse to any early movement, 
 and nearly all advised against an immediate advance. 
 General Garfield presented to the commanding gen- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 169 
 
 eral an analysis and review of these opinions, and 
 urged an immediate movement against the enemy. 
 For more than five months the army of Rosecrans 
 had lain inactive at Murfreesboro', while the com 
 manding general had haggled and bandied words 
 with the War Department. As chief of staff, General 
 Garfield did all that adroit diplomacy could do to 
 soften these asperities, and meanwhile give all his 
 energy to the work of preparing the army for an ad 
 vance, and ascertaining the strength of the enemy. 
 
 His Bureau of Military Information was the most 
 perfect machine of the kind organized in the field 
 during the war. When at last June came, the Gov 
 ernment and the people demanding an advance, and 
 the seventeen subordinate generals of Rosecrans 
 advising against it, the analysis of the situation 
 drawn up and submitted by General Garfield, met 
 and overthrew them all. Speaking of this letter, 
 Mr. Whitelaw Reid in his ' Ohio in the War/ says : 
 ' This report we venture to pronounce the ablest 
 military document 'known to have been submitted by 
 a chief of staff to his superior during the war.' 
 This is high praise, but it is history. 
 
 Twelve days after it was submitted," the army 
 moved, against the will and opinion of Gene. ''I 
 Crittenden and nearly all Rosecrans' leading officers. 
 It marched into the Tullahoma campaign, one of the 
 most perfectly planned and ably executed movements 
 of the war. The lateness of the start, caused by the 
 objections which General Garfield's letter finally 
 overcame, alone saved Bragg's army from destruction. 
 
I7O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 There was a certain work to do, which might as well 
 have been begun on the ist of June as the 24th. 
 Had it been begun on the first of these dates, Bragg's 
 army might, in all probability, have been destroyed. 
 As it was, the heavy rains intervened and saved him 
 from pursuit. 
 
 With his military reputation thus strengthened, 
 General Garfield went with his chief into the battle 
 of Chickamauga. His influence over Rosecrans h? d 
 by this time become almost supreme. His clear 
 and comprehensive mind grasped every detail, and 
 his opinions were invariably consulted on all impor 
 tant questions. He wrote many orders upon his 
 own judgment, submitting them to Rosecrans for 
 approval or alteration. On the field of Chickamauga, 
 he wrote every order except one, and that one was 
 the fatal order to General Wood which ruined Rose 
 crans' right wing and lost the battle. The order 
 from Rosecrans to Wood, as the latter interpreted it, 
 required him to move his command behind another 
 division, leaving a wide gap in the line of McCook's 
 corps, which held the right. Wood says that he 
 knew this move would be fatal, but it was ordered 
 and he felt impelled to execute it. Longstreet saw 
 ' ^e blunder, hurled Hood's division into the gap, 
 and within an hour McCook's corps was broken and 
 streaming, a disorganized mob of men, back to Chat 
 tanooga, Trying vainly to check the tide of retreat, 
 General Garfield was swept with his chief back be 
 yond Rossville. But the chief of staff could not 
 concede that defeat had been entire. He heard the 
 
PLAN OF CHIKAMAUGA BATTLE-FIELD. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I /I 
 
 roar of Thomas' guns on the left, and gained per 
 mission of Rosecrans to go round to that quarter and 
 find the army of the Cumberland. While the com 
 mander busied himself with preparing a refuge at 
 Chattanooga for his routed army, his chief of staff 
 went back, accompanied only by a: staff officer and a 
 few orderlies, to find whatever part of the army still 
 held its ground, and save what there was left. It was 
 a perilous ride. Long before he reached Thomas one 
 of his orderlies was killed. , Almost alone he pushed 
 on over the obstructed road, through pursuers and 
 pursued, found the heroic Thomas encircled by 
 fire, but still firm, told him of the disaster on the 
 right, and explained how he could withdraw his right 
 wing and fix it upon a new line to meet Longstreet's 
 column, which had turned the right of Thomas' position 
 and was marching in heavy column upon his rear. The 
 movement was made just in time; but Thomas' line 
 was too short, it would not reach to the base of the 
 mountain. Longstreet saw the gap, drove his column 
 into it and would have struck Thomas' line fatally in 
 the rear, but in that critical moment General Gordon 
 Granger came up with Steadman's division, which 
 moved in heavy column, threw itself upon Long- 
 .^treet, and after a terrific struggle, drove him back. 
 The dead and wounded lay in heaps where those two 
 columns met, but the army ol General Thomas was 
 saved. As night closed in upon the heroic army of 
 the Cumberland, Generals Garfield and Granger, 
 on foot and enveloped in smoke, directed the loading 
 and pointing of a battery of Napoleon guns, whose 
 
1/2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 flash, as they thundered after the retreating column 
 of the assailants, was the last light that shown upon 
 the battle field of Chickamauga. The struggle was 
 over, and the rebels retired repulsed. Had the two 
 shattered corps of McCook and Crittenden that night 
 been brought upon the field and enabled Thomas to 
 hold his ground, there might have been a second 
 day to that battle which would have changed its 
 complexion in history. 
 
 The battle of Chickamauga practically closed 
 General Garfield's military career. About four weeks 
 after the engagement he was sent by Rosecrans to 
 Washington to report minutely to the President and 
 the War Department fhe position, deeds, resources, 
 and capabilities of the army at Chattanooga. He 
 went, had frequent lengthy interviews with the 
 President and Secretary Stanton, and thus, point by 
 point, made a most thorough and satisfactory report. 
 Meanwhile, General Garfield had been promoted to 
 a major-generalship of volunteers 'for gallant and 
 meritorious services at the battle of Chickamauga,' 
 to take rank from the iQth of September-, 1863. 
 Rosecrans had been removed from the command of 
 the army at Chattanooga and General Grant appointed 
 to his place. 
 
 General Garfield was now called to a new field of 
 duty. In October of the year previous, while the 
 Forty-Second was retreating from Cumberland Gap, 
 the people of the Nineteenth Congressional District 
 of Ohio had elected him as their representative to 
 the Thirty- Eighth Congress. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1/3 
 
 He was a major-general, young, popular in the 
 army, and in high favor at Washington ; he was poor, 
 and his army pay was double the slender salary of a 
 Congressman, but he had been chosen by the people 
 of his district as their representative .nder circum 
 stances which in his judgment would not permit him 
 to decline the trust General Thomas offered him 
 the command of a corps ; but Lincoln urged him to 
 resign his commission and come to Congress. The 
 President was strenuous, and his advice prevailed." 
 There was no want of major-generals, but there was 
 need of all the zeal, courage and ability that could 
 be assembled in Congress. So his friends argued, 
 and the sequel proved the wisdom of their demand 
 upon him. Yielding to this, he resigned his com 
 mission on the 5th of December, 1863, having served 
 in the army more than a year after his election to 
 Congress, and took his seat on the same day in the 
 House of Representatives, where he has been in 
 continuous service since that day. 
 
 The influence of General Garfield upon the Forty- 
 Second regiment was unbounded. As colonel, not 
 less than as professor and principal of a collegiate 
 school, he evinced a rare and extraordinary power 
 In controlling, interesting and inspiring young men. 
 It was due largely to his enthusiastic efforts that the 
 regiment was made up of some of the best material 
 that Ohio sent into the field. The careful, laborious 
 education, the discipline, the quickening of individual 
 self-respect that the regiment underwent at his 
 hands while in Camp Chase, were never lost upon its 
 
174 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 men. Long after he had gone to other duties, the 
 recollection of his words was a source of inspiration 
 to the men ; and as they went into their first fight at 
 Middle Creek, against overwhelming numbers, with 
 serene confidence, because their trusted colonel had 
 sent them, so afterwards they fought and marched as 
 though conscious that the eye of their first com 
 mander was still upon them." 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 175 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 REVIEW OF HIS MILITARY CAREER. 
 
 FITNESS FOB MILITARY AFFAIRS. HOW HE BECAME FAMILIAR WITH 
 INFANTRY TACTICS. CARRIES THE CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF 
 HIS BOYHOOD INTO ARMY LIFE. HIS KNOWLEDGE OF LAW. MIL 
 ITARY TRIALS. THE TULLAHOMA CAMPAIGN. HIS ABILITY AS AN 
 ENGINEER. HIS GREAT PLAN FOR AN ONWARD MOVEMENT FROM 
 MURFREESBORO'. HIS OFFICIAL REPORT. COMPLIMENT FROM 
 GENERAL ROSECRANS. HIS RESIGNATION. 
 
 GLANCING back upon General Garfield's military 
 career, with the accumulated facts of history adding 
 their testimony to the high estimate made of him in 
 1863, the most conservative writer must be aston 
 ished at the ability displayed by him. It will also 
 appear, that while the fact that the Secretary of War 
 was from Ohio, and might be predisposed to observe 
 the merits of a soldier from the same State, yet all 
 the promotions which came to him were clearly and 
 undisputedly deserved by him, and for the national 
 good He had a natural fitness, in some way, for 
 military affairs. He seemed to be experienced in all 
 the emergencies that met him ; and everywhere acted, 
 as his associates testify, "like an old soldier." 
 
 It is interesting to note how much of this success 
 and appearance of familiarity was due to his early 
 habits. He had accustomed himself to occupy all his 
 
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 time in some profitable work or study. He had, from 
 the time he possessed but one book to study, schooled 
 himself to thoroughly understand whatever he was 
 given to learn. 
 
 Place these two characteristics together, and notice 
 its bearing on his military usefulness. A scrutiny of 
 the history of those early days of the war shows that 
 he began to study military works as. early as his days 
 in the Senate of Ohio ; and that from the day that 
 Governor Dennison notified him of his appointment 
 as a lieutenant-colonel, he bent his whole energy to 
 ward gaining an understanding of the art and rules 
 of war He applied himself closely to the practice 
 of infantry tactics, and studied intently the directions 
 for movements in regimental, battalion, and brigade 
 drill. When his regiment began to assemble at 
 Camp Chase, near Columbus, he was able to estab 
 lish an officer's school, and to teach the most import 
 ant matters himself. His confidence in himself came 
 from his consciousness of having thoroughly mas 
 tered the subject. He studied military engineering 
 in the same manner ; and from that went to the plans 
 of successful campaigns made by great soldiers of the 
 past. 
 
 To those must be added the other prominent marks 
 in his character, and a solution of his sudden rise is 
 explained. The same active and obedient imagina 
 tion, which in his boyhood turned the orchard trees 
 into Indian chiefs, made the fields of wheat a host of 
 buccaneers, and the bowing young maples an atten 
 tive audience, served him in his study of military 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 movements, by supplying him with squads and regi 
 ments to drill, which were invisible to the natural 
 eye and even- to the imagination of many persons in 
 his situation. He could give the orders and see the 
 evolutions, and this mental practice made his appear 
 ance on his first trial seem like that of a veteran. 
 
 But combined with all the traits already mentioned 
 was that sterling truthfulness, which has been men 
 tioned as a characteristic of his boyhood. It won 
 for him the respect of his superiors and the love of 
 his inferiors. His word was implicitly trusted. To 
 this known characteristic was due, in a great meas 
 ure, the confidence which was placed in the Bureau 
 of Information, which was managed by Major Swain, 
 under General Garfield's direction. He misrepre 
 sented nothing. He over-estimated nothing. Be 
 fore him the lying scouts, 'spies, fugitives, slaves and 
 captives seemed to be in awe of his integrity ; and, 
 as one of his staff has said, " he impelled them to 
 tell the truth by the very force of his presence and 
 example." The information he obtained of the ene 
 my's movements and numbers was so correct that 
 great armies moved on to victories, led by his direc 
 tions. 
 
 His thorough knowledge of law and his adminis 
 trative ability, combined with the traits already men 
 tioned, caused his words and decisions to be respect 
 ed in martial courts. He had been thorough and 
 honest with himself in his studies, and one who is 
 honest and sincere with himself is honest and sin- 
 
 12 
 
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 cere with all the world. It is a rule that works both 
 ways. 
 
 But the crown of all his military achievements, 
 and one which our successful general have all pro 
 nounced to be a masterly stroke of military genius, 
 is found in his plan of the Tullahoma campaign, 
 from Murfreesboro', by the army of the Cumberland. 
 All testify that, had General Rosecrans moved at 
 once, instead of hesitating to hear the advice of 
 other generals, who opposed it, General Bragg's 
 command must have been captured, and the rebel 
 lion cut in twain, a year before Sherman marched to 
 the sea. 
 
 As it was, the campaign was an important and 
 successful movement, and gave our armies many 
 advantages in the movements which Grant after 
 wards made. 
 
 Whitelaw Reid, in his great work on " Ohio in the 
 War," has printed entire the paper submitted by 
 General Garfield to the commanding general, at that 
 time, and it deserves a place in every biography of 
 General Garfield. 
 
 General Rosecrans had been waiting five months 
 for a favorable opportunity to attack General Bragg, 
 and had many foolish quarrels with the War Depart 
 ment on account of his delay and strenuous demands 
 for cavalry and stores. But, at last, under the urgent 
 advice of General Garfield, his chief of staff, he 
 asked the advice of the generals in command of 
 divisions in the army of the Cumberland, about an 
 advance. All advised against it. General Garficld 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 79 
 
 was in favor of an immediate move, and gave his 
 reasons for it. His advice was taken, with the good 
 results already mentioned. The document gives 
 such an insight into the condition of affairs, and 
 exhibits so strikingly General Garfi eld's customary 
 caution, foresight, and logical arrangement, that it i 
 given entire. 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND. 
 
 MURFREESBORO', June 12, 1864. 
 
 General : In your confidential letter of the 8th inst. , to the corps 
 and division commanders and generals of cavalry, of this army, there 
 were substantially five questions propounded, for their consideration 
 and answer, viz. : 
 
 1. Has the enemy of our front been materially weakened by de 
 tachments to Johnston, or elsewhere ? 
 
 2. Can this army advance on him at this time, with strong, reason 
 able chances of fighting a great and successful battle ? 
 
 3. Do you think an advance of our army at present likely to pre 
 vent additional reinforcements being sent against General Grant by 
 the enemy in our front ? 
 
 4. Do you think an immediate advance of the army advisable ? 
 
 5. Do you think an early advance advisable ? 
 
 Many of the answers to these questions are not categorical, and 
 cannot be clearly set down either as affirmative or negative. Espe 
 cially in answer to the first question there is much indefiniteness, re 
 sulting from the difference of judgment as to how great a detachment 
 could be considered a " material reduction of Bragg's strength." For 
 example, one officer thinks it has been reduced ten thousand, and not 
 " materially weakened." 
 
 The answers to the second question are modified, in some instances, 
 by the opinion that the rebels will fall back behind the Tennessee 
 river, and thus no battle can be fought, either successful or unsuc 
 cessful. 
 
 So far as these opinions can be stated, in tabular form, they will 
 stand thus : 
 
ISO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 " YES. No. 
 
 Answer to first question, . . . 6 n 
 
 Answer to second question 2 n 
 
 Answer to third question 4 10 
 
 Answer to fourth question, , . . -. 15 
 
 Answer to fifth question, . . . V 2 
 
 On the fifth question, three gave it as their opinion that this army 
 ought to advance as soon as Vicksburg falls, should that event hap 
 pen. The following is a summary of the reasons assigned why we 
 should not, at this time, advance upon the enemy : 
 
 1. With Hooker's army defeated, and Grant's bending all its ener 
 gies in a yet undecided struggle, it is bad policy to risk our only re 
 serve army to the chances of a general engagement. A failure here 
 would have most disastrous effect on our lines of communication, and 
 on politics in the loyal States. 
 
 2. We should be compelled to fight the enemy on his own ground, 
 or follow him in a fruitless chase ; or, if we attempted to out-flank 
 him and turn his position, we should expose our line of communica 
 tion, and run the risk of being pushed back into a rough country, well- 
 known to the enemy and little to ourselves. 
 
 3. In case the enemy should fall back without accepting battle, he 
 could make our advance very slow, and with a comparatively small 
 force posted in the gaps of the mountains, could hold us back while he 
 crossed the Tennessee river, where he would be measurably secure, 
 and free to send reinforcements to Johnston 
 
 His forces in East Tennessee could seriously harrass our left flank 
 and constantly disturb our communications. 
 
 4. The withdrawal of Burnside's ninth army corps deprives us of 
 an important reserve and flank protection, thus increasing the difficulty 
 of an advance. 
 
 5. General Hurlburt has sent the most of his force away to Gener 
 al Grant, thus leaving West Tennessee uncovered, and laying our 
 right flank and rear open to raids of the enemy. 
 
 The following incidental opinions are expressed : 
 
 1. One officer thinks it probable that the enemy has been strength 
 ened, rather than weakened, and that he (the enemy) would have 
 reasonable prospect of victory in a general battle. 
 
 2. One officer believes the result of a general battle would be 
 doubtful, a victory barren, and a defeat most disastrous. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. l8l 
 
 3. Three officers believe that an advance would bring on a general 
 engagement. Three others believe it would not. 
 
 4. Two officers express the opinion that the chances of success in 
 a general battle are nearly equal. . 
 
 5. One officer expresses the belief that our army has reached its 
 maximum strength and efficiency, and that inactivity will seriously im 
 pair its effectiveness. 
 
 6. Two officers say that an increase of our cavalry, by about six 
 thousand men, would materially change the aspect of our affairs, and 
 give us a decided advantage. 
 
 In addition to the above summary, I have the honor to submit an 
 estimate of the strength of Bragg's army, gathered from all the data 
 I have been able to obtain, including the estimate of the general com 
 manding, in his official report of the battle of Stone river, and facts 
 gathered from prisoners, deserters and refugees, and from rebel news 
 papers. After the battle, Bragg consolidated many of his decimated 
 regiments and irregular organizations ; and at the time of his sending 
 reinforcements to Johnston, his army had reached the greate>t effective 
 strength. It consisted of five divisions of infantry, composed of 
 ninety-four regiments, and two independent battalions of sharp-shoot 
 ers, say ninety regiments. By a law of the confederate Congress, 
 regiments are consolidated when their effective strength falls below 
 two hundred and fifty men. Even the regiments formed by such con 
 solidation (which may reasonably be regarded as the fullest) must fall 
 below five hundred. I am satisfied that four hundred is a large esti 
 mate of the average stiength. 
 
 The force, then, would be : 
 
 Infantry, 95 regiments, 400 each, 
 Cavalry, 35 regiments, say, 500 each, 
 Artillery, 26 batteries, say 100 each, . 
 
 Total, . ..'' . . . . 58,600 
 This force has been reduced by detachments to Johnston. It is as 
 well known as we can ever expect to ascertain such facts, that three 
 brigades have gone trom McConn's division, and two or three from 
 Breckinridge's, say two It is clear th?* there are now but four 
 infantry divisions in Bragg's army, the fourth being composed of 
 fragments of McConn's and Breckinridge's divisions, and must be 
 much smaller than the average. Deducting the five brigades, and 
 
1 82 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 supposing them composed of only four regiments each, which is below 
 the general average, it gives an infantry reduction of twenty regiments, 
 four hundred each eight thousand leaving a remainder of thirty 
 thousand. It is clearly ascertained that at least two brigades of cav 
 alry have been sent from Van Dorn's command to the Mississippi, and 
 it is asserted in the Chattanooga Rebel, of June i ith, that General 
 Morgan's command has been permanently detached and sent to East 
 ern Kentucky. It is not certainly known how large his division is, 
 but it is known to contain at least two brigades. Taking this mini 
 mum as the fact, we have a cavalry reduction of four brigades. 
 
 Taking the lowest estimate, four regiments to the brigade, we have 
 a reduction, by detachment, of sixteen regiments, five hundred each, 
 leaving his present effective cavalry force nine thousand five hundred. 
 With the nine brigades of the two arms thus detached, it will be safe 
 to say there have gone, 
 
 Six batteries, 80 men each, ... , ". . 480 
 
 Leaving him 20 batteries, . " . . . 2,120 
 
 Making a total reduction of . 16,480 
 
 Leaving, of the three arms, . . . . , 41,680 
 
 In this estimate of Bragg's strength, I have placed all doubts in his 
 favor, and I have no question that my estimate is considerably beyond 
 the truth General Sheridan, who hns taken great pains to collect 
 evidence on this point, places it considerably below these figures. But 
 assuming these to be correct, and granting what is still more improba 
 ble, that Bragg would abandon all his rear posts, and entirely neglect 
 his communications, and could bring his last man into battle, I next 
 ask : What have we with which to oppose him ? 
 
 The last official report of effective strength, now on file in the office 
 of the assistant adjutant general, is dated from June nth, and shows 
 that we have in this department, omitting all officers and enlisted men 
 attached to department, corps, division and brigade head-quarters : 
 
 1. Infantry One hundred and seventy- three regiments ; ten bat 
 talions sharp-shooters ; four battalions pioneers ; and one regiment of 
 engineers and mechanics, with a total effective strength of seventy 
 thousand nine hundred and eighteen. 
 
 2. Cavalry Twenty-seven regiments and one unattachee com 
 pany, eleven thousand, eight hundred and thirteen. 
 
 3. Artillery Forty-seven and a half batteries field artillery, con- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. I 83 
 
 sisting of two hundred and ninety-two guns and five hundred and 
 sixty-nine men, making a general total of eighty-seven thousand eight 
 hundred. 
 
 Leaving out all commissioned officers, this army represents eighty- 
 two thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven bayonets and sabers. 
 This report does not include the Fifth Iowa cavalry, six hundred 
 strong, lately armed ; nor the First Wisconsin cavalry ; nor Coburn's 
 brigade of infantry, now arriving ; nor the two thousand three hundred 
 and ninety-four convalescents, now on light duty in " Fortress Mon 
 roe." 
 
 There are detached from this force as follows : 
 
 At Galatin, . . - : ' . ". . - . 969 
 
 At Carthage, ..... . . . 1,149 
 
 At Fort Donelson, . . . ; . .. 1,485 
 
 At Clarkesville, . . . . , , ' . 1,138 
 
 At Nashville, . . . . , ' -, 7> 2 92 
 
 At Franklin, .....'.. 900 
 
 At Lavergne, . , . . , . . 2,117 
 
 Total, 
 
 With these posts as they are, and leaving two thousand five hundred 
 efficient men, in additicn to the two thousand three hundred and 
 ninety-four convalescents, to hold the works at this place, there will 
 be left sixty -five thousand one hundred and thirty-seven bayonets and 
 sabers to show, against Bragg's forty-one thousand six hundred and 
 eighty. 
 
 I beg leave, also, to submit the following considerations : 
 
 i . Bragg's army is weaker now than it has been since the battle of 
 Stone river, or is likely to be, at present, while our army has reached 
 its maximum strength, and we have no right to expect reinforcements 
 for several months, if at all. 
 
 2. Whatever be the result at Vicksburg, the determination of its 
 fate will give large reinforcements to Bragg. If Grant is successful, 
 his army will require many weeks to recover from the shock and strain 
 of his late campaign, while Johnston will send back to Bragg a force 
 sufficient to insure the bafety of Tennessee. If Grant fails, the same 
 result will inevitably follow, so far as Bragg's army is concerned. 
 
184 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 3. No man can predict, with a certainty, the results of any battle, 
 however great the disparity in numbers. Such results are in the hand 
 of God. But, reviewing the question in the light ol human calcula 
 tion, I refuse to entertain a doubt that this army, which in January 
 last defeated Bragg's superior numbers, cannot overwhelm his present 
 greatly inferior forces. 
 
 4. The most unfavorable course for us that Bragg could take, would 
 be to fall back without giving us battle ; but this would be very disas 
 trous to him. Besides the loss of material of war, and the abandon 
 ment of the rich and abundant harvest, now nearly ripe in Central 
 Tennessee, he would lose heavily by desertion. It is well known that 
 a wide-spread dissatisfaction exists among his Kentucky and Tennes 
 see troops. They are already deserting in large numbers. A retreat 
 would greatly increase both the desire and the opportunity for deser 
 tion, and would very materially reduce his physical and moral strength. 
 While it would lengthen our communication, it would give us posses 
 sion of McMinnville, arid enable us to threaten Chattanooga and East 
 Tennessee ; and it would not be unreasonable to expect an early occu 
 pation of the former place. 
 
 5. But the chances are more than even that a sudden and rapid 
 movement would compel a general engagement, and the defeat of 
 Bragg would be, in the highest degree, disastrous to the rebellion. 
 
 6. The turbulent aspect of politics in the loyal States renders a 
 decisive blow against the enemy, at this time, of the highest import 
 ance to the success of the government at the polls, and in the enforce 
 ment of the Conscript Act. 
 
 7. The government and the War Department believe that this army 
 ought to move upon the enemy. The army desire it, and the country 
 is anxiously hoping for it. 
 
 8. Our true objective point is the rebel army, whose last reserves 
 are substantially in the field, and an effective blow will crush the shell, 
 and soon be followed by the collapse of the rebel government. 
 
 9. You have, in my judgment, wisely delayed a general movement 
 hitherto, till your army could be massed, and your cavalry could be 
 mounted. Your mobile force can now be concentrated in twenty-four 
 hours, and your cavalry, if not equal in numerical strength to that of 
 the enemy, is greatly superior in efficiency and morale. For this rea- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 85 
 
 son I believe an immediate advance of all our available forces is ad 
 visable, and, under the providence of God, will be successful. 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 J. A. GAKFIELD, 
 
 Brigadier- General, Chief of Staff. 
 Major- General ROSECRANS, 
 
 Commanding Dep't. Cumberland. 
 
 That the estimate which this biography has placed 
 upon the character of General Garfield may not seem 
 to be overdrawn, the following testimony given by a 
 writer at Zenia, Ohio, in the autumn of 1862, is in 
 serted in these pages : 
 
 " We have known General James A. Garfield for 
 several years, and entertain for him the highest 
 personal regard. He is one of the most eloquent 
 men in Ohio, as well as one of the ripest scholars. 
 Socially and morally he has no superior. He is 
 popular with all, as the attachment of his scholars, as 
 well as his soldiers, for him demonstrates. 
 
 In respect to abilities, nature has by no means 
 been unfriendly to him ; and he has neither despised 
 nor slighted her gifts. A severe course of mental 
 training, combined with the mental practice obtained 
 by presiding over one of the colleges of Ohio, has 
 fully developed his natural endowments. 
 
 Above all these considerations, everyone respects 
 General Garfield for his stern, unyielding, uncom 
 promising patriotism. The permanent good of his 
 country, the restoration of its unity, and the perpet 
 uation of the national power and glory through all 
 coming time, are the objects which he keeps steadily 
 in view." 
 
 For more than a year after his election to Congress, 
 General Garfield kept the field, and without flinching 
 
1 86 IciE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 endured the severest tests which come to the soldier 
 in war. He lost no time and shirked no hardships. 
 He bravely entered the most dangerous lines of 
 battle when his duty called him there, and the num 
 ber of men killed at his side, and horses wounded or 
 killed under him, attest his proximity to the enemy. 
 
 In General Rosecran's official report of the battle 
 of Chickamaugahe bears testimony to General Gar- 
 field's soldierly qualities and said : 
 
 "To Brigadier-General James A. Garfield, chief 
 of staff. I am especially indebted for the clear and 
 ready manner in which he seized the points of action 
 and movement, and expressed in orders the ideas of 
 the general commanding." 
 
 To this testimony the War Department put its seal 
 by issuing to him a commission as major-general 
 dated the day of that great battle. 
 
 On December 5th, a few weeks after the battle and 
 after General Rosecrans was relieved, General Gar- 
 field resigned his commission and immediately took 
 his seat in Congress. At the time he resigned, he 
 felt that he was needed in Congress ; yet, his unwill 
 ingness to leave the service, nearly overcome his res 
 olution to take his seat in the House of Represen 
 tatives, and in November, before he left the army, he 
 wrote to the President that were it not for the strong 
 belief he had that the war would close within a few 
 months, he should remain with the army. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. l8/ 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SERVICE AS A LEGISLATOR. 
 
 A. NEW FIELD. THE HIGHEST TEST OF HUMAN GREATNESS. THE 
 AMERICAN CONGRESS. FREQUENT FAILURES OF NOTED MEN. 
 THE TRIALS OF THAT CRISIS. PLACED ON THE MILITARY COMMIT 
 TEE. THE STYLE OF HIS SPEECHES. HIS INDUSTRY. HIS REPLY 
 (TO MR. LONG. AN IMPROMPTU SPEECH. THE COMPLIMENTS OF 
 OLD MEMBERS. 
 
 HITHERTO we have noted the career of a man who, 
 notwithstanding his surprising success, was neverthe 
 less a man among men, finding often his equal in the 
 work which he had chosen. His childhood, youth, 
 and army experience were such as to entitle him to 
 the praise and thanks of the people, but thus far in 
 common with many others. 
 
 Thousands of boys have chopped wood, boiled salts, 
 and drove canal horses and mules, and have 
 succeeded in life, notwithstanding such humble be 
 ginnings. If it were not so, the history of his career 
 would be a drawback rather than an encouragement 
 to American youths. 
 
 But now our record enters upon a higher plain, 
 where the number of remarkable successes is far less 
 and where many prosperous lives find their final 
 level. In the legislative halls of a mighty nation 
 
1 88 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 the ability and integrity of men find their severest 
 tests. -They may have enjoyed unlimited success 
 from their cradle to the oath of office, but it is no 
 guarantee of usefulness or fame in such a body as the 
 American Congress. Great soldiers, with the scars 
 of many battles and the fame of mighty conquerors, 
 have entered the doors of the Capitol amid the ap 
 plause of an idolizing constituency, and have been 
 immediately lost from sight, and soon from notice. 
 Distinguished lawyers whose acquaintances regarded 
 them as giants in the intellectual world, seem to become 
 helpless and worthless as soon as they are lost in the 
 crowd of talented men who gather at the Capitol. 
 Scholars, poets, mathematicians, professors, preachers, 
 railroad presidents, bankers, merchants, discoverers, 
 inventors and millionaires, enter the legislative cham 
 bers with brilliant reputations and under the impetus 
 of some great deed, only to be hid in a political fog, 
 where they sit for a while in silent helplessness, and 
 go home without a sign of welcome or approval. 
 
 The story of Gen. Garfield's success in the legisla 
 tive department of the American nation, is the most 
 interesting and. the most remarkable part of the his 
 tory of his life. We have already seen how his 
 qualities as a young man commended him to the 
 respect and attention of the Senate of Ohio, and we' 
 shall see how quickly those same qualities lifted him 
 above the mass of congressmen, and brought him 
 into the notice of the nation. 
 
 It must not be considered by the reader that, 
 because General Garfield was known to the Presi- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 189 
 
 dent, and to some of the great captains of our army, 
 and was loved and honored by the people of the 
 Western Reserve, that he was known in the House 
 of Representatives. There were hundreds of gener 
 als in the field whose names were far better known 
 than that of Rosecrans' chief of staff. There were 
 generals in the House of Representatives who had 
 seen severer service, and whose deeds had been far 
 wider proclaimed. There were old statesmen there 
 whose hairs had grown white ' in the service of the 
 nation. There were scholars of the highest reputa 
 tion, and orators whose words had become classic. 
 Not a score of the whole assembly knew him by 
 sight, or could recall his place of residence or past 
 services when his name was called. 
 
 It was a new start in life. In Congress, as in the 
 back woods, he must overcome difficulties and fight 
 his way alone. To win distinction there he must be 
 something more than daring, truthful, and industri 
 ous ; he must possess that peculiar combination of 
 strong talents and intellectual acuteness to which 
 men somewhat vaguely apply the term, " greatness." 
 To be eminently great in a nation of great men, and 
 in a time when especial circumstances combined to 
 develop and disclose human nobility, required mas 
 terly talents and incessant watchfulness. To be of 
 unusual service to humanity and of exceptional value 
 to a nation, when twenty-five millions of people were 
 striving, at a fever heat, to do the same thing, is 
 something of which a man has reason to be proud. 
 Such is General Garfield's record. He entered upon 
 
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 his duties in Congress at a time when there were 
 foes within and foes without ; when a strong army 
 threatened the nation in the Southern States, and 
 Great Britain menaced it from the ocean ; when the 
 finances of the government were getting into an 
 almost inextricable snarl ; when the people were 
 searching for their greatest men, for councillors in 
 the nation's peril and distress ; and when it required 
 fortitude, wisdom and patriotism above the common 
 order, to provide securely for the nation's future. 
 
 For this work, General Garfield was well endowed 
 by nature and education. He was a ready speaker, 
 apt, elegant, pointed, vehement. He had all the 
 scholarship of the colleges, and more to draw upon. 
 He had the practice of cultured public speaking. 
 He had the experience of war, and a course of 
 extensive reading from which to draw forcible and 
 illuminating illustrations. He had all the physical 
 characteristics of dignity, strength, countenance and 
 voice, which are so useful in the public forum. 
 Thus he was well equipped for a place in a deliberate 
 assembly. But the growth of a member's influence, 
 under the most favorable circumstances, is slow. 
 He could not be a leader there until he had again 
 and again displayed his ability for the post. He 
 does not appear to have aspired to leadership ; but, 
 from the first day of the session, set himself with 
 stubborn purpose at the task of securing a complete 
 knowledge of the rules and history of Congress. 
 
 Then followed a study of the resources of the 
 nation in men and money, and of the history of 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. IQI 
 
 other countries, whose experience could throw any 
 light, or give any suggestion to statesmen, in the 
 complicated and perplexing trials of the union. His 
 habits of incessant study served him well, and he 
 always had a book in his hand or in his pocket, for 
 use in any spare moment. His astonishing readi 
 ness in congressional debates upon any question of 
 commerce, manufactures, finance, revenue, interna 
 tional law, or whatever came up, can be accounted 
 for by this industrious habit. Never idle himself, 
 
 CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 and assisted by his wife, as only a talented, patient 
 and affectionate woman of her unusual gifts can as 
 sist a man of letters, he steadily and heartily assisted 
 the measures he thought were wise and good, and 
 earnestly, and sometimes excitedly, opposed those 
 actions which he deemed to be pernicious and 
 wrong. 
 
 He was given a place at once, upon his entry into 
 Congress, on the very important committee on mil- 
 
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 itary affairs. His colleagues bear testimony to his 
 activity, industry and efficiency, from the very begin 
 ning of his term. His speeches were often models 
 of graceful oratory, and yet have about them none 
 of that objectional air of conceit which would sug 
 gest that the speaker delivered them for any other 
 purpose but to convince. 
 
 Early in the Thirty-eighth Congress, in which Mr. 
 Garfield first made his appearance as a congressman, 
 Mr. Alexander Long of Ohio, made a long and 
 labored argument, to show that it was useless to try 
 further to coerce the South. The tendency of Mr. 
 Long's speech was to encourage the rebellion and 
 censure the patriots who attempted to preserve the 
 union. To that speech General Garfield replied, 
 without preparation, having taken the floor immedi 
 ately upon the completion of Mr. Long's address. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman," said he, " I should be obliged to 
 you if you would direct the sergeant-at-arms to bring 
 a white flag and plant it in the aisle between myself 
 and my colleague who has just addressed you. 
 
 I recollect on one occasion when two great armies 
 stood face to face, that under a white flag just planted 
 I approached a company of men dressed in the uni 
 form of the rebel confederacy and reached out my 
 hand to one of the number and told him I respected 
 him as a brave man. Though he wore the emblems 
 of disloyalty and treason, still, underneath his vest 
 ments, I beheld a brave and honest soul. 
 
 I would reproduce that scene here this afternoon, 
 I say, were there such a flag of truce, but God for- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1 93 
 
 give me if I should do it under any other circum 
 stances ! I would reach out this right hand and ask 
 that gentleman to take it, because J honor his brav 
 ery and his honesty. I believe what has just fallen 
 from his lips is the honest sentiment of his heart ; 
 and, in uttering it he has made a new epoch in the 
 history of this war ; he has done a new thing under 
 the sun ; he has done a brave thing. It is braver 
 than to face cannon and musketry, and I honor him 
 for his candor and frankness. 
 
 But now I ask you to take away the flag of truce, 
 and I will go back inside the union lines and speak 
 of what he has done. I am reminded by it of a dis 
 tinguished character in 'Paradise Lost.' When he 
 had rebelled against the glory of God and ' led away 
 a third part of heaven's sons, conjured, against the 
 Highest,' when after terrible battles in which mount 
 ains and hills were hurled by each contending host 
 'with 'jaculations dire' ; when at last the leader 
 and his hosts were hurled down ' nine times the 
 space that measures day and night,' and after the 
 terrible fall lay stretched prone on the burning lake, 
 Satan lifted up his shattered bulk, crossed the abyss, 
 looked down into Paradise, and, soliloquizing, said : 
 ' Which way I fly is hell, myself am hell.' 
 It seems to me in that utterance he expressed the 
 very sentiment to which you have just listened ; 
 uttered by one no less brave, malign and fallen. 
 This man gathers up the meaning of this great con 
 test, the philosophy of the moment, the prophecies 
 of the hour, and, in sight of the paradise of victory 
 13 
 
194 TH E LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 and peace, utters them all in this wail of terrible 
 despair, 'Which way I fly is hell.' He ought to 
 add, ' Myself am hell.' 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I am reminded of twa characters 
 in the war of the revolution as compared with two 
 others in the war of to-day. 
 
 The first was Lord Fairfax who dwelt near the 
 Potomac, a few miles from us. When the great con 
 test was opened between the mother country and 
 the colonies, Lord Fairfax, after a protracted strug 
 gle with his own heart, decided that he must go with 
 the mother country. He gathered his mantle abou\ 
 him and went over, grandly, solemnly and impres 
 sively and joined the fortunes of Great Britain against 
 the home of his adoption. 
 
 But there was another man who cast in his lot 
 with the struggling colonies, and continued with 
 them till the war was well-nigh ended. But in a 
 day of darkness, which just preceded the glory of 
 the morning, that other man, deep down in the 
 damned pits of his black heart, hatched the treason 
 to surrender forever all that had been gained to the 
 enemies of his country. Benedict Arnold was that 
 man. 
 
 Fairfax and Arnold find their parallel in the strug 
 gle of to-day. 
 
 When this war began, many good men stood hesi 
 tating and doubting what they ought to do. Their 
 doctrine of State rights, their sympathies, all they 
 had ever loved and longed for, were in the South ; 
 and aficr long and painful hesitation, some of them 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 195 
 
 at last went with th3 enemies of the nation. At 
 that time Robert E. Lee sat in his home across the 
 river here doubting and delaying, and going off at 
 last almost tearfully, to join the enemies of his 
 country. He reminds me in some respects of Lord 
 Fairfax, the stately royalist of the revolution. But 
 now, when hundreds, of thousands of brave souls 
 have gone up to God under the shadow of the flag, 
 and when thousands more, maimed and shattered in 
 the contest, are sadly awaiting the deliverance of 
 death ; now, when three years of terrific warfare 
 have raged over us, when our armies have pushed 
 the rebellion back over mountains and rivers, and 
 crowded it back into narrow limits, until a wall of 
 fire girds it ; now, when the uplifted hand of a ma-- 
 jestic people is about to let fall the lightning of its 
 conquering power upon the rebellion ; now, in the 
 quiet of this hall, hatched in the lowest depths of a 
 similar dark treason, there rises a Benedict Arnold 
 and proposes to surrender us all up, body and spirit, 
 the nation and the flag, its genius and its honor, 
 now and forever, to the accursed traitors to our 
 country. And that proposition conies God for 
 give and pity my beloved State! it comes from a 
 citizen of the honored and loyal Commonwealth of 
 Ohio. 
 
 I implore you, brethren, in this House, not to 
 believe that many such births ever gave pangs to 
 my mother State such as she suffered when that 
 traitor was born. 
 
 [Suppressed applause and sensation.] I beg you 
 
196 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 not to believe that on the soil of that State another 
 such growth has ever deformed the face of nature 
 and darkened the light of God's day. [An audible 
 whisper, ' Vallandigham.'] But ah ! I am reminded 
 there are other such. My zeal and love for Ohio 
 have carried me too far. I retract. I remember 
 that only a few days since a political convention met 
 at the capital of my State, and almost decided to 
 select from just such material a Representative for 
 the Democratic party in the coming contest; and, 
 to-day, what claim to be a majority of the Democracy 
 of that State say that they have been cheated or 
 they would have made that choice. I therefore 
 sadly take back the boast in behalf of my native 
 State. 
 
 But, sir, I will forget States. We have something 
 greater than States and State pride to be talked of 
 here to-day. I will, if I can, dismiss feeling from my 
 heart, and try to consider only what bears upon the 
 logic of the speech to which we have just listened. 
 
 First of all, the gentleman tells us that the right 
 of secession is a constitutional right. I do not pro 
 pose to enter into the argument. I have expressed 
 myself hitherto on State sovereignty and State rights, 
 of which this proposition of his is the legitimate 
 child. 
 
 But the gentleman takes higher ground, and in 
 that I agree with him, namely, that five million or 
 eight million people possess the right of revolution. 
 Grant it ; we agree there. 
 
 If fifty-nine men can make revolution successful, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A, GARFIELD. 1 97 
 
 they have the right of revolution. If one State 
 wishes to break its connection with the federal gov 
 ernment, and does it by force, maintaining itself, it 
 is an independent State. If the eleven Southern 
 States are determined and resolved to leave the 
 union, to secede, to revolutionize, and can maintain 
 that revolution by force, they have the revolutionary 
 right to do so. Grant it. I stand on that platform 
 with the gentleman. And now the question comes, 
 Is it our constitutional duty to let them do it ? That 
 is the question ; and in order to reach it, I beg to 
 call your attention not to an argument, but to the 
 condition of affairs which would result from such 
 action, the mere statement of which becomes the 
 strongest possible argument. What does this gen 
 tleman propose ? Where will he draw the line of 
 division ? If the rebels carry into successful seces 
 sion what they desire to carry ; if their revolution 
 envelops as many States as they intend it shall 
 envelop ; if they draw the line where Isham G. 
 Harris, the rebel governor of Tennessee! in the 
 rebel camp near our lines, told Mr. Vallandigham 
 they would draw it, along the line of the Ohio and 
 of the Potomac ; if they make good their statement 
 to him, that they will ne^ er consent to any other 
 line, then, I ask, what is the thing that the gentle 
 man proposes to do ? 
 
 He proposes to leave to the United States a terri 
 tory reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 
 one hundred miles wide in the center! From Wells- 
 ville, on the Ohio river, to Cleveland on the lakes, 
 
198 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 is one hundred miles. I ask you, Mr. Chairman, i( 
 there be a man here so insane as to suppose that the 
 American people will allow their magnificent nation 
 al proportions to be shorn to so deformed a shape as 
 this ? 
 
 I tell you and I confess it here that while I 
 hope I have something of human courage, I have not 
 enough to contemplate such a result. I am not 
 brave enough to go to the brink of the precipice of 
 successful secession, and look down into its damned 
 abyss. If my vision were keen enough to pierce to 
 its bottom, I would not dare to look. If there be a 
 man here who dare contemplate such a scene, I look 
 upon him either as the bravest of the sons of women, 
 or as a downright madman. Secession to gain 
 peace ! Secession is the tocsin of eternal war. 
 There can be no end to such a war as will be inau 
 gurated if this thing be done. 
 
 Suppose the policy of the gentleman were adopted 
 to-day. Let the order go forth ; sound the * recall ' 
 on your bugles, and let it ring from Texas to the far 
 Atlantic, and tell the armies to come back. Call 
 the victorious legions back over the battle-fields of 
 Wood, forever now disgraced. Call them back, over 
 the territory which they have conquered. Call them 
 back, and let the minions of secession chase them 
 with derision and jeers as they come. And then tell 
 them that that man across the aisle, from the free 
 State of Ohio, gave birth to the monstrous proposi 
 tion. Mr. Chairman, if such a word should be sent 
 forth through the armies of the union, the wave of 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 199 
 
 terrible vengeance that would sweep back over this 
 land could never find a parallel in the records of his 
 tory. Almost in the moment of final victory, the 
 'recall ' is sounded by a craven people not deserving 
 freedom. We ought every man to be made a slave, 
 should we sanction such a sentiment. 
 
 The gentleman has told us there is no such thing 
 as coercion justifiable under the constitution. I ask 
 him for one moment to reflect that no statute ever 
 was enforced without coercion. 
 
 It is the basis of every law in the universe, God's 
 law as well as man's. A law is no law without co 
 ercion behind it. When a man has murdered his 
 brother, coercion takes the murderer, tries him and 
 hangs him. When you levy your taxes, coercion se 
 cures their collection ; it follows the shadow of the 
 thief, and brings him to justice ; it accompanies your 
 diplomacy to foreign courts, and backs the declaration 
 of the nation's rights by a pledge of the nation's 
 power. But when the life of that nation is imperiled, 
 we are told that it has no coercive power against the 
 parricides in its own bosom. Again, he tells us that 
 oaths taken under the amnesty proclamation are 
 good for nothing. 
 
 The oath of Galileo, he says, was not binding up 
 on him. I am reminded of another oath that was 
 taken ; but perhaps it, too, was an oath on the lips 
 alone, to which the heart made no response. 
 
 I remember to have stood in a line of nineteen men 
 from Ohio, on that carpet yonder, on the first day of 
 the session ; and I remember that, with uplifted hands 
 
2OO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 before God, those nineteen took an oath to support 
 and maintain the constitution of the United States ; 
 and I remember that another oath was passed 
 around, and each member signed it as provided by 
 law, utterly repudiating the rebellion and its pre 
 tenses. Does the gentleman not blush to speak of 
 Galileo's oath ? Was not his own its counterpart ? 
 
 He says the union can never be restored because 
 of the terrible hatred engendered by the war. To 
 prove it, he quotes what some Southern man said a 
 few years ago, that he knew no hatred between peo 
 ples in the world like that between the North and 
 the South. And yet that North and South have been 
 one nation for more than eighty years ! 
 
 Have we seen in this contest anything more bitter 
 than the wars of the Scottish border ? Have we 
 seen anything bitterer than those terrible feuds in 
 the days of Edward, when England and Scotland 
 were the deadliest foes on earth ? And yet for cen 
 turies, those countries have been cemented in an in 
 dissoluble union that has made the British nation 
 one of the proudest of the earth. 
 
 I said a little while ago that I accepted the propo 
 sition of the gentleman that the rebels had the right 
 of revolution ; and the decisive issue between us and 
 the rebellion is, whether they shall revolutionize and 
 destroy, or we shall subdue and preserve. 
 
 We take the latter ground. We take the common 
 weapons of war to meet them ; and if these be not 
 sufficient, I would take any element which will over 
 whelm and destroy ; I would sacrifice the dearest 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2OI 
 
 and best beloved ; I would take all the old sanctions 
 of law and the constitution and fling them to the 
 winds, if necessary, rather than let the nation be 
 broken in pieces and its people destroyed with end 
 less ruin. 
 
 What is the constitution that these ge'ntlemen are 
 perpetually flinging in our faces, whenever we desire 
 to strike hard blows against the rebellion ? It is the 
 production of the American people. They made it, 
 and the Creator is mightier than the creature. The 
 power which made the constitution can also make 
 other instruments to do its great work in the day of 
 its dire necessity." 
 
 This speech was so eloquently spoken, and was 
 stamped with such sincerity, that old members of the 
 House of Representatives gathered about him during 
 its delivery, and greeted him with most flattering 
 demonstrations of approval at its close. 
 
202 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EARLY SPEECHES. 
 
 HIS POSITION CONCERNING THE DRAFT FOR THE ARMY. DIFFERS 
 WITH HIS OWN PARTY. CONTENDS FOR FRANKNESS AND TRUTH. 
 HOPEFUL VIEW OF THE NATION'S SUCCESS. NATIONAL CONSCIENCE 
 AND SLAVERY. EMANCIPATION THE REMEDY FOR NATIONAL 
 EVILS. DEFENCE OF GENERAL ROSECRANS. TRIBUTE TO GENER 
 AL THOMAS. HIS ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 
 THE DOCTRINE OF STATE RIGHTS. CAMDEN AND AMBOY RAIL 
 ROAD VS. THE UNITED STATES. WHAT IS THE POWER AND PRE 
 ROGATIVE OF THE NATION. 
 
 DURING General Garfield's first session, there was 
 much contention over the draft for the army, and the 
 clause in the law which allowed persons who were 
 drawn to commute their service by the payment of 
 three hundred dollars. The speech which General 
 Garfield made illustrates, better than any description 
 could do, certain phases of his character and his 
 manner as a public speaker. In this he was not con 
 tending so much with the Democratic party, as with 
 those of his own party with whom he differed in re 
 gard to the wisdom o* the laws regulating the draft. 
 He said : 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, it has never been my policy to con 
 ceal a truth, merely because it is unpleasant. It may 
 be well to smile in the face of danger, but it is neither 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2O3 
 
 well nor wise to let danger approach unchallenged 
 and unannounced. A brave nation, like a brave man, 
 desires to see and measure the perils which threaten 
 it. It is the right of the American people to know 
 the necessities of the republic, when they are called 
 upon to make sacrifices for it. It is this lack of con 
 fidence in ourselves and the people, this timid waiting 
 for events to control us, when they should obey us, 
 that makes men oscillate between hope and fear, 
 now in the sunshine of the hill-tops, and now in the 
 gloom and shadows of the valley. To such men, the 
 morning bulletin, which heralds success in the army, 
 gives exultation and high hope; the evening dis 
 patch, announcing some slight disaster to our advanc 
 ing columns, brings gloom and depression. Hope 
 rises and falls by the accidents of war, as the mercury 
 of the thermometer changes by the accidents of heat 
 and cold. Let us rather take for our symbol the 
 sailor's barometer, which faithfully forwarns him of 
 the tempest, and gives him unerring promise of se 
 rene skies and peaceful seas. No man can deny that 
 we have grounds for apprehension and anxiety. The 
 unexampled magnitude of the contest, the enormous 
 expenditures of the war, the unprecedented waste of 
 battle, bringing sorrow to every loyal fireside, the 
 courage, endurance and desperation of our enemy, 
 the sympathy given him by the monarchies of the 
 Old World, as they wait and hope or our destruction, 
 all these considerations should make us anxious and 
 earnest ; but they should not add one hue of despair 
 to the face of an American citizen ; they should not 
 
2O4 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 abate a tittle of his heart and hope. The specters 
 of defeat, bankruptcy and repudiation have stalked 
 through this Chamber, evoked by those gentlemen 
 who see no hope for the republic, in the arbitrament 
 of war, no power in the justice of our cause, no peace 
 made secure by the triumph of freedom and truth. 
 Mr. Speaker, even at this late day of the session, I 
 will beg the indulgence of the House, while I point 
 out some of the grounds of our confidence in the final 
 success of our cause, while I endeavor to show that, 
 though beset with dangers, we still stand on firm 
 earth ; and though the heavens are clouded, yet above 
 storm and cloud the sun of our national hope shines 
 with steady and undimmed splendor. History is 
 constantly repeating itself, making only such changes 
 of programme as the growth of nations and centuries 
 requires. Such struggles as ours, and far greater 
 ones, have occurred in other ages, and their records 
 are written for us. I desire to refer to the example 
 of our ancestors across the sea, in their great strug 
 gles at the close of the last and the beginning of the 
 present century, to show what a brave nation can do 
 when their liberties are in danger, and their national 
 existence is at stake. 
 
 * * * ' # * * 
 
 And can we, the descendants of such a people, 
 with such a history and such an example before us, 
 can we, dare we falter in a day like this ? Dare we 
 doubt ? Should we not rather say, as Bolingbroke 
 said to his people, in their hour of peril : ' Oh, woe 
 to thee when doubt comes ; it blows like a wind from 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2O$ 
 
 the north, and makes all thy joints to quake. Woe, 
 indeed, be the statesmen who doubt the strength of 
 their country, and stand in awe of the enemy with 
 whom it is engaged.' At that same period, one of 
 the greatest minds of England declared the three 
 things necessary to her success : 
 
 1. To listen to no terms of peace till freedom and 
 order were established in Europe. 
 
 2. To fill up her army and perfect its organization. 
 
 3. To secure the favor of Heaven, by putting away 
 forever the crime of slavery and the slave trade. 
 
 Can we learn a better lesson ? Great Britain, in 
 .that same period, began the work which ended in 
 breaking the fetters of all her bondsmen. She did 
 maintain her armies and her finances, and she did 
 triumph. We have begun to secure the approval of 
 Heaven by doing justice, though long delayed, and 
 securing to every human being in this republic free 
 dom, henceforth and forever. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it has long been my settled conviction 
 that it was a part of the divine purpose to keep us 
 under the pressure and grief of this war, until the 
 conscience of the nation should be aroused to the 
 enormity of its great crime against the black man, 
 and full reparation should be made. We entered the 
 struggle, a large majority insisting that slavery should 
 be let alone, with a defiance almost blasphemous. 
 Every movement toward the recognition of the ne 
 gro's manhood was resisted. Slowly, and at a fright, 
 ful cost of human lives, the nation has yielded its 
 wicked and stubborn prejudices against him, till at 
 
206 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 last the blue coats cover more than one hundred 
 thousand swarthy breasts, and the national banner is 
 born in the smoke of battle by men lately loaded 
 with chains, but now bearing the honors and emolu 
 ments of American soldiers. Dare we hope for final 
 success till we give them the full protection of sol 
 diers ? Like the sins of mankind against God, the 
 sin of slavery was so great that ' without the shed 
 ding of blood there was no remission.' Shall we not 
 secure the favor of Heaven by putting it completely 
 away ? Shall we not fill up our armies ? Shall we 
 not- also triumph? Was there, in the condition of 
 England in 1812, a single element essential to success ' 
 which we do not possess to-day ? 
 
 ****** 
 
 If we will not learn a lesson, either from England 
 or our revolutionary fathers, let us at least learn from 
 our enemies. I have seen their gallantry in battle, 
 their hoping against hope amid increasing disaster; 
 and, traitors though they are, I am proud of their 
 splendid courage, when I remember that they are 
 Americans. Our army is equally brave, but our gov 
 ernment and Congress are far behind them in ear 
 nestness and energy. 
 
 Until we go into the war with the same desperation 
 and abandonment which mark their course, we do 
 not deserve to succeed, and we shall not succeed. 
 What have they done ? What has their government 
 done, a government based, in the first place, on 
 extreme State rights and State sovereignty, but 
 which has become more centralized and despotic than 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2O7 
 
 the monarchies of Europe? They have not only 
 called for volunteers, but they have drafted. They 
 have not only drafted, but cut off both commutation 
 and substitution. They have gone further. They 
 have adopted conscription proper the old French 
 conscription of 1797 and have declared that every 
 man between sixteen and sixty years of age is 
 a soldier. But we stand here bartering blood for 
 money, debating whether we will fight the enemies 
 of the nation, or pay $300 into its treasury, Mr. 
 Speaker, with this brief review of the grounds of our 
 hope, I now ask your attention to the main proposi 
 tion in the bill before the House, the repeal of the 
 commutation clause. Going back to the primary 
 question of the power to raise armies, I lay it down 
 as a fundamental proposition, as an inherent and 
 necessary element of sovereignty, that a nation has 
 a right to the personal service of its citizens. The 
 stability and power of every sovereignty rest upon 
 that basis." 
 
 His fidelity to his friends and comrades led him to 
 make another speech during his first session, which 
 gives his opinion of his old chief, General Rosecrans, 
 and also of General Thomas, and deserves a place in 
 history. It was made upon a resolution of thanks to 
 General Thomas, for his generalship in the battle of 
 Chickamauga. 
 
 "This resolution proposes to thank Major-General 
 George H. Thomas and the officers and men under 
 his command for gallant services in the battle of 
 Chickamauga. It meets my hearty approval for 
 
2O8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 what it contains, but my protest for what it does not 
 contain. I should be recreant to my own sense of 
 justice did I allow this omission to pass without no 
 tice. No man here is ready to say, and if there be 
 such a man I am ready to meet him, that the 
 thanks of this Congress are not due to Major-General 
 W. S. Rosecrans, for the campaign which culminated 
 in the battle of Chickamauga. It is not uncommon 
 throughout the press of the country, and many peo 
 ple, to speak of that battle as a disaster to the army 
 of the United States, and to treat it as a defeat. If 
 that battle was a defeat, we may welcome a hundred 
 such defeats. I should be glad if each of our armies 
 would repeat Chickamauga. Twenty such would de 
 stroy the rebel army and the confederacy, utterly and 
 forever. What was that battle, terminating as it did 
 a great campaign, whose object was to drive the rebel 
 army beyond the Tennessee, and to obtain a foothold 
 on the south bank of that river, which should form 
 the basis of future operations in the Gulf States 
 We had never yet crossed that river, except far be 
 low, in the neighborhood of Corinth. Chattanooga 
 was a gateway of the Cumberland mountains, and 
 until we crossed the river and held the gateway, we 
 could not commence operations in Georgia. The 
 army was ordered to cross the river, to grasp and 
 hold the key of the Cumberland mountains. It did 
 cross, in the face of superior numbers; and after 
 two days of fighting, more terrible, I believe, than 
 any since this war began, the army of the Cumber 
 land hurled back, discomfited and repulsed, the com- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2OQ 
 
 bined power of three rebel armies, gained the key to 
 the Cumberland mountains, gained Chattanooga, and 
 held it against every assault. If there has been a 
 more substantial success against overwhelming odds, 
 since this war began, I have not heard of it. We 
 have had victories God be thanked all along the 
 line, but in the history of this war I know of no such 
 battle against such numbers ; forty thousand against 
 an army of not less by a man than seventy-five thou 
 sand. After the disaster to the right wing, in the 
 last bloody afternoon of September 2oth, twenty-five 
 thousand men of the army of the Cumberland stood 
 and met seventy-five thousand hurled against them. 
 And they stood in their bloody tracks, immovable 
 and victorious, when night threw its mantle around 
 them. They had repelled the last assault of the 
 rebel army. Who commanded the army of the Cum 
 berland ? Who organized, disciplined and led it ? 
 Who planned its campaigns? The general whose 
 name is omitted in this resolution Major-General 
 W. S. Rosecrans. 
 
 And who is this General Rosecrans? The history 
 of the country tells you, and your children know 
 it by heart. It is he who fought battles and won 
 victories in Western Virginia, under the shadow of 
 another's name. When the poetic pretender claimed 
 the honor and received the reward as the author of 
 Virgil's stanza in praise of Caesar, the great Mantuan 
 wrote on the walls of the imperial palace : 
 
 ' Hoc ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.' 
 
2IO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 So might the hero of Rich mountain say, ' I woq 
 this battle, but another has worn the laurels.' 
 
 1 From Western Virginia he went to Mississippi, 
 and there won the battles of luka and Corinth, which 
 have aided materially to exalt the fame of that gener 
 al, upon whom this House has been in such haste to 
 confer the proud rank of lieutenant-general of the 
 army of the United States, but who was not upon 
 either of 'these battle-fields. 
 
 Who took command of the army of the Cumber 
 land, found that army at Bowling Green, in Novem 
 ber, 1862, as it lay disorganized, disheartened, driven 
 back from Alabama and Tennessee, and led it across 
 the Cumberland, planted it in Nashville, and thence, 
 on the first day of the new year, planted his banners 
 at Murfreesboro', in torrents of blood, and at the mo 
 ment of our extremest peril, throwing himself into 
 the breech, saved by his personal valor the army of 
 the Cumberland and the hopes of the republic ? It 
 was General Rosecrans. From the day he assumed 
 the command at Bowling Green, the history of that 
 army may be written in one sentence, it has ad 
 vanced, and maintained its advanced position, and its 
 last campaign, under the general it loved, was the 
 bloodiest and most brilliant. The fruits of Chicka- 
 rnauga were gathered in November, on the hights of 
 Mission Ridge and among the clouds of Lookout 
 mountain. That battle at Chattanooga was a glorious 
 one, and every loyal heart is proud of it. But, sir, it 
 was won when we had nearly three times the number 
 of the enemy. It ought to have been won. Thank 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 211 
 
 God that it was won. I would take no laurel from 
 the brow of the man who won it ; but I would remind 
 gentlemen here that while the battle of Chattanooga 
 was fought with vastly superior numbers on our part, 
 the battle of Chickamauga was fought with still vaster 
 superiority against us. 
 
 If there is any man upon earth whom I honor, it 
 is the man who is named in this resolution, General 
 George H. Thomas. I had occasion, in my remarks 
 on the conscription bill, a few days ago, to refer to 
 him in such terms as I delighted to use ; and I say 
 to gentlemen here that if there is any man whose 
 heart would be hurt by the passage of this resolution 
 as it now stands, that man is General George H. 
 Thomas. I know, and all know, that he deserves 
 well of his country, and his name ought to be re 
 corded in letters of gold; but I know equally well 
 that General Rosecrans deserves well of his country. 
 I ask you, then, not to pain the heart of a noble man, 
 who will be burdened with the weight of these 
 thanks, that wrong his brother officer and his supe 
 rior in command. All I ask is that you will put both 
 names into the resolution, and let them stand side by 
 side." 
 
 When the important question arose in Congress 
 concerning a through line of railroad from Washing 
 ton to New York, there was considerable opposition 
 from the Camden and Amboy railroad, and from the 
 officials of the New Jersey State government, and 
 the question whether the State of New Jersey had 
 the right to prohibit the construction of a national 
 
212 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 railroad, became somewhat interesting. Upon that 
 question he said : 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, this lifts our subject above corpora 
 tions and monopolies to the full hight of a national 
 question ; I might almost call it a question of loyalty 
 or disloyalty. I have only to say in regard to the 
 language of this proclamation that if his Excellency 
 had consulted Calhoun and his resolution of 1833, he 
 would have its doctrines stated much more ably and 
 elegantly. He calls upon the Legislature of New 
 Jersey to inquire whether this bill will take away 
 any of the revenue of the State, and how it will affect 
 the sovereign rights of New Jersey. He says New 
 Jersey is a sovereign State. I pause there for a mo 
 ment. Mr. Coleridge somewhere says that abstract 
 definitions have done more harm in the world than 
 plague and famine and war. I believe it. I believe 
 that no man will ever be able to chronicle all the 
 evils that have resulted to this nation from the abuse 
 of the words * sovereign' and 'sovereignty.' What 
 is this thing called State 'sovereignty?' Nothing 
 more false was ever uttered in the halls of legislation- 
 than that any Su,te of this union is sovereign. Con 
 sult the elementary text-books of law and refresh 
 your recollection of the definition of ' sovereignty/ 
 Speaking of the sovereignty of nations Blackstone 
 says : 
 
 ' However they began, by what right soever they 
 subsist, there is and must be in all of them a supreme 
 irresistible, absolute uncontrolled authority in which 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 213 
 
 the jura summi imperil or rights of sovereignty re 
 sisted' 
 
 Do these elements belong to any State of this re 
 public ? Sovereignty has the right to declare war. 
 Can New Jersey declare war ? It has the right to 
 conclude peace. Can New Jersey conclude peace ? 
 Sovereignty has the right to coin money. If the 
 Legislature of New Jersey should authorize and 
 command one of its citizens to coin a half dollar, that 
 man if he made it, though it should be of solid silver, 
 would be locked up in a felon's cell for the crime of 
 counterfeiting the coin of the real sovereign. A 
 sovereign has the right to make treaties with foreign 
 nations. Has New Jersey the right to make treaties ? 
 Sovereignty is clothed with the right to regulate 
 commerce with foreign States. New Jersey has no 
 such right. Sovereignty has the right to put ships 
 in commission upon the high seas. Should a ship 
 set sail under the authority of New Jersey it would 
 be seized as a smuggler, forfeited and sold. Sovereign 
 ty has a flag. But, thank God, New Jersey has no 
 flag ; Ohio has no flag. No loyal State fights under 
 the 'lone star/ the 'rattlesnake,' or the 'pal 
 metto tree.' No loyal State of this union has any 
 flag but ' the banner of beauty and glory,' the flag 
 of the union. 
 
 These are the indispensable elements of sovereign 
 ty. New Jersey has not one of them. The term 
 cannot be applied to the separate States, only in a 
 very limited and restricted sense, referring mainly to 
 municipal and police re ulations. The ri hts of the 
 
214 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 States should be jealously guarded and defended. 
 But to claim that sovereignty, in its full sense and 
 meaning, belongs to the States, is nothing better than 
 rankest treason. Look again at this document of the 
 governor of New Jersey. He tells you that the 
 States entered into the 'national compact.' National 
 compact ! I had supposed that no governor of a loyal 
 State would parade this dogma of nullification and 
 secession, which was killed and buried by Webster 
 on the i6th of February, 1833. There was no such 
 thing as a sovereign State making a compact called a 
 constitution. The very language of the constitution 
 is decisive : ' We, the people of the United States, 
 do ordain and establish this constitution.' The 
 States did not make a compact to be broken when 
 any one pleased, but the people ordained and estab 
 lished the constitution of a sovereign republic ; and 
 woe be to any corporation or State that raises its 
 hand against the majesty and power of this great 
 nation." 
 
 This proclamation closes with a determination to 
 resist this legislation of Congress. This itself is 
 another reason why I ask this Congress to exercise 
 its right to rebuke this resurrected spirit of nullifica 
 tion. The gentleman from Pennsylviania (Mr. Broo- 
 mall) tells us that New Jersey is a loyal State, and 
 her citizens are in the army. 1 am proud of all the 
 citizens of New Jersey who are fighting in our army. 
 They are not fighting for New Jersey, but for the 
 union ; and when it is once restored, I do not believe 
 these men will fight for the Camden and Amboy 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 21$ 
 
 monopoly. Their hearts have been enlarged, and 
 there are patriotic men in New Jersey in the army 
 and at home, who are groaning under this tyrannical 
 monopoly, and they come up here and ask to strike off 
 the shackles that bind them ; and I hold it to be 
 right and duty of this body to strike off their fetters, 
 let them go free. 
 
2l6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 EULOGIES OF NOTED MEN. 
 
 TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN. THE ANNIVERSARY OF MR. LINCOLN'S DEATH. 
 
 THE CAUSE OF THE ASSASSINATION. THE EFFECT OF HIS DEATH. 
 
 A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE. ORATION ON CARPENTER'S PAINTING. 
 
 SIGNING THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. ITS PLACE IN 
 HISTORY. JOHN WINTHROP AND SAMUEL ADAMS. THE GIFT OF 
 MASSACHUSETTS. GENERAL GARFIELD's TRIBUTE TO NEW ENG 
 LAND. THE LESSON OF SELF-RESTRAINT, REMARKS UPON THE 
 DEATH OF SENATOR MORTON. 
 
 ON the first anniversary of the death of Abraham 
 Lincoln, and during General Garfield's third year of 
 service in the House of Representatives, Congress 
 adjourned for the day as a mark of respect for the 
 martyr President's memory. General Garfield was 
 selected to make the motion to adjourn, and in so 
 doing, was selected to make a short address. It was 
 one of the most cultured, thoughtful and appropriate 
 addresses to be found in the vast collection of patri 
 otic speeches, which remain to this generation from 
 the days of war and reconstruction. 
 
 "I desire" said he, "to move that this House do 
 now adjourn. And before the vote upon that motion 
 is taken I desire to say a few words. This day, Mr. 
 Spqaker, will be sadly memorable so long as this 
 lation shall endure, which God grant may be 'till 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 21 J 
 
 the last syllable of recorded time,' when the volume 
 of human history shall be sealed up and delivered to 
 the omnipotent Judge. In all future time, on the 
 recurrence of this day, I doubt not that the citizens 
 of this republic will meet in solemn assembly to 
 reflect on the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, 
 and the awful tragic event of April 14, 1865, an 
 event unparalleled in the history of nations, certainly 
 unparalleled in our own. It is eminently proper 
 that this House should this day place upon its records 
 a memorial of that event. The last five years have 
 been marked by wonderful developments of individ 
 ual character. Thousands of our people, before un 
 known to fame, have taken their places in history, 
 crowned with immortal honors. In thousands of 
 humble homes are dwelling heroes and patriots 
 whose names shall never die. But greatest among 
 all these great developments were the character and 
 fame of Abraham Lincoln whose loss the nation still 
 deplores. His character is aptly described in the 
 words of England's great laureate written thirty 
 years ago in which he traces the upward steps of 
 some 
 
 4 Divinely gifted man, 
 Whose life in low estate began, 
 And on a simple village green ; 
 
 1 Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 
 And grasps the skirts of happy chance, 
 And breasts the blow of circumstance, 
 And grapples with his evil star j 
 
 1 Who makes by force his merit known, 
 And lives to clutch the golden key*, 
 
2l8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 To mold a mighty State's decrees, 
 And shape the whisper ot the throne ; 
 
 1 And moving up from high to higher, 
 Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope, 
 The pillar of a People's hope, 
 The center of a world's desire.' 
 
 Such a life and character will be treasured forever 
 as the sacred possession of the American people and 
 of mankind. In the great drama of the rebellion 
 there were two acts. The first was the war with its 
 battles and sieges, victories and defeats, its suffer 
 ings and tears. 
 
 That act was closing one year ago to-night, and 
 just as the curtain was lifting on the second and 
 final act, the restoration of peace and liberty, 
 just as the curtain was rising upon new characters 
 and new events, the evil spirit of the rebellion, in 
 the fury of despair, nerved and directed the hand of 
 the assassin to strike down the chief character in 
 both. It was no one man who killed Abraham Lin 
 coln ; it was the embodied spirit of treason and 
 slavery, inspired with fearful, despairing hate, that 
 struck him down in the moment of the nation's 
 supremest joy. 
 
 Ah, sir, there are times in the history of men 
 and nations, when they stand so near the veil that, 
 separates mortals from the immortals, time from 
 eternity, and men from their God, that they can 
 almost hear the beatings, and feel the pulsations of 
 the heart of the Infinite. Through such a time has 
 this nation passed. When two hundred and fift r 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 thousand brave spirits passed from the field of honor, 
 through that thin veil, to the presence of God ; and 
 when at last its parting folds admitted the martyr 
 President to the company of the dead heroes of the 
 republic, the nation stood so near the veil, that the 
 whispers of God were heard by the children of men. 
 Awe-stricken by his voice, the American people 
 knelt in tearful reverence, and made a solemn cove 
 nant with Him, and with each other, that their 
 nation should be saved from its enemies, that all its 
 glories should be restored, and on the ruins of slav 
 ery and treason, the temple of freedom and justice 
 should be built, and should survive forever. It re 
 mains for us, consecrated by that great event, and 
 under a covenant with God, to keep that faith, to go 
 forward in the great work until it shall be completed. 
 Following the lead of that great man, and obeying 
 the high behests of God, let us remember that, 
 
 ' He that sounded forth a trumpet that shall never call retreat; 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat ; 
 Be swift my soul to answer him ; be jubilant my feet ; 
 For God is marching on. ' n 
 
 To the eulogy of 1866, he added another in 1878, 
 which should be preserved for future generations to 
 read. 
 
 On the 1 6th of January, 1878, he introduced into 
 the House of Representatives the following joint 
 resolution, which was adopted without a division. It 
 was subsequently adopted by the Senate, and was 
 approved by the President, February i, 1878: 
 
 Whereas, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson of New York 
 
22O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 city has tenderd to Congress Carpenter's painting 
 of President Lincoln and his Cabinet, at the time of 
 his first reading of the Proclamation of Emancipation : 
 Therefore, 
 
 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
 of the United States of Ameica in Congress assembled, 
 That said painting is hereby accepted in the name of 
 the people of the United States; and the thanks oi 
 Congress are tendered to the donor for her generous 
 and patriotic gift. 
 
 A nd be it further resolved, That the Joint Commit 
 tee on the Library are hereby instructed to make 
 arrangements for the formal presentation of said 
 painting to Congress, on Tuesday, the twelfth of 
 February next; and said committee shall cause said 
 painting to be placed in an appropriate and conspic 
 uous place in the Capitol, and shall carefully provide 
 for its preservation. 
 
 And be it further resolved. That the President is 
 requested to cause a copy of these resolutions to be 
 forwarded to Mrs. Thompson. 
 
 In pursuance of its provisions, the hour of two 
 o'clock, P. M., Tuesday, February i2th, was fixed for 
 the formal presentation and acceptance of the paint 
 ing, and Mr. Garfield said : 
 
 "Mr. President: By the order of the Senate and 
 the House, and on behalf of the donor, Mrs. Eliza 
 beth Thompson, it is made my pleasant duty to de 
 liver to Congress the painting which is now unveiled. 
 It is the patriotic gift of an American woman whose 
 years have been devoted to gentle and generous 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 221 
 
 charities, and to the instruction and elevation of the 
 laboring poor. 
 
 Believing that the perpetuity and glory of her 
 country depend upon the dignity of labor and the 
 equal freedom of all its people, she has come to the 
 Capitol, to place in the perpetual custody of the na 
 tion, as the symbol of her faith, the representation of 
 that great act which proclaimed ' liberty throughout 
 all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' 
 
 Inspired by the same sentiment, the representa 
 tives of the nation have opened the doors of this 
 Chamber to receive at her hands the sacred trust. 
 In coming hither, these living representatives have 
 passed under the dome and through that beautiful 
 and venerable hall which, on another occasion, I have 
 ventured to call the third House of American repre 
 sentatives, that silent assembly whose members have 
 received their high credentials at the impartial hand 
 of history. Year by year, we see the circle of its 
 immortal membership enlarging; year by year, we 
 see the elect of their country, in eloquent silence, 
 taking their places in this American pantheon, bring 
 ing within its sacred precincts the wealth of those 
 immortal memories which made their lives illustrious ; 
 and year by year, that august assembly is teaching 
 deeper and grander lessons to those who serve in 
 these more ephemeral Houses of Congress. 
 
 Among the paintings, hitherto assigned to places 
 within the Capitol, are two which mark events for 
 ever memorable in the history of mankind ; thrice 
 memorable in the history of America. 
 
22 2 THL LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 The first is the painting by Vanderlyn, which rep 
 resents, though with inadequate force, the great dis 
 covery which gave to the civilized world a new hem 
 isphere. 
 
 The second, by Trumbull, represents that great 
 Declaration which banished forever from our shores 
 the crown and scepter of imperial power, and proposed 
 to found a new nation upon the broad and enduring 
 basis of liberty. 
 
 To-day, we place upon our walls this votive tablet, 
 which commemorates the third great act in the his 
 tory of America the fulfillment of the promises of 
 the Declaration. 
 
 Concerning the causes which led to that act, the 
 motives which inspired it, the necessities which com 
 pelled it, and the consequences which followed and 
 are yet to follow it, there have been, there are, and 
 still will be great and honest differences of opinion. 
 Perhaps we are yet too near the great events of which 
 this act formed so conspicuous a part, to understand 
 its deep significance and to foresee its far-off conse 
 quences. 
 
 The lesson of history is rarely learned by the act 
 ors themselves, especially when they read it by the 
 fierce and dusky light of war, or amid the deeper 
 shadows of ^those sorrows which war brings to both. 
 But the unanimous voice of this House in favor of 
 accepting the gift, and the impressive scenes we here 
 witness, bear eloquent testimony to the transcendent 
 importance of the event portrayed on yonder canvas. 
 
 Let us pause to consider the actors in that scene. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 223 
 
 In force of character, in thoroughness and breadth 
 of culture, in experience of public affairs, and in na 
 tional reputation, the Cabinet that sat around that 
 council-board has had no superior, perhaps no equal, 
 in our history. Seward, the finished scholar, the 
 consummate orator, the great leader of the Senate, 
 had come to crown his career with those achieve 
 ments which placed him in the first rank of modern 
 diplomatists. Chase, with a culture and a frame of 
 massive grandeur, stood as the rock and pillar of the 
 public credit, the noble embodiment of the public 
 faith. Stanton was there, a very Titan of strength, 
 the great organizer of victory. Eminent lawyers, 
 men of business, leaders of States and leaders of men 
 completed the group. 
 
 But the man who presided over that council, who 
 inspired and guided its deliberations, wa~s a character 
 so unique that he stood alone, without a model in 
 history or a parallel among men. Born on this day, 
 sixty-nine years ago, to an inheritance of extremest 
 poverty ; surrounded by the rude forces of the wil 
 derness ; wholly unaided by parents ; only one year 
 in any school ; never, for a day, master of his own 
 time, until he reached his majority ; making his way 
 to the profession of law by the hardest and roughest 
 road ; yet by force of unconquerable will and persist 
 ent, patient work, he attained a foremost place in his 
 profession 
 
 And, moving up from high to higher, 
 Became, on fortune's crowning slope, 
 The pillar of a people's hope, 
 
 The center of a world's desire. 
 
224 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 At first, it was. the prevailing belief that he would 
 be only the nominal head of his administration ; that 
 its policy would be directed by the eminent states 
 men he had called to his council. How erroneous 
 this opinion was, may be seen from a single incident : 
 
 Among the earliest, most difficult, and most deli 
 cate duties of his administration, was the adjustment 
 of our relations with Great Britain. Serious compli 
 cations, even hostilities, were apprehended. On the 
 2 ist of May, 1861, the Secretary of State presented 
 to the President his draught of a letter of instructions 
 to Minister Adams, in which the position of the 
 United States and the attitude of Great Britain were 
 set forth with the clearness and force, which long ex 
 perience and great ability had placed at the command 
 of the secretary. 
 
 Upon almost every page of that original draught 
 are erasures, additions and marginal notes, in the 
 hand-writing of Abraham Lincoln, which exhibit a 
 sagacity, a breadth of wisdom, and a comprehension 
 of the whole subject, impossible to be found except 
 in a man of the very first order. And these modifi 
 cations of a great State paper were made by a man 
 who, but three months before, had entered, for the 
 first time, the wide theatre of executive action. 
 
 Gifted with an insight and a foresight which the 
 ancients would have called divinition, he saw, in the 
 midst of darkness and obscurity, the logic of events, 
 and forecasted the result. From the first, in his own 
 quaint, original way, without ostentation or offense 
 to his associates, he was pilot and commander of his 
 IS 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 22$ 
 
 administration. He was one of the few great rulers 
 whose wisdom increased with his power, and whose 
 spirit grew gentler and tenderer as his triumphs were 
 multiplied. 
 
 This was the man, and those his associates, who 
 look down upon us from the canvas. 
 
 The present is not a fitting occasion to examine, 
 with any completeness, the causes that led to the 
 proclamation of emancipation ; but the peculiar rela 
 tion of that act to the character of Abraham Lincoln 
 cannot be understood, without considering one re 
 markable fact in his history. 
 
 His earlier years were passed in a region remote 
 from the centers of political thought, and without 
 access to the great world of books. But the few 
 books that came within his reach, he devoured with 
 the divine hunger of genius. One paper, above all 
 others, led him captive, and filled his spirit with the 
 majesty of its truth and the sublimity of its eloquence. 
 It was the Declaration of American Independence 
 the liberty and equality of all men. Long before his 
 fame had become national, he said : 
 
 That is the electric cord in the Declaration, that 
 links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men 
 together, and that will link such hearts as long as the 
 love of liberty exists in the minds of men throughout 
 the world. 
 
 That truth runs, like a thread of gold, through the 
 whole web of his political life. It was the spear- 
 point of his logic, in his debates with Douglas. It 
 was the inspiring theme of his remarkable speech at 
 
226 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 the Cooper Institute, which gave him the nomination 
 to the presidency. It filled him with reverent awe 
 when, on his way to the capital, to enter the shadows 
 of the terrible conflict then impending, he uttered, in 
 Carpenter's Hall, at Philadelphia, these remarkable 
 words, which were prophecy then, but are history 
 now : 
 
 I have never had a feeling, politically, that did 
 not spring from the sentiments embodied in the 
 Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered 
 over the dangers which were incurred by the men 
 who assembled here and framed and adopted that 
 Declaration. I have pondered over the toils that were 
 endured by the officers and soldiers of the army 
 who achieved that independence. I have often in 
 quired of myself what great principle or idea it was 
 that kept this confederacy so long together. It was 
 not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies 
 from the mother land, but that sentiment in the Dec 
 laration of Independence, which gave liberty, not 
 alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the 
 world, for all future time. It was that which gave 
 promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted 
 from the shoulders of all men. This is the sentiment 
 embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, 
 my friends, can this country be saved on that basis ? 
 If it can, I shall consider myself one of the happiest 
 men in the world if I can help to save it. If it can 
 not be saved upon that principle, it will be truly 
 awful. But if this country cannot be saved without 
 giving up that principle, I was about to say, / would 
 rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. 
 
 Deep and strong was his devotion to liberty ; yet 
 deeper and stronger still was his devotion to the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 22? 
 
 union, for he believed that without the union, perma 
 nent liberty for either race on this continent would 
 be impossible. And because of this belief, he was 
 reluctant, perhaps more reluctant than most of his 
 associates, to strike slavery with the sword. For 
 many months, the passionate appeals of millions of 
 his associates seemed not to move him. He listened 
 to all the phases of the discussion, and stated, in 
 language clearer and stronger than any opponent had 
 used, the dangers, the difficulties and the possible 
 futility of the act. 
 
 In reference to its practical wisdom, Congress, the 
 Cabinet and the country were divided. Several of 
 his generals had proclaimed the freedom of slaves 
 within the limits of their commands. The President 
 revoked their proclamations. His first Secretary of 
 War had inserted a paragraph in his annual report, 
 advocating a similar policy. The President sup 
 pressed it. 
 
 On the i Qth of August, 1862, Horace Greeley pub 
 lished a letter, addressed to the President, entitled 
 'The Prayer of Twenty Millions,' in which he said: 
 
 On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, 
 there is not one disinterested, determined, intelligent 
 champion of the union cause who does not feel that 
 all attempts to put down the rebellion, and at the 
 same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous 
 and futile. 
 
 To this the President responded in that ever- 
 memorable dispatch of August 22, in which he said : 
 
 If there be those who would not save the union 
 
228 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do 
 not agree with them. 
 
 If there be those who would not save the union 
 unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I 
 do not agree with them. 
 
 My paramount object is to save the union, and 
 not either to save or destroy slavery. 
 
 If I could save the union without freeing any slave, 
 I would do it , if I could save it by freeing all the 
 slaves, I would do it ; and if I could do it by freeing 
 some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. 
 
 What I do about slavery and the colored race, I 
 do because I believe it helps to save the union ; and 
 what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it 
 helps to save the union. I shall do less whenever I 
 believe that what J am doing hurts the cause ; and I 
 shall do more whenever I believe doing more will 
 help the cause. 
 
 Thus, against all importunities on the one hand, 
 and remonstrances on the other, he took the mighty 
 question to his own heart, and, during the long 
 months of that terrible battle-summer, wrestled with 
 it alone. 
 
 But at length, he realized the saving truth, that 
 great, unsettled questions have no pity for the repose 
 of nations. 
 
 On the 22d of September, he summoned his Cabi 
 net to announce his conclusion. It was my good 
 fortune, on that same day, and a few hours after the 
 meeting, to hear, from the lips of one who partici 
 pated, the story of the scene. 
 
 As the chiefs of the executive departments came 
 in one by one, they found the President reading a 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 22Q 
 
 favorite chapter fram a popular humorist. He was 
 lightening the weight of the great burden which 
 rested upon his spirit. He finished the chapter, 
 reading it aloud. And here I quote from the pub 
 lished journal of the late chief -justice, an entry, 
 written immediately after the meeting, and bearing 
 unmistakable evidence that it is almost a literal 
 transcript of Lincoln's words : 
 
 The President then took a graver tone, and said : 
 " Gentlemen, I have, as you are aware, thought a 
 great deal about the relation of this war to slavery ; 
 and you all remember that, several weeks ago, I read 
 to you an order I had prepared upon the subject, 
 which, on account of objections made by some of 
 you, was not issued. Ever since then, my mind has 
 been much occupied with this subject, and I have 
 thought all along that the time for acting upon it 
 might probably come. I think the time has come 
 now. I wish it was a better time. I wish that we 
 were in a better condition. The action of the army 
 against the rebels has not been quite what I should 
 have best liked, but they have been driven out of 
 Maryland, and Pennsylvania is no longer in danger 
 of invasion. 
 
 When the rebel army was at Frederick, I deter 
 mined, as soon as it should be driven out of Mary 
 land, to issue a proclamation of emancipation, such 
 as I thought most likely to be useful. I said nothing 
 to any one, but I made a promise to myself and (hes 
 itating a little) to my Maker. The rebel army is now 
 driven out, and I am going to fulfill that promise. I 
 have got you together to hear what I have written 
 down. I do not wish your advice about the main 
 matter, for that I have determined for myself. This 
 I say, without intending anything but respect for any 
 
23O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 one of you. But I already know the views of each 
 upon this question. They have been heretofore ex 
 pressed, and I have considered them as thoroughly 
 and carefully as I can. What I have written is that 
 which my reflections have determined me to say. If 
 there is anything in the expressions I use, or in any 
 minor matter which any one of you think had best 
 be changed, I shall be glad to receive your sugges 
 tions. One other observation I will make. I know 
 very well that many others might, in this matter as 
 in others, do better than I can ; and if I was satis 
 fied that the public confidence was more fully pos 
 sessed, by any one of them than by me, and knew of 
 any constitutional way in which he could be put in 
 my place, he should have it. I would gladly yield to 
 him. But though I believe I have not so much of 
 the confidence of the people as I had some time 
 since, I do not know that, all things considered, any 
 other person has more ; and, however this may be, 
 there is no way in which I can have any other man 
 put where I am. I am here ; I must do the best I 
 can, and bear the responsibility of taking the course 
 which I feel I ought to take." 
 
 The President then proceeded to read his Emanci 
 pation Proclamation, making remarks on the several 
 parts as he went on, and showing that he had fully 
 considered the subject in all the lights under which 
 it had been presented to him. 
 
 The proclamation was amended in a few matters 
 of detail. It was signed and published that clay. 
 The world knows the rest, and will not forget it till 
 ' the last syllable of recorded time.' 
 
 In the painting before us, the artist has chosen 
 the moment when the reading of the proclamation 
 was finished, and the Secretary of State was offering 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 231 
 
 his first suggestion. I profess no skill in the subtle 
 mysteries of art criticism. I can only say of a paint 
 ing, what the painting says to me. I know not what 
 this may say to others ; but to me, it tells the whole 
 story of the scene, in the silent and pathetic language 
 of art. 
 
 We value the Trumbull picture of the Declaration, 
 that promise and prophecy of which this act was 
 the fulfillment, because many of its portraits were 
 taken from actual life. This picture is a faithful 
 reproduction, not only of the scene, but its accesso 
 ries. It was painted at the executive mansion, under 
 the eye of Mr. Lincoln, who sat with the artist dur 
 ing many days of genial companionship, and aided 
 him in arranging the many details of the picture. 
 
 The severely plain chamber, not now used for 
 cabinet councils ; the plain marble mantel, with the 
 portrait of a hero president above it ; the council- 
 table, at which Jackson and his successor had presid 
 ed ; the old-fasjiioned chairs ; the books and maps ; 
 the captured sword, with its pathetic history ; all are 
 there, as they were, in fact, fifteen years ago. But 
 what is of more consequence, the portraits are true 
 to the life. Mr. Seward said of the painting, ' It is 
 a vivid representation of the scene, with portraits of 
 rare fidelity ;' and so said all his associates. 
 
 Without this painting, the scene could not even 
 now be reproduced. The room has been remodeled ; 
 its furniture is gone ; and death has been sitting in 
 that council, calling the roll of its members in quick 
 succession. Yesterday, he added another name to 
 
232 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 his fatal list ; and to-day, he has left upon the earth 
 but a single witness of the signing of the proclama 
 tion of emancipation. 
 
 With reverence and patriotic love, the artist ac 
 complished his work ; with patriotic love and rever 
 ent faith, the donor presents it to the nation. In 
 i he spirit of both, let the re-united nation receive it 
 and cherish it forever." 
 
 One of the most popular of General Garfield's 
 eulogies, was upon John Winthrop and Samuel Adams, 
 and was delivered December 19, 1876, the House 
 then having under consideration the following res 
 olution : 
 
 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 December 19, 1876. 
 
 Resolved by the Senate, (the House of Representa 
 tives concurring^) i. That the statues of John Win 
 throp and Samuel Adams are accepted in the name 
 of the United States, and that the thanks of Congress 
 are given to the State of Massachusetts for these 
 memorials of two of her eminent citizens, whose names 
 are indissolufcy associated with the foundation of the 
 .republic. 
 
 2. That a copy of thes^e resolutions, engrossed upon 
 parchment and duly authenticated, be transmitted to 
 the governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 Attest : GEO. C. GORHAM, 
 
 By W. J. MCDONALD, Chief Clerk. 
 
 He said: " Mr. Speaker, I regret that illness has 
 made it impossible for me to keep the promise, which 
 I made a few days since, to offer some reflections 
 appropriate to this very interesting occasion. But I 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 233 
 
 cannot let the moment pass without expressing my 
 great satisfaction with the fitting and instructive 
 choice which the State of Massachusetts has made, 
 and the manner in which her Representatives have 
 discharged their duty in presenting these beautiful 
 works of art to the Congress of the nation. 
 
 As, from time to time, our venerable and beautiful 
 Hall has been peopled with statues of the elect of 
 the States, it has seemed to me that a third House 
 was being organized within the walls of the Capitol 
 a House whose members have received their high 
 credentials at the hands of history, and whose term 
 of office will outlast the ages. Year by year, we see 
 the circle of its immortal membership enlarging; 
 year by year, we see the elect of their country, in 
 eloquent silence, taking their places in this American 
 pantheon, bringing within its sacred circle the wealth 
 of those immortal memories, which made their lives 
 illustrious ; and, year by year, that august assembly 
 is teaching a deeper and grander lesson to all who 
 serve their brief hour in these more ephemeral 
 Houses of Congress. And now, two places of great 
 honor have just been most nobly filled. 
 
 I can well understand -that the State of Massachu 
 setts, embarrassed by her wealth of historic gbry, 
 found it difficult to make the selection. And while 
 the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts 
 (Mr. Hoar) was so fittingly honoring his State, by 
 portraying that happy embarrassment, I was reflect 
 ing that the sister State of Virginia will encounter, 
 if possible, a still greater difficulty when she comes 
 
234 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 to make the selection of her immortals. One name 
 I venture to hope she will not select, a name too 
 great for the glory of any one State. I trust she will 
 allow us to claim Washington as belonging to all the 
 States, for all time. If she shall pass over the great 
 distance that separates Washington from all others, 
 I can hardly imagine how she will make the choice 
 from her crowded roll. But I have no doubt that 
 she will be able to select two who will represent the 
 great phases of her history, as happily and worthily as 
 Massachusetts is represented, in the choice she has 
 to-day announced. It is difficult to imagine a happier 
 combination of great and beneficent forces, than will 
 be presented by the representative heroes of these 
 two great States. 
 
 Virginia and Massachusetts were the two focal 
 centers from which sprang the life-forces of this 
 republic. There were, in many ways, complements 
 of each other, each supplying what the other lacked, 
 and both uniting to endow the republic with its 
 noblest and most enduring qualities. 
 
 To-day, the House has listened with the deepest 
 interest to the statement of those elements of price 
 less value contributed by the State of Massachusetts. 
 We have been instructed by the clear and masterly 
 analysis of the spirit and character of that Puritan 
 civilization, so fully embodied in the lives of Winthrop 
 and Adams. I will venture to add, that, notwith 
 standing all the neglect and contempt with which 
 England regarded her Puritans, two hundred years 
 ago, the tendency of thought in modern England is 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 235 
 
 to do justice to that great force which created the 
 the Commonwealth, and finally made the British 
 Islands a land of liberty and law. Even the great 
 historian Hume was compelled reluctantly to declare 
 that 
 
 The precious spark of liberty had been kindled and 
 was preserved by the Puritans alone ; and it was to 
 this sect that the English owe the whole freedom 
 of their constitution. 
 
 What higher praise can posterity bestow upon any 
 people than to make such a confession ? Having 
 done so much to save liberty alive in the mother 
 country, the Puritans planted, upon the shores of this 
 New World, that remarkable civilization whose growth 
 is the greatness and glory of our republic. 
 
 Indeed, before Winthrop and his company landed 
 at Salem, the Pilgrims were laying the foundation of 
 civil liberty. While the Mayflower was passing Cape 
 Cod, and seeking an anchorage, in the midst of the 
 storm, her brave passengers sat down in the little 
 cabin, and drafted and signed a covenant which con 
 tains the germ of American liberty. How familiar 
 to the American habit of mind are these declarations 
 of the Pilgrim covenant of 1620, 
 
 That no act, imposition, law, or ordinance be made 
 or imposed upon us at present, or to come, but such 
 as has been or shall be enacted by the consent of the 
 body of free men or associates, or their representa 
 tives, legally assembled. 
 
 The New England town was the model, the primary 
 cell, from which our republic was evolved. The 
 
236 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 town meeting was the germ of all the parliamentary 
 life and habits of Americans. 
 
 John Winthrop brought with him the more formal 
 organization of New England society ; and, in his 
 long and useful life, did more than perhaps any other 
 to direct and strengthen its growth. 
 
 Nothing, therefore, could be more fitting, than for 
 Massachusetts to place in our Memorial Hall the 
 statue of the first of the Puritans, representing him 
 at the moment when he was stepping on shore from 
 the ship that brought him from England, and bear 
 ing with him the charter of that first political society 
 which laid the foundations of our country; and that 
 near him should stand that Puritan embodiment of 
 the logic of the revolution, Samuel Adams. I am 
 glad to see this decisive, though tardy, acknowledg 
 ment of his great and signal services to America. I 
 doubt if any man equaled Samuel Adams in formu 
 lating and uttering the fierce, clear and inexorable 
 logic of the revolution. With our present habits of 
 thought, we can hardly realize how great were the 
 obstacles to overcome. Not the least was the religious 
 belief of the fathers that allegiance to rulers was 
 obedience to God. The thirteenth chapter of Ro 
 mans was to many minds a barrier against revolution 
 stronger than the battalions of George III., 
 
 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 
 For there is no power but of God ; the powers that 
 be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore re- 
 sisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. 
 
 And it was not until the people of that religious 
 
OF GENERAL JAMRS A. GARFIELD. 237 
 
 age were led to see that they might obey God and 
 still establish liberty, in spite of kingly despotism, 
 that they were willing to engage in war against one 
 who called himself ' king by the grace of God.' 
 The men who pointed out the pathway to freedom by 
 the light of religion as well as of law, were the fore 
 most promoters of American independence. And 
 of these, Adams was unquestionably chief. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that, while Samuel Adams 
 was writing the great argument of liberty in Boston, 
 almost at the same time, Patrick Henry was formulat 
 ing the same doctrines in Virginia. It is one of the 
 grandest facts of that grand time that the colonies 
 were thus brought, by an almost universal consent, 
 to tread the same pathway, and reach the same great 
 conclusions. 
 
 But most remarkable of all is the fact that, through 
 out all that period, filled as it is was with the revolu 
 tionary spirit, the great men who guided the storm, 
 exhibited the most wonderful power of self-restraint. 
 It I were to-day to state the single quality that appears 
 to me most admirable among the fathers of the revo 
 lution, .1 should say it was this : that amidst all the 
 passions ot war, waged against a perfidious enemy from 
 beyond the sea, aided by a savage enemy on our own 
 shores, our fathers exhibited so wonderful a restraint, 
 so great a care to observe the forms of law, to protect 
 the rights of the minority, to preserve all those great 
 rights that had come down to them from the common 
 law, so that when they had achieved their independ 
 ence, they were still a law-abiding people. 
 
238 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 In that fiery meeting in the old South church, after 
 the Boston massacre, when, as the gentleman from 
 Massachusetts has said, three thousand voices almost 
 lifted the roof from the church, in demanding the re 
 moval of the regiments, it is noted by the historian 
 that there was one, solitary, sturdy 'nay' in the 
 vast assemblage ; and Samuel Adams scrupulously 
 recorded the fact that there was one dissentient. It 
 would have been a mortal offense against his notions 
 of justice and good order, if that one dissentient had 
 not had his place in the record. And, after the 
 regiments had been removed, and after the demand 
 had been acceded to that the soldiers who had fired 
 upon citizens should be delivered over to the civil 
 authorities, to be dealt with according to law, Adams 
 was the first to insist and demand that the best legal 
 talent in the colony should be put forward to defend 
 those murderers ; and John Adams and Josiah Quincy 
 were detailed for the purpose of defending them. 
 Men were detailed whose hearts and souls were on 
 fire with the love of the popular cause ; but the men 
 of Massachusetts would have despised the two advo 
 cates, if they had not given their whole strength to 
 the defense of the soldiers. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, this great lesson of self restraint is 
 taught in the whole history of the revolution ; and 
 it is this lesson that to-day, more perhaps, than any 
 other we have seen, we ought to take most to heart. 
 Let us seek liberty and peace, under the law ; and, 
 following the pathway of our fathers, preserve the 
 great legacy they have committed to our keeping." 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 239 
 
 Among other addresses made in Congress, upon 
 the death of Senator Morton of Indiana, General 
 Garfield delivered the following : 
 
 " For all the great professions known among 
 Americans, special training-schools have been estab 
 lished and encouraged by law, except that of states 
 manship. And yet no profession requires for its 
 successful pursuit a wider range of general and 
 special knowledge, or a more thorough and varied 
 culture. 
 
 Probably no American youth, unless we except 
 John Quincy Adams, was ever trained with special 
 reference to the political service of his country. In 
 monarchial governments, not only wealth and rank, 
 but political authority descends, by inheritance, from 
 father to son. The eldest son of an English peer 
 knows from his earliest childhood that a seat awaits 
 him in the House of Lords. If he be capable and am 
 bitious, the dreams of his boyhood and the studies 
 of his youth are directed toward the great field of 
 statesmanship. To the favored few, this system 
 affords many and great advantages, and upon the un- 
 titled many, whom * birth's invidious bar' shuts out 
 from the highest places of power, it must rest with 
 discouraging weight. 
 
 Our institutions confer special privileges upon no 
 citizen, and, we may now say, they erect no barrier 
 in the honorable career of the humblest American. 
 They open an equal pathway for all, and invite the 
 worthiest to the highest seats. The fountains of our 
 strength, as a nation, spring from the private life and 
 
24O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 the voluntary efforts of forty-five millions of people. 
 Each for himself confronts the problem of life, and 
 amid its varied conditions develops the forces with 
 which God has endowed him. Meantime, the nation 
 moves on in its great orbit, with a life and destiny of 
 its own, each year calling to its aid those qualities 
 and forces which are needed for its preservation 
 and its glory. Now, it needs the prudence of the 
 counselor, now, the wisdom of the law-giver, and 
 now, the shield of the warrior to cover its heart in 
 the day of battle. And when the hour and the man 
 have met, and the needed work has been done, the 
 nation crowns her heroes, and makes them her own 
 forever. Such hours we have often seen during the 
 last seventeen years, hours which have called forth 
 the great elements of manhood and strength from 
 the ranks of our people, and crowded our pantheon 
 with new accessions of glory. Seventeen years ago, 
 at a moment of supreme peril, the nation called upon 
 the people of twenty-two States to meet around her 
 altar and defend her life. Of all the noble men who 
 responded to that call, no voice rang out with more 
 clearness than that of Oliver P. Morton, the young- 
 governor of Indiana. He was then but thirty-seven 
 years of age. Self-made, as all men are who are 
 worth the making, he had risen from a hard life of 
 narrow conditions by fighting his own way, thinking 
 his own thoughts, and uttering them without fear, 
 until, by the fortune of political life, he had become 
 the chief executive of his State. He saw at once, 
 and declared the terrible significance of the impend- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 24! 
 
 ing struggle, and threw his whole weight into the 
 conflict. His State and my own marched abreast in 
 generous emulation. 
 
 But he was surrounded by difficulties and dangers 
 which hardly found a parallel in any other State. 
 With unconquerable will, and the 'energy of a Titan, 
 he encountered and overcame them all ; and keeping 
 Indiana in line with the foremost, he justly earned 
 the title of one of the greatest war governors of that 
 heroic period. Thus, the great need of the nation 
 called forth and fixed in the enduring colors of fame 
 those high qualities which those thirty-seven years 
 of private life had been preparing. To learn the 
 lesson of his great life, let us recall briefly its leading 
 characteristics. 
 
 He was a great organizer. He knew how to evoke 
 and direct the enthusiasm of his people. He knew 
 how to combine and marshall his forces, political or 
 military, so as to concentrate them all upon a single 
 object, and inspire them with his own ardor. I have 
 often compared him with Stanton, our great War Sec 
 retary, whose windows at the war office, for many 
 years, far into the night, shone out ' like battle-lan 
 terns lit/ while he mustered great armies and 
 launched them into the tempest of war, and ' organ 
 ized victory.' In the whole circle of the States, no 
 organizer stood nearer to him in character and quali 
 ties and friendship, than Oliver P. Morton. 
 
 His force of will was most masterful. It was not 
 mere stubbornness, or pride of opinion, which weak 
 and narrow men mistake for firmness. But it was 
 16 
 
242 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 that stout-hearted persistency which, having once in 
 telligently chosen an object, pursues it through sun 
 shine and storm, undaunted by difficulties, and unter- 
 rified by danger. 
 
 He possessed an intellect of remarkable clearness 
 and force. With keen analysis, he found the core of 
 a question, and worked from the center outward. 
 He cared little for the mere graces of speech ; but 
 few men have been so greatly endowed with the 
 power of clear statement and unassailable argument. 
 The path of his thought was straight 
 
 Like that of the swift cannon ball, 
 Shattering that it may reach, and 
 Shattering what it reaches. 
 
 When he had hit the mark, he used no additional 
 words, and sought for no decoration. These quali 
 ties, joined to his power of thinking quickly, placed 
 him in the front rank of debaters, and every year in 
 creased his power. It has been said that Senator 
 Morton was a partisan, a strong partisan, and this is 
 true. In the estimation of some, this detracts from 
 his fame. That evils arise from extreme partisanship, 
 there can be no doubt. But it should not be forgot 
 ten that all free governments are party governments. 
 Our great Americans have been great partisans. 
 Senator Morton was not more partisan than Adams, 
 Jefferson, Jackson, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Marshall, 
 Taney and Chase. Strong men must have strong 
 convictions, and ' one man with a belief is a greater 
 power than a thousand that have only interests.' 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 243 
 
 Partisanship is opinion crystallized, and party organi 
 zations are the scaffoldings whereon citizens stand 
 while they build up the walls of their national tem 
 ple. Organizations may change or dissolve, but when 
 parties cease to exist, liberty will perish. In conclu 
 sion, let me say, the memory of Governor Morton 
 will be forever cherished and honored by the soldiers 
 of my State. They fought side by side with the sol 
 diers of Indiana, and in a hundred glorious fields his 
 name was the battle-cry of the noble regiments which 
 he had organized and inspired with his own lofty 
 spirit. 
 
 To the nation he has left the legacy of his patriot 
 ism, and the example of a great eventful life." 
 
 General Garfi eld's speeches upon the tariff, which 
 were, perhaps, the ablest production of his brain, are 
 not included here, as they are necessarily so long, 
 and so full of statistics, of no interest to the general 
 reader. His position was that of a conservative and 
 careful protector of American industry, avoiding the 
 extremes of either free trade or wholesale protection. 
 
244 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PERIOD OF UNPOPULARITY, 
 
 HIS PRACTICE OF LAW. HIS FIRST CASE IN THE SUPREME COURT. 
 HIS SUCCESS AS A LAWYER. UNPOPULARITY OF HIS DEFENSE OF 
 REBELS IN COURT. HIS CONNECTION WITH A MATTER CALLED THE 
 DE GOLYER PAVEMENT CASE. HOW HB WAS MALIGNED. PER 
 SISTENCY OF ENEMIES. THE GREAT CREDIT MOBILIHR CASE. 
 VINDICATION OF GENERAL GARFIELD. HIS STORY OF HIS DEAL 
 INGS WITH OAKES AMES. HIS OPPOSITION TO THE INCREASE OF 
 SALARIES IN CONGRESS. THE CENSURE OF HIS CONSTITUENTS. 
 HIS EXPLANATION. RESTORATION TO PUBLIC FAVOR. 
 
 No great or good man ever served a capricious 
 public without disheartening trials, and periods of 
 unpopularity. Such experiences are often the test 
 of a man's ability and integrity. In the history of 
 General Garfield's Congressional career, however, his 
 loss of public favor was due, in each instance, to a 
 misunderstanding of the facts, on the part of the peo 
 ple. When his actions and positions on public meas 
 ure were fully understood by the people, he was at 
 once restored to favor and applause. 
 
 One cause of the first noticeable ebb in the public 
 regard, which the student of his life observes, was the 
 natural result of his practice of law. 
 
 He was a Congressman before he ever tried a case 
 in court ; and his experience as an attorney is perhaps 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 245 
 
 an exception to that of any other lawyer, inasmuch 
 as his first case was in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. He never had a case in any other 
 court. 
 
 His first appearance in the Supreme Court was in 
 behalf of some conspirators who had been tried by 
 court-martial, and condemned t death, for engaging 
 in a movement- to assist the rebellion. They were 
 tried by martial law in a State, in time of peace de 
 facto in the State, and in a section of State not under 
 martial law. The legal question was, whether any 
 military body had such power under the circum 
 stances. Should the civil power be ignored in time 
 of peace, or in sections of the country where martial 
 law had not been proclaimed? It was a case for 
 which he received no pay, and was undertaken as a 
 test of this important principle. 
 
 He was sustained by the Court and complimented 
 by the presiding justice for his able presentation of 
 the case and the law, while the criminals were set at 
 liberty. No sooner had the news of his interference 
 in behalf of condemned rebels reached his district in 
 Ohio, than the indignant voters loudly proclaimed 
 his "treachery to his party and to the nation." In 
 the following election, the great majority, with which 
 he had always been elected, fell off more than a thou 
 sand votes, because of his supposed espousal of the 
 cause of rebellious criminals. 
 
 Other cases followed with occasionally alike result, 
 from which he easily recovered, but which, for the 
 time, annoyed him and disturbed his district. 
 
246 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 His practice in the Supreme Court increased very 
 rapidly, and there was a time when he could have 
 left his seat in Congress and entered upon a practice 
 which would soon have made him rich. As it was, 
 the income he thus derived was of great use to him, 
 for his great generosity and thoughtlessness of self 
 kept him almost incessantly in financial straits. He 
 wasted no money on himself or his 'family ; but he 
 had rather pay a bill himself, than to ask another 
 person, who owed it, for the money ; and he gave to 
 almost every good enterprise that came to his notice. 
 He was often called upon to act as attorney for 
 corporations and contractors, whose applications for 
 money or privileges were to come before Congress ; 
 and though it was considered honorable by many 
 Congressmen to act in such cases, provided the attor 
 ney refused to vote when the measure came before 
 Congress, yet invariably, did General Garfield refuse 
 such applications, and rejected the large fees which 
 many statesmen thought it perfectly honorable for 
 him to receive. 
 
 In 1873, General Garfield was called upon, by an 
 attorney in Washington, to appear for him in a matter 
 which the attorney (Mr. Parsons) said would not re 
 quire much attention. The attorney being retained 
 in the case, and being obliged to be absent when the 
 matter was to come up, naturally sought some other 
 attorney to temporarily take his place 
 
 The matter to be attended to, in this instance, was 
 a hearing before the Board of public works in Wash 
 ington, concerning the durability of a wooden pave- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 247 
 
 ment, on which Messrs. De Golyer and McLellan held 
 a patent. 
 
 General Garfield knew nothing about the pave 
 ment, and but little about the men ; and knowing that 
 he was to appear, as a matter of form, for another, 
 he attended one hearing, where the questions of 
 durability and material were the only ones discussed. 
 Having performed this act of courtesy he dis 
 missed the matter wholly from his mind. Some 
 months afterwards, to his great surprise, the contract 
 which was made between the patentees and the city, 
 after the hearing upon the durability of the pave 
 ment, and with which he had nothing to do, came up 
 in Congress, with the charge and appearance that 
 the contract not the pavement was a great 
 swindle. Immediately, the fact that he had, at one 
 time, in some way, and somewhere, appeared as at 
 torney for the patentees was noticed in the public 
 press, and became the cause of a great uproar, 
 and of much disgraceful abuse. 
 
 The charges that he was connected with the fraud 
 were, for several years, proclaimed by some of the 
 newspapers of the Democratic party, notwithstanding, 
 his complete vindication by the committee of investi 
 gation. 
 
 So much was said about it, that the Hon. J. M. 
 Wilson, chairman of the Congressional committee of 
 investigation, felt called upon to publish the following 
 letter : 
 
 There was not in my opinion, any evidence that 
 
248 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 would have warranted any unfavorable criticism upon 
 his conduct. 
 
 The facts disclosed by the evidence, so far as he 
 was concerned, are briefly these : 
 
 The Board of public works was considering the 
 question, as to the kind of pavements thatshouM be 
 laid. There was a contest as to the respective merits 
 of various wooden pavements. Mr. Parsons repre 
 sented, as attorney, the De Golyer & McLellan pa 
 tent, and being called away from Washington about 
 the time the hearing was to be had before the Board 
 of public works, on this subject, procured General 
 Garfield to appear before the Board in his stead, and 
 argue the merits of this patent. This he did ; and 
 this was the whole of his connection in the matter. It 
 was not a question as to the kind of contract that 
 should be made, but as to whether this particular 
 kind of pavement should be laid. The criticism of 
 the committee was not upon the pavement, in favor 
 of which General Garfield argued, but was upon the 
 contract made with reference to it ; and there was no 
 evidence which would warrant the conclusion that he 
 had anything to do with the latter. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 J. M. WILSON. 
 
 But the matter which made the greatest public 
 scandal was the mention of his name, at one time, in 
 connection with the great Credit Mobilier in the 
 construction of the Union Pacific railroad. 
 
 So completely was the scandal silenced, and so 
 straightforward and open was General Garfield's 
 course, that the re-action soon came in his favor, and 
 that which, for a time, threatened to ruin him, fell 
 harmless at his feet. His life of truthfulness and his 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 249 
 
 unstained reputation for integrity and honor were of 
 great value to him, when all his political opponents, 
 with great glee, paraded his connection with the 
 Credit Mobilier,derisively shouting, " Christian States 
 man ! " " moral patriot ! " &c. So clearly did he show 
 the innocence of his dealings with Mr. Oakes Ames, 
 and so clearly show that he could have had no con 
 nection with any fraudulent schemes, that the record 
 of the matter has now no historical value, except as 
 showing how curiously public men may be beset, and 
 how strangely misunderstood. General Garfield has 
 given an account of the whole case, and it shows a 
 most interesting chapter of our national history. 
 This he made voluntarily, and to it always adheres. 
 
 General Garfield's history of the case, in a some 
 what condensed form, is as follows : 
 
 " In the autumn of 1872, during the excitement of 
 the Presidential campaign, charges of the most seri 
 ous character were made against ten or twelve per 
 sons who were then, or had recently been, Senators 
 and Representatives in Congress, to the effect that, 
 five years ago, they had sold themselves for sundry 
 amounts of stock of the Credit Mobilier company, 
 and bonds of the Pacific railroad company. The 
 price at which different members were alleged to 
 have bartered away their personal honor and their 
 official influence was definitely set down in the news 
 papers ; their guilt was assumed, and the public ven 
 geance was invoked not only upon them, but also 
 upon the party to which most of them belonged. 
 
25O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 By a resolution of the House, introduced by one 
 of the members, and adopted on the first day of the 
 session, an investigation of these charges was ordered. 
 The parties themselves and many other witnesses 
 were examined ; the records of the Credit Mobilier 
 company and of the Pacific railroad company were 
 produced ; and the results of the investigation were 
 reported to the House on the i8th of February. 
 The report, with the accompanying testimony, was 
 brought up in the House for consideration on the 
 25th of February, and the discussion was continued 
 until the subject was finally disposed of, three days 
 before the close of the session. The investigation 
 was scarcely begun, before it was manifest that the 
 original charge, that- stock was given to members as 
 a consideration for their votes, was wholly abandoned, 
 there being no proof whatever to support it. 
 
 But the charge assumed a new form, namely : That 
 the stock had been sold to members at a price known 
 to be greatly below its actual value, for the purpose 
 of securing their legislative influence in favor of 
 those who were managing the Pacific railroad. Eight 
 of those against whom charges had been made in 
 the public press, myself among the number, were 
 still members of the House of Representatives, and 
 were specially mentioned in the report. The com 
 mittee recommended the adoption of resolutions for 
 the expulsion of Messrs. Ames and Brooks, the lat 
 ter on charges in no way connected with Mr. Ames 
 or the other members mentioned. They recom 
 mended the expulsion of Mr. Ames for an attempt 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2$ I 
 
 to influence the votes and decisions of members of 
 Congress, by interesting them in the stock of the 
 Credit Mobilier, and through it, in the stock of the 
 Union Pacific railroad. They found that though 
 Mr. Ames in no case disclosed his purpose to these 
 members, yet he hoped so to enlist their interest that 
 they would be inclined to favor the Pacific railroad 
 and its interest, and that he declared to the managers 
 of the Credit Mobilier company at the time, that he 
 was thus using the stock which had been placed in 
 his hands by the company. 
 
 Concerning the members to whom he had sold, or 
 offered to sell, the stock, the committee say that they 
 ' do not find that Mr. Ames, in his negotiations with 
 the persons above named, entered into any detail of 
 the relations between the Credit Mobilier company 
 and the Union Pacific company, or gave them any 
 specific information, as to the amount of dividends 
 they would be likely to receive, further than has been 
 already stated, [viz., that in some cases he had guar 
 anteed a profit of ten per cent.] * * * They do 
 not find, as to the members of the present House 
 above named, that they were aware of the object of 
 Mr. Ames, or that they had any other purpose in 
 taking this stock than to make a profitable invest 
 ment. * * * They have not been able to find 
 that any of these members of Congress have been af 
 fected in their official action in consequence of inter 
 est in the Credit Mobilier stock. * * * They 
 do not find that either of the above named gentlemen 
 
252 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 in contracting with Mr. Ames had any corrupt motive 
 himself, or was aware Mr. Ames had any. Nor did 
 either of them suppose he was guilty of any impro 
 priety, or even indelicacy, in becoming a purchaser 
 of this stock.' nd finally, that ' the committee find 
 nothing in the conduct or motives of either of these 
 members in taking this 'stock, that calls for any rec 
 ommendation by the committee of the House/ 
 
 In the case of each of the six members just referred 
 to, the committee sum up the results of the testimo 
 ny, and from that summary the conclusions above 
 quoted are drawn. In regard to me, the committee 
 find, that in December, 1867, or January, 1868, I 
 agreed to purchase ten shares of Credit Mobilier 
 stock of Mr. Ames, for $1,000, and the accrued inter 
 est from the previous July; that in June, 1868, Mr. 
 Ames paid me a check on the Sergeant-at-Arms of 
 the House for $329, as a balance of dividends on the 
 stock, above the purchase price and accrued interest ; 
 and that thereafter, there were no payments or other 
 transactions between us, or any communication on 
 the subject until the investigation began in Decem 
 ber last. 
 
 I took the first opportunity offered by the comple 
 tion of public business to call the attention of the 
 House to the above summary of the testimony in 
 reference to me. On the 3d of March I made the 
 following remarks, in the House of Representatives, 
 as recorded in the Congressional Globe for that day: 
 
 I rise to a personal explanation. During the late 
 investigation by the committee, of which the gentle- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GAR FIELD. 253 
 
 man from Vermont was chairman, I pursued what 
 seemed to be the plain path of duty, to keep silence 
 except when I was called upon to testify before the 
 committee. When testimony was given which ap 
 peared to be in conflict with mine, I waited, expect 
 ing to be called again, if anything was needed from 
 me in reference to these discrepancies. I was not 
 recalled; and when the committee submitted their 
 report to the House, a considerable portion of the 
 testimony relating to me had not been printed. 
 
 In the discussion which followed here, I was pre 
 pared to submit some additional facts and considera 
 tions, in case my own conduct came up for consid 
 eration in the House ; but the whole subject was 
 concluded without any direct reference to myself, 
 and since then the whole time of the House has been 
 occupied with the public business. I now desire to 
 make a single remark on this subject in the hearing 
 of the House. Though the committee acquitted me 
 of all charges of corruption in action or intent, yet 
 there is in the report a summing up of the facts in 
 relation to me which I respectfully protest is not war 
 ranted by the testimony. I say this with the utmost 
 respect for the committee, and without intending any 
 reflection upon them. 
 
 I cannot now enter upon the discussion ; but I 
 propose, before long, to make a statement to the 
 public, setting forth more fully the grounds of my 
 dissent from the summing up to which I have re 
 ferred. I will only say now that the testimony which 
 I gave before the committee is a statement of the 
 facts in the case as I have understood them from the 
 beginning. More than three years ago, on at least 
 two occasions, I stated the case to two personal 
 friends, substantially as I stated it before the com 
 mittee; and I here add that nothing in my conduct 
 or conversation has at any time been in conflict with 
 
254 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 my testimony. For the present I desire only to 
 place on record this declaration and notice. 
 
 In pursuance of this notice, I shall consider so 
 much of the history of the Credit Mobilier company 
 as has any relation to myself. To render the discus 
 sion intelligible, I will first state briefly the offenses 
 which that corporation committed, as found by the 
 committees of the House. 
 
 The Credit Mobilier company is a corporation or 
 ganized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, 
 and authorized by its charter to purchase and sell 
 various kinds of securities, and to make advances of 
 money and credit to railroad, and other improvement 
 companies. Its charter describes a class of business, 
 which, if honestly conducted, any citizen may prop 
 erly engage in. 
 
 On the i6th of August, 1867, Mr. Oakes Ames 
 made a contract with the Union Pacific railroad 
 company to build six hundred and sixty-seven miles 
 of road, from the one hundredth meridian westward, 
 at rates ranging from $42,000 to $96,000 per mile. 
 For executing this contract he was to receive in 
 the aggregate $47,925,000, in cash, or in the securi 
 ties of the company. 
 
 On the 1 5th of October, 1867, a triple contract was 
 made between Mr. Ames of the first part, seven per 
 sons as "trustees of the second part, and the Credit 
 Mobilier company of the third part, by the terms of 
 which the Credit Mobilier company was to advance 
 money to build the road, and to receive thereon 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2$ 5 
 
 seven per cent, interest, and two and one-half per 
 cent, commission ; the seven trustees were to execute 
 the Ames contract, and the profits thereon were to 
 be divided among them, and such other stockholders 
 of the Credit Mobilier company as should deliver to 
 them an irrevocable proxy to vote the stock of the 
 Union Pacific held by them. The principal stock 
 holders of the Credit Mobilier company were also 
 holders of a majority of the stock of the Union Pacif 
 ic railroad. 
 
 On the face of this agreement, the part to be per 
 formed by the Credit Mobilier company as a corpo 
 ration was simple and unobjectionable. It was to 
 advance money to the contractors, and to receive 
 therefore about ten per cent, as interest and commis 
 sion. This explains how it was that, in a suit in the 
 courts of Pennsylvania, in 1870, to collect the State 
 tax on the profits of the company, its managers swore 
 that the company had never declared dividends to an 
 aggregate of more than twelve per cent. The com 
 pany proper did not receive the profits of the Oakes 
 Ames contract. The profits were paid only to the 
 seven trustees, and to such stockholders of the Credit 
 Mobilier as hzd delivered to them the proxies on 
 their Pacific railroad stock. In other words, a few 
 men inside the Credit Mobilier obtained the control, 
 both of that corporation and of the profits of the Ames 
 contract. 
 
 By a private agreement, made in writing, October 
 1 6, 1867, the day after the triple contract was signed, 
 the seven trustees pledged themselves to each other 
 
256 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 so to vote all the Pacific railroad stock which they 
 held in their own right, or by proxy, as to keep in 
 power all the members of the then existing board of 
 directors of the railroad company not appointed by 
 the President of the United States, or such other 
 persons as said board should nominate. By this 
 agreement, the election of a majority of the directors 
 was wholly within the power of the seven trustees. 
 From all this it resulted that the Ames contract and 
 the triple agreement, made in October, amounted, 
 in fact, to a contract made by seven leading stock 
 holders of the Pacific railroad company with them 
 selves ; so that the men who fixed the price at which 
 the road was to be built were the same men who 
 would receive the profits of the contract. 
 
 [It would appear by General Garfield's statement 
 above, that he must have given the matter consid 
 erable study, as he would naturally do after the 
 subject was so prominently before the public; but 
 it now appears pretty certain that through excite 
 ment or lack of financial skill, there was scarcely 
 a person in the country in 1872 outside of that 
 board of directors who did comprehend its compli 
 cated business transactions, or realized the finan 
 cial risk the principal stockholders had to encoun 
 ter.] 
 
 The Credit Mobilier company had already been 
 engaged in various enterprises before the connection 
 with the Ames contract. George Francis Train had 
 once been the principal owner of its franchises, and 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 257 
 
 it had owned some western lands ; (Wilson's Report, 
 pp. 497-8 ;) but its enterprises had not been very 
 remunerative, and its stock had not been worth par. 
 The triple contract of October, 1867, gave it at once 
 considerable additional value. It should be borne in 
 mind, however, that the relations of the Credit Mo- 
 bilier company to the seven trustees, to the Oakes 
 Ames' contract, and to the Pacific railroad company, 
 were known to but few persons until long afterward, 
 and that it was for the interest of the parties to keep 
 them secret. Indeed, nothing was known of it to the 
 general public until the facts were brought out in 
 the recent investigations. 
 
 In view of the facts above stated, it is evident that 
 a purchaser of such shares of Credit Mobilier stock, 
 as were brought under the operation of the triple 
 contract, would be a sharer in the profits derived by 
 that arrangement from the assets of the Pacific rail 
 road, a large part of which consisted of bonds and 
 lands granted to the road by the United States. The 
 holding of such stock by a member of Congress would 
 depend for its moral qualities wholly upon the fact 
 whether he did or did not know of any arrangement 
 out of which unjust profits would come. If he knew of 
 any fraudulent arrangement by which the bonds and 
 lands of the United States, delivered to the Union 
 Pacific railroad company for the purpose of construct 
 ing its road, were to be paid out at enormously ex 
 travagant rates, and the proceeds to be paid out as 
 dividends to a ring of stockholders made by the Credit 
 Mobilier company, he could not, with any propriety, 
 17 
 
258 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 hold such stock, or agree to hold it, or any of its pro 
 ceeds. And for a member of Congress believing 
 such was the case, to hold under advisement a propo 
 sition to buy this stock, would be morally as wrong 
 as to hold it and receive the profits upon it. If it was 
 morally wrong to purchase it, it was morally wrong to 
 hesitate whether to purchase it or not. 
 
 I put the case on the highest ethical ground, and 
 ask that this rule be applied in all its severity in 
 judging of my relation to this subject. 
 
 The committee found, as already stated, that none 
 of the six members to whom Mr. Ames sold, or pro- 
 posed to sell, the stock, knew of any clandestine ar 
 rangement. I shall, however, discuss the subject only 
 in so far as relates to me, and shall undertake to es 
 tablish three propositions: 
 
 First. That I never purchased, nor agreed to pur 
 chase, the stock, nor received any of its dividends. 
 
 Second. That though an offer was made, which I 
 had some time under advisement, to sell me $1,000 
 worth of the stock, I did not then know, nor had I 
 the means of knowing, the conditions with which 
 the stock was connected, or the method by which its 
 profits were to be made. 
 
 Third. That my testimony before the committee 
 is a statement of the facts as I have always under 
 stood them ; and that neither before the committee, 
 nor elsewhere, has there been, on my part, any pre 
 varication or evasion on the subject. 
 
 My testimony was delivered before the investigat 
 ing committee on the I4th of January. That portion 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 259 
 
 which precedes the cross-examination, I had written 
 out soon after the committee was appointed. I quote 
 it, with the cross-examination, in full, as found re 
 corded : 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., January 14, 1873. 
 
 J. A. Garfield, a member of the United States 
 House of Representatives from the State of Ohio, 
 having been duly sworn, made the following state 
 ment : 
 
 The first I ever heard of the Credit Mobilier was 
 some time in 1866 or 1867 I cannot fix the date 
 when George Francis Train called on me and said he 
 was organizing a company to be known as the Credit 
 Mobilier of America, to be formed on the model of 
 the Credit Mobilier oi France ; that the object of the 
 company was to purchase lands and build houses 
 along the line of the Pacific railroad at points where 
 cities and villages were likely to spring up ; that he 
 had no doubt that money thus invested would double 
 or treble itself each year ; that subscriptions were 
 limited to $ 1,000 each, and he wished me to subscribe. 
 He showed me a long list of subscribers, among them 
 Mr. Oakes Ames, to whom he referred me for further 
 information concerning the enterprise. I answered 
 that I had not the money to spare, and if I had, I 
 would not subscribe, without knowing more about the 
 proposed organization. Mr. Train left me, saying he 
 would hold a place open for me, and hoped I would 
 yet conclude to subscribe. The same day I asked 
 Mr. Ames what he thought of the enterprise. He 
 expressed the opinion that the investment would be 
 safe and profitable. 
 
 I heard nothing further on the subject for a year 
 or more, and it was almost forgotten, when some 
 time, I should say during the long session of 1868, 
 Mr. Ames spoke of it again ; said the company had 
 
26O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 organized, was doing well, and he thought would 
 soon pay large dividends. He said that some of the 
 stock had been left, or was to be left, in his hands to 
 sell, and I could take the amount which Mr. Train 
 had offered me, by paying the $1,000 and the accrued 
 interest. He said if I was not able to pay for it then, 
 he would hold it for me till I could pay, or until some 
 of the dividends were payable, I told him 1^ would 
 consider the matter ; but would not agree to ' take 
 any stock until I knew, from an examination of the 
 charter, and the conditions of the subscription, the 
 extent to which I should become pecuniarily liable. 
 He said he was not sure, but thought a stockholder 
 would be liable only for the par value of his stock ; 
 that he had not the stock and papers with him, but 
 would have them after a while. 
 
 From the case, as presented, I should probably 
 have taken the stock, if I had been satisfied in regard 
 to the extent of pecuniary liability. Thus the matter 
 rested for some time, I think until the following year. 
 During that interval, I understood that there were 
 dividends due, amounting to nearly three times the 
 par value of the stock. But in the meantime, I had 
 heard that the company was involved in some con 
 troversy with the Pacific railroad, and that Mr. 
 Ames' right to sell the stock was denied. When I 
 next saw Mr. Ames, I told him I had concluded not 
 to take the stock. There the matter ended, so far 
 as I was concerned, and I had no further knowledge 
 of the company's operations until the subject began 
 to be discussed in the newspapers last fall. 
 
 Nothing was ever said to me by Mr. Train or Mr. 
 Ames to indicate or imply that the Credit Mobilier 
 was, or could be, in any way connected with the legis 
 lation of Congress for the Pacific railroad, or for any 
 other purpose. Mr. Ames never gave, nor offered 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 26 1 
 
 to give, me any stock or other valuable thing as a 
 gift. I once asked and obtained from him, and after 
 ward repaid to him, a loan of $300 ; that amount is 
 the only valuable thing I ever received from or 
 delivered to him. 
 
 I never owned, received, or agreed to receive any 
 stock of the Credit Mobilier, or of the Union Pacific 
 railroad, or any dividends or profits arising from 
 either of them. 
 
 (By the Chairman.) 
 
 Question. Had this loan you speak of any connec 
 tion in any way with your conversation in regard to 
 the Credit Mobilier stock ? Answer. No connection 
 in any way except in regard to the time of payment. 
 Mr. Ames stated to me that if I concluded to sub 
 scribe for the Credit Mobilier stock I could allow the 
 loan to remain until the payment on that was adjusted. 
 I never regarded it as connected in any other way 
 with the stock enterprise. 
 
 Q. Do you remember the time of that transaction ? 
 
 A. I do not remember it precisely. I should 
 think it was in the session of 1868. I had been to 
 Europe the fall before, and was in debt, and borrowed 
 several sums of money at different times and from 
 different persons. This loan from Mr. Ames was 
 not at his instance. I made the request myself. I 
 think I had asked one or two persons before him for 
 the loan. 
 
 Q. Have you any knowledge in reference to any 
 dealings of Mr. Ames with any gentlemen in Con 
 gress in reference to the stock of the Credit Mobilier ? 
 
 A. No, sir; I have not. I had no knowledge that 
 Mr. Ames had ever talked with anybody but myself. 
 It was a subject I gave but little attention to ; in fact, 
 many of the details had almost passed out of my mind 
 until they were called up in the late campaign. 
 
262 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 (By Mr. Black.) 
 
 Q. Did you say you refused to take the stock 
 simply because there was a lawsuit about it? A. 
 No ; not exactly that. I do not remember any other 
 reason which I gave to Mr. Ames than that I did not 
 wish to take stock in anything that would involve 
 controversy. I think I gave him no other reason 
 than that. 
 
 Q. When you ascertained the relation that this 
 company had with the Union Pacific railroad com 
 pany, and whence its profits were to be derived, 
 would you have considered that a sufficient reason 
 for declining it, irrespective of otfyer considerations ? 
 A. It would have been as the case was afterward 
 stated. 
 
 Q. At the time you talked with Mr. Ames, before 
 you rejected the proposition, you did not know 
 whence the profits of the company were to be de 
 rived ? A. I did not. I do not know that Mr. 
 Ames withheld, intentionally, from me any informa 
 tion. I had derived my original knowledge of the 
 organization of the company from Mr. Train. He 
 made quite an elaborate statement of it purposes, and 
 I proceeded, in subsequent conversations, upon the 
 supposition that the organization was unchanged. I 
 ought to say for myself, as well as for Mr. Ames, 
 that he never said any word to me that indicated the 
 least desire to influence my legislative action in any 
 way. If he had any such purpose, he certainly never 
 said anything to me which would indicate it. 
 
 Q. You know now, and have known for a long 
 time, that Mr. Ames was deeply interested in the 
 legislation on this subject ? A. I supposed that he 
 was largely interested in the Union Pacific railroad. 
 I have heard various statements to that effect. I 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 263 
 
 cannot say I had any such information of my own 
 knowledge. 
 
 Q. You mean that he did not electioneer with you 
 or solicit your vote? A. Certainly not. None of 
 the conversations I ever had with him had any refer 
 ence to such legislation. 
 
 (By Mr. Merrick.) 
 
 Q. Have you any knowledge of any other member 
 of Congress being concerned in the Credit Mobilier 
 stock ? A. No, sir ; I have not. 
 
 Q. Or any stock in the Union Pacific railroad? 
 A. I have not. I can say to the committee that I 
 never saw, I believe, in my life, a certificate of stock 
 of the Union Pacific railroad company, Lnd I never 
 saw any certificate of stock of the Credit Mobilier, 
 until Mr. Brooks exhibited one, a few days ago, in 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 <2, Were any dividends ever tendered to you on 
 the stock of the Credit Mobilier, upon the supposi 
 tion that you were to be a subscriber? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. This loan of $300 you have repaid, if I under 
 stand you correctly ? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 (By Mr. McCrary.) 
 
 Q. You never examined the charter of the Credit 
 Mobilier to see what were its objects? A. No, sir; 
 I never saw it. 
 
 Q, If I understand you, you did not know that the 
 Credit Mobilier had any connection with the Union 
 Pacific railroad company ? A. I understood from 
 the statement of Mr. Train that its objects were con 
 nected with the lands of the Union Pacific railroad 
 company, and the development of settlements along 
 that road ; but that it had any relation to the Union 
 Pacific railroad company, other than that, I did not 
 know. I think I did hear, also, that the company 
 
264 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 was 'investing some of its earnings in the bonds of 
 the road. 
 
 Q. He stated that it was for the purpose of pur 
 chasing land and building houses ? A. That was 
 the statement of Mr. Train. I think he said, in that 
 connection, that he had already been doing some 
 thing of that kind at Omaha, or was going to do it. 
 
 Q. You did not know that the object was to build 
 the Union Pacific railroad? A. No, sir; I did not. 
 
 This is the case as I understand it, and as I have 
 always understood it. In reviewing it, after all that 
 has been said and written, there are no substantial 
 changes which I could now make, except to render 
 a few points more definite. Few men can be certain 
 that they give, with absolute correctness, the details 
 of conversations and transactions, after a lapse of 
 five years. Subject to this limitation, I have no 
 doubt of the accuracy of my remembrance concern 
 ing this transaction. 
 
 From this testimony, it will be seen that, when Mr. 
 Ames offered to sell me the stock in iS6/-'68, my 
 only knowledge of the character and objects of the 
 Credit Mobilier company was obtained from Mr. 
 Train, at least, as early as the winter of i866-'6/, 
 long before the company had become a party to the 
 construction contract. * It has been said that I am 
 mistaken in thinking it was the Credit Mobilier that 
 Mr. Train offered me in i866-'6/. I think I am not. 
 Mr. Durant, in explaining his connection with the 
 Credit Mobilier, says : 
 
 I sent Mr. Train to Philadelphia. We wanted it 
 (the Credit Mobilier) for a stock operation, but we 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 265 
 
 could not agree what was to be done with it. Mr. 
 Train proposed to go on an expanded scale, but I 
 abandoned it. I think Mr. Train got some subscrip 
 tions ; what they were I do not know. 
 
 It has been said that it is absurd to suppose that 
 intelligent men, familiar with public affairs, did not 
 understand all about the relation of the Credit Mo- 
 bilier company to the Pacific railroad company. It 
 is a sufficient answer to say that, until the present 
 winter, few men, either in or out of Congress, ever 
 understood it ; and it was for the interest of those in 
 the management of that arrangement to prevent 
 these facts from being known. This will appear 
 from the testimony of Hon. J. F. Wilson, who pur 
 chased ten shares of the stock in 1867. In the 
 spring of 1869, he was called on professionally to 
 give an opinion as to the right of holders of Pacific 
 railroad stock to vote their own shares, notwith 
 standing the proxy they had given to the seven 
 trustees. To enable him to understand the case, a 
 copy of the triple contract was placed in his hands. 
 He says : 
 
 Down to the time these papers were placed in my 
 hands, I knew almost nothing of the organization 
 and details of the Credit Mobiher, or the value of its 
 stock, but then saw that here was abundant ground 
 for future trouble and litigation ; and, as one of the 
 results, sold out my interest. 
 
 And again : 
 
 Q. Do you, or did you know, at the time you had 
 this negotiation with Mr. Ames, the value of the 
 Credit Mobilier stock ? A. I did not; and I wish 
 
266 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 to state here, in regard to that, that it was a very 
 difficult thing to ascertain what was the value of the 
 stock. Those who, as I say in my statement, pos 
 sessed the secrets of the Credit Mobilier, kept them 
 to themselves ; and I never was able to get any 
 definite information as to what the value of the stock 
 was. 
 
 When, in the winter of i867~'68, Mr. Ames pro 
 posed to sell me some of the stock, I regarded it as 
 a mere repetition of the offer made by Mr. Train, 
 more than a year before. The company was the 
 same, and the amount offered me was the same. Mr. 
 Ames knew it had formerly been offered me, for I 
 had then asked him his opinion of such an invest 
 ment ; and having understood the objects of the 
 company, as stated by Mr. Train, I did not inquire 
 further on that point. 
 
 There could not be the slightest impropriety in 
 taking the stock, if the objects of the company 
 were such as Mr. Train represented them to me. 
 The only question on which I then hesitated, was 
 the personal pecuniary liability attached to a sub 
 scription ; and, to settle that question, I asked to see 
 the charter, and the conditions on which the stock 
 was based. I have no doubt Mr. Ames expected I 
 would subscribe. But more than a year passed with 
 out further discussion of the subject. The papers 
 were not brought, and the purchase was never 
 made. 
 
 In the winter of 1869-' 70, I received the first 
 intimation I ever had of the nature of the connec- 
 
 
OP GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 26/ 
 
 tion between the Credit Mobilier company and the 
 Pacific railroad company, in a private conversation 
 with the Hon. J. S. Black of Pennsylvania. Find 
 ing, in the course of that conversation, that he was 
 familiar with the history of the enterprise, I told him 
 all I knew about the matter, and informed him of the 
 offer that had been made me. He expressed the 
 opinion that the managers of the Credit Mobilier 
 were attempting to defraud the Pacific railroad com 
 pany, and informed me that Mr. Ames was pretend 
 ing to have sold stock to members of Congress, for 
 the purpose of influencing their action in any legis- 
 tion that might arise on the subject. 
 
 Though I had neither done or said anything which 
 placed me under any obligation to take the stock, I 
 at once informed Mr. Ames, that if he was still hold 
 ing the offer open to me, he need do so no longer, 
 for I would not tare the stock. This I did immedi 
 ately after the conversation with Judge Black, which, 
 according to his own recollection, as well as mine, 
 was early in the winter of 1869-70. 
 
 One circumstance has given rise to a painful con 
 flict of testimony between Mr. Ames and myself. I 
 refer to the loan of $300." Among the various criti 
 cisms that have been made on this subject, it is said 
 to be a suspicious circumstance, that I should have 
 borrowed so small a sum of money from Mr. Ames, 
 about this time. As stated in my testimony, I had 
 just returned from Europe, only a few days before 
 the session began, and the expenses of the trip had 
 brought me short of funds. I might have alluded in 
 
268 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 * 
 
 the same connection to the fact that, before going 
 abroad, I had obtained money from a banker in New 
 York, turning over to him advanced drafts for sev 
 eral months of my congressional salary, when it 
 should be due ; and, needing a small sum, early in 
 the session, for current expenses, I asked it of Mr. 
 Ames, for the reason that he had volunteered to put 
 me in the way of making what he thought would be 
 a profitable investment. He gave me the money, 
 asking for no receipt, but saying, at the same time, 
 that if I concluded to take the stock, we would settle 
 both matters together. I am not able to fix the 
 exact date of the loan, but it was probably in Janu 
 ary, 1868. 
 
 Mr. Ames seems to have forgotten this circum 
 stance, until I mentioned it to him, after the investi 
 gation began ; for he said, in his first testimony, 
 that he had forgotten that he had let me have any 
 money. I neglected to pay him this money, until 
 after the conversation with Judge Black, partly be 
 cause of my pecuniary embarrassments, and partly 
 because no conclusion had been reached in regard to 
 the purchase of the stock. When I paid him, I took 
 no receipt, as I had given none at the first. 
 
 Mr. Ames said once or twice, in the course of his 
 testimony, that I did not repay it, although he says, 
 in regard to it, that he does not know, and cannot 
 remember. 
 
 On these differences of recollection between Mr. 
 Ames and myself, it is not so important to show that 
 my statement is the correct one, as to show that I 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 269 
 
 have made it strictly in accordance with my under 
 standing of the facts. And this I am able to show 
 by proof entirely independent of my own testimony. 
 
 In the spring of 1868, Hon. J. P. Robison of 
 Cleveland, Ohio, was my guest here in Washington, 
 and spent nearly two weeks with me, during the trial 
 of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. There has 
 existed between us an intimate acquaintance of long 
 standing, and I have often consulted him on business 
 affairs. -On meeting him since the adjournment of 
 Congress, he informed me that, while he was visiting 
 me on the occasion referred to, I stated to him the 
 offer of Mr. Ames, and asked him his opinion of it. 
 The following letter, just received from him, states 
 the conversation as he remembers it : 
 
 CLEVELAND, OHIO, May i, 1873. 
 
 Dear General: I send you the facts concerning a 
 conversation I had with you (I think in the spring of 
 1868) when I was stopping in Washington for some 
 days, as your guest, during the trial of the impeach 
 ment of President Johnson. While there, you told 
 me that Mr. Ames had offered you a chance to invest 
 a small amount in a company that was to operate in 
 lands and buildings along the Pacific railroad, which 
 he (Ames) said would be a good thing. You asked 
 me what I thought of it as a business proposition, 
 that you had not determined what you would do 
 about it, and suggested to me to talk with Ames, 
 and form my own judgment, and if I thought well 
 enough of it to advance the money and buy the stock 
 on joint account with you, and let you pay me inter 
 est on the one-half, I could do so. But I did not 
 think well of the proposition as a business enterprise", 
 and did not talk with Ames on the subject 
 
27O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 After this talk, having at first told you I would 
 give the subject thought, and perhaps talk with 
 Ames, I told you one evening that I did not think 
 well of the proposition, and had not spoken to Ames 
 on the subject. 
 
 Yours, truly, 
 
 J. P. ROBISON. 
 Hon. J. A. GARFIELD. 
 
 I subjoin two other letters, which were written 
 about the time the report of the committee was made, 
 and to which I refer in my remarks made on the $d 
 of March, in the House of Representatives. The 
 first is from a citizen of the town where I reside ; 
 and the time of the conversation to which it alludes, 
 was, as near as I can remember, in the fall of 1868, 
 during the recess of Congress : 
 
 HIRAM, OHIO, February 18, 1873. 
 
 Dear Sir: It may be relevant to the question at 
 issue between yourself and Mr. Oakes Ames, in the 
 Credit Mobilier investigation, for me to state that, 
 three or four years ago, in a private conversation, you 
 made a statement to me involving the substance of 
 your testimony before the Poland committee, as pub 
 lished in the newspapers. The material points of 
 your statement were these : 
 
 That you had been spoken to by George Francis 
 Train, who offered you some shares of the Credit 
 Mobilier stock ; that you told him that you had no 
 money to invest in stocks; that subsequently you 
 had a conversation in relation to the matter with Mr. 
 Ames ; that Ames offered to carry the stock for you 
 until you could pay for it, if you cared to buy it ; and 
 that you had told him in that case perhaps you would 
 take it, but would not agree to do so until you had 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 inquired more fully into the matter. Such an ar 
 rangement as this was made, Ames agreeing to carry 
 the stock until you should decide. In this way, the 
 matter stood, as I understood it, at the time of our 
 conversation. My understanding was distinct that 
 you had not accepted Mr. Ames' proposition, but that 
 the shares were still held at your option. 
 
 You stated, further, that the company was to oper 
 ate in real property along the line of the Pacific 
 road. Perhaps, I should add that this conversation, 
 which I have always remembered very distinctly, 
 took place here, in Hiram. I have remembered the 
 conversation the more distinctly from the circum 
 stances that gave rise to it. Having been intimately 
 acquainted with you for twelve or fifteen years, and 
 having had a considerable knowledge of your pecun 
 iary affairs, I asked you how you were getting on, 
 and especially whether you were managing to reduce 
 your debts. In reply, you gave me a detailed state 
 ment of your affairs, and concluded, by saying you had 
 had some stock offered you, which, if you bought it, 
 would probably make you some money. You then 
 proceeded to state the case, as I have stated it above. 
 
 I cannot fix the time of the conversation more 
 definitely than to say it was certainly three, and 
 probably four, years ago. 
 
 Very truly, yours, 
 
 B. A. HlNSDALE, 
 
 President of Hiram College. 
 Hon. J. A. GARFIELD, Washington, D. C. 
 
 The other letter was addressed to the Speaker of 
 the House, and is as follows : 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1873. 
 
 My Dear Sir : From the beginning of the investi 
 gation concerning Mr. Ames' use of the Credit Mo- 
 
2/2 . THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 bilier, I believe that General Garfield was free from 
 all guilty connection with that business. This opin 
 ion was founded, not merely on my confidence in his 
 integrity, but on some special knowledge of his case. 
 I may have told you all about it in conversation, but 
 I desire now to repeat it, by way of reminder. 
 
 I assert unhesitatingly that, whatever General Gar- 
 field may have done, or forborne to do, he 'acted in 
 profound ignorance of the nature and character of 
 the thing which Mr. Ames was proposing to sell. 
 He had not the slightest suspicion that he was to be 
 taken into a ring organized for the purpose of de 
 frauding the public ; nor did he know that the stock 
 was in any manner connected with anything which 
 came, or could come, within the legislative jurisdic 
 tion of Congress. The case against him lacks the 
 scienter which alone constitutes guilt. 
 
 In the winter of 1869-70, I told General Garfield 
 of the fact that his name was on Arnes' list ; that 
 Ames charged him with being one of his distributees ; 
 explained to him the character, origin and objects of 
 the Credit Mobilier; pointed out the connection it 
 had with congressional legislation, and showed him 
 how impossible it was for a member of Congress to 
 hold stock in it without bringing his private interests 
 in conflict with his public duty. That all this was to 
 him a perfectly new revelation, I am as sure as I can 
 be of such a fact, or of any fact, which is capable of 
 being proved only by moral circumstances. He told 
 me, then, the whole story of Train's offer to him, and 
 Ames' subsequent solicitation, and his own action in 
 the premises, much as he details it to the committee. 
 I do not undertake to reproduce the conversation ; 
 but the effect of it all was to convince me thoroughly 
 that, when he listened to Ames, he was perfectly un 
 conscious of anything evil. I watched carefully 
 every word that fell from him on this point, and did 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2/3 
 
 not regard his narrative of the transaction, in other 
 respects, with much interest, because, in my view, 
 everything else was insignificant. I did not care 
 whether he had made a bargain technically binding 
 or not; his integrity depended upon the question, 
 whether he acted with his eyes open. If he had 
 known the true character of the proposition made to 
 him, he would not have endured it, much less em 
 braced it. 
 
 Now, couple this with Mr. Ames' admission that 
 he gave no explanation whatever of the matter to 
 General Garfield ; then, reflect that riot a particle of 
 proof exists to show that he learned anything about 
 it, previous to his conversation with me, and I think 
 you will say that it is altogether unjust to put him on 
 the list of those who, knowingly and willfully, joined 
 the fraudulent association in question. 
 
 J. S. BLACK. 
 
 Hon. J. G. ELAINE, 
 
 Speaker of House of Representatives. 
 
 To these may be added the facts, recently pub 
 lished by Colonel Donn Piatt of this city, that, in 
 the winter of 1869-' 70, he had occasion to look into 
 the history of the Credit Mobilier company, and 
 found the same state of facts concerning my connec 
 tion with it, as are set forth in the letters quoted 
 above. 
 
 Whether my understanding of the facts is correct 
 or not, it is manifest, from the testimony given above, 
 that, in' the spring of 1868, and in the autumn of that 
 year, and again in the winter of 1869; when I could 
 have no motive to mis-represent the facts, I stated the 
 18 
 
2/4 TH E LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 case to these gentlemen, substantially as it is stated 
 in my testimony before the committee. 
 
 But it has been charged in the newspapers that, 
 during the Presidential campaign, I denied any 
 knowledge of the subject, or, at least, that I allowed 
 the impression to be made upon the public mind that 
 I knew nothing of it. To this answer, I wrote no 
 letter on the subject, and made no statement in any 
 public address, except to deny, in the broadest terms, 
 the only charge then made, that I had been bribed 
 by Oakes Ames; 
 
 When the charges first appeared in the newspapers, 
 I was in Montana Territory, and heard nothing of 
 them until my return, on the I3th or I4th of Septem 
 ber. On the following day, I met General Boynton, 
 correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, and related 
 to him, briefly, what I remembered about the offer to 
 sell the stock. I told him I should write no letter 
 on the subject, but if he thought best to publish the 
 substance of what I had stated to him, he could do 
 so. The same day he wrote and telegraphed from 
 Washington, to the Cincinnati Gazette, under date of 
 September 15, 1872, the following, which is a brief 
 but correct report of my statement to him : 
 
 General Garfield, who has just arrived here from 
 the Indian country, has to-day had the first opportu 
 nity of seeing the charges connecting his name with 
 receiving shares of the Credit Mobilier from Oakes 
 Ames. He authorizes the statement that he never 
 subscribed for a single share of the stock, and that 
 he never received, or saw a share of it. When the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2?$ 
 
 company was first formed, George Francis Train, 
 then active in it, came to Washington, and exhibited 
 a list of subscribers, of leading capitalists, and some 
 members of Congress, to the stock of the company. 
 The subscription was described as a popular one of 
 $1,000 cash. Train urged General Garfield to sub 
 scribe, on two occasions, and each time, he declined. 
 Subsequently, he was again informed that the list was 
 nearly completed, but that a chance remained for 
 him to subscribe, when he again declined ; and to this 
 day, he has not subscribed for, or received, any share 
 of stock or bond of the company. 
 
 This dispatch was widely copied in the newspapers 
 at the time, and was the only statement I made or 
 authorized. One thing in connection with the case, 
 I withheld from the public. When I saw the letters 
 of Oakes Ames to Mr. McComb, I was convinced, 
 from what Judge Black had told me, in 1869, that 
 they were genuine, and that Ames had pretended to 
 McComb that he had sold the Credit Mobilier stock 
 for the purpose of securing the influence of members 
 of Congress in any legislation that might arise touch 
 ing his interests. I might have published the fact 
 that I had heard this, and now believed Ames had so 
 represented it ; though, at the time Judge Black gave 
 me the information, I thought quite likely he was 
 mistaken. I did not know to what extent any other 
 member of Congress had had negotiations with Mr. 
 Ames ; but knowing the members whose names were 
 published in connection with the charges, and be 
 lieving them to be men of the highest integrity, I 
 did not think it just, either to them, or to the party 
 
2/6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 with which we acted, to express my opinion of the 
 genuineness of Ames' letters, at a time when a false 
 construction would doubtless have been placed upon 
 it. 
 
 Here, I might rest the case, but for some of the 
 testimony given by Mr. Ames, in reference to myself. 
 I shall consider it carefully, and shall make quota 
 tions of his language, or refer to it, as printed in 
 the report, so that the correctness of my citations 
 may, in every case, be verified. 
 
 To bring the discussion into as narrow a compass 
 as possible, the points of agreement and difference 
 between Mr. Ames and myself may thus be stated : 
 
 We agree that, soon after the beginning of the 
 session of i86/-'8, Mr. Ames offered to sell me ten 
 shares of the Credit Mobilier stock, at par and the 
 accrued interest ; that I never paid him any money 
 on that offer ; that I never received a certificate of 
 stock; that after the month of June, 1868, I never 
 received, demanded, or was offered any dividend, in 
 any form, on that stock. We also agree that I once 
 received from Mr. Ames a small sum of money. On 
 the following points we disagree : He claims that I 
 agreed to take the stock. I deny it. He claims that 
 I received from him $329, and no more, as a balance 
 of dividends on the stock. This I deny, and assert 
 that I borrowed from him $300, and no more, and 
 afterwards returned it ; and that I have never re 
 ceived anything from him on account of the stock. 
 
 In discussing the testimony relating to myself, it 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 becomes necessary, for a full exhibition of the argu 
 ment, to refer to that concerning others. 
 
 It has been said that in Mr. Ames' first testimony, 
 he withheld, or concealed, the facts generally ; and 
 hence, that what he said at that time, concerning any 
 one person, is of but little consequence. The weight 
 and value of his first testimony, concerning any one 
 person, can be ascertained only by comparing it with 
 his testimony, given at the same examination) con 
 cerning others. 
 
 In that first examination, of December 17, Mr. 
 Ames mentions, by name, sixteen -members of Con 
 gress, who were said to have had dealings with him, 
 in reference to Credit Mobilier stock. Eleven of 
 these, he says, in that testimony, bought the stock; 
 but he there sets me down among the five who did 
 not buy it. He says : ' He [Garfield] did not pay 
 for it or receive it.' 
 
 He was, at the same time, cross-examined, in re 
 gard to the dividends he paid to different persons ; 
 and he testified that he paid one or more dividends 
 to eight different members of Congress, and that 
 three others, being original subscribers, drew their 
 dividends, not from him, but directly from the com 
 pany. To several of the eight, he says, he paid all 
 the dividends that accrued. But, in the same cross- 
 examination, he testified that he did not remember 
 to have paid me any dividends, nor that he had let 
 me have any money. The following is the whole of 
 his testimony concerning me, on cross-examination : 
 
 Q. In reference to Mr. Garfield, you say that you 
 
2/8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 agreed to get ten shares for him, and to hold them 
 till he could pay for them, and that he never did pay 
 for them, nor receive them ? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. He never paid any money on that stock, nor re 
 ceived any money from it ? A. Not on account of 
 it. 
 
 Q. He received no dividends? A. No, sir; I 
 think not. He says he did not. My own recollec 
 tion is not very clear. 
 
 Q. So that, as you understand, Mr. Garfield never 
 parted with any money, nor received any money on 
 that transaction? A. No, sir; he had some money 
 from me once, some three or four hundred dollars, 
 and called it a loan. He says that that is all he ever 
 received from me, and that he considered it a loan. 
 He never took his stock, and never paid for it. 
 
 Q. Did you understand it so? A. Yes; I am 
 willing to so understand it, I do not recollect pay 
 ing him any dividend, and have forgotten that I paid 
 
 him any money. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Q. Who received the dividends? A. Mr. Patter 
 son, Mr. Bingham, James F. Wilson ; and I think Mr. 
 Colfax received a part of them. I do not know 
 whether he received them all or not. I think Mr. 
 Scofield received a part of them. Messrs. Kelley and 
 Garfield never paid for their stock, and never received 
 their dividends. 
 
 Certainly, it cannot be said that Mr. Ames has 
 evinced any partiality for me ; and if he was attempt 
 ing to shield any of those concerned, it will not be 
 claimed that I was one of his favorites. 
 
 In his first testimony, he claims to have spoken 
 from memory, and without the aid of his documents. 
 But he did, then, distinctly testify that he sold the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2/9 
 
 stock to eleven members, and paid dividends to eight 
 of them. He not only did not put me in either of 
 those lists, but distinctly testified that I never took 
 the stock, nor received the dividends arising from it. 
 
 His second testimony was given on the 22d of 
 January, five weeks after his first. In assigning to 
 this, and all his subsequent testimony, its just weight, 
 it ought to be said, that before he gave it, an event 
 occurred which made it strongly for his interest to 
 prove a sale of the stock which he held as trustee. 
 Besides the fact that McComb had already an equity 
 suit pending in Philadelphia, to compel Mr. Ames to 
 account to him for this same stock ; another suit was 
 threatened, after he had given his first testimony, to 
 make him account to the company for all the stock 
 he had not sold as trustee. His first testimony was 
 . given on the 1 7th of December, and was made public 
 on the 6th of January. On the 1 5th of January, T. C. 
 Durant, one of the heaviest stockholders of the Credit 
 Mobilier company, and, for a long time, its president, 
 was examined as a witness, and said, 'The stock 
 that stands in the name of Mr. Ames, as trustee, 
 I claim belongs to the company yet ; and I have a 
 summons in a suit, in my pocket, waiting to catch him 
 in New York to serve the papers.' Of course, if, as 
 a trustee, he had made sale of any portion of this 
 stock, and afterward, as an individual, had bought k 
 back, he could not be compelled to return it to the 
 company. 
 
 Nowhere in Mr. Ames* subsequent testimony does 
 he claim to remember the transaction between him- 
 
28O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 self and me, any differently from what he first stated 
 it to be. But from the memoranda found, or made, 
 after his first examination, he infers and declares that 
 there was a sale of the stock to me, and a payment 
 to me of $329, on account of dividends. 
 
 Here, again, his testimony concerning me should 
 be compared with his testimony given at the same 
 time concerning others. 
 
 The. memoranda, out of which all his additional 
 testimony grew, consisted of certificates of stock, 
 receipts, checks on the sergeant-at-arms, and entries 
 in his diary. I will consider these in the order 
 stated. 
 
 To two members of Congress, he delivered certifi 
 cates of Credit Mobilier stock, which as trustee he 
 had sold to them ; and in a third case, he delivered 
 a certificate of stock to the person to whom a mem 
 ber had sold it. But Mr. Ames testifies that he never 
 gave me a certificate of stock; that I never de 
 manded one ; and that no certificate was ever spoken 
 of between us. 
 
 In the case of five members, he gave to them, or 
 received from them, regular receipts of payment on 
 account of stock and dividends. But nowhere is it 
 claimed, or pretended, that any receipt was ever given 
 by me, or to me, on account of any dividends arising 
 from it. 
 
 Again, to five of the members, Mr. Ames gave 
 checks on the sergeant-at-arms, payable to them by 
 name ; and these checks were produced in evidence. 
 Jn the case of three others, he produced checks bear- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 28l 
 
 ing on their face the initials of the persons to whom 
 he claimed they were paid. But he nowhere pretended 
 to have, or ever to have had any check bearing either 
 my name or my initials, or any mark or indorsement 
 connecting it with me, 
 
 In regard to dividends claimed, in his subsequent 
 testimony, to have been paid to different members, in 
 two cases, he says he paid all the dividends that ac 
 crued on the stock from December, 1867, to May 6, 
 1871. In a third case, all the accretions of the stock 
 were received by the person to whom he sold it, as 
 the result of a re-sale. In a fourth case, he claims to 
 have paid money on the 22d of September, 1868, on 
 account of dividends, and in a fifth case, he claims to 
 have paid a dividend in full, January 22, 1869. One 
 purchaser sold his ten shares in the winter of i868-'69, 
 and received thereon a net profit of at least $3,000. 
 Yet Mr. Ames repeatedly swears that he never paid 
 me but $329 ; that afterjune, 1868, he never tend 
 ered to me, nor did I ever demand from him, any divi 
 dend; and that there was never any conversation 
 between us relating to dividends. 
 
 After Mr. Ames had stated that he remembered 
 no conversation between us in regard to the adjust 
 ment of these accounts, the committee asked : 
 
 Q. Was this the only dealing you had with him in 
 reference to any stock ? A. I think so. 
 
 Q. Was it the only transaction of any kind ? A. 
 The oiJy transaction. 
 
 Q. Has that $329 ever been paid to you? A. I 
 have no recollection of it. 
 
282 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Q. Have you any belief that it ever has? A. No, 
 sir. 
 
 Q. Did you ever !oan General Garfield 300? 
 A. Not to my knowledge; except that he calls this a 
 loan. 
 
 Q. There were dividends of Union Pacific railroad 
 stock on these ten shares? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Did General Garfield ever receive these? A. 
 No, sir. He never has received but $329. # * * 
 
 Q. Has there been any conversation between you 
 and him in reference to the Pacific stock he was 
 entitled to? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Has he ever called for it ? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Have you ever offered it to him ? A, No, sir. 
 
 Q. Has there been any conversation in relation to 
 it? A. No, sir. 
 
 The assertion that he withheld the payment of 
 dividends, because of the McComb suit, brought in 
 November, 1868, is wholly broken down by the fact 
 that he did pay the dividends to several persons dur 
 ing a period of two years, after the suit was com 
 menced. 
 
 The only other memoranda offered as evidence are 
 the entries in Mr. Ames' diary for 1868. That 
 book contains a separate statement of an account 
 with eleven members of Congress, showing the num 
 ber of shares of stock sold, or intended to be sold, 
 to each, with the interest and dividends thereon. 
 Across the face of nine of these accounts, long lines 
 are drawn, crossing each other, showing, as Mr. 
 Ames says, that in each such case the account was 
 adjusted and closed. Three of these entries of ac 
 counts are thus crossed off, and the three members 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 283 
 
 referred to therein testify that they never bought 
 the stock. The account entered under my name is 
 one of the three that are not crossed off. Here 
 is the entry in full. 
 
 GARFIELD, 
 
 I o shares Credit M. . ...--. . $1,000 oo 
 7 mos. i o days . . . . - . . 43 36 
 
 $1,043 3 6 
 80 per ct. bd. div. , at 97 . 77600 
 
 $267 36 
 Int'st to June 20 . . . , . . 3 64 
 
 271 oo 
 1,000 C. M. 
 i.oooU. P. 
 
 This entry is a mere undated memorandum, and 
 indicates neither payment, settlement or sale. In 
 reference to it, the following testimony was given by 
 Mr. Ames, on cross-examination : 
 
 Q. This statement of Mr. Garfield's account is not 
 crossed off, which indicates, does it, that the mat 
 ter has never been settled or adjusted ? A. No, sir , 
 it never has. 4 - 
 
 Q. Can you state whether you have any other 
 entry in relation to Mr. Garfield ? A. No, sir. 
 
 Comparing Mr. Ames' testimony in reference to 
 me, with that in reference to others, it appears that 
 when he testified from his memory alone, he dis 
 tinctly and affirmatively excepted me from the list of 
 those who bought the stock, or received the divi 
 dends ; and that subsequently, in every case save my 
 own, he produced some one or more of the following 
 documents as evidence, viz., certificates of stock ; 
 
254 THE LIFE SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 receipts of money or dividends ; checks bearing 
 either the full names or the initials of the persons to 
 whom they purported to have been paid ; or entries 
 in his diary, of accounts marked ' adjusted and 
 closed/ But no one of the classes of memoranda 
 here described was produced in reference to me ; nor 
 was it pretended that any one such, referring to me, 
 ever existed. 
 
 In this review, I. neither assert ner intimate that 
 sales of stock are proved in the other cases referred 
 to. In several cases such proof was not made. But I 
 do assert that none of the evidences mentioned above 
 exist in reference to me. 
 
 Having thus stated the difference between the tes 
 timony relating to other persons, and that relating to 
 me, I now notice the testimony on which it is at 
 tempted to reach the conclusion that I did agree 
 to take the stock, and did receive $329 on account 
 of it. 
 
 On the 22d of January, Mr. Ames presented to 
 the committee a statement of an alleged account 
 with me, which I quote, 
 
 J A. G., Dr. 
 
 '1868. To 10 shares stock Credit Mobilier of A. $1,000 oo 
 
 Interest . . . . 47 oo 
 
 June 19. To cash . . . . . . 32900 
 
 $1,376 oo 
 
 Cr. 
 1868. By dividend bonds, Union Pacific railroad, 
 
 $1,000, at 80 per cent, less 2 per cent. $776 oo 
 June 17. By dividend collected for your account . 600 oo 
 
 $1,376 oo 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 28$ 
 
 This account, and other similar ones presented at 
 the same time, concerning other members, he claimed 
 to have copied from his memorandum-book. But 
 when the memorandum-book was subsequently pre 
 sented, it was found that the account here quoted 
 was not copied from it, but was made up partly from 
 memory, and partly from such memoranda as Mr. 
 Ames had discovered after his first examination. 
 
 By comparing this account with the entry made in 
 his diary, and already quoted, it will be seen that 
 they are not duplicates, either in substance or form ; 
 and that in this account a new element is added, 
 namely, an alleged payment of $329 in cash, on June 
 19. This is the very element in dispute. 
 
 His only evidence, that this sum was paid me, is 
 found in the production of a check drawn by Mr. 
 Ames on the sergeant-at-arms. The following is 
 the language of the check : 
 
 June 22, 1868. 
 
 Pay O. A., or bearer, three hundred and twenty- 
 nine dollars, and charge to my account. 
 
 OAKES AMES. 
 
 This check bears no indorsement or other mark, 
 than the words and figures given above. It was 
 drawn on the 22d day of June, and, as shown by the 
 books of the sergeant-at-arms, was paid the same day 
 by the paying teller. But if this check was paid to 
 rne on the account just quoted, it must have been 
 delivered to me three days before it was drawn ; for 
 the account says I received the payment on the I9th 
 of June, 
 
286 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 There is nothing but the testimony of Mr. Ames 
 that in any way connects this check with me ; and, 
 as the committee find that the check was paid to 
 me, I call special attention to all the testimony that 
 bears upon the questior 
 
 When Mr. Ames testified that he paid me $329 as 
 a dividend on account of the stock, the following 
 question was asked him : 
 
 Q. How was that paid ? A. Paid in money, I 
 believe. 
 
 At a later period in the examination : 
 
 Q. You say that $329 was paid to him. How was 
 that paid? A. I presume by a check on the ser- 
 geant-at-arms. I find there are checks filed, without 
 indicating who they were for. 
 
 One week later, the check, referred to above, was 
 produced, and the following examination was had : 
 
 Q. This check seems to have been paid to some 
 body, and taken up by the sergeant-at-arms. Those 
 initials are your own ? Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Do you know who had the benefit of this 
 check? A. I cannot tell you. 
 
 Q. Do you think you received the money on it 
 yourself? A. I have no idea. I may have drawn 
 the money and handed it to another person. It was 
 paid in that transaction. It may have been paid to 
 Mr. Garfield. There were several sums of that 
 amount. 
 
 Q. Have you any memory in reference to this 
 check ? A. I have no memory as to that particular 
 check. 
 
 Still later in the examination occurs the following : 
 Q. In regard to Mr. Garfield, do you know wheth- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 287 
 
 er you gave him a check, or paid him the money ? 
 A. I think I did not pay him the money. He got it 
 from the sergeant-at-arms. 
 
 Still later, in the same examination, occurs the 
 following : 
 
 Q. You think the check, on which you wrote 
 nothing to indicate the payee, must have been Mr. 
 Garfield's ? A. Yes, sir. That is my judgment. 
 
 On the nth of February, twelve days later still, 
 the subject came up again, and Mr. Arnes said: 
 
 A. I am not sure how I paid Mr. Garfield. 
 
 Still later, in a cross-examination in reference to 
 Mr. Colfax, the following occurs : 
 
 Q. In testifying in Mr. Garfield's case, you say 
 you may have drawn the money on the check, and 
 paid him. Is not your answer equally applicable to 
 the case of Mr. Colfax ? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Why not ? A. I put Mr. Colfax's initials on 
 the check, while I put no initials on Mr. Garfield's; 
 and I may have drawn the money myself. 
 
 Q. Did not Mr. Garfield's check belong to him ? 
 A. Mr. Garfield had not paid for his stock. He 
 was entitled to $329 balance. But Mr. Colfax paid 
 for his, and I had no business with his $1,200, 
 
 Q. Is your recollection in regard to this payment 
 to Mr. Colfax any more clear than your recollection 
 as to the payment to Mr. Garfield? A. Yes, sir; I 
 think it is. 
 
 And, finally, in the examination of Mr. Dillon, 
 cashier of the sergeant-at-arms, the following is re 
 corded : 
 
 0. There is a check payable to Oakes Ames, or 
 bearer. Have you any recollection of that? A. 
 
288 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 That was paid to himself. I have no doubt, myself, 
 that I paid that to Mr. Ames. 
 
 Reviewing the testimony on this point (and I have 
 quoted it all), it will be seen that Mr. Ames, several 
 times, asserts that he does not know whether he paid 
 me the check or not. He states positively that he 
 has no special recollection of the check. His testi 
 mony is wholly inferential. In one of the seven 
 paragraphs quoted, he says he paid me the money ; 
 in another, he says he may have paid me the money ; 
 in three of them, he thinks, or presumes, that he paid 
 me the check; and in the other two, he says he does 
 not know. 
 
 The cashier of the^sergeant-at-arms has no doubt 
 that Mr. Ames himself drew the money on the check. 
 And yet, upon this vague and wholly inconclusive 
 testimony, and almost alone upon it, is based the 
 assumption that I received from Mr. Ames $329, as 
 a dividend on the stock. I affirm, with perfect dis 
 tinctness of recollection, that I received no check 
 from Mr. Ames. The only money I ever received 
 from him was in currency. 
 
 The only other evidence, in support of the assump 
 tion that he paid me $329, as a balance on the stock, is 
 found in the entries in his diary for 1868. The value 
 .of this class of memoranda depends altogether upon 
 their character, and upon the business habits of the 
 man who makes them. On this latter point, the fol- 
 lowin g testimony of Mr. Ames is important : 
 
 Q. Is it your habit, as a matter of business, in con 
 ducting various transactions with different persons, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 289 
 
 to do it without making any memoranda? A. This 
 was my habit. Until within a year or two, I have had 
 no book-keeper; and I used to keep all my own mat 
 ters in my own way, and very carelessly, I admit. 
 
 The memorandum- book, in which these entries were 
 made, was not presented to the committee until the 
 nth of February, one week before they made their 
 report. This book does not contain continuous 
 entries of current transactions, with consecutive dates. 
 It is in no sense a day-book ; but contains a loose, 
 irregular mass of memoranda, which may have been 
 made at the time of the transactions, or long after 
 ward. Mr. Ames says of it in his testimony : 
 
 Q. What was the character of the book in which 
 the memoranda were made? A. It was in a small 
 pocket memorandum, and some of it on slips of 
 paper. 
 
 It is not pretended that this book contains a com 
 plete record of payments and receipts. And yet, 
 besides the check, already referred to, this book, so 
 made up, contains the only evidence, or pretended 
 evidence, on which it is claimed that I agreed to take 
 the stock. It should be remembered that every por 
 tion of this evidence, both check and book, is of Mr. 
 Ames* own making. I have already referred to the 
 undated memorandum of an account in this book, 
 under my name, and have shown that it neither 
 proved a sale of stock, or any payment on account of 
 it. 
 
 There are but two other entries in the book relating 
 to me, and they are two lists of names, substantially 
 19 
 
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 duplicates of each other, with various amounts set 
 opposite each. They are found on pages 450 and 
 453 of the testimony. The word ' paid ' is marked 
 before the first name on one of these lists, and ditto 
 marks placed under the word 'paid,' and opposite 
 the remaining names. But the value of this entry, as 
 proof of payment, will be seen from the cross-exami 
 nation of Mr. Ames, which immediately follows the 
 list: 
 
 Q. This entry, 'Paid S. Colfax 1,200,' is the 
 amount which you paid by this check on the sergeant- 
 at-arms ? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Was this entry upon this page of these various 
 names intended to show the amount you were to pay, 
 or that you had paid ; was that made at this date? 
 A. I do not know ; it was made about that time. I 
 would not have written it on Sunday ; it is not very 
 likely. It was made on a blank page. It is simply 
 a list of names. 
 
 Q. Were these names put down after you had made 
 the payments, or before, do you think? A. Before, 
 I think. 
 
 Q. You think you made this list before the parties 
 referred to had actually received their checks, or re 
 ceived the money? A. Yes, sir; that was to show 
 whom I had to pay, and who were entitled to receive 
 the 60 per cent, dividend. It shows whom I had to 
 pay here in Washington. 
 
 Q. It says 'paid?' A. Yes, sir; well, I did pay 
 it. 
 
 Q. What I want to know is, whether the list was 
 made out before, or after payment? A. About the 
 same time, I suppose ; probably, before. 
 
 The other list, bearing the same names and amounts, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2QI 
 
 shows no other evidence that the several sums were 
 paid, than a cross marked opposite each amount. But 
 concerning this, Mr. Ames testifies that it was a list 
 of what was to be paid, and that the cross was sub 
 sequently added to show that the amount had been 
 paid. 
 
 Neither of these lists shows anything as to the 
 time or mode of payment, and would nowhere be ac 
 cepted as proof of payment. By Mr. Ames' own 
 showing, they are lists of persons to whom he expected 
 to pay the .amounts set opposite their names. They 
 may exhibit his expectations, but they do not prove 
 the alleged payments. If the exact sum of $329 was 
 received by me at the time, and under the circum 
 stances alleged by Mr. Ames, it implies an agreement 
 to take the stock. It implies, furthermore, that Mr. 
 Ames had sold Pacific railroad bonds for me ; that 
 he had received, also, a cash dividend for me, and had 
 accounted to me as trustee for these receipts, and 
 the balance of the proceeds. 
 
 Now, I affirm, with the firmest conviction of the 
 correctness of my statement, that I never heard until 
 this investigation began, that Mr. Ames ever sold 
 any bonds, or performed any other stock transactions 
 on my behalf, and no act of mine was ever based on 
 such a supposition. 
 
 The only remaining testimony bearing upon me, 
 is that in which Mr. Ames refers to conversations 
 between himself and me, after the investigation 
 began. The first of these was of his own seeking, 
 and occurred before he or I had testified. Soon 
 
2Q2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 after the investigation began, Mr. Ames asked me 
 what I remembered of our talk in 1867-68, in refer 
 ence to the Credit Mobilier company. I told him I 
 could best answer his question by reading to him the 
 statement I had already prepared to lay -before the 
 committee, when I should be called. Accordingly, 
 on the following day, I took my written statement to 
 the Capitol, and read it to him carefully, sentence by 
 sentence, and asked him to point out anything which 
 he might think incorrect. He made but two criticisms ; 
 one, in regard to a date, and the other, that he thought 
 it was the Credit Foncier and not the Credit Mobilier 
 that Mr. Train asked me to subscribe to in i866-'6/. 
 When I read the paragraph in which I stated that I 
 had once borrowed $300 of him, he remarked, ' I 
 believe I did let you have some money, but I had 
 forgotten it.' He said nothing to indicate that he 
 regarded me as having purchased the stock ; and 
 from that conversation, I did not doubt that he re 
 garded my statement substantially correct. His first 
 testimony, given a few days afterward, confirmed me 
 in this opinion. 
 
 I had another interview with Mr. Ames, of my own 
 seeking, to which he alludes elsewhere ; and for a 
 full understanding of it, a statement of some previous 
 facts is necessary. I gave my testimony before the 
 committee, and in Mr. Ames' hearing, on the morn 
 ing of January 14. It consisted of the statement I 
 had already read to Mr. Ames, and of the cross-exam 
 ination which followed my reading of the statement, 
 all of which has been quoted above. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 293 
 
 During that afternoon, while I was in the manage 
 ment of an appropriation bill in the House, word was 
 brought to me that Mr. Ames, on coming out of the 
 committee-room, had declared, in the hearing of 
 several reporters, that ' Garfield was in league with 
 Judge Black to break him down ; -that it was $400, 
 not $300, that he had let Garfield have, who had not 
 only never repaid it, but had refused to repay it".' 
 Though this report of Mr. Ames' alleged declaration 
 was subsequently found to be false, and was doubtless 
 fabricated for the purpose of creating difficulty, yet 
 there were circumstances which, at the time, led me 
 to suppose that the report was correct. One was, 
 that Judge Black (who was McComb's counsel in the 
 suit against Ames) was present at my examination, 
 and had drawn out on cross-examination my opinion 
 of the nature of Mr. Ames' relation to the Credit 
 Mobilier company and the Union Pacific company ; 
 and the other was, that in Mr. Ames' testimony of 
 December 17, he had said, 'He (Mr. Garfield) had 
 some money from me once, some three or four hun 
 dred dollars, and called it a loan.' The sum of four 
 hundred dollars had thus been mentioned in his 
 testimony, and it gave plausibility to the story that 
 he was now claiming that, as the amount he had 
 loaned me. 
 
 Supposing that Mr. Ames had said what was re 
 ported, I was deeply indignant ; and, with a view of 
 drawing from him a denial or retraction of the state 
 ment, or, if he persisted in it, to pay him twice over, 
 so that he could no longer say or pretend that there 
 
294 THE LIFE > SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 existed between us any unsettled transaction, I drew 
 some money from the office of the sergeant-at-arms, 
 and, going to my committee-room, addressed him 
 the following note : 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 January 14, 1873. 
 
 Sir : I have just been informed, to my utter amaze 
 ment, that, after coming out of the committee-room 
 this morning, you said in the presence of several re 
 porters that you had loaned me four, instead of three, 
 hundred dollars, and that I had not only refused to 
 pay you, but was aiding your accusers to injure you 
 in the investigation. I shall call the attention of the 
 committee to it, unless I find I am misinformed, To 
 bring the loan question to an immediate issue between 
 us, I inclose herewith $400. If you wish to do justice 
 to the truth and to me, you will return it, and correct 
 the alleged statement, if you made it. If not, you 
 will keep the money, and thus be paid twice and more. 
 Silence on your part will be a confession that you 
 have deeply wronged me. 
 
 J. A. GARFIELD. 
 Hon. OAKES AMES. 
 
 After the House had adjourned for the day, I 
 found, on returning to my committee-room, that I had 
 omitted to inclose the note with the money, which 
 had been sent to the House post-office. I immediate 
 ly sought Mr. Ames to deliver the note, but failed to 
 find him at his hotel, or elsewhere, that evening. 
 Early the next morning, January 15, I found him, 
 and delivered the note. He denied having said, or 
 claimed, any of the things therein set forth, and wrote 
 on the back of my letter the following : 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2Q5 
 
 WASHINGTON, January 15, 1873. 
 Dear Sir : I return you your letter with inclosures, 
 and I utterly deny ever having said that you refused 
 to pay me, or that it was four, instead of three hun 
 dred dollars, or that you was aiding my accusers. I 
 also wish to say that there has never been any but 
 the most friendly feelings between us, and no trans 
 action, in the least degree, that can be censured by 
 any fair-minded person. I herewith return you the 
 four hundred dollars as not belonging to me. 
 
 Yours, truly, 
 
 OAKES AMES. 
 Hon. J. A. GARFIELD. 
 
 From inquiry of the reporters, to whom the remarks 
 were alleged to have been made, I had become satis 
 fied that the story was wholly false ; and when Mr. 
 Ames added his denial, I expressed to him my re 
 gret that I had written this note in anger and upon 
 false information. I furthermore said to Mr. Ames 
 that, if he had any doubt in reference to the repay 
 ment of the loan, I wished him to keep the money. 
 He refused to keep any part of it, and his conversa 
 tion indicated that he regarded all transactions be 
 tween us settled. 
 
 Before I left his room, however, he said he had 
 some memoranda which seemed to indicate that the 
 money I had of him was on account of stock ; and 
 asked me, if he did not, some time in 1868, deliver 
 to me a statement to that effect. I told him if he had 
 any account of that sort, I was neither aware of it, 
 nor responsible for it ; and thereupon I made sub 
 stantially the following statement : 
 
296 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Mr. Ames, the only memoranda you ever showed 
 me was in i867~'68, when speaking to me of this 
 proposed sale of stock, you figured out, on a little 
 piece of paper, what you supposed would be realized 
 from an investment of $1,000; and-, as I remember, 
 you wrote down these figures : 
 
 1,000 
 1,000 
 
 400 
 2,400 
 as to the amounts, you expected to realize. 
 
 While saying this to Mr. Ames, I wrote the figures, 
 as above, on a piece of paper lying on his table, to 
 show him what the only statement was, he had ever 
 made to me. It is totally false that these figures had 
 any other meaning than that I have here given ; nor 
 did I say anything, out of which could be fabricated 
 such a statement. 
 
 In his testimony of January 29, Mr. Ames gives a 
 most remarkable account of this interview. Remem 
 bering the fact, by him undisputed, that there had 
 been no communication between us on this subject, 
 for more than four years before this investigation 
 began, notice the following : 
 
 Q. Did you have any conversation, in reference to 
 the influence this transaction would have on the elec 
 tion last fall? A. Yes, he said it would be very in 
 jurious to him. 
 
 Q. What else, in reference to that ? A. I am a 
 very bad man to repeat conversation ; I cannot re 
 member. 
 
 That is, he makes me, on the i$th of January, 1873, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 297 
 
 express the fear that this transaction will injure me 
 in the election of October, 1872. 
 Again : 
 
 Q. You may state whether, in conversation with 
 you, Mr. Garfield claims, as he claims before us, that 
 the only transaction between you was borrowing 
 $300. A. No, sir; he did not claim that with me. 
 
 Q. State how he did claim it with you ; what was 
 said? A. I cannot remember half of it. * * 
 He [Garfield] stated, that when he came back from 
 Europe, being in want of funds, he called oix me, to 
 loan him a sum of money. He thought he had re 
 paid it. I do not know ; I do not remember. * * 
 
 Q. How long after that transaction [the offer to 
 sell Credit Mobilier stock] did he go to Europe ? 
 A. I believe it was a year or two. * * 
 
 Q. Do you not know that he did not go to Europe 
 for nearly two years afterward? A. No, I do not. 
 It is my impression, it was two years afterward, but 
 I cannot remember dates. 
 
 I should think not, if this testimony is an example 
 of his memory ! 
 
 It is known to thousands of people, that I went to 
 Europe in the summer of 1867, and at no other time. 
 I sailed from New York on the I3th of July, 1867, 
 spent several days of August, in Scotland, with 
 Speaker Blaine and Senator Morrill of Vermont, 
 and returned to New York on the Qth of the follow 
 ing November three weeks before the beginning 
 of the session of Congress. 
 
 The books of the sergeant-at-arms of the House 
 show that, before going, I had assigned several 
 months' pay, in advance, to a banker, who had ad- 
 
298 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 vanced me money, for the expenses of the trip. To 
 break the weight of this fact, which showed why I 
 came to need a small loan, Mr. Ames says I did not 
 go to Europe till nearly two years afterward. 
 
 If a reason be sought why he gave such testimony, 
 it may perhaps be found on the same page from 
 which the last quotation is made : 
 
 Q. How did you happen to retain that little stray 
 memorandum? A. I do not know. I found it in 
 my table two or three days afterward. I did not pay 
 any attention to it at the time, until I found there 
 ^was to be a conflict of testimony, and I thought that 
 might be something worth preserving. 
 
 How did he find out, after that time, that ' there 
 was to be a conflict of testimony?' The figures 
 were made on that piece of paper, January 15, the 
 day after I had given my testimony, and four weeks 
 after he had given his first testimony. There was no 
 conflict, except what he himself made ; and that con 
 flict was as marked between his first statement and 
 his subsequent ones, as between the latter and mine. 
 
 There runs through all his testimony, now under 
 consideration, an intimation that I was in a state of 
 alarm, was beseeching Mr. Ames to 'let me off 
 easy,' ' to say as little about it as possible,' ' to let 
 it go as a loan,' 'to save my reputation,' that I 'felt 
 very bad,' was 'in great distress,' 'hardly knew 
 what I said,' and other such expressions. 
 
 I should have been wholly devoid of sensibility, if 
 I had not felt keenly the suspicions, the false accu 
 sations, the reckless calumnies with which the public 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 2QQ 
 
 mind was filled, while the investigation was in prog 
 ress. But there is not the smallest fragment of 
 truth in the statement, or rather the insinuation, that 
 I ever asked, or wanted, anything from Mr. Ames, 
 on this subject, but simple justice and the truth. 
 
 The spirit in which a portion of the public treated 
 the men whose conduct was being investigated, may 
 be understood from the following questions, put to 
 Mr. Ames, in the midst of an examination, not at all 
 relating to me : 
 
 Q. In that conversation, with Mr. Garfield, was 
 anything said, by him, about your being an old man, 
 near the end of your career, and his being compara 
 tively a young man? A. No, sir; nothing of that 
 sort. 
 
 It is manifest that this question was suggested by 
 some of the inventive bystanders, in hopes of making 
 an item for a new sensation. 
 
 The most absurd and exaggerated statements were 
 constantly finding their way into the public press, in 
 reference to every subject and person connected with 
 the investigation, and this question is an illustration. 
 
 In no communication with Mr. Ames, did I ever 
 say anything inconsistent with my testimony before 
 the committee. 
 
 Conscious that I had done no wrong, from the be 
 ginning to the end of this affair, I had nothing to 
 conceal, and no favors to ask, except that the whole 
 truth should be known. I was in the committee- 
 room but once, during the investigation, and I went 
 then, only when summoned to give my testimony. 
 
3OO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 From a review of the whole subject, the following 
 conclusions are fairly and clearly established : 
 
 I. That the Credit Mobilier company was a State 
 corporation, regularly organized ; and that neither 
 its charter, nor the terms of its contract, of October 
 15, 1867, disclosed anything which indicated that the 
 company was engaged in any fraudulent or improper 
 enterprise. 
 
 II. That seven persons, inside the Credit Mobilier 
 company, calling themselves trustees, obtained the 
 control of the franchises, and of a majority of the 
 stock, of both the Credit Mobilier and of the Union 
 Pacific railroad company ; and, while holding such 
 double control, they made a contract with them 
 selves, by which they received, for building the road, 
 a sum greatly beyond the real cost of construction: 
 and, in adjusting the payments, they received stock 
 and bonds of the railroad company, at a heavy dis 
 count. 
 
 ****** 
 
 That these profits were distributed, not to the 
 stockholders' of the Credit Mobilier proper, but to 
 the seven trustees, and their proxies the holders 
 of this stock and that this arrangement was kept 
 secret by its managers. 
 
 III. That, in 1867-' 8, Mr. Ames offered to sell 
 small amounts of this stock to several leading mem 
 bers of Congress, representing it as an ordinary in 
 vestment, promising fair profits ; but, but in every 
 such offer, he said nothing about any arrangement, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A GARFIELD. 30 1 
 
 by which the profits were to be made, or what would 
 be the amount of dividends likely to be realized. 
 While thus offering this stock, he was writing to 
 one of his associates, that he was disposing of the 
 stock 'where it would do most good,' which seemed 
 to intimate that he was thereby gaining influence 
 in Congress, to prevent investigation into the af 
 fairs of the road. His letters, and the list of names, 
 which he gave to McComb, represent many persons 
 who never did buy or agree to buy it, and also repre 
 sent a much larger amount than he sold. Mr. 
 Ames' letters and testimony contain contradictions, 
 not only of his own statements, but also of the 
 statements of most of the other witnesses; and 
 it is fair, in judging of its credibility, to take into 
 some account his interests involved in the contro 
 versy. 
 
 IV. That in reference to myself, the following 
 points are clearly established by the evidence : 
 
 i. That I neither purchased, nor agreed to pur 
 chase, the Credit Mobilier stock, which Mr. Ames 
 offered to sell me ; nor did I receive any dividend 
 arising from it. This appears from my own testi 
 mony ; and, from the first testimony given by Mr. 
 Ames, which is not overthrown by his subsequent 
 statements ; and is strongly confirmed by the fact 
 that, in the case of each of those who did purchase 
 the stock, there was produced, as evidence of the sale, 
 either a certificate of stock, receipt of payment, a 
 check drawn in the name of the payee, or entries in 
 Mr. Ames' diary, of a stock account marked, adjusted, 
 
3O2 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 and closed ; but, that no one of these evidences ex 
 ists, in reference to me. This position is further 
 confirmed by the subsequent testimony of Mr. Ames, 
 who, though he claims that I did receive $329 from 
 him on account of the stock, yet he repeatedly testi 
 fies that, beyond that amount, I never received or 
 demanded any dividend, that he did not offer me 
 any, nor was the subject alluded to, in conversation 
 between us. 
 
 Mr. Ames admits, that after December, 1867, the 
 various stock and bond dividends, on the stock he 
 had sold, amounted to an aggregate of more than 
 800 per cent.; and, that between January, 1868, and 
 May, 1871, all these dividends were paid to several 
 of those who purchased the stock. My conduct was 
 wholly inconsistent with the supposition of such 
 ownership; for, during the year 1869, I was borrow 
 ing money, to build a house here, in Washington, 
 and was securing my creditors by giving mortgages 
 on my property ; and, all this time,, it is admitted 
 that I received no dividends, and claimed none. 
 
 The attempt to prove a sale of the stock to me, is 
 wholly inconclusive ; for it rests, first, on a check 
 payable to Mr. Ames himself, concerning which, he 
 several times says he does not know to whom it was 
 paid ; and second, upon loose, undated entries in 
 his diary, which neither prove a sale of the stock nor 
 any payment on account of it. 
 
 The only fact from which it is possible for Mr. 
 Ames to have inferred an agreement to buy the 
 stock, was the loan to me, of $300. But that loan 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 303 
 
 was made months before the check of June 22, 1868, 
 and was repaid in the winter of 1869; and, after that 
 date, there were no transactions of any sort between 
 us. 
 
 And finally, before the investigation was ended, 
 Mr. Ames admitted that, on the chief point of differ 
 ence between us, he might be mistaken. 
 
 He said he ' considered me the purchaser of the 
 stock, unless it was borrowed money I had of him ; ' 
 and, at the conclusion of his last testimony, he said : 
 
 Mr. Garfield understands this matter as a loan ; he 
 says I did not explain it to him. 
 
 Q. You need not say what Mr. Garfield says. Tell 
 us what you think. 
 
 A. Mr. Garfield might have misunderstood me. * 
 
 * I supposed it was like all the rest, but when 
 Mr. Garfield says he mistook it for a loan ; that he 
 always understood it to be a loan ; that I did not 
 make any explanation to him, and did not make any 
 statement to him ; I may be mistaken. I am a man 
 of few words, ahd I may not have made myself un 
 derstood to him. 
 
 2. That the offer which Mr. Ames made to me, as 
 I understood it, was one which involved no wrong 
 or impropriety. I had no reason to believe that 
 behind this offer to sell a small amount of stock 
 lay any scheme to defraud the Pacific railroad, or 
 imperil the interests of the United States. 1 was not 
 invited to become a party to any scheme of spoliation, 
 much less was I aware of any attempt to influence 
 my legislative action, or any subject connected there- 
 
304 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 with. And, on the first intimation that such might 
 be the nature of the case, I declined any further con 
 sideration of the subject. 
 
 3. That whatever may have been the facts in the 
 case, I stated them in my testimony, as I have always 
 understood them ; and there has been no contradic 
 tion, prevarication, or evasion, on my part. 
 
 This is demonstrated by the fact that I stated the 
 case to Mr. Robison, in the spring of 1868, and to 
 Mr. Hinsdale, in the autumn of that year, and to 
 Judge Black, in the winter of 1869-' 70, substantially 
 as it is stated in my testimony before the committee. 
 
 I have shown that, during the presidential cam 
 paign, I did not deny having known anything about 
 the Credit Mobilier company; that the statement 
 published in the Cincinnati Gazette, September 15, 
 is substantially in accord with my testimony before 
 the committee ; and finally, that during the progress 
 of the investigation, there was nothing in my con 
 versation, or correspondence with Mr. Ames, in any 
 way, inconsistent with the facts as given in my testi 
 mony. To sum it up, in a word : out of an unim 
 portant business transaction, the loan of a trifling 
 sum of money, as a matter of personal accommoda 
 tion, and out of an offer, never accepted, has arisen 
 this famous fabric of accusation and suspicion. 
 
 If there be a citizen of the United States, who is 
 willing to believe that, for $329, I have bartered 
 away my good name, and to falsehood, have added 
 perjury, these pages are not addressed to him. If 
 there be one who thinks that any part of my public 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 305 
 
 life has been gauged on so low a level as these charges 
 would place it, I do not address him I address those 
 who are willing to believe that it is possible for a 
 man to serve the public without personal dishonor. 
 
 If any scheming corporations, or corrupt rings 
 have ever found in me a conscious supporter, or 
 ally, in any dishonorable scheme, they are at full 
 liberty to disclose it. In the discussion of the many 
 grave and difficult questions of public policy, which 
 have occupied the thoughts of the nation, during the 
 last twelve years, I have borne some part; and I 
 confidently appeal to the public records for a vindi 
 cation of my conduct." 
 
 Since the excitement concerning the Credit Mobi- 
 lier has passed away, public opinion in regard to it, 
 and concerning General Garfield's connection with it 
 has undergone a great change; and while the be 
 havior of Hon. Oakes Ames is regarded in a much 
 more favorable light, no man, unless he is the most 
 reckless and foolish of scandal-mongers, could now 
 throw any blame upon General Garfield, in connec 
 tion with it. His whole life has been consistent, 
 straight forward, and honest, which even his bitter 
 political enemies will not now deny. 
 
 There was another political disturbance, in con 
 nection with the vote of Congress, in 1872, to in 
 crease the salary of its members, and for which 
 General Garfield voted, under protest, as the measure 
 was combined with others he wished very much to 
 20 
 
306 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 see passed. General Gaffield sent to his constitu 
 ents an explanation of the matter, when he saw how 
 sadly they had misconstrued his motives and his 
 action. It is a complete history of the affair in itself, 
 and is given in full : 
 
 HIRAM, OHIO, April 2i, 1873. 
 
 ON the 3d day of March, the day that completed 
 the tenth year of my service as your Representative 
 in Congress, I cast a vote, in company with one hun 
 dred and one other Representatives, on account of 
 which it appears that the following resolution has 
 lately been adopted by a convention of delegates at 
 Warren, called to nominate a member of the State 
 Constitutional Convention : 
 
 Resolved, That James A. Garfield, in voting for the retroactive sal 
 ary bill, has forfeited the confidence of his constituents, and, there 
 fore, we, the representatives of the Republican party of Trumbull 
 County, in convention assembled, ask him to resign forthwith his 
 office as our Representative in Congress. 
 
 The officers of that convention have not favored 
 me with a copy of the resolution, and I have learned 
 of its terms only through the press and private com 
 munications. Presuming that the above is the cor 
 rect text of the resolution, and waiving all question 
 of the jurisdiction and authority of that convention 
 to sit in judgment on the subject, I respond to the 
 resolution itself. In doing so I assume that those 
 who framed it were animated only by a sense of pub 
 lic duty. I will assume also that they were willing 
 and even anxious to do me justice, and to state fairly 
 and truthfully my alleged offense. This, however, 
 they have not done. 
 
 The language of the resolution implies that I voted 
 to give additional back pay to members of Congress. 
 It assumes that the retroactive pay was the chief 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3O/ 
 
 provision of the bill for which I did vote. Now, just 
 such a bill as that language describes was brought 
 into the House, for the purpose of fastening it as an 
 amendment to one of the leading appropriation bills. 
 That effort I resisted at every stage. The bill for 
 which I did vote now fills twenty-seven pages of the 
 national statute-book. The offensive retroactive 
 clause is -contained in three lines of the statute. 
 
 Whether I ought or ought not to have voted for the 
 appropriation bill, with the retroactive salary clause in 
 corporated in it, depends upon the merits and demer 
 its of the bill as a whole. Whether I am in any way 
 responsible for its offensive provisions depends upon 
 what efforts I made, or failed to make, to prevent 
 their adoption. 
 
 That it may be clearly understood what I did on 
 this subject, I will briefly state the facts. 
 
 As Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations 
 it was my duty to see that the annual appropriation 
 bills were acted upon in the House before the Forty- 
 Second Congress expired. To do this it was neces 
 sary to press them constantly, and to the exclusion 
 of a great mass of other business. For this purpose 
 chiefly the House was in session from ten to fifteen 
 hours in each twenty-four during the last week of the 
 term. 
 
 I had special charge of the legislative appropria 
 tion bill, upon the preparation of which my commit 
 tee had spent nearly two weeks of labor before the 
 meeting of Congress. It was the most important of 
 the twelve annual bills. Its provisions reached every 
 part of the machinery of the Government in all the 
 States and Territories of the Union. The amount 
 appropriated by it was one-seventh of the total annual 
 expenditures of the Government, exclusive of the 
 interest on the public debt. It contained all the 
 appropriations required by law for the legislative 
 
3O8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, 'AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 department of the Government ; for the public print 
 ing and binding ; for the President and the officers 
 and employes at the Executive Mansion ; for the 
 seven executive departments at Washington, and all 
 their bureaus and sub-divisions ; for the sub-treasu 
 ries and public depositaries in fourteen cities of the 
 Union ; for all the officers and agents employed in 
 the assessment and collection of the internal revenue ; 
 for the governments of the nine Territories and of 
 the District of Columbia ; for the mints and the 
 assay offices ; for the land offices and the surveys of 
 public lands; and for all the courts, judges, district 
 attorneys, and marshals of the United States. Be 
 sides this, during its progress through the two 
 Houses, many provisions had been added to the bill 
 which were considered of vital importance to the 
 public interests. A section had been added in the 
 Senate to force the Pacific railroad companies to pay 
 the arrears of interest on the bonds loaned to them 
 by the United States, and to commence refunding 
 the principal. 
 
 An investigating committee of the House had 
 unearthed enormous frauds committed by and against 
 these companies, and as the result of two months' 
 labor had framed a bill of several sections to provide 
 for bringing suits in the courts to recover the vast 
 sums of which the road and Government had been 
 plundered, and to prevent further spoliation. That 
 bill had also been made a part of the appropriation 
 bill. 
 
 While the bill was first passing through the 
 House, repeated efforts were made to increase the 
 salaries of different officers of the Government ; in 
 every instance I resisted these efforts, and but little 
 increase was made until forty-eight hours before the 
 Congress expired, when the House loaded upon this 
 bill an amendment increasing the salaries of the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 309 
 
 President, Vice-President, judges of the Supreme 
 Court, and members of Congress, including those of 
 the Forty-Second Congress. 
 
 An unsuccessful effort had been made three weeks 
 before to fasten that amendment upon another ap 
 propriation bill of which I had charge. In the 
 struggle to fasten it upon this bill there was a 
 lengthy debate, in which its merits and demerits 
 were fully discussed. In that debate I bore my full 
 share in opposing the amendment. Before it was 
 finally adopted there were eighteen different votes 
 taken in the House and the Committee of the Whole 
 on its merits and its management. On each and all 
 of these I voted adversely to the amendment. Six 
 years ago, when the salaries of Congressmen were 
 raised and the pay was made to date back sixteen 
 months, I had voted against the increase ; and now, 
 bearing more responsibility for the appropriations 
 than ever before, I pursued the same course. No 
 act of mine during this struggle can be tortured into 
 a willingness to allow this-amendment to be fastened 
 to the bill. But all opposition was overborne by 
 majorities ranging from three to fifty-three, and the 
 bill with this amendment added was sent to the Sen 
 ate Saturday evening, the ist of March. If the Sen 
 ate had struck out the amendment, they could have 
 compelled the House to abandon it or take the re 
 sponsibility of losing the bill. But the Senate re 
 fused, by a vote of nearly two to one, to strike out 
 the salary clause or any part of it ; and many Sena 
 tors insisted that with the abolition of mileage and 
 other allowances $6,500 was no real increase, and 
 that the rate should be greater. The bill then went 
 to a conference committee with sixty-five unadjusted 
 amendments pending between the two Houses. 
 
 The battle against the salary clause was fought 
 and lost before the appropriation bill went to the 
 
3IO THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 conference committee. The Speaker of the House 
 and the President of the Senate both recognized the 
 fact in appointing their respective committees of 
 conference. In announcing the committee of con 
 ference on the part of the House, the Speaker said : 
 
 " There are several points of difference between the two Houses of 
 exceeding importance. It is the duty of the Chair to adjust the con 
 ference so as to represent those points upon which the House most 
 earnestly insists. The three points of difference especially involved 
 are the subject of salaries of members and other officers, what is 
 styled the Morrill amendment, and the provision in regard to the Pa 
 cific railroad. The Chair thinks that so far as he can analyze the 
 votes of the House on these propositions, that the following confereei 
 will fairly represent the views of the House on the various questions 
 Mr. GARFIELD of Ohio, Mr. BUTLER of Massachusetts, and Mr. 
 RANDALL of Pennsylvania." 
 
 I was appointed chairman because I had charge 
 of the bill. Messrs. Butler and Randall were ap 
 pointed because they represented the declared will 
 of the House on the salary question. They were 
 not members of the Committee on Appropria 
 tions, and were not familiar with the other provis 
 ions of the bilL The salary clause was the first 
 of the sixty-five amendments referred to the com 
 mittee, and six full hours were spent in consider 
 ing it. Notwithstanding the fact that the battle 
 against the salary clause was already lost, I made 
 the best effort I could to retrieve it in the conference 
 committee. I faithfully presented the considerations 
 urged against it by the minority in the House, and 
 moved to strike out the clause relating to congres 
 sional salaries. The Senate conferees were unani 
 mous against the motion, and my two associates 
 agreed with them. I moved to strike out the retro 
 active feature, and the vote stood as before. By the 
 same majority the amount was fixed at $7,500. 
 There was no longer any doubt that the salary 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. $11 
 
 clause must stand or fall with the bill. It was clear 
 that a majority of the committee represented the 
 judgment of the two Houses. 
 
 In this situation there were but two courses be 
 fore me : one was to refuse to act with the confer 
 ence committee, abandon the bill to Mr. Butler, the 
 next on the conference, and go into the House and 
 oppose its final passage ; the other was to stand by 
 the bill, make it as perfect as possible, limit and re 
 duce the amount of the appropriation as much as 
 could be done, and report it to the House for pas 
 sage. 
 
 In a word, I was called upon to decide this ques 
 tion : Is the salary amendment so impolitic, so un 
 wise, so intolerable, that in order to prevent its be 
 coming a law the whole bill ought to be defeated ? 
 If so, it was the duty of both the Senate and the 
 House to defeat it ; and if they passed it, it was the 
 duty of the President to veto it. Upon the decision 
 I then made, and the reasons for and against it, I 
 invoke the judgment of my constituents ; for there, 
 if anywhere in the course of this legislation, I for 
 feited my claim to their confidence. 
 
 If the enactment of this amendment into a law 
 was itself a crime, then any bill, however important 
 it might be, to which it was attached, ought to be 
 defeated. No public emergency can justify theft or 
 robbery. But bad as this amendment was in some 
 of its provisions, it is an abuse of language and of 
 truth to call it either theft or robbery. On the con 
 trary, many of the items of increase were acknowl 
 edged to be just, even by those who opposed the 
 amendment most earnestly. It was clearly within 
 the constitutional power of Congress to pass that 
 clause. The Constitution makes it their duty to fix 
 the salary of all officers of the Government, includ 
 ing their own. 
 
312 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 The retroactive pay provided for in this amend 
 ment, unwise, indelicate, and indefensible as I be 
 lieve it to have been, was in accordance with all the 
 precedents, for every increase of pay of members of 
 Congress since the adoption of the Constitution has 
 applied to the whole term of the Congress that au 
 thorized it. It was not a crime, and we have no 
 right to say that those who advocated it were thieves 
 and robbers. I opposed the whole scheme of in 
 crease of salaries chiefly on two grounds : 
 
 First. That officers at the national Capital were 
 already receiving higher rates of pay than many of 
 those serving at a distance ; and that if we began 
 to increase salaries at the Capital, and particularly 
 our own, it would be indecent and unjust not to go 
 through the whole list and make the increase gener 
 al. To do this would greatly increase the expendi 
 tures already overgrown by the results of the war ; 
 and, 
 
 Second. I opposed it because I thought it pecul 
 iarly impolitic for the Forty-Second Congress to give 
 any new cause for bringing itself into public odium. 
 Much had already occurred to throw discredit upon 
 it, and this would add a new shade to the colors in 
 which it was being painted. 
 
 On the other hand, there were grave objections to 
 the defeat of the appropriation bill. Everybody 
 knew that its failure would render an extra session 
 of the new Congress inevitable. It is easy to say 
 now that this would have been better than to allow 
 the passage of the salary clause. Present evils al 
 ways seem greater than those that never come. The 
 opinion was almost universal that an extra session 
 would be a serious evil in many ways, and especially 
 to the Treasury. Its cost, directly and indirectly, 
 would far exceed the amount appropriated for retro 
 active salaries. An unusual amount of dangerous 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 313 
 
 legislation was pressing upon Congress for action. 
 A measure to refund the cotton tax, which would 
 take seventy millions from the Treasury, was pressed 
 by a powerful organization in and out of Congress, 
 and its consideration had only been prevented by in 
 terposing the appropriation bills. A vast number 
 of doubtful claims growing out of the war were ready 
 to follow in the wake of the cotton tax. To organize 
 a new Congress, which would require the appoint 
 ment and organization of new committees, and to 
 begin this bill anew, perfect its details, and pass it, 
 would' require many weeks. In the meantime the 
 field would be clear for pushing all schemes against 
 the Treasury. 
 
 But more than this, the defeat of the bill would 
 carry with it the defeat of the only legislation by 
 which Congress has attempted for many years to 
 check the career of those greedy corporations whose 
 powers have become so dangerous to the public wel 
 fare. For the first time Congress was thoroughly 
 aroused to the danger ; and the sections concerning 
 the Pacific railroad, which had been added to this 
 bill, empowered and directed the executive, through 
 the courts, to strike an effective blow against those 
 who had already robbed the Pacific railroad at the 
 expense of the National Treasury. If these sections 
 failed, it was by no means certain that the new Con 
 gress would pass them ; and if it did, the interests of 
 the Government would greatly suffer by the delay. 
 
 Only 'a single day and night remained before the 
 final adjournment, and three other great appropri 
 ation bills were still unfinished. 
 
 These considerations were inseparably connected 
 with the defeat of this appropriation bill. I knew 
 that if it failed from any act of mine, the responsi 
 bility for its failure would rest more heavily on me 
 than upon any other member. I had been made 
 
314 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 responsible for its management, but was in no way 
 responsible for the adoption of the salary amend 
 ment. 
 
 After weighing the case as well as I could, I con 
 cluded it was my duty to stand by the bill ; and I 
 did so. 
 
 I remained in the conference, and did what T 
 could to perfect the bill and reduce the amount ap 
 propriated by it. On my motion the following pro 
 viso was made a part of the bill': " Provided, That in 
 settling the pay and allowances of members of the 
 Forty-Second Congress, all mileage shall be de 
 ducted, and no allowances shall be made for expenses 
 of travel." The sum deducted from the additional 
 back pay, under this proviso, amounted in the aggre 
 gate to nearly $400,000 ; and the pay to the mem 
 bers of the late Congress is made less than those of 
 the next Congress by the total amount of actual 
 traveling expenses. 
 
 The other sixty-four amendments to the bill were 
 satisfactorily adjusted, after many hours of delibera 
 tion. Having done what I could to perfect the bill, 
 I signed the conference report and presented it to 
 the House ; but in doing so I stated that I alone 
 had opposed the salary clause in the conference com 
 mittee, and had done what I could to strike it out, 
 anxi that I had signed the report rather than run the 
 risk of losing the bill. I then voted for the bill, not 
 for the increase of salaries nor for the retroactive 
 clause, for I was opposed to both, but for the bill as 
 a whole. 
 
 It is clear that it would have passed if I had voted 
 against it. But believing that it was better to pass 
 the bill, even with the salary amendment included, 
 than risk the consequences of its failure,! voted for 
 it. It would have been an inconsistent and cowardly 
 act on my part to vote against it merely to escape 
 criticism. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 315 
 
 If the bill, as reported from the conference com 
 mittee, ought to have been defeated, there was one 
 well-known and very easy way to do it. One-fifth of 
 the members present, by dilatory and filibustering 
 motions and calling the ayes and noes, could have 
 prevented a vote on the report till the end of the 
 session. Should the ninety-six members who voted 
 against the conference report be censured for not 
 preventing its adoption? Less than half of their 
 number could easily have done so. But no one of 
 them, so far as I know, thought it his duty to defeat 
 the bill. Certainly I did not think it the duty of the 
 chairman of the Committee on Appropriations to 
 lead such a movement. 
 
 It has been said that the conference report might 
 have been recommitted for a further attempt to 
 strike off the salary clause. The answer to this is, 
 that the House, on an aye and no vote, by nineteen 
 majority, ordered the question to be put on the 
 adoption of the report. 
 
 The plain fact is, that the final vote on the bill 
 was not a test of the sentiments of members of the 
 House on the salary question. The responsibility 
 for the increase of salaries rests upon those who 
 forced the amendment upon the bill. 
 
 There is one feature of the case to which I refer 
 with great reluctance, and with a deep sense of the 
 injustice that is done me. It is charged that I voted 
 for the bill for the purpose of putting $5,000 of back 
 pay into my own pocket. I fearlessly appeal to 
 friends and enemies alike to say whether any act of 
 my public life has warranted them in imputing to 
 me unworthy and mercenary motives. The point 
 here raised is one to which I did not intend to refer 
 in this letter. I preferred to leave my personal 
 motives to the future for vindication. But already, 
 without my knowledge or procurement, a paragraph 
 
3l6 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 has found its way to the press which makes it proper 
 for me to say what I did not wish paraded in public, 
 that I not only did not receive the back pay nor any 
 part of it, but I ordered it so covered into the gen 
 eral Treasury as to be placed beyond the reach of 
 myself or my heirs. 
 
 I have thus stated the facts in the case, that you 
 may know precisely what I did, and the reasons for 
 it. .1 desire that this and every other act of my pub 
 lic life shall be fully known to you. Ten years ago 
 you called me from another field of duty and honor 
 to represent you in the national Legislature. Since 
 then you have expressed your confidence and esteem 
 in many ways, and in none more strikingly than in 
 the five re-elections with which you have honored 
 me. 
 
 I have not been insensible to these evidences of 
 your approval. I have conscientiously sought to 
 serve you and the country with the best of my 
 ability. I have spared neither time nor labor faith 
 fully to discharge the duties of the place assigned 
 me. 
 
 Doubtless I have made my full share of mistakes 
 and blunders, and my vote on this bill may have 
 added another to the list. I respect no man the less 
 for thinking so, but in this as in all my official con 
 duct I acted for what I regarded the public good. 
 Whether wise or unwise, defensible or indefensible, 
 that vote had the approval of my judgment, and I do 
 not shrink from any responsibility growing out of it. 
 
 But I do not affect to conceal my surprise and dis 
 appointment at the construction which has been 
 given to that vote. Probably no man who, conscious 
 of his own integrity, has served a constituency as 
 long as I have served you could see the basest of 
 motives attributed to him and listen to a public 
 demand for his instant resignation with indifference. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3 1/ 
 
 Certainly I cannot. Were I to follow my own incli 
 nations merely, I would at once abandon a position so 
 difficult to fill acceptably, and which the assaults of 
 calumny have rendered on so many accounts unde 
 sirable. But the charge on which the demand of 
 the Warren convention is based is an injustice to 
 which I cannot consent. The principle on which it 
 is made rises above any merely personal considera 
 tion. If I ought to resign for casting this vote, 
 every elective officer should resign whenever any of 
 his official acts, done in good faith, are strongly dis 
 approved by those who elected him. If the delegates 
 believe that the retroactive clause is so infamous that 
 I ought to resign for voting fur the appropriation 
 bill to which it was attached, will they follow out 
 their logic and insist that the President ought to 
 resign for signing it ? My vote did not make it a 
 law. His signature did. I do not consent to the 
 logic that leads to such a conclusion. 
 
 The facts are before you, I am ready anywhere 
 
 and at any time to make good the statements herein 
 
 set forth, and upon the facts I appeal from the action 
 
 of the convention to your more deliberate judgment. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 Immediately upon receiving the check for the in 
 crease of his salary, General Garfield sent it to the 
 United States treasurer, and it was covered into the 
 treasury. 
 
3l8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 LABORS IN CONGRESS. 
 
 APPOINTMENT ON COMMITTEES. VARIETY OF WORK. HIS LEADER 
 SHIP. LIST OF SPEECHES. THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. A 
 SPEECH IN WALL STREET. VIEWS ON FINANCES. RESUMPTION 
 OF SPECIE PAYMENTS. 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD'S labors in Congress were of 
 the most varied and arduous character. It seems 
 incredible that one man could make so many speech 
 es, write out so many bills, attend so many commit 
 tee hearings, and appear so punctually in his seat as 
 he has done. He carried the affairs of the Military 
 committee as its practical head, until the chairman 
 ship of the Ways and Means committee, which was 
 given him, took him into a wider field. For many 
 years he was the leader of the House in matters re 
 quiring hard work ; and after the election of Mr. 
 Elaine to the Senate, he was regarded by the Repub 
 lican party as their leader and oracle, in all their 
 debates and controversies with the other party. He 
 studied, wrote and spoke about a vast variety of topics, 
 concerning widely different themes, and, as all admit, 
 with ability and good judgment He delivered ad 
 dresses in the House, which have often been quoted 
 with respect by eminent scholars, upon public lands, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 319 
 
 river navigation, contagious diseases, revenue, cur 
 rency, duties, specie payments, Arctic explorations, 
 science, schools, manufactories, commerce, agricul 
 ture, appropriations, law trials, Chinese immigration, 
 diplomatic affairs, war claims, fisheries, polygamy, 
 pensions, constitutional amendments, banks, slavery, 
 treaties with foreign nations, trade with Canada, elec 
 toral count, reconstruction, State rights, and hundreds 
 more ; and, all the while, was assiduously at work as 
 a member of the most important committees. His 
 eminent legal knowledge pointed him out at once as 
 the proper statesman for the examination of the 
 Louisiana trouble, for drafting constitutional amend 
 ments and impeachment reports, and for a place on 
 that most august of all our national tribunals, the 
 electoral commission, for adjusting the contested 
 election case between R. B. Hayes and Samuel J. 
 Tilden, the claimants for the presidential chair. 
 
 His study, at odd moments, of questions of science 
 and education, made him a prominent member of the 
 Board of regents of the Smithsonian Institute, and 
 his love of literature secured the honorary member 
 ship in many of the leading literary societies in this 
 country, and of the " Cobden Club," in London, on 
 motion of John Bright. 
 
 During those years of restless activity, he wrote 
 articles for magazines, and the many addresses which 
 he delivered, at schools, colleges, celebrations, anni 
 versaries and political meetings. Among his speech 
 es, none seems to have given him greater celebrity, 
 than the short exclamation which he made to the 
 
32O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 crowd in Wall street, on the evening after the assas 
 sination of President Lincoln. The accounts in the 
 public press gave it as follows : 
 
 An enormous crowd had gathered at the Wall 
 street Exchange. The wrath of the workingmen 
 was simply uncontrollable, and revolvers and knives 
 were in the hands of thousands of Lincoln's friends, 
 ready to avenge the death of the martyred president, 
 without being careful to consider who deserved pen 
 alty. Speeches from Butler and Dickinson had done 
 nothing to appease the gathering wrath of the mob. 
 Two men had been beaten one lay dead, the other 
 dangerously wounded for declaring that Lincoln 
 ought to have been hung long ago. Some had made 
 a rude gallows out of scantling, with a looped halter 
 hanging from it. Suddenly some one raised a shout, 
 "The World ! the World ! the office of the World ! " 
 It was the signal for a surging movement which a 
 moment later would have been a terrible march. Just 
 then a man stepped forward, with a small flag in his 
 hand, and beckoned to the crowd. Another te^- 
 gram from Washington ! And then, in the awful 
 stillness of the crisis, taking advantage of the hesi 
 tation of the crowd, a right arm was lifted skyward, 
 and a voice clear and steady, loud and distinct, spoke 
 out: "Fellow citizens! Clouds and darkness are 
 round about Him ! His pavilion is dark waters and 
 thick clouds of the skies ! Justice and judgment are 
 the establishment of his throne ! Mercy and truth 
 shall go before his face ! Fellow citizens ! God 
 reigns, and the government at Washington still 
 lives ! " The effect was tremendous. The crowd 
 stood riveted to the ground in awe, gazing at the 
 motionless orator, and thinking of God and the 
 security of the government in that hour. As the 
 boiling wave subsides and settles to the sea, when 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 321 
 
 some strong wind beats it down, so the tumult of 
 the people sank and became still. All took it as a 
 divine omen. It was a triumph of eloquence, in 
 spired by the moment, such as falls to but one man's 
 lot, and that but once in a century. 
 
 His political speeches were made the texts of his 
 party, and his services were eagerly sought for in 
 every doubtful State. His published speeches are 
 well worth preserving, and of being read again and 
 again. Some of his addresses, including as large a 
 variety as possible, in order to show the versatility 
 of his talents, are included in this volume. 
 
 During his first session he declared his views upon 
 the finances of the nation ; and, as the consistency 
 of his career on matters of finance may be of inter 
 est to all who study his life, extracts from two of his 
 speeches are given here together. The first is a brief 
 statement of his views in 1866 ; the second is a more 
 elaborate discussion, made in Chicago in 1879. The 
 remarks in Congress in 1866, were as follows : 
 
 Mr. Speaker, there is no leading financier, no 
 leading statesman now living, or one who has lived 
 within the last half century, in whose opinion the 
 gentleman can find any support. They all declare, 
 as the Secretary of the treasury declares, that the 
 only honest basis of value is a currency, redeemable 
 in specie, at the will of the holder. I am an advocate 
 of paper money, but that paper money must repre 
 sent what it professes on its face. I do not wish to 
 hold in my hands the printed lies of the government 
 I -want its promises to pay, signed by the high offi 
 cers of the government, sacredly kept in the exact 
 meaning of the words of the promise. 
 
 21 
 
322 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Let us not continue this conjurer's art, by which 
 sixty cents shall discharge a debt of one hundred 
 cents. I do not want industry, everywhere, to be 
 thus crippled and wounded, and its wounds plastered 
 over with legally authorized lies. 
 
 An Extract from General Garfield's speech upon 
 the suspension and resumption of Specie Payments, 
 before the Honest Money League of Chicago, January 
 2, 1879, was printed as follows : 
 
 Successful Resumption will greatly aid in bringing 
 into the murky sky of our politics, what the signal 
 service people call " clearing weather." It puts an 
 end to a score of controversies which have long vexed 
 the public mind, and wrought mischief to business. 
 It ends the angry contention over the difference 
 between the money of the bond-holder and the money 
 of the plow-holder. It relieves enterprising Congress 
 men of the necessity of introducing twenty-five or 
 thirty bills a session to furnish the people with cheap 
 money, to prevent gold-gambling, and to make cus 
 tom duties payable in greenbacks. It will dismiss to 
 the limbo of things forgotten, such Utopian schemes 
 as a currency based upon the magic circle of intercon- 
 vertibility of two different forms of irredeemable paper, 
 and the schemes of a currency, " based on the public 
 faith," and secured by " all the resources of the na 
 tion," in general, but upon no particular part of them. 
 We shall still hear echoes of the old conflict, such as 
 " the barbarism and cowardice of gold and silver," 
 and the virtues of " fiat money ; " but the theories 
 which gave them birth will linger among us like 
 belated ghosts, and soon find rest in the political 
 grave of dead issues. All these will take their places 
 in history alongside of the resolution of Varsittart, 
 in 1811, that " British paper had not fallen, but gold 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARF1ELD. 323 
 
 had risen in value, and the declaration of Castlereagh, 
 in the House of Commons, that " the money standard 
 is a sense of value in reference to currency as com 
 pared with commodities," and the opinion of another 
 member, who declared that the standard is neither 
 gold nor silver, but something set up in the imagina 
 tion to be regulated by public opinion." 
 
 When we have fully awakened from these vague 
 dreams, public opinion will resume its old channels, 
 and the wisdom and experience of the fathers of our 
 constitution will again be acknowledged and followed. 
 
 We shall agree, as our fathers did, that the yard 
 stick shall have length, the pound must have weight 
 and the dollar must have value in itself, and that 
 neither length, nor weight, nor value can be created 
 by the fiat of law. Congress, relieved of the arduous 
 task of regulating and managing all the business of 
 our people, will address itself to the humbler but 
 more important work of preserving the public peace, 
 and managing wisely the revenues and expenditures 
 of the government. Industry will no longer wait for 
 the legislature to discover easy roads to sudden 
 wealth, but will begin again to rely upon labor and 
 frugality, as the only certain road to riches. Prosperi 
 ty, which has long been waiting, is now ready to 
 come. If we do not rudely repulse her, she will soon 
 revisit our people, and will stay until another period 
 ical craze shall drive her away. 
 
324 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SENATOR AND CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. ACTION OF HIS OLD 
 NEIGHBORS. ELECTION TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE BY THE OHIO 
 LEGISLATURE. HIS SPEECH. VIE\VS OF HIS FAMILY. THEIR NEW 
 HOUSE AT MENTOR. THE CHICAGO CONVENTION. STRANGE PROPH- 
 KCIES. THE GREAT PARTISAN CONFLICT. HIS NOMINATION ON THE 
 
 THIRTY-blXTH BALLOT. THE SLANDEROUS CAMPAIGN. GENERAL 
 GARFIELD'S BEHAVIOR. TRIUMPHANT ELECTION. 
 
 WHILE General Gar field was contending with va 
 rying success in the Congressional arena, and expe 
 riencing all the daily fluctuations of public opinion 
 with regard to his honesty, wisdom, and strength, 
 the admiration for him in his own State steadily 
 increased, and the love of his old neighbors and 
 friends abated not in the least. His political oppo 
 nents of every shade in Ohio acknowledged his power 
 and genius, if they did not admit the honesty or 
 wisdom of his political principles. So great was his 
 prominence in Ohio as a statesman, in 1880, that 
 when the vacancy in the senatorial delegation from 
 that State occurred he was looked upon by all par 
 ties as the only man who was sure of the seat in case 
 he desired to occupy it. 
 
 January 13, 1880, the Ohio Legislature elected 
 him to the United States Senate. It was, however, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 325 
 
 one of those political movements which every one 
 felt was to be, and created no unusual excitement 
 for that reason. The kindly relations which existed 
 between him and his political opponents cannot be 
 better shown than by a quotation from his speech of 
 January 14, 1880, thanking the Ohio Legislature for 
 his election. In that he said : 
 
 I recognize the importance of the place to which 
 you have elected me ; and I should be base if I did 
 not also recognize the great man whom you have 
 elected me to succeed. I say for him, that Ohio 
 has had few larger-minded, broader-minded men in 
 the records of our history than Allen G. Thur- 
 man. Differing widely from him as I have done 
 in politics, and do, I recognize him as a man high in 
 character and great in intellect ; and I take this oc 
 casion to refer to what I have never before referred 
 to in public, that many years ago, in the storm of 
 party fighting, when the air was filled with all sorts of 
 missiles aimed at the character and reputation of pub 
 lic men, when it was even for his party interest to 
 join the general clamor against me and my associ 
 ates, Senator Thurman said in public, in the cam 
 paign, on the stump when men are as likely to 
 say unkind things as at any place in the world a 
 most generous and earnest word of defense and kind 
 ness for me, which I shall never forget as long as I 
 live. I say, moreover, that the flowers that bloom 
 over the garden wall of party politics are the sweet 
 est and most fragrant that bloom in the gardens of 
 this world ; and where we can early pluck them and 
 enjoy their fragrance, it is manly and delightful to 
 do so. 
 
 But his promotion to the Senate, as honorable and 
 
326 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 as desirable a thing as it seemed to be to many peo 
 ple, was regarded by his family in the same light in 
 which they had seen his previous elections and com 
 missions. It was after all a sacrifice. The quiet of 
 home, which his dear old mother and modest wife so 
 much loved, would be again further invaded, and the 
 time of rest and domestic quiet so much desired was 
 placed six years ahead. They had been enabled, 
 partly by the help of friends, to purchase a small 
 farm in Mentor, on the Lake Shore Railroad, but a 
 short ride by railway from Cleveland. It was in a 
 very retired spot and surrounded by small farms. It 
 was rural and secluded. The post-office was half a 
 mile away in a country store, and the railroad sta 
 tion still farther from his farm, and was reached by 
 a rough country road, as circuitous as it was prim 
 itive. 
 
 It was a locality that seems to have pleased them 
 all, and there, in 1880, the old buildings were replaced 
 by a plain, substantial cottage, contrasting strangely 
 with the piles of graven stone and mansions of brick 
 and wood at Washington. The family occupied the 
 house as soon as it was covered, and lived happily 
 and busily amid the shavings of carpenters, the odor 
 of new paint, and the clangor of hammers. The 
 writer happened to visit them soon after they moved 
 into the new house, and found the General's writing 
 table in the front hall, surrounded by boxes, furni 
 ture, papers, letters, books, children, and callers. 
 Yet how happy they all seemed ! How changed that 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 327 
 
 home to-day, in the absence of only one of those 
 who made that happy, bustling family ! 
 
 It was while General Garfield was engaged in over 
 seeing the repair of the fences, the plowing of the 
 fields, and the work upon his humble dwelling that 
 he was chosen a delegate to the Republican Conven 
 tion of 1880, which afterwards met in Chicago. As 
 a public man well known in all parts of the country, 
 and one who would be certain to have great influence 
 in that political assembly, he was very strongly 
 importuned by the friends of the prominent candi 
 dates for nomination. Hon. James G. Elaine and 
 Gen. U. S. Grant were the leading aspirants, and Gen 
 eral Garfield was pressed by the friends of each, in 
 correspondence and personal interviews, to support 
 them. But he was wise enough to see that the very 
 zeal which the canvassers displayed must defeat them 
 both or defeat the party. He also felt that the only 
 great question then before the country was connected 
 with the management of the finances of the nation, 
 and thought it due to the successful Secretary of the 
 Treasury, Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, that he should 
 be made President. Hence he threw his whole in 
 fluence and active support in favor of Mr. Sherman. 
 
 When the great convention met at Chicago, and an 
 almost unexampled warfare was opened between the 
 factions we have mentioned, General Garfield came 
 before the great assembly boldly and cheerfully, al 
 though he knew he was counted with a very small 
 minority, and while the contention over Mr. Elaine 
 
328 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 and General Grant was silenced for a few minutes, 
 made the following speech, and nominated Mr. Sher 
 man : 
 
 Mr. President : I have witnessed the extraordi 
 nary scenes of this convention with deep solicitude. 
 No emotion touches my heart more quickly than sen 
 timent in honor of a great and noble character ; but 
 as I sat on these seats and witnessed these demon 
 strations, it seemed to me that you were a human 
 ocean in a tempest. I have seen the sea lashed 
 into fury and tossed into spray, and its grandeur 
 mov.es the soul of the dullest man. But I remember 
 that it is not the billows, but the calm level of the 
 sea, from which all heights and depths are measured ; 
 when the storm has passed, and the hour of calm 
 settles on the ocean, when the sunlight bathes its 
 smooth surface, then the astronomer and surveyor 
 take the level from which they measure all terres 
 trial heights and depths. 
 
 Gentlemen of the convention, your present temper 
 may not mark the healthful pulse of our people. 
 When our enthusiasm has passed, when the emo 
 tions of this hour have subsided, we shall feel that 
 calm level of public opinion below the storm from 
 which the thoughts of a mighty people must be meas 
 ured, and by which their final action will be deter 
 mined. 
 
 Not here in this brilliant circle, where 15,000 men 
 and women are assembled, is the destiny of the Re 
 publican party to be decreed. Not here, where I 
 see the enthusiastic faces of 756 delegates, waiting 
 to cast their votes into the urn, and determine the 
 choice of the republic ; but by 4,000,000 Republican 
 firesides, where the thoughtful voters, with wives and 
 children about them, with the calm thoughts inspired 
 by love of home and love of country, with the his- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 329 
 
 tory of the past, the hopes of the future, and the 
 knowledge of the great men who have adorned and 
 blessed our nation in days gone by. There God 
 prepares the verdict that shall determine the wisdom 
 of our work to-night. Not in Chicago, in the heats 
 of June, but in the sober quiet that comes to them 
 between now and November, in the silence of delib 
 erate judgment, will this great question be settled. 
 
 At the close of his speech an enthusiastic delegate 
 from one of the Southern States shouted, " Why 
 don't you take the nomination yourself ? " 
 
 Soon after, in the fury of the political whirlwind, 
 the question was raised whether a delegate from 
 Virginia should be permitted to act in the conven 
 tion, who openly declared that he should not consider 
 himself bound by its action if it did not nominate 
 the man he desired to support. It created a noisy, 
 angry debate, and many feared a dissolution of the 
 convention in an angry riot, when General Garfield 
 appeared before them. He seemed to be the only 
 man who could pour oil on the foaming waves. Most 
 successfully and manfully he did it. He took the 
 side of the minority, and in five minutes it was the 
 side of the great majority. That brave, kind act, 
 and those noble words declaring that every man's 
 conscience was in his own keeping and ought to be 
 respected, had such an effect on the delegates of 
 the convention that, while they became calm and 
 decorous, they also felt that some time in the future 
 they would like the privilege of voting for him as 
 their candidate for the presidency. 
 
33O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 After the temporary adjournment of the conven 
 tion for dinner on the second day, and while the del 
 egates were returning to the hall, a tract distributer 
 of the Chicago Young Men's Christian Association 
 passed to each, as they entered, a slip of paper, on 
 which was printed a verse of the Bible. The one he 
 gave to General Garfield, and which the General 
 pinned inside of his straw hat, and soon after showed 
 to the writer of this book, contained verses eleven 
 and twelve in the fourth chapter of Acts, in a most 
 prophetic manner saying : " This is the stone which 
 was set at nought of you builders, which is become 
 the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in 
 any other." 
 
 General Garfield had not then the remotest idea 
 that the convention would select him as its candi 
 date ; for the delegates did not seriously turn to him 
 until the thirty-fifth ballot. With his whole mind 
 intent upon preserving the harmony of the conven 
 tion through the hours and days of its probable ses 
 sion, he simply saved the printed slip as a matter of 
 respect for the Bible and the self-sacrificing tract- 
 distributer. He did not notice it again until after 
 the close of the ten days' session, and after his name 
 had been shouted with the wildest enthusiasm by 
 the great throng at the convention, and was posted 
 in every city and town of the nation where the tele 
 graphic wires extended. 
 
 Then how.quickly on the lips of the masses of his 
 political party, and on many of the pages of the par- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 33! 
 
 tisan press which supported him, were heard, for the 
 first time, the words, "Great," "Hero," "Statesman," 
 "Scholar"! Then, too, how suddenly the political 
 opponents of his party discovered that he had always 
 been, in their estimation, a "Coward," "Bribe-taker," 
 "Charlatan," "Lobbyist," and "Renegade Preacher" ! 
 
 It is as interesting as it is sweet to find that this 
 sudden and great promotion did not come to his fam 
 ily as a matter very much to be desired. Mrs. Gar- 
 field, with an indescribable tenderness and modesty, 
 declared that it came to her like a calamity. She 
 did not prefer the life in Washington, and dreaded 
 both for him and for herself the cares and perplexi 
 ties of the White House. The children loved the 
 farm best, and the little barefooted son, up in a cherry- 
 tree, declared to a questioner that they did not have 
 " such fruit nor such trees in Washington." 
 
 At the opening of the political campaign there was 
 a feeling in the country that the Republican candi 
 dates could not be elected, owing to the local suc 
 cesses of the Democratic party, indicating an increase 
 of strength, and owing also to the bitter divisions in 
 the Republican party among the friends of disap 
 pointed candidates. y 
 
 About a week after the nomination, the writer told 
 General Garfield that there appeared to be but little 
 hope of success. But he was as confident as if he 
 already knew the result, and significantly pointed 
 upward, saying, " There is a God." Shortly after he 
 handed the writer a letter from his secretary at his 
 
332 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 residence in Washington, who wrote that on the day 
 of the nomination at Chicago, and at the time the 
 last vote was being taken, a great American eagle 
 hovered over the city, and at last alighted on the roof 
 of General Garfield's house. It was a singular inci 
 dent, and the significant look which General Garfield 
 gave as he passed the letter was most inspiring and 
 impressive. 
 
 His speeches during the trying interval between 
 his nomination and election were models of modesty 
 and statesmanship. He possessed a character which 
 would bear study. He was a man of whom the more 
 was known the greater would be the respect for his 
 ability and intentions. The Republican cause thrived 
 through the great impulse which General Garfield's 
 domestic and public life and self-sacrificing spirit 
 gave to the canvass. 
 
 It was a bitter thing, however, to his affectionate 
 wife and faithful relatives to see again and again re 
 vived the most slanderous statements concerning his 
 life. Stories that were conceived in the purest mal 
 ice, and enlarged upon by the campaign orators and 
 writers, would not die with repeated killing. -It is 
 probable, however, that his candidacy, like every other 
 good cause, prospered by persecution. The more 
 hateful the slanders, the more active were his friends. 
 The more untruthful the statements of the press, the 
 more numerous his adherents. It was a period when 
 General Garfield was compelled to stand silently and 
 immovably before all detractors, enemies, and scandal- 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 333 
 
 mongers, and receive without retaliation all the poi 
 sonous darts they incessantly hurled at him. No 
 event of his life was so much used and abused as his 
 acquaintance and business transactions with Hon. 
 Oakes Ames during the great " Credit Mobilier " ex 
 citement mentioned in the previous pages. Now 
 that both men are seen through the funereal halo 
 which their deaths have placed about their memo 
 rials, we only look and wonder that to either of those 
 honorable men such a martyrdom could come, among 
 an intelligent, civilized, and Christian people. The 
 lesson it teaches is very important, but seldom made 
 practical : that is, that we should so regard and so 
 treat the living men that "when they are gone we 
 shall not regret it. It is silly, unmanly, unchristian, 
 to vilify a man while he lives, and then exalt his 
 name as a saint or an angel when he is dead, both 
 positions being false and despicable. 
 
 General Garfield was a man, a generous, frank, 
 sympathetic man, of strong intellectual power, and 
 clear, conscientious convictions. He was human. 
 He had faults. He made mistakes. He sometimes 
 advocated measures which time shows to have been 
 unwise. Measured by the great deeds of heroes, 
 statesmen, and martyrs of the past, he had not the 
 opportunity to be so heroic or so illustrious. He 
 was a model American citizen ; and of such we have 
 many thousands more. Let not another great and 
 good man die in America unappreciated. It is cruel 
 and foolish to reserve our support and praise until 
 
334 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 after the statesman or patriot is dead. One lesson 
 which the study of this life teaches is but the revival 
 of the Chinese philosopher's exhortation : "Be spar 
 ing of your curses while the man lives. Be sparing 
 of extravagant laudations after he is dead." To 
 which may be added this observation : that slander, 
 persecution, and the spirit of assassination before 
 the death, and hero worship after the death, are both 
 relics of an uncivilized or unchristian age. 
 
 The first Tuesday in November, after the nomina 
 tion of General Garfield, was the Constitutional day 
 of election. But the tide of public opinion had set 
 so much in favor of General Garfield that the people 
 felt that his election was a certainty. General W. 
 S. Hancock, a distinguished officer in the United 
 States Army, was the candidate of the Democratic 
 party ; and having a thrilling record as a soldier, and 
 an excellent reputation as a gentleman, drew upper 
 most the best elements, and called forth the full 
 strength, of his party. But when the sunset gun was 
 fired on that exciting day of the contest General 
 Garfield's political victory was undoubted and com 
 plete. He was sure of two hundred and fourteen 
 electora votes, while General Hancock had but one 
 hundred and fifty-five. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 335 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 INAUGURATION. 
 
 ASSAILED BY OFFICK-SKEKERS. THE RESPONSIBILITIES AND ANNOY 
 ANCES OF A PRESIDENT. METHODS OF SECURING A HEARING. 
 GENERAL, GARFIELD's SKLF-SA ORIFICE. HIS HOME LIFE BROKEN UP. 
 CEREMONIES OF INAUGURATION. DIFFICULTIES IN SELECTION OF 
 COUNSELORS. TH^ CABINET. 
 
 EVERY blessing has its accompanying -eyil, of 
 greater or less magnitude, and an election to the 
 high position of President of the United States is far 
 from being an exception. When the trials, annoy 
 ances, temptations, and dangers are carefully weighed 
 it is a strange thing that great men should desire it. 
 To perform all the duties faithfully and ably, the 
 President is compelled to forsake his family, his so 
 cial and religious privileges, his books, his friends, 
 and his rest, and constantly grapple with the evils 
 which ceaselessly assail both himself and the nation. 
 The greatest of all these evils is connected with the 
 change or recommissioning of all the officers of the 
 nation at each inauguration. 
 
 From an early hour on the morning after his elec 
 tion until his death at Elberon, his time was taken, 
 his footsteps dogged, or his sick-bed disturbed with 
 
336 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 the ceaselessly importuning office seekers. Such a 
 state of affairs is a great disgrace to our nation, and 
 one which General Garfield was determined to rem 
 edy if possible. 
 
 The behavior of many aspirants for official position 
 was but little less than that of the assassin himself. 
 They invaded his private house in swarms. They 
 stopped his carriage in the street; they called him 
 out of bed ; they bored him in the railroad carriages 
 and stations ; they wrote to his wife and his sons ; 
 they courted, fawningly, all his old neighbors and rel 
 atives. They covered him with flattery more con 
 temptible than slander ; they filled his office with 
 piles of letters it was impossible for him to read or 
 answer ; they sent him tempting presents (?) ; they 
 wrote most silly laudations of his life, and published 
 them, to his great disgust ; and teasing, coaxing, 
 threatening, they made anxious and unhappy nearly 
 every hour of his life after his election. More than 
 six hundred applications were made for one office be 
 fore he had the right to make the appointment. He 
 could give it to but one, and thus innocently made 
 more than six hundred bitter enemies. 
 
 Men who had supported him in the election, or 
 who urged his name at Chicago, demanded the right 
 to place their friends in office. He could not please 
 them all. He said so ; and some of his life-long 
 friends, not appreciating his great responsibilities 
 and difficulties, accused him in unmeasured terms of 
 gross ingratitude. The outcry of the people against 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 337 
 
 the practice which Charles Sumner called " nepo 
 tism" compelled General Garfield, as a servant of the 
 people, to refuse an appointment to personal friends 
 or relatives in many cases where such a disposition 
 of the office would otherwise have been acceptable. 
 The fact that he had the power to appoint his friends 
 was the very fact which hindered him in granting 
 their requests. He frankly told them so when they 
 applied to him, and looks of scorn, hatred, and con 
 tempt came to him from faces which had till then 
 smiled continuously on him through a life-time. 
 
 As Mrs. Garfield had predicted, their home life 
 was gone. No more domestic quiet ; no more social 
 family gatherings ; no more rest. Naught came to 
 them but pressing cares and almost disheartening 
 responsibilities. Even the little boys felt the wear 
 of ceaseless visiting, and sought an .asylum away in 
 the barn or at a neighbor's house. Nothing they 
 possessed was longer their own. They and theirs 
 were treated as public property, and the ceaseless 
 vigils of the public press told to the whole world 
 their slightest movements, even- to an extended ac 
 count of the youngest boy's truancy at school, and of 
 the daughter's different dresses. There was no es 
 cape from the public gaze, and the unexpected dis 
 closure in the papers of each minor event made the 
 press seem omnipotent. The lens which showed, 
 them thus was also one that burned at its focus. 
 
 He that gives himself to his nation must be pre 
 pared for any and every sacrifice. To make it cheer- 
 22 
 
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 fully is one element of greatness. That, it can safely 
 be said, General Garfield did. Abandoning all hope 
 of personal rest or pleasure, he gave himself wholly 
 and cheerfully to the nation. Through all the 
 months preceding his inauguration he planned, dis 
 cussed, and studied how to remedy the evil of par 
 tisan appointments in the civil service. It was al 
 most the only great evil which threatened or endan 
 gered the republic. His attempt was sincere, honest, 
 and determined. The people saw it and appreciated 
 it ; and when the time of inauguration came, March 
 4, 1 88 1, they showed their increasing respect by one 
 of the most magnificent ceremonial displays which 
 the nation ever witnessed. With vast throngs of en 
 thusiastic visitors, with long lines of military organ 
 izations in their gay trappings, with miles of bunting 
 and clouds of flags and streamers, with trumpets, 
 drums, bands, and singing, with feasts, collations, 
 speeches, and a grand ball, with huzzahs, congratula 
 tions, and all kinds of demonstrations of joy, the 
 people hailed him as their chief magistrate. It was 
 the more remarkable because the administration of 
 General Hayes had been very successful and peace 
 ful, successful because it was peaceful, and peace 
 ful because it was successful. The demonstration 
 was also surprising inasmuch as no great reforms 
 beyond those of the civil service were expected or 
 demanded by the people. It was a spontaneous 
 demonstration of respect and love, which grew out 
 of their personal regard for the personal character of 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 339 
 
 the President, rather than a demonstration connected 
 with any national issue. All parties united to do 
 him honor, and General Hancock, the defeated can 
 didate of the Democratic party, accepted promptly 
 an invitation to participate in the popular ceremo 
 nies of the day. 
 
 But even so important an occasion as that of his 
 installation to the headship of one of the mightiest 
 nations of earth was not without impertinent intru 
 sions by greedy office seekers. 
 
 What a grand scene was that in the Senate Cham 
 ber, in the great rotunda, and on the porch of the 
 Capitol, when General Garfield took the oath of office 
 and delivered his inaugural address ! He was calm 
 and firm in all his movements before the assembled 
 thousands, and his voice was clear and strong as he 
 read his recommendations concerning a better civil 
 service. How little did he know that he must give 
 his life for those principles before the people could 
 be made to realize the situation ! 
 
 If in the short intervals in the work and talk of 
 that great day he had time for reflection, how like a 
 dream to him must have been the log cabin of boy 
 hood, the piles of wood he had chopped, the rough 
 work of the farm, and the rude accommodations at 
 school ; his praying mother, his devoted sisters, his 
 affectionate cousins, his old schoolmates separated 
 from him by an official distance unmeasurable, must 
 have come to his mind in that hour with a strange 
 impression. He was still a son, a husband, a father, 
 
34 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLLC SERVICES 
 
 a brother, a friend, a citizen ; and yet he was in the 
 seat of a king. To fill the duties of these widely- 
 separated positions, as he nobly filled them, was one 
 of his greatest claims to human greatness. 
 
 General Garfield's situation in relation to the fac 
 tions of the Republican party, and his determination 
 to preserve the tranquillity of the country, made the 
 selection of his cabinet one of the most difficult ques 
 tions ever suggested for his study. If he appointed 
 only those who had supported him, it would show his 
 appreciation of their friendship, and endanger the 
 peace of the nation. If he appointed those who had 
 opposed him, it would lead to dissatisfaction through 
 the inclination of men to say it was a selfish bid for 
 a second term. If he appointed Hon. James G. 
 Elaine, then he should offend Hon. Roscoe Conk- 
 ling, who was the leading opponent of Mr. Elaine at 
 the Chicago Convention. If he appointed Mr. Conk- 
 ling, then Mr. Elaine or his friends would accuse the 
 President of partisanship. If he appointed both, there 
 would be a dangerous lack of harmony in the cabinet. 
 If he omitted them all and their supporters, there 
 was but a small class from which to choose his coun 
 selors. So, endeavoring to look at the question from 
 a citizen's stand-point, but knowing that he could not 
 please all, he selected those who, while they repre 
 sented each prominent political movement of the day, 
 would be willing to hide their partisan and per 
 sonal differences for the sake of the public good. 
 With that feeling, and that sincere desire for the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 341 
 
 prosperity of the nation which was characteristic of 
 all his public life, he announced his cabinet as fol 
 lows : Secretary of State, James G. Elaine, of Maine ; 
 Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom, of Min 
 nesota ; Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagh, of Penn 
 sylvania ; Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, of 
 Illinois ; Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt, 
 of Louisiana ; Secretary of the Interior, Samuel J. 
 Kirkwood, of Iowa ; Postmaster-General, Thomas L. 
 James, of New York. 
 
 THE WHITE HOUSE. 
 
342 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 - 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION. 
 
 CHARLES J. OUITEAU. SEEKING AN APPOINTMENT. EVENTS OF HIS 
 LIFE. HIS DISHONESTY. A LAWYER, WRITER, AND STUMP-SPEAKER. 
 APPLIES FOR A CONSULSHIP. THE REFUSAL. DEADLY PURPOSE. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE POLITICAL CONTEST IN THE SENATE. 
 
 DETERMINES TO MURDER THE PRESIDENT. HOPES OF ESCAPE. 
 FOLLOWING THE PRESIDENT. FAILURE OF HIS COURAGE. MRS. 
 GARFIELD'S PALE FACE SAVES THE PRESIDENT. THE FINAL AT 
 TEMPT. THE MEETING. THE FATAL SHOT. THE PRISON. THK 
 WHITE HOUSE. UNIVERSAL GRIEF. EXHIBITIONS OF HEROIC DE 
 VOTION AND LOVE. THE PRISONER IN HIS CELL. 
 
 AMONG the thousands of persistent hunters for 
 office who followed General Garfield and intruded 
 themselves upon his notice at unwelcome hours was 
 a man, forty years of age, and of rather slender stat 
 ure, by the name of Charles J. Guiteau. He was 
 born in Freeport, Illinois, and was by profession a 
 lawyer. He was not long in the practice of law, ow 
 ing to the fact that, in Chicago and New York, the 
 only places where he opened his office, he was un 
 able to obtain business. He seems to have been 
 from earliest boyhood an erratic, self-willed, cruel 
 character. He was a student at Ann Arbor Univer 
 sity, and was a gifted man in many respects. He 
 
)F GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 343 
 
 married a most lovable lady in Chicago, but was so 
 immoral, cruel, and licentious that she obtained a 
 divorce about two years after marriage. Finding 
 the profession of law to be a failure, and getting 
 into jail in New York through some irregular prac 
 tice and swindling, he concluded, on his escape, to 
 adopt the literary profession. Having in his early 
 life been connected with the Oneida Community and 
 several other singular and seclusive religious bodies, 
 he concluded that in the line of religious books he 
 might achieve success. 
 
 This attempt was also a failure. He wrote and 
 published a book called " Truth," and resorted to 
 anything but religious and moral means to create a 
 market for it. He floated about from city to city, 
 swindling landladies and hotels, and whoever would 
 trust him. His plausible manner and knowledge of 
 religious literature gained him admission to the clergy 
 and churches, and nearly all of them suffered more 
 or less from his dishonesty. He once took an office 
 in the Congregational House in Boston, and was for 
 a time advertised as a lecturer on religious topics. 
 His success in his dishonesty was so small that none 
 cared to take the trouble to prosecute him, and he 
 failed to receive at the hands of the law his just de 
 serts. 
 
 Being laughed -at, hooted, and driven out of the 
 field as a religious lecturer, he turned his attention 
 to politics, and, by his great assurance and falsehoods, 
 secured engagements and money in the campaign of 
 
344 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 1880, in New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. He 
 was one of the first persons, after the election, to 
 send to General Garfield for an appointment. He 
 importuned the prominent politicians of New York 
 State for letters of recommendation, and received 
 several. He appeared in Washington during Gen 
 eral Garfield's visit there, before the inauguration, 
 and construed, or pretended to construe, a promise 
 to see him again into the promise to grant him an 
 appointment as consul at Marseilles. 
 
 He frequently stated to persons from whom he 
 borrowed money, and to the proprietors of boarding- 
 houses where he owed for his board, that the ap 
 pointment was promised to him, and he should soon 
 be able to pay his debts. Some persons excused his 
 eccentricities and dishonesty by the thought that he 
 was insane, and his father, before he died, seemed to 
 think that his son's persistent lying and swindling was 
 the result of a diseased brain. But when the pecul 
 iarities of his father's religious opinions and eccentric 
 behavior, which were often exceedingly strange, are 
 noted with the fact that his mother died in his in 
 fancy, leaving him without maternal care or advice, 
 we can see much in his circumstances and heredi 
 tary disposition to account for his crimes. Not 
 enough, however, to lead the public to believe that 
 he was actually insane. He was a great annoyance 
 and disgrace to his family, and none felt the shame 
 more keenly, or denounced the crime more strongly, 
 than did those who lived to hear of his terrible 
 crime. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 345 
 
 The day after the inauguration, Guiteau called at 
 the White House to see President Garfield, but did 
 not find him there. He then wrote to the President, 
 asking an interview, to which he received no reply. 
 He then followed the President closely, wherever he 
 went, and stood outside for hours and watched the 
 houses where the President called, waiting for a 
 chance to press his suit for an office. Again and 
 again he intruded himself upon the President, who, 
 after becoming convinced of the man's unfitness for 
 official position, frankly refused to grant the petition. 
 Guiteau was very angry, and refused to be satisfied 
 with two or three denials ; and at last he became 
 so insulting in his demeanor that the President, 
 after a most remarkable display of patience, ordered 
 the officers at the White House to expel the intruder, 
 and refuse him admittance should he attempt to enter 
 again. 
 
 Mortified at his failure to obtain the coveted ap 
 pointment, and angry beyond expression because of 
 his forcible ejection from the White House, he deter 
 mined to have revenge. Various schemes suggested 
 themselves to him, according to his own confession, 
 which would bring disgrace and failure upon the ad 
 ministration and shame upon the President, but none 
 would or could satisfy him but the murder of General 
 Garfield. 
 
 While he was nursing his wrath and pushing his 
 courage up to the point where he could perform the 
 deed, a circumstance occurred which encouraged him 
 
346 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 to think that the murder might be committed safely, 
 and even be regarded by many as a blessing. 
 
 A foolish and surprisingly bitter quarrel arose be 
 tween the President and Senator Roscoe Conkling, 
 the latter being a very influential man in the United 
 States Senate, and one very much respected and 
 honored throughout the country. The senator de 
 sired to control the appointments made by the Pres 
 ident in New York State, and' felt that it was due to 
 him for his active support of the Republican party 
 and General Garfield, after the defeat of his friend, 
 General Grant, in the convention at Chicago. He 
 also entertained the theory that the President ought 
 to consult the senators from each State before mak 
 ing appointments to Federal offices in that State. 
 Hence, when President Garfield, without consulta 
 tion with Senator Conkling, sent in to the Senate for 
 confirmation the name of Judge Robertson, of New 
 York, to be collector of that port, the senator was 
 angry. The appointment in that manner of one who 
 was personally opposed to him, was regarded by the 
 senator as an act of open hostility, notwithstanding 
 the President, at the same time, sent in a list of ap 
 pointments containing many of the political support 
 ers of the senator. 
 
 The senator did not conceal his anger, and his 
 attack upon the President was harsh, hasty, and un 
 becoming a 'man of his ability or position. The Pres 
 ident felt that the opposition was causeless and spite- 
 f ul, and, looking at the matter unbiased by the human 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 347 
 
 tendency to excuse everything when a man is dead, 
 it must be said, acted unwisely in noticing the sen-, 
 ator's opposition. The President, losing for a mo 
 ment that dignity, caution, and charity which made 
 his character so grand and conspicuous, sent a mes 
 sage to the Senate withdrawing the appointment of 
 Senator Conkling's friends, leaving the Senate to 
 safely conclude that, unless the appointment of 
 Judge Robertson was confirmed, none of Senator 
 Conkling's supporters would be appointed to office. 
 It was a contest the nation was ashamed of. and one 
 illustrating the weakness and dangers of the civil serv 
 ice system which General Garfield himself was try 
 ing heroically to reform. 
 
 Senator Conkling tried for a few days to induce 
 the Senate to reject Judge Robertson, but finding 
 that body determined to support the President, he 
 sent in his resignation, and induced his colleague, 
 Senator Platt, of New York, to do the same foolish 
 thing. Both of the senators tried to get the New 
 York Legislature to indorse their action by a reelec 
 tion, but met with an ignominious failure. 
 
 The whole contest was one of those unaccounta 
 bly silly quarrels which sometimes cloud the pages 
 of history, in confirmation of the Scripture saying 
 that " great men are not always wise." Out of such 
 a battle neither of the warriors could come unscathed. 
 It stirred up the whole nation ; created antagonisms ; 
 encouraged enmities ; injured the public business ; 
 created a distrust of our institutions, tending to hin- 
 
348 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 der prosperity, and all on account of petty, personal 
 spite and unconsidered willfulness. 
 
 In that unexpected tempest, Guiteau found much 
 encouragement. He believed that if he could wreak 
 his vengeance at such a time he would have the sym 
 pathy and support of the President's political ene 
 mies. Although they never knew Guiteau or com 
 municated with him, and never said aught to show 
 the slightest sympathy with such a horrible idea, 
 yet he was angry enough to entertain the idea that 
 they would come to his relief, especially as the Vice- 
 President, who would be promoted, was the most 
 intimate supporter and outspoken sympathizer with 
 Senator Conkling. How unfounded and unreasona 
 ble were his conclusions was subsequently demon 
 strated. 
 
 Arming himself with a heavy revolver, he deter 
 mined to obtain his revenge by shooting the Presi 
 dent. He had a hard task to overcome the remon 
 strances of his own heart. Again and again he 
 started to do the deed, and crept back a coward be 
 fore his own conscience. 
 
 " Conscience doth make cowards of us all." 
 
 Once he followed the President from the White 
 House to the residence of Secretary Elaine, dodging 
 along from dark corners and skulking by stone bal 
 ustrades ; and the peaceful, confident Head of the na 
 tion walked cheerfully by those hiding places, and 
 Guiteau, with his revolver cocked, could not muster 
 the strength to pull the trigger. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 349 
 
 Once the assassin thought he was sure his con 
 science was stifled, and followed the President's car 
 riage to the railway station, determined to delay the 
 deed no longer ; but when" the affectionate husband 
 lifted his wife from the carriage, and Guiteau saw her 
 thin hands and pale, sweet face, he was defeated 
 again ; and, stuffing his revolver in his pocket, said, 
 " I '11 wait till she is better." 
 
 He pondered over the matter, making careful cal 
 culations on the effect of the President's death, and 
 planned how to avoid the rage of the mob which the 
 murder would be likely to raise. He wrote a letter 
 beforehand to General Sherman, to be delivered to 
 him at once after the murder, asking for troops to 
 protect him at the jail. 
 
 On Friday, the first day of July, Guiteau saw by 
 the papers that the President intended to take the 
 train for New York the next morning, and again 
 determined to secure his revenge ; and appears to 
 have passed much of the night in perfecting his 
 plans. In the morning of Saturday, July 2d, he 
 loaded his revolver, hired a hack to take him hastily 
 from the station after he should have killed his vic 
 tim, and placed himself near the entrance to the Bal 
 timore Railroad waiting-room, thinking to kill the 
 President there. 
 
 Soon after the assassin had taken his post at the 
 door, President Garfield and Secretary Elaine alighted 
 from their carriage, and for five minutes stood close 
 to Guiteau, engaged in conversation. But he was 
 
35O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 having another struggle in attempting to deaden the 
 voice of God within him, and could not shoot then. 
 But the sudden call of the conductor, " All aboard ! " 
 and the quick movements' of the passengers in the 
 station, enabled him to throw off the spell, and with 
 a satanic desperation and horrible impulse he turned 
 as the President passed him and fired the first shot. 
 He was so close to his victim that he saw his aim 
 had not been true, and as the startled President 
 leaped one side the assassin took a surer aim, and 
 fired the second time, with deadly effect. The second 
 bullet entered the President's side, tore' through the 
 spine, and remained lodged in the flesh. 
 
 The horrified spectators rushed to the wounded 
 man, seized the assassin, and for a time there was the 
 greatest confusion and terror. But soon the doors 
 were shut to keep out the excited crowd, surgical aid 
 called for the President, and the assassin hurried 
 away to the jail. 
 
 The surgeons called to aid the President declared 
 at once that the shot must be fatal, and ordered the 
 fainting and bleeding man carried by ambulance to 
 the White House. 
 
 The awful calamity was instantly made known to 
 the people of the nation by telegraph ; and Mrs. Gar- 
 field, who awaited her husband at Long Branch, in 
 stead of seeing his face, was met by the news of his 
 assassination. Millions of people wept that day. 
 
 " This Duncan 
 
 Has borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
 So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
 

OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 35 I 
 
 Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against 
 The deep damnation of his taking off." 
 
 " The tyrannous and bloody act is done ; 
 The most arch deed of piteous massacre 
 That ever yet this land was guilty of." 
 
 At once the great heart of the nation beat quick 
 with sympathy, and whatever of jealousy, hate, oppo 
 sition, or dislike had existed in the hearts of men was 
 dispelled by the presence of sincere sorrow. His 
 most bitter opponents sent promptly their messages 
 of sympathy, and thousands of messages from offi 
 cers, statesmen, governors, ambassadors, queens, em 
 perors, and kings, accumulated in great piles at the 
 White House. The whole world felt the shock, and 
 with a unanimity never known before expressed 
 their detestation of the horrible deed. 
 
 The most skillful physicians of the country in 
 cluding Dr. Bliss, Dr. Agnew, and Dr. Hamilton 
 were called to Washington ; Mrs. Garfield was taken 
 by a special train to her husband ; and every appli 
 ance which human skill has invented, and which could 
 give any relief or hope, was immediately brought into 
 use. 
 
 The physicians gave some encouragement that the 
 President could possibly recover ; and for eighty long 
 days and nights the nation eagerly scanned every 
 bulletin from the physicians with almost breathless 
 suspense. 
 
 The Cabinet officers remained in attendance on the 
 wounded President, some of them laying aside for 
 
352 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 the time their port-folios to take up the merciful task 
 of watching and nursing at the bedside. As day 
 after day of his sufferings passed, the anxious people 
 felt more and more the greatness of their loss, and 
 as they heard day by day his expressions of Chris 
 tian resignation and trust their love for him grew 
 strong and pure. 
 
 The devotion of Mrs. Garfield and the affection 
 of the mother and children became themes for poets 
 and essayists. The purity of character and heroism 
 of the wife were so touching, so sublime, that she 
 became a loved sister or daughter to all the people. 
 She was enshrined in their hearts by her saintly for 
 titude, until day by day her every movement and 
 every word was treasured as a revelation. 
 
 The bond of a common grief united the people 
 with each other, and the sufferings of the afflicted 
 President and his wife at Washington lifted the 
 American people into a purer sphere, and cemented 
 in love the bands of friendship and concord which 
 no statesmanship could have accomplished. 
 
 His dear old mother at his home in Ohio sent him 
 her messages of love and encouragement in such a 
 holy and tender manner as to melt the hardest 
 heart. 
 
 When the world saw how uncomplainingly he could 
 suffer, and when they knew of his charity even for 
 the assassin, they recognized in General Garfield a 
 purity, nobility, and heroism they would not other 
 wise have seen. Then the public felt with regard to 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 353 
 
 him as it should feel toward others : " We did not ap 
 preciate him until too late." 
 
 Meanwhile, the assassin, almost boasting of his 
 crime and waiting for the death, eagerly inquired 
 every day for the news. He declared that it was for 
 the good of the nation that he committed the deed, 
 and pretended to pray for the people. His prison 
 was guarded by police and soldiers to protect him 
 from the mob, for the people regarded him and his 
 act in almost a frenzy of rage. 
 
 Even one of the sentinels set to guard him at 
 tempted to shoot him, and but for the bar of iron on 
 his cell would have succeeded. The ball grazed 
 Guiteau's head. That unlawful attempt on his life 
 tended to make the murderer change his demeanor, 
 and from that time on the fear of death was so great 
 that every footstep in the corridor startled him, and 
 when told that the President was dying his seared 
 conscience assumed again its sceptre, and made him 
 crouch and cower, and call on God and man for 
 mercy. 
 
 23 
 
354 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DEATH AND BURIAL. 
 
 BEMOVAL TO LONG BRANCH. VIEW OF THE SEA. THE LAST DAT Of 
 LIFE. SUDDEN DEATH. THE GRIEF OF THE WORLD. THE FUNE 
 RAL TRAIN. IN THE ROTUNDA AT THE CAPITOL. THE CEREMONIES 
 AT WASHINGTON. THK ADDRESSES. TRIBUTE FROM QUEEN VIC 
 TORIA. KEMOVAL OF THE BODY TO CLEVELAND. LAST RITKS. 
 THK PROCESSION. THE LAST ADDRESS. RETURN OF MOURNERS. 
 
 WHEN the President had lingered and suffered at 
 the White House for more than two months, holding 
 on to life with an almost miraculous tenacity, and 
 suffering incessantly the acutest pain, a council of 
 noted physicians was called to consider the advisa 
 bility of removing him from the heat and malaria of 
 Washington. He had lost more than one hundred 
 pounds in weight, and had become so weak that it 
 did not seem possible that, without a change, he could 
 survive many days. He longed to get away from the 
 place in which he had suffered so much, and as there 
 seemed no hope for him there, the physicians con 
 sented to undertake his removal to Long Branch, on 
 the New Jersey shore. 
 
 His removal for so many hundred miles in his dan 
 gerously low state was one of the most remarkable 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 355 
 
 feats of these modern days. The railroad company 
 laid a track to the White House, in Washington, and 
 another track to the cottage which kind friends fur 
 nished for him "at the shore ; so that he was taken 
 frc m door to door in an elegant, comfortable, and com 
 modious car, and carried from the house to the car, 
 and from the car to the seaside cottage, without suf 
 ficient commotion or movement of his couch to cause 
 any perceptible increase of his pulse. Although he 
 exhibited signs of exhaustion the next day, he did 
 not attribute it to the journey as much as to the ex 
 citement and pleasure of being in a new place and 
 amid new scenes. 
 
 The success of his removal gave fresh hope to the 
 nation, which had set apart, and observed sacredly, 
 a day of prayer for him, and Mrs. Garfield felt 
 greatly encouraged. Especially hopeful was she 
 when she found; a few days after, that he was able 
 to lie in a reclining-chair and look out upon the beau 
 tiful sea. It was a delight to all his attendants to see 
 him as his countenance lit up with pleasure, saying, 
 "Oh, the beautiful sea!" 
 
 But he often mentioned his strong desire to be 
 back in his " Lawnfield " home at Mentor, and some 
 times he yearned, with an indescribable sense of 
 homesickness, to see his home and his mother. Oh, 
 how shallow and vain the fame of human greatness 
 appeared to him then, and how much dearer and 
 sweeter than aught else seemed a peaceful domestic 
 life ! In his dreams he saw his old schoolmates and 
 
356 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 friends. In those hours when his mind wandered, 
 breaking away from its crushing load of pain, he 
 would talk of his cousin Henry, his uncle Thomas, 
 his brother and his sisters, and of his mother, as if it 
 were but a day since his mother's home was broken 
 up. How insignificant, after all, is all the pomp, pa 
 rade, and honors of a public life to one who loves his 
 wife, his children, and his home ! Ah, yes, as Mrs. 
 Garfield foresaw, his election, while a great gain to 
 the nation, was a calamity to them ! 
 
 On Monday, September iQth, the symptoms of the 
 President's case were very discouraging, and nearly 
 every one about him abandoned all hope of recovery. 
 But he had held out so long, the blood-poisoning, 
 caused by the absorption into the system of the dis 
 charge from the wound had been so insidious and 
 slow, that no one looked for his immediate death. 
 But the gloomy presentiment was so strong upon the 
 inmates of the cottage that they involuntarily began 
 to mourn for him as one dead. An eye-witness re 
 lated an incident which well illustrates the situation 
 that day : 
 
 Late in the morning the President expressed a 
 wish to see his daughter Mollie. When the child 
 went into the room she kissed her father, and told 
 him that she was glad to see that he was looking so 
 much better. He said : 
 
 " You think I do look better, Mollie ? " 
 
 She said : " I do, papa," and then she took a chair 
 and sat near the foot of the bed. 
 
 A moment or two after, Dr. Boynton noticed that 
 
FOIMKAIT OF HIS MOTHER 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 357 
 
 she was swaying in her chair. He stepped up to her, 
 but before he could reach her she had fallen over in 
 a dead faint. In falling, her face struck against the 
 bedpost, and when they raised her from the floor she 
 was not only unconscious, but also bleeding from the 
 contusion she had received. They carried her out, 
 and she speedily recovered. The President, they 
 thought, had not noticed what had happened to his 
 petted child, for he seemed to have sunk into a stu 
 por ; but when Dr. Boynton came back into the room, 
 he was astonished to hear the President say : 
 
 " Poor little Mollie, she fell over like a log. What 
 was the matter ? " 
 
 They assured the President that she was quite re 
 stored. He again sank into a stupor or sleep, which 
 lasted until the noon examination. 
 
 In the evening, between nine and ten o'clock, Mrs. 
 Garfield was alone with her husband for some time, 
 the first time for many days ; but when other persons 
 came into the room, and Mrs. Garfield retired, she 
 felt that he was going to have a very comfortable 
 night. Not a thought that in a few brief moments 
 the President would be out of suffering crossed her 
 mind. When he dropped off to sleep, he said he was 
 feeling very comfortable. 
 
 Within ten minutes afterwards the President said, in 
 agonizing tones, to General Swaim, who had watc-hed 
 with him throughout his entire sickness : " O Swaim ! 
 Swaim ! I am in terrible agony ; can't you do some 
 thing to relieve me ? Oh my heart ! the terrible 
 pain ! " 
 
 General Swaim hurriedly crossed tKe hall and 
 called Dr. Bliss, who was preparing his report of the 
 
THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 case during the day. Although not a minute elapsed 
 before he was at the President's side, the moment he 
 saw the features he remarked that death had claimed 
 its own. There was no pulse, and by putting his ear 
 down he was enabled to distinguish a very slight 
 beating of the heart. Mrs. Garfield was hastily sum 
 moned, and the other occupants of the cottage. The 
 scene was a sad one. The look of agony on the face 
 of Mrs. Garfield, as she reached her husband's bed 
 side, and took hold of his hands, and realized that 
 life was on its flight, will never fade from the minds 
 of those present. 
 
 Miss Mollie Garfield, General Swaim, Colonel 
 Rockwell, O. C. Rockwell, Mrs. Rockwell, Private 
 Secretary Brown, Mr. Warren Young, Dr. Bliss, Dr. 
 Agnew, and Dr. Boynton stood about the bedside as 
 life fled. 
 
 The scene was affecting in the extreme, but Mrs. 
 Garfield bore up under the terrible affliction with 
 the wonderful fortitude she had all along exhibited. 
 
 There she sat, a heart-stricken woman, full of grief, 
 but with too much Christian courage to exhibit it to 
 those about her. She, of course, was laboring under 
 a terrible strain, and, despite her efforts, tears flowed 
 from her eyes, and her lips became drawn by her at 
 tempt to bear the burden with which she had been 
 afflicted. Miss Mollie was naturally greatly affected, 
 and bursts of tears flowed from the child's eyes, not 
 withstanding her noble effort to follow the example 
 of her mother. The death scene was one never to 
 be forgotten. 
 
Guour OF HJS FIVE CHILDREN. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 359 
 
 At his bedside, holding his poor, emaciated hand 
 in her own, and watching with an anguish unutter 
 able the fast-vanishing sands of life, sat the faithful, 
 devoted wife during the closing hours of the Pres 
 ident's career. Around him were other weeping 
 friends and physicians, lamenting their powerless- 
 ness in the presence of the dark angel of death. 
 Toward the last the mind of the sufferer wandered. 
 He was once more back in. Mentor, amid those scenes 
 where the happiest hours of his life were spent. He 
 sat in the dear old homestead again, with the loved 
 ones around him : the aged mother, so proud of her 
 big boy, the faithful wife, the beloved children. It 
 was a blissful dream, that robbed death of its terrors, 
 and rendered the dying man for the moment uncon 
 scious of the cruel rending of his once vigorous 
 frame that was constantly going on. The moan of 
 the restless ocean mingled with the sobs of the loved 
 ones as the lamp of life went out forever. 
 
 Within an hour the terrible news was known in 
 every city of the country, and everywhere the sol 
 emn toll of church and fire bells told the awakening 
 people in their beds that their beloved President was 
 dead. Never did people more sincerely mourn than 
 did those of the American nation when General 
 Garfield's life went out in cruel pain : 
 
 w This is the very top, 
 
 The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, 
 Of murder's arms : this is the bloodiest, shame, 
 The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke, 
 That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage 
 Presented to the tears of soft remorse. 
 
360 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 All murders past do stand excused in this ; 
 And this, so sole and so unmatchable, 
 Shall give a holiness, a purity, 
 To the yet unbegotten sin of times ; 
 And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest 
 Exampled by this heinous spectacle." 
 
 Everywhere there was weeping, and the messages 
 of condolence which came to Mrs. Garfield were as 
 sincere as they were numerous. 
 
 One of the first received was from the Queen of 
 England, and read as follows : 
 
 BALMORAL. 
 
 Words cannot express the deep sympathy I feel 
 with you. May God support and comfort you, as He 
 alone can. 
 
 (Signed) THE QUEEN. 
 
 Towns, cities, and states, republics and kingdoms, 
 including nearly every nation on earth, sent their 
 messages of sympathy. The exhibition of a grief so 
 world-wide was a sublime event, and something new 
 in the world's history. 
 
 The immediate cause of the death was for some 
 time a matter of dispute among physicians ; but those 
 who were in charge of President Garfield's case, both 
 at Washington and after his removal to Long Bran-ch, 
 assisted by Dr. Andrew H. Smith, of Elberon, and 
 Dr. D. S. Lamb, of the Army Medical Museum at 
 Washington, made a post-mortem examination of the 
 deceased President's body, at Long Branch, the next 
 day after his death. The operation was performed 
 by Dr. Lamb, and it was found that the ball, after 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 361 
 
 fracturing the right eleventh rib, had passed through 
 the spinal column in front of the spinal canal, fract 
 uring the body of the first lumbar vertebrae, driving 
 a number of small fragments of bone into the adja 
 cent soft parts, and lodging just below the pancreas, 
 about two inches and a half to the left of the spine 
 and behind the peritoneum, where it had become 
 completely encysted. The immediate cause of death 
 was secondary hemorrhage from one of the mesenteric 
 arteries adjoining the track of the ball, the blood 
 rupturing the peritoneum, and nearly a pint escaping 
 into the abdominal cavity. This hemorrhage is be 
 lieved to have been the cause of the severe pain in 
 the lower part of the chest, complained of just before 
 death. An abscess cavity, six inches by four in di 
 mensions, was found in the vicinity of the gall blad 
 der, between the liver and the transverse colon, which 
 were strongly inter-adherent. It did not involve the 
 substance of the liver, and no communication was 
 found between it and the wound. A long suppurat 
 ing channel extended from the external wound, be 
 tween the loin muscles and the right kidney, almost 
 to the right groin. This channel, now known to be 
 due to the burrowing of pus from the wound, was sup 
 posed during life to have been the track of the ball. 
 On an examination of the organs of the chest, evi 
 dences of severe bronchitis were found on both sides, 
 with broncho-pneumonia of the lower portions of the 
 right lung, and, though to much Jess extent, of the 
 left. The lungs contained no abscesses, and the heart 
 
362 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 no clots. The liver was enlarged and fatty, but free 
 from abscesses. Nor were any found in any other 
 organ except the left kidney, which contained near 
 its surface a small abscess, about one third of an inch 
 in diameter. In reviewing the history of the case 
 in connection with the autopsy, it is quite evident 
 that the different suppurating surfaces, and especially 
 the fractured spongy tissue of the vertebrae, furnish 
 a sufficient explanation of the septic condition which 
 existed. 
 
 The official report was signed by the following- 
 named surgeons : D. W. Bliss, J. K. Barnes, J. J. 
 Woodward, Robert Reyburn, Frank H. Hamilton, D. 
 Hayes Agnew, Andrew H. Smith, D. S. Lamb. 
 
 The preparations for the burial, those saddest rites 
 which the human heart has to bear in this life, were 
 made in accordance with Mrs. Garfield's desire, with 
 out ostentation or extravagant expense. The coffin 
 was plain and substantial, with the simplest orna 
 mentation, and the dresses of mourners and bearers 
 were less- costly, and made less display, than those 
 seen at the funerals of many private citizens of the 
 republic. 
 
 The Cabinet felt that, as he was peculiarly the 
 friend of the nation, and related to it by such near 
 official relationship, there ought to be a public fu 
 neral at the Capitol ; and, the friends of the dead con 
 senting to such arrangement, the body was taken to 
 Washington on Wednesday after the President's 
 death. The railroad along the route of the funeral 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 363 
 
 train, from Long Branch to Washington, was visited 
 by thousands of people, who, with uncovered heads 
 or in a kneeling position, watched the train as it 
 swept by. 
 
 At the stations in the large cities immense throngs, 
 numbering fifty thousand or more, gathered, and as 
 the train with its sombre decorations came in sight 
 the crowds wept in grief-stricken silence. In Wash 
 ington every person able to be in the streets, white 
 and black, appeared to have joined the mourning 
 multitude assembled to show their respect and sym 
 pathy. 
 
 The body was taken at once to the Capitol, and 
 placed in the centre of that great rotunda where he 
 met the gaze of the acclaiming multitude at his in 
 auguration but a few months before. 
 
 For two days the body lay in state at the Capitol, 
 and was viewed by more than one hundred thousand 
 people. 
 
 Once the crowd was shut out, and the guards re 
 moved from the rotunda, and Mrs. Garfield was left 
 alone for an hour with her precious dead. In that 
 great circular hall that rose to such a height, where 
 art and science have striven together to add to its 
 grandeur, where every whisper or sob echoes with 
 weird distinctness, the lonely widow kept her sad 
 vigil. Sacred hour! when the stricken heart sits 
 alone with its dead and its God ! 
 
 The floral decorations about the coffin were of 
 the most elegant description, yet so chaste and plain 
 
364 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 as to present a most touching scene. A most ex 
 quisite specimen of the florist's art was contributed 
 by the British minister by special order of Queen 
 Victoria, and bore a card with the following inscrip 
 tion : 
 
 Queen Victoria to the memory of the late Pres 
 ident Garfield. An expression of her sorrow and, 
 sympathy with Mrs. Garfield and the American na 
 tion. 
 
 September 22, 1881. 
 
 The funeral services were very simple and uncer 
 emonious, and in accordance with the usual funeral 
 customs of the Christian denomination, of which Gen 
 eral Garfield had been a member and a preacher. The 
 account of them given by an eye-witness was as fol 
 lows : 
 
 At 2.40 P. M. Colonel Rockwell, Dr. Boynton, Pri 
 vate Secretary Brown, Messrs. Judd, Pruden, War 
 ren Young, Hendley, and Duke, Mr. and Mrs. Bol- 
 ney, Colonel and Mrs. Corbin, Mrs. Pruden, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Montgomery and Mrs. Dean, representing the 
 household of the late President, entered the rotunda 
 of the Capitol, and took the seats reserved for them. 
 The members of the House filed in through the 
 south door, preceded by the officers of that body and 
 by ex-Speakers Randall and Banks. They were fol 
 lowed by the senators, Senator Anthony leading, who 
 entered by the north door. At three o'clock the 
 Cabinet and distinguished guests entered in the fol 
 lowing order: President Arthur and Secretary Blaine, 
 ex-Presidents Grant and Hayes, Secretary and Mrs. 
 Windom, Secretary and Mrs. Lincoln, Secretary and 
 Mrs. Hunt, Attorney-General and Mrs. MacVeagh, 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 365 
 
 Secretary Kirkwood and Postmaster-General James, 
 and Generals Drum and Beale, the diplomatic corps, 
 the representatives of the army and navy, and sena 
 tors and members of the House of Representatives. 
 
 Mrs. Garfield and the children were not present 
 at the ceremonies. 
 
 Services were opened by Rev. Dr. Powers promptly 
 at three o'clock. He ascended the dais, and briefly 
 announced the opening hymn, " Asleep in Jesus, 
 blessed sleep," which was rendered by a choir of 
 fifty voices. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Rankin then ascended the raised plat 
 form at the head of the catafalque, and read in a 
 clear, distinct voice the Scriptural selections. Rev. 
 Dr. Isaac Errett then offered prayer. 
 
 As the closing words of the prayer died away, Rev. 
 F. D. Powers, of the Vermont Avenue Christian 
 Church, of which President Garfield was a member, 
 delivered a feeling address. 
 
 At the conclusion of Dr. Powers's address Rev. 
 J. G. Butler offered prayer. 
 
 This closed the ceremonies, and the vast assem 
 blage, with bowed heads and reverent mien, arose 
 as the casket containing the remains of President 
 Garfield was slowly borne from the building in which 
 he had gained so many laurels and triumphs. The 
 casket was followed by President Arthur, leaning on 
 the arm of Secretary Elaine, and by the members 
 of the Cabinet, and in a quarter of an hour the ro 
 tunda was nearly deserted. During the progress of 
 the ceremonies the appearance of the rotunda was 
 solemn and impressive. The chairs, of which there 
 were three hundred in the hall, were completely filled, 
 while many persons remained standing in the aisles. 
 The glitter of the uniforms of the army and the 
 navy and the court uniforms of the representatives 
 of the diplomatic corps served to brighten to a cer- 
 
366 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 tain degree the solemnity of the scene. Save a little 
 confusion incident upon the seating of the officers of 
 the army and navy, the best of order was preserved 
 throughout, and no incident occurred to interrupt 
 the sad impressiveness of the ceremonies. 
 
 Immediately after the close of the services the 
 floral decorations were all removed (Mrs. Garfield 
 having requested that they be sent to her home at 
 Mentor) except the beautiful wreath, the gift of 
 Queen Victoria, which had been placed upon the 
 head of the coffin when the lid was closed, and which, 
 when the coffin was borne to the hearse, remained 
 upon it till the remains were buried. This touching 
 tribute of Queen Victoria greatly moved Mrs. Gar- 
 field, as only a woman can feel a woman's sympathy 
 at the time of her greatest earthly sorrow. 
 
 The coffin having been placed in the hearse, a 
 single gun was fired from Hanneman's battery, the 
 Second Artillery Band struck up a funeral march, 
 and the procession moved in the following order 
 around the south front of the Capitol to the avenue : 
 Two battalions of District of Columbia militia, ten 
 companies ; two companies of United States marines, 
 four companies of the United States Second Artil 
 lery, Light Battery Company A, United States Ar 
 tillery ; Grand Army of the Republic, Roscoe Conk- 
 ling Club, Boys in Blue, Columbia, Washington, and 
 DeMolay Commanderies, Knights Templars, of this 
 city, in full regalia ; Beausant Commandery Knights 
 Templars of Baltimore. Then came the hearse, 
 drawn by six iron-gray horses, each led by a colored 
 groom ; following the hearse came about a hundred 
 carriages, which were occupied by officers of the Ex 
 ecutive Mansion, and wives, relatives of the late Pres 
 ident, ex-Presidents Grant and Hayes, President Ar 
 thur, and Secretary Elaine. The other Cabinet min 
 isters and their wives, the diplomatic corps, Chief 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 367 
 
 Justice Waite, and Associate Justices Harlan, Mat 
 thews, and Miller ; senators, members of the House, 
 governors of States and Territories, and commis 
 sioners of the District of Columbia; the jadges of 
 the Court of Claims, the judiciary of the District of 
 Columbia, and judges of the United States courts; 
 the assistant Secretaries of State, Treasury, and In 
 terior departments ; the assistant postmaster-general, 
 the solicitor-general, and the assistant attorneys-gen 
 eral. As the procession moved minute guns were 
 fired from the military posts and forts surrounding 
 the city, and the church bells were tolled. At least 
 40,000 people were gathered about the Capitol to 
 witness the start of the procession, while along the 
 line of march to Sixth Street the crowd was even 
 greater than on the 4th of March. Everywhere it 
 was most orderly and quiet ; and as the hearse con 
 taining the remains moved along the avenue, from 
 the very door of the Capitol to the entrance of the 
 depot, all heads were uncovered. 
 
 On reaching the depot the military were drawn up 
 in line upon the opposite side of the street, facing 
 the Sixth Street entrance. The remains were borne 
 from the hearse upon the shoulders of six soldiers of 
 the Second Artillery and placed in the funeral car. 
 The ten officers from the army and navy, selected as 
 the guard of honor, stood with uncovered heads as 
 the remains were taken from the hearse, and then 
 escorted them to the car. 
 
 Again the scenes of the previous Wednesday were 
 repeated, and, as the funeral train proceeded on its 
 way to Cleveland, one almost unbroken line of peo 
 ple, sometimes swelling into great seas of human be 
 ings, greeted the sad procession with bare heads, 
 tears, and sad faces. 
 
368 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 The funeral train arrived in Cleveland on Satur 
 day, the 24th, and the funeral at that place was held 
 on Monday, the 26th. An eye-witness of the tearful 
 scenes of that day gave the following account : 
 
 All that is mortal of the late President reposes in 
 a tomb in the beautiful Lake View Cemetery of 
 Cleveland. To-day the last funeral rites were cele 
 brated in the open air of the public square, where 
 the body has lain in state since Saturday. 
 
 The aged mother, the noble widow, the sons and 
 the daughter, and the other relatives of General Gar- 
 field, the members of the household of the White 
 House, the friends who had enjoyed his love and 
 confidence, and the members of the Cabinet and 
 their families, were seated around the coffin under 
 the arched roof of the catafalque, and unseen by the 
 larger company on the platform. The members of the 
 Senate and House of Representatives, governors of 
 States and other official dignitaries and committees, 
 were assembled on the platform in due order, to 
 gether with the Marine Band and the singing socie 
 ties who were to take part in the exercises. All 
 faced toward the coffin, resting on its high bier. All 
 around the square, looking on with intense interest, 
 although unable to hear anything but the music, was 
 a dense crowd, completely filling the streets, and 
 numbering from twenty to forty thousand. 
 
 Promptly at half past ten o'clock the ceremonies 
 at the pavilion began. The immediate members of 
 the family and near relatives and friends took seats 
 about the casket, and at each corner was stationed 
 a member of the Cleveland Grays. Dr. J. P. Robin 
 son, president of the ceremonies, announced that the 
 exercises would be opened by singing by the Cleve 
 land Vocal Society of the " Funeral Hymn," by Beet 
 hoven ; whereupon the hymn was sung as follows : 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 369 
 
 " Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, 
 
 Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb ; 
 The Saviour has passed through its portals before thee, 
 And the lamp of his love is thy light through the gloom." 
 
 The Scriptures were then read by the Right Rev. 
 Bishop Bedell, of the Episcopal diocese of Ohio. 
 
 The Rev. Ross C. Houghton, pastor of the First 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, then offered prayer. 
 After which the Rev. Isaac Errett, of Cincinnati, de 
 livered an eloquent address, taking for his text the 
 following : 
 
 " And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his 
 servant, ' Have me away, for I am sore wounded.' " 
 
 There was never a mourning in all the world like 
 unto this mourning. I am not speaking extrava 
 gantly when I say for I am told it is the result of 
 calculations carefully made from such data as are in 
 possession that certainly not less than three hun 
 dred millions of the human race share in the sadness 
 and the lamentations and sorrow and mourning that 
 belong to this occasion here to-day. It is a chill 
 shadow of a fearful calamity that has extended itself 
 into every home in all this land and into every heart, 
 and that has projected itself over vast seas and 
 oceans into distant lands, and awakened the sincerest 
 and profoundest sympathy with us in the hearts of 
 the good people of the nations and among all peo 
 ple. . . . He passed all the conditions of virtuous 
 life between the log cabin in Cuyahoga and the 
 White House, and in that wonderful, rich, and va 
 ried experience, still moving up from higher to 
 higher, he has touched every heart in all this land 
 at some point or other, and he became the repre 
 sentative of all hearts and lives in this land, and 
 not only the teacher but the interpreter of all vir- 
 24 
 
37O THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 tues ; for he knew their wants and he knew their 
 condition, and he established legitimate ties of 
 brotherhood with every man with whom he came in 
 contact. I take it that this rock on which his whole 
 life rested, followed up by the perpetual and endur 
 ing industry that marked his whole career, made him 
 at once the honest and the capable man who invited 
 in every act of his life, and received, the confidence 
 and the love, the unbounded confidence and trust 
 and love, of all that learned to know him. There is 
 yet one other thing that I ought to mention here. 
 There was such an admirable harmony of all his 
 powers; there was such a beautiful adjustment of 
 the physical, intellectual, and moral in his being ; 
 there was such an equitable distribution of physical, 
 intellectual, and moral forces, that his nature looked 
 out every way to get in sympathy with everything, 
 and found about equal delight in all pursuits and all 
 studies, so that he became, through his industry and 
 honest ambition, really encyclopedic. There was 
 scarce any single chord that you could touch to 
 which he would not respond in a way that made you 
 know that his hands had swept it skillfully long ago ; 
 and there was no topic you could bring before him, 
 there was no object you could present to him, that 
 you did not wonder at the richness and fullness of 
 information somehow gathered ; for his eyes were al 
 ways open, and his heart was always open, and his 
 brain was ever busy and equally interested in every 
 thing. The minute and the vast, the high and the 
 low, in all classes and creeds of men, he gathered up 
 that immense store and that immense variety of the 
 most valuable and practical knowledge that made 
 him a man, not in one department, but in all rounds, 
 everywhere in his whole beautiful and symmetrical 
 life and character. 
 
 But, my friends, the solemnity of this hour forbids 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3/1 
 
 any further investigation in that line, and further 
 detail of a very remarkable life. For these details 
 you are familiar with, or, if not, they will come before 
 you through various channels hereafter. It is my 
 duty, in the presence of the dead, and in view- of all 
 the solemnities that rest upon us now in a solemn 
 burial-service, to call your attention to the great les 
 son taught to you, and by which we ought to become 
 wiser and purer and better men. And I want to say, 
 therefore, that there comes a voice from the dead to 
 this entire nation, and not only to the people, but to 
 those in places of trust, to our legislators, and our 
 governors, and our military men, and our leaders of 
 party, and all classes and creeds in the Union and in 
 the States, as well as to those who dwell in humble 
 life, qualified with the dignities and privileges of cit 
 izenship. The great lesson to which I desire to point 
 you can be expressed in few words. James A. Gar- 
 field went through his whole public life without sur 
 rendering for a single moment his Christian integrity, 
 his moral integrity, or his love for the spiritual. Com 
 ing into the exciting conflicts of political life with a 
 nature capable as any of feeling the force of every 
 temptation, with unlawful prizes within his reach, 
 with every inducement to surrender all his religious 
 faith and be known as a successful man of the world, 
 from first to last he has manfully adhered to his relig 
 ious convictions. ... I feel just at this point that 
 we need this lesson, this great, wondrous land of 
 ours, this mighty nation in its marvelous upward ca 
 reer, with its ever-increasing power opening its arms 
 to receive from all lands people of all languages, all 
 religions, and all conditions, to blend them with us, 
 to melt them into a common mass, so it becomes 
 like the Corinthian brass, and in one type of man 
 hood thus incorporating all the various nations of 
 the earth in' one grand brotherhood, presenting be- 
 
372 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 fore the nations of the world a spectacle of free 
 dom and strength and prosperity and power beyond 
 anything the world has ever known. . . . And the 
 wife, who began with him in young womanhood, 
 has bravely kept step with him right along through 
 all his wondrous career ; and who has been not only 
 his wife, but his friend and his counselor through 
 all their succession of prosperities and this increase 
 of influence and power ; and who, when the day of 
 calamity came, was his ministering angel, his proph 
 etess, his priestess, when the circumstances were 
 such as to forbid ministrations from other hands ; 
 speaking to him the words of cheer which sus 
 tained him through that long, fearful struggle for 
 life, and watching over him when his dying vision 
 rested on her beloved form, and sought from her 
 eyes an answering gaze that should speak when 
 words could not speak. And the children, who have 
 grown up to a period that they can remember all 
 that belonged to him, left fatherless in a world like 
 this, yet surrounded with a nation's sympathy and 
 with a world's affection, and able to treasure in their 
 hearts its grand lessons of his noble and wondrous 
 life, may be assured that the eyes of the nation are 
 upon them, and that the hearts of the people go out 
 after them. While there is much to support and en 
 courage, it is still a sad thing and calls for our deep 
 est sympathy that they have lost such a father, and 
 are left to make their way through this rough world 
 without his guiding hand or his wise counsels. But 
 that which makes this terrible to them now is just 
 that which, as the years go by, will make very sweet 
 and bright and joyous memories to fill all the lives of 
 the coming years by the very loss which they deplore, 
 and by all the loving actions that bound them in 
 blessed sympathy in the home circle. They will live 
 over again ten thousand times all the sweet life of 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3/3 
 
 the past, and though dead he will still live with them, 
 and though his tongue be dumb in the grave he will 
 speak anew to them ten thousand beautiful lessons 
 of love, and righteousness, and truth. May God in 
 his infinite mercy bear them in his arms and bless 
 them as they need in this hour of thick darkness, 
 and bear them safely through what remains of the 
 troubles and sorrows of the pilgrimage unto the 
 everlasting home, where there shall be no more 
 death nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
 pain, for the former things shall have forever passed 
 away. We commit you, beloved friends, to the arms 
 and the care of the everlasting Father, who has 
 promised to be the God of the widow and the father 
 of the fatherless in his holy habitation, and whose 
 sweet promise goes with us through all the dark and 
 stormy paths of life. " I will never leave thee nor 
 ^orsake thee." 
 
 I have discharged now the solemn covenant trust 
 reposed in me many years ago, in harmony with a 
 friendship that has never known a cloud, a confi 
 dence that has never trembled, and a love that has 
 never changed. Farewell, my friend and brother ! 
 Thou hast fought a good fight. Thou hast finished 
 thy course. Thou hast kept the faith. Henceforth 
 there is laid up for thee a crown of righteousness, 
 which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to thee 
 in that day ; and not unto thee only, but unto all 
 them also who love his offering. 
 
 The Rev. Jabez Hall then read General Garfield's 
 favorite hymn, which was beautifully sung by the 
 Vocal Society, as follows : 
 
 " Ho ! reapers of life's harvest, 
 
 Why stand with rusted blade 
 Until the night draws round thee, 
 And day begins to fade ? 
 
374 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Why stand ye idle, waiting 
 
 For reapers more to come ? 
 The golden morn is passing, 
 ye idle, dumb ? " 
 
 Why sit ye 
 
 At 11.45 Dr. Charles S. Pomeroy delivered the 
 final prayer and benediction. 
 
 The funeral procession moved from Monumental 
 Park at five minutes before twelve o'clock. 
 
 A succession of heavy showers so delayed the fu 
 neral procession that the line had to be broken be 
 fore it reached the cemetery, and forming in files on 
 either side of the avenue for nearly three miles the 
 military and civic societies made way for the funeral 
 car. The state militia were stationed at the en 
 trance to the cemetery, and on either side of the 
 driveways leading to the vault where, at Mrs. Gar- 
 field's request, it was decided to place the remains, 
 The steps to the vault were carpeted with flowers, 
 and on either side of the entrance was an anchor 
 of tuberoses and a cross of white smilax and ever 
 greens. Festooned above it a heavy black canopy 
 was stretched over the steps from which the exer 
 cises were to be conducted. 
 
 At half past three o'clock the procession entered 
 the gateway, which was arched over with black, with 
 appropriate inscriptions. In the keystone were the 
 words " Come to rest ; " on one side were the words 
 " Lay him to rest whom we have learned to love," 
 on the other " Lay him to rest whom we have learned 
 to trust." 
 
 None of the President's family, except two of the 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 375 
 
 boys, left the carriages during the exercises at the 
 tomb, which occupied less than half an hour. Dr. 
 J. P. Robinson, as president of the day, opened the 
 exercises by introducing the Rev. J. H. Jones, chap 
 lain of the forty-second Ohio regiment, which Gen 
 eral Garfield commanded. Mr. Jones said : 
 
 Our illustrious chief has completed his journey's 
 end, -a journey that we must all soon make, and 
 that in the near future. Yet when I see the grand 
 surroundings of this occasion, I am led to inquire, 
 Was this man the son of the emperor, of the king, 
 that wore a crown ? For in the history of this great 
 country there has been nothing like this seen. Yet, I 
 thought, perhaps, speaking after the manner of man, 
 that he was a prince, and this was offered in a man 
 ner after royalty. But this is not an offering such as 
 is made to earthly kings and emperors, though he 
 was a prince and a freeman, the great commoner of 
 the United States. Only a few miles from where we 
 stand, less than fifty years ago, he was born in the 
 primeval forests of this State and this country, and all 
 he asks of you now is a peaceful grave in the bosom 
 of the land that gave him birth. I cannot speak 
 to you of his wonderful life and works. Time for 
 bids, and history will take care of that, and your 
 children's children will read of this emotion when we 
 have passed away from this earth. . . . You brethren 
 here of the South, I greet you to-day, and you breth 
 ren of the North, East, and West. Come, let us lay 
 all our bitternesses up in the coffin of the dear man. 
 Let him carry them with him to the grave in silence. 
 Till the angels disturb the slumbers of the dead let 
 us love each other more, our country better. May 
 God bless you and the dear family ; and, as they con 
 stitute a great family on earth, I hope they will con- 
 
376 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 stitute a great family in the kingdom of God, and 
 where I hope to meet you all in the end. Amen. 
 
 After an ode by Horace, sung in Latin by the 
 United German Singing Society, Mr. Robinson an 
 nounced the late President's favorite hymn, " Ho, 
 reapers of life's harvest," which the German vocal 
 societies of Cleveland sang with marked effect. The 
 exercises closed with the benediction by President 
 Hinsdale, of Hiram College, and, reentering their 
 carriages, the mourners drove hurriedly back to the 
 city, to avoid another shower which was threatened. 
 The military arid masonic escort left the cemetery 
 in the same order in which they entered, and kept 
 in line until the catafalque was reached, where they 
 were dismissed. 
 
 The following day the sad family of General Gar- 
 field returned in gloom to their home in Mentor ; 
 there, secluded from the public gaze, to weep with 
 each other, a precious privilege to lovers of quiet 
 like them, who had been in the focus of the world's 
 gaze for so many terrible weeks. 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 377 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF HIS LIFE. THE SECRET OF HIS GREATNESS. 
 
 TRIBUTES FROM DISTINGUISHED MEN. INCIDENT OF HIS SICKNESS. 
 
 LETTER WRITTEN IN HIS BOYHOOD. SUBSCRIPTION FOR HIS FAM 
 ILY. CLOSING WORDS. 
 
 As we cast a retrospective glance over the life 
 which has now become as a whole a matter of his 
 tory, the question presents itself to the student of 
 the biography : In what feature of his character did 
 his greatness most exhibit itself ? Unlike some of 
 ancient renown, and who perhaps would have been 
 less renowned had they lived in this critical, enlight 
 ened century, General Garfield was not great in all 
 directions. What strength may have lain dormant in 
 his nature, undeveloped for the lack of those circum 
 stances which would exhibit or test them, cannot be 
 estimated. Certainly, neither in war, nor letters, nor 
 revolutions, was he placed under such fearful tests 
 as have been noted in the history of some other men 
 in other countries. Yet we say, and ihe verdict of 
 unbiased history will say, he is counted rightly among 
 the great men of his time. 
 
 Looking, then, closely into his character and rec- 
 
3/8 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 ord, we should say that the noblest characteristic of 
 his nature was his outspoken, outacted, and unrivaled 
 sympathy with the weak. Without that pr.nciple 
 deeply permeating his nature no man can be either 
 noble, good, or great, in the best sense of those 
 terms, and the grandest heroism of any age has 
 found its impetus in that disposition. 
 
 When Jimmy Garfield returned to his mother, in 
 hei old log cabin, because he could not bear to leave 
 her alone, and pledged- himself to remain by her as 
 her support, he exhibited in a touching manner this 
 noble impulse. 
 
 When James A. Garfield, as a school-boy, spread 
 his strong hand and arm as a protective shield to 
 the little boys and girls which the rude youths of 
 Orange were persecuting, the nobility of his nature 
 came clearly into view. 
 
 When James, as a student at the Chester Acad 
 emy, stood boldly forth as the champion of the weak 
 and despised denomination of Christians, against the 
 popular opinion, ridicule, and the opposition of the 
 professors, and declared, " They shall not want a dis 
 ciple while I live," he arose to a higher plane of hero 
 ism, and exhibited the true spirit of martyrdom. 
 
 When, in the Ohio Legislature, the cause of the 
 poor slave was being bandied about in jokes, and the 
 " nigger " was often mentioned in derision, James A. 
 Garfield wrote to his colleague, and quoted Burns, 
 Baying : 
 
 " A man 's a man for a' that" 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 3/9 
 
 The greatness of his soul again arose in view. 
 
 When, in that terrible and disastrous battle at Chat 
 tanooga, the strongest wing of the Union army, under 
 the direct command of Rosecrans himself, was scat 
 tered like chaff ; when panic and dismay were shown 
 in every soldier's pallid face ; when for two miles the 
 roads, fields, ravines, and hill-sides were covered with 
 the ghastly dead, or the more hideous bodies of the 
 shattered and bleeding living ; when General Thomas 
 alone held his post in the darkness of his own can 
 non's smoke, then, when Brigadier-General Gar- 
 field turned back the tide of retreat by pleading with 
 the men not to leave the wounded and dying in the 
 hands of the enemy, and rallied enough to protect 
 the flank of Thomas's division, and save the victory, 
 and it may be save the great republic, the sublimest 
 heights of human greatness seemed to have been 
 reached. For that he was made a major-general. 
 
 When, in the Chicago Republican Convention of 
 1880, General Garfield took the side of the derided 
 and despised Virginian who dared declare himself 
 alone to be the keeper of his own conscience, and who 
 enunciated the principle that right, and not party, 
 claimed his first allegiance, then again, under the 
 most trying circumstances, and yet in the clearest 
 light, his sympathy for the weak gave power to his 
 words, and elevated him far above the masses of the 
 convention. For that he was made President. 
 
 The following letter was from John G. Whit- 
 tier : 
 
380 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 DANVERS, MASS., Qth mo., 24, 1881. 
 
 W. H. B. CURRIER, My dear Friend : I regret 
 that it is not in my power to join the citizens of 
 Amesbury and Salisbury in the memorial services on 
 the occasion of the death of our lamented President. 
 But in heart and sympathy I am with you. I share 
 the great sorrow which overshadows the land ; I 
 fully appreciate the irretrievable loss. But it seems 
 to me that the occasion is one for thankfulness as 
 well as grief. Through all the stages of the solemn 
 tragedy which has just closed with the death of our 
 noblest and best, I have felt that the Divine Provi 
 dence was overruling the mighty affliction ; that the 
 patient sufferer at Washington was drawing with 
 cords of sympathy all sections and parties nearer to 
 each other. And now, when South and North, Dem 
 ocrat and Republican, Radical and Conservative, lift 
 their voices in one unbroken accord of lamentation ; 
 when I see how, in spite of the greed of gain, the 
 lust of office, the strifes and meanness of party poli 
 tics, the great heart of the nation proves sound and 
 loyal, I feel a new hope for the republic, I have a 
 firmer faith in its stability. It is said that no man 
 liveth and no man dieth to himself ; and the pure 
 and noble life of Garfield and his slow, long martyr 
 dom, so bravely borne in the view of all, are, I be 
 lieve, bearing for us, as a people, " the peaceable fruits 
 of righteousness." We are stronger, wiser, better, 
 for them. With him it is well. His mission fulfilled, 
 he goes to his grave by the lake-side honored and 
 lamented as man never was before. The whole world 
 mourns him. There is no speech nor language where 
 the voice of his praise is not heard. About his grave 
 gathers, with heads uncovered, the vast brotherhood 
 of man. 
 
 And with us it is well also. We are nearer a united 
 people than ever before. We are at peace with all ; 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 381 
 
 our future is full of promise ; our industrial and 
 financial condition is hopeful. God grant that, while 
 our material interests prosper, the moral and spirit 
 ual influence of this occasion may be permanently 
 felt ; that the solemn sacrament of sorrow whereof 
 we have been partakers may be blest to the promo 
 tion of the righteousness which exalts a nation. 
 Thy friend, JOHN G. WHITTIER. 
 
 Alfred Tennyson wrote to Mr. Lowell from Hasle- 
 mere : 
 
 We learned yesterday that the President was gone. 
 We had watched with much admiration his fortitude, 
 and not without hope the fluctuations of his health, 
 these many days. Now we almost seem to have lost 
 a personal friend. He was a good man and a noble 
 one. Accept from me and my wife and family assur 
 ance of heart-felt sympathy for Mrs. Garfield, for 
 yourself, and for your country. 
 
 A day of fasting and prayer was appointed by all 
 the governors of the United States at the time Pres 
 ident Garfield was removed to Long Branch, and a 
 Philadelphia paper related an incident connected 
 with that solemn and universally observed day : 
 
 " Crete," said the President to his brave little wife 
 about eleven, Thursday morning, as the ringing 
 strokes from the belfry of the Episcopal Church, al 
 most across from the cottage, reached his ears, 
 " what are they ringing that bell for ? " " That ? " 
 said Mrs. Garfield, who had been waiting for the sur 
 prise. " That 's the church where we were when you 
 first came down. They're all going to pray for you 
 to get well;" and, falling on her knees, she said, 
 " and I 'm going to pray, too, James, that it may be 
 soon ; for I know already that the other prayer has 
 
382 THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 been heard." From where he lay Garfield could see 
 the carriages draw up, and group after group go in. 
 He could even hear the subdued refrain of "Jesus, 
 lover of my soul," as it was borne by on its heaven 
 ward way. Thrilled with emotion, a tear trickled 
 down the President's face. After a while a sweet, 
 woman's voice arose, singing from one of Sir Michael 
 Costa's oratorios. " Turn Thou unto me, and have 
 mercy upon me," sang the voice, " for I am desolate ; 
 I am desolate and afflicted ; the troubles of my heart 
 are enlarged. Oh, bring Thou me out' of my dis 
 tresses, out of my distresses, my God ! " The people 
 in the church sat almost spell-bound under the voice. 
 Mrs. George W. Childs, who sang the recitative, was 
 affected deeply, and made it seem to all, what it must 
 have been to her, a prayer in music. 
 
 We give below a letter written by President Gar- 
 field, and addressed to Mr. C. E. Fuller, now of Des 
 Moines, Iowa, who had been a room-mate of the la 
 mented President while at college. At the time 
 this letter was written the future President had just 
 recovered from a dangerous illness. 
 
 WILLIAMS COLLEGE, August 10, 1854. 
 MY DEAR SIR, I have been down near to the 
 gates of the " Silent City " since last I wrote to you. 
 Perhaps it were better had I entered, God know- 
 eth. But the crisis is passed, and I am slowly re 
 turning now. Your kind, good letter was received 
 to-day, and I will respond immediately. I think I 
 told you in my other that I had taken cold nearly 
 every night since I came, and had had a severe head 
 ache for about ten days. However, I kept on study 
 ing until Friday, the 4th, when the hot water streamed 
 from my eyes so that I could not see, and I was 
 
OF GENERAL JAMES A. GARFIELD. 383 
 
 obliged to stop and send for a physician. . . . Oh, 
 how much I have felt the absence of dear friends 
 during these long, dreary hours of pain ! I must 
 subjoin some lines that have been ringing through 
 the chambers of my soul, and though I do not know 
 the name of the author, yet they possess the ele 
 ments of immortality. I know you will love them 
 and feel them : 
 
 " Commend me to the friend that comes 
 
 When I am sad and lone, 
 And makes the anguish of my heart 
 
 The suffering of his own ; 
 Who coldly shuns the glittering throng 
 
 At pleasure's gay levee, 
 And comes to gild a sombre hour 
 
 And give his heart to me. 
 
 " He hears me count my sorrows o'er, 
 
 And when the task is done 
 He freely gives me all I ask, 
 
 A sigh for every one. 
 He cannot wear a smiling face 
 
 When mine is touched with gloom, 
 But like the violet seeks to cheer 
 The midnight with perfume. 
 
 " Commend me to that generous heart 
 
 Which like the pine on high 
 Uplifts the same unvarying brow 
 
 To every change of sky ; 
 Whose friendship does not fade away 
 
 When wintry tempests blow, 
 But like the winter's icy crown 
 
 Looks greener through the snow. 
 
 " He flies not with the flitting stork, 
 
 That seeks a Southern sky, 
 Bitt lingers where the wounded bird 
 
 Hath laid him down to die. 
 Oh, such a friend ! He is in truth, 
 
 Whate'er his lot may be, 
 A rainbow on the storm of life, 
 
 An anchor on its sea." 
 
 Thank God, I enjoy such friends as that, though 
 they are not with me. But I must stop. ... I need 
 not say I am, as ever, your brother, 
 
 JAMES. 
 
384 THE LIFE, ETC., OF J. A. GARFIELD. 
 
 Cyrus W. Field, and other capitalists of New York, 
 soon after the President's assassination, started a 
 subscription for his family, which was increased after 
 the President's death to nearly $350,000. Cyrus W. 
 Field will also place a memorial window to the late 
 President in the chapel of Williams College, of which 
 General Garfield was a graduate. 
 
 The greatest poets of the world vied with each 
 other in tributes of poetic measure, a collection of 
 which would fill a volume, and, in despair of making 
 anything approaching a comprehensive collection of 
 the world's intellectual tributes to this loved martyr, 
 we lay down our pen, quoting the last verse of the 
 sweet poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes : 
 
 " Farewell ! the leaf-strown earth enfolds 
 
 Our stay, our pride, our hopes, our fears, 
 And autumn's golden sun beholds 
 A nation bowed, a world in tears." 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 RENEWED BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE 
 RECALL 
 
 LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS 
 
 Book Slip-50m-8,'66(G5530s4)458 
 
E68? 
 
 Gormen, R.H. C?7 
 Life, speeches and 1881 
 public services of 
 James A. Gar field. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS