Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-09
---....s..-...s--..r, JAMES A. FAIRFIELD.

James A. Garfield, of Mentor, Ohio, who l was nominated for President yesterday by the Republican National Convention, was born in I Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on the 18th l of November, 1881. He graduated from Williams College in the class of 1856. For several years after his graduation he was 1 president of a literary institution and dur ing that period he occasi onally oficiated a
 preacher. After giving up teaching he
 studied and practised law, and with the prac- 1 tice of law mingled the practice of politics. In 1859 he was chosen to tho Ohio State Sen ate and was member of that body for two years. Upon the breaking out of the war in 1861 he promptly entered the Union army, going out as colonel of the Forty-second Ohio
 regiment. His service in the army was highly
 creditable. In the early part of his military
 service he sent to Eastern Kentucky,
 where, with his own and the 10th Ohio regi-
 ment, he defeated Humphrey Marshall. He
 was made Brigadier General of Volunteers
 January II, 1862, the date of his victory at
 Prestonburg. In March, 1862, he attacked
 the enemy at Pound Gap, destroying their
 camp and inficting severe loss upon them
 He commanded the twentieth brigade at the
 battle of Shiloh, and was soon after made
 chief of staff to General Rosecrans. He was
 appointed Major General in September, 1S63
 flor gallant and meritorious services in the
 battle of Chickamauga."
 After General Garfield left the army he
 took his seat in Congress as Representative
 from the Nineteenth Ohio district, which dis trict he has continued to represent until this time. Last winter the Ohio Legislature elected him to the United States Senate in place of Senator Thurman, and had he not been called up higher he would have taken his seat in that body on the 4th of March next.
 During his long career in Congress General Garfield has been one of the most prominent of the Republican leaders in the House of Representatives and since the election of Mr Blaine to the Senate he has universally
 been regarded as the foremost Republican of the lower branch of Congress. His action in
 Congress has been characterized more by
 wisdom than by partisanship, Band he has de- voted far less time to parliamentary tactics than to guiding, shaping and perfecting na- tional legislation He has been right on the great questions which have vexed this coun- try since the war, and some of the best of his many eloquent and convincing speeches in the House of Representatives were those in which he defended and expounded the expe- diency of good faith in the financial policy of the nation. Busy as General Garfield has been in pub lie affairs he has found time to continue his studies, and ranks high as a scholar In this respect there are few men in Congress who are his equals.
 Personally he is fine figure of man. He is tall, fully six feet high, broad-shouldered and strongly built. He has an unusually large head, high and thoughtful forehead, light brown hair and beard, large, light blue eyes, prominent nose and full cheeks. He is genial, approachable, and remarkably en- tertaining ta1ker. Next to Senator Conkline he has been the most noticed and popular parsonage of the Chicago convention, his ap- pearance always being the signal for burst of applause. The fact that he was a member of the Convention, and that the delegates could and did look upon him daily and see how goodly man he was undoubtedly had 1 much to do with their acceptance of him.
 If he is elected the White House will have | in Mrs. Garfield one who will make it as pleasant place as has Mrs. Hayes. Mrs. Garfield is described as q lady of sunny | spirit and of a very quiet, dignifed bearing. | She is of delicate form, in rosy health, a do- nestle, devoted mother, and very proud of the four young generals whom she is fitting for college for active life
 In General Garfield we have ''strong man," who deserves well of the Republic he foughtfo He is also statesman, and ex- cellently fitted to help shape and carry out the policy of the Republican party His nomination for President is strong one, and as the canvass proceeds the wisdom of it will become more and mora annarent