Morris tribune., 1880-06-17
JAMES A. GARFIELD.
skstoh Of his Iiss aud Public Services.

AMAIA1 @1a 0AANG AAIADs 4
sketch ~ his Life aud Public Services. ~
James Abraham Garfield was born Npyem.
Der 49, 1881, In the township of Orange, Cuya-
hoga county, Ohio, about fifteen miles from
Cleveland. His father, Abraham Garfield,
came from New York, but like his mother, was
of New England stock James was the young
est OF four children. The father died In 1883,
leaving the family dependent upon q small
farm and the exertons Of the mother There
was nothing about the elder Garfield TO dis
tinguish him from the other pl0dding farmers
OF the rather sterile township OF Orange. No.
one could discern any qualities In him which,
transmitted to the next generation, might
help to make q statesman, unless 1t was In
dustry; but his wife, who Is still living at an
advanced age, was always fond OF reading
when she could get leisure from her hard
household duties, and was a thoroughly capa-
BILE woman, OF strong will, stern principles and
more than average force Of character. OF the
children no one besides James has made the
slightest mark In the world. The older bro
ther is farmer In Michigan, and the two sis
tiers are, / believe, fsrmerS wives. James had
tough time Of 1t when by. He toiled
hard on the farm early and late in summer,
and worked at the carpenters bench In win
ter. The best of 1t was that he liked work.
There was not a lazy hair GU his head. He
had an absorbing ambition to get an educa
H,
that OF manual labor. Ready money was hard
to get IN those days. The Ohio canal ran not
far from where he lived, and, finding that the
bOatmen got their pay in cash and earned
better wages than he could make It
farming or carpentry, he hired
out, Us q driver on the tow-path and
soon got up to the dignity of holding the
helm OF boat. Then he determined to ship
as a sailor on the lakes, bnt an attack Of fever
and ague interfered with his plans. He was
Ill three months, and when he recovered he
decided to go to a school called Geauga Acad-
envy, In an adjoining county. His mother
had saved small sum Of money, which she
gave him, together with few cooking uten-
sils and stock OF provisions. He hired .
small room and cooked his own food to make
his expenses as light as possible. He paid
his own way after that, never calling on his
mother for any more assistance. By working
at the carpenters bench morning and even.
lngs and vacation times, and teaching coun.
try schools during the winter, he managed to
attend the academy during the spring and fall
terms and to save little money towards 60
ing to college. He had excellent health, q
robust frame and capital memory, and the at
tempt to combine mental and physical work,
which has broken down many farmer boys
ambitious to get an education, did not hurt
him
When he was twenty-three years of age he
concluded he had got about all there was to
be had in the obscure cross roads academy.
He calculated that he had saved about half
enough money to get through college. pro-
vided he could begin, as he hoped, with the
Junior year. He got q life insurance policy
and assigned it to gentleman as security for
a loan to make up the amount ne lacked. In
the fall OF 1854 he entered the junior class I, I
Williams College, Massachusetts, and gradu-
ated in 1855 with the metaphysical h0nors Of
dQpnpFrnAfUOR
him taken about this time. 1t represents a
rather awkward youth, with a shock of light
hair standing rather straight up from big
forehead. and frank, thoughtful face, of very
marked German type, There is not a drop OF
German blood in the Garfield family, but this
picture would be taken for some Fritz or Carl
Just over from the Fatherland.
Before he went to college Garfield had con-
nected himself with the Disciples, a sect hav-
ing numerous, membership in Eastern and
Southern Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky,
where its founder, Alexander Campbell, had
travelled and preached. The principal pecu.
liarities of the denomination are their refusal
to formulate their beliefs into q creed, the in.
dependence of each congregation, the hospi
tality and fraternal feeling of members and
the lack OF q regular ministry. When Gar.
| field returned to Ohio it was natural that he
| should soon gravit ate to the struggling little
college of the young sect at Hiram, Portage
| county, near his. boyhood's home. He be.
| came professor of Latin and Greek and threw
himself with the energy and industry which
are leading traits OF his character into the
work of building up the institution. Before
he had been two years in his professorship he
was appointed president of the college. Hi.
ram is lonesome country village, three
miles from railroad, built upon a high hill
overlooking twenty miles of cheese-n.aking
I country to the southwark. It contains fifty
| or sixty houses clustered around the green
in the centre of which stands the homely red
| brick college structure. Plain living and
thinking was the order of things at Hiram
| College in those days. The teachers were
poor, the pupils were poor and the institution
| was poor, but there was great deal of hard
| faithful study done and many abitious plans
formed. The young president taught, lee.
tured and preached, and all the time studied
as diligently as any acolyte in the temple Of
knowledge He frequently spoke on Sun.
days in the churches of the towns in the vi.
| cinlty to create an interest in the college.
Among the Disciples any one can preach who
has mind to, no ordination being required
From these Sunday discourses came the sto
~ that Garfield at one time was a minister.
He never considered himself such and never
had any intention of finding a career IN tn
pulpit. His ambition, il he had any outsid
Of the school, lay in the direction of law ant
politics.
During his professorship Garfield marrie'
Miss Lucretia Rudolph, daughter of farme
in the neighborhood, whose acquaintance b
had made while at the academy, where sh
was also pupil. She was quiet, thought
full girl, of singularly sweet and refined dispo
sition, fond of study and reading, possessing
warm heart and mind with the capacity O
steady growth. The marriage was love al
fair on both sides and has been a thorough,
happy one. Much of General Garfeld's sub
sequent success in life may be attributed t.
the never-failing sympathy and intellectus
companionship of his wife and the stimuli
OF q loving home circle. The young coupl
bought neat little cottage fronting on tn
college campus and began their welded lif
poor and in debt but with brave hearts.
In 1859 the college president was elected t
the State Senate from the counties of Portag
and Summit. He did not resign his presideI
cy, because he looked upon few months
change the course of his life. But the wa
came to alter all his plans, During the wiz
ter of 1851 he was active in the passage {
measures for arming the State militia, and hi
eloQuence and energy made him conspicl
Gus leader of the Union party. Early in th
summer of 1861 he was elected colonel OF q
infantry regiment (the Forty-second) raised i
Northern Ohio, many of the soldiers in whic
had been students at Hiram. He took tn
field In Eastern Kentucky, was soon put
command of a brigade, and by making one (
the hardest marches ever made by recruit
surprised and routed the rebel forces, undo
Humphrey Marshall, at Piketon.
From Eastern Kentucky General CARTEL
was transferred to Louisville and from ths
place fastened to join the army of Gener,
Buell., which he reached with his brigade
time to participate in the second days fgh
ing at PIttsburg Landing. He took part
the siege of Corinth and in the operation
along the Memphis and Charleston Rallroa
, In January, 1868, he was appointed Chief
} staff of the Army of the Cumberland and Dol
prominent share In all the campaigns
Middle Tennessee In the spring and summt
] I Of that year. His last conspicuous niilital
i service was at the battle Of Chickamaug
{ For his conduct in that battle he was pr
, NOTED to major generalship. 1t is said tn
] he wrote all the orders given to the army tn
i day, and submitted them to General Rosecral
. for approval, save one. The one he did nj
) write was the fatal order to General Woo
which was 40 worded as not to correctly CO.
J vey the meaning Of the commanding gener
and which caused the destruction of the rigl
wing of the army.
The Congressional district in which Carrie