Rosecrans' Official Report.--Sixteen Years Later.--Promotion
to Major-General.--Elected to Congress.--Resigns his
Commission in the Army.--Endowed by Nature and Education for
a Public Speaker.--Moral Character.--Youngest Member of
House of Representatives.--One Secret of Success.--First
Speech.--Wade-Davis Manifesto.--Extracts from various
Speeches.
General Rosecrans, in his official report of the battles of Chickamauga,
writes,--
"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 order the ideas of the general
commanding."
To this meed of praise General Wood adds,--
"It affords me much pleasure to signalize the presence with my command,
for a length of time during the afternoon (present during the period of
hottest fighting), of another distinguished officer, Brigadier-General
James A. Garfield, chief-of-staff. After the disastrous rout on the
right, General Garfield made his way back to the battle-field (showing
clearly that the road was open to all who might choose to follow it),
and came to where my command was engaged. The brigade which made so
determined a resistance on the crest of the narrow ridge during all the
long September afternoon, had been commanded by General Garfield when he
belonged to my division. The men remarked his presence with much
satisfaction, and were delighted that he was a witness of the splendid
fighting they were doing."
In connection with these reports, it is interesting to recall Garfield's
address to his comrades, sixteen years later, when some twelve hundred
of the veteran volunteers of Ohio visited him at his home in Mentor. In
response to an address of General M. D. Leggett, he said, in his hearty,
friendly way,--
"Any man that can see twelve hundred comrades in the front door-yard has
as much reason to be proud as for anything that can well happen to him
in this world. To see twelve hundred men from almost every regiment of
the state, to see a consolidated field report of survivors of the war
sixteen years after it is over, is a great sight for any man to look on.
I greet you all with gratitude for this visit. Its personal compliment
is great, but there is another thought in it far greater than that to
me, and greater to you.
"Just over yonder, about ten miles, when I was a mere lad, I heard the
finest political speech of my life. It was a speech of Joshua R.
Giddings. He had come home to appeal to his constituents. A Southern
man drew a pistol on him while he was speaking in favor of human
liberty, and marched over to him to shoot him down, to stop his speech
and quench the voice of liberty.
"I remember but one thing the old hero said in the course of that speech
so long ago, and it was this,--
"'I knew I was speaking for liberty, and I felt that if an assassin shot
me down, my speech would still go on and triumph.'
"Well, now, these twelve hundred, and the one hundred times twelve
hundred, and the one million of men that went out into the field of
battle to fight for our Union, feel as that speaker felt, that if they
should all be shot down the cause of liberty would still go on.
"You all, and the Union, felt that around you, and above you, and behind
you, was a force and a cause and an immortal truth that would outlive
your bodies and mine, and survive all our brigades, and all our armies,
and all our battles.
"Here you are to-day; in the same belief we shall die; and yet we
believe that after us the immortal truth for which we fought will live
in a united nation, a united people, against all factions, against all
sections, against all divisions, so long as there shall be a continent
of rivers, and mountains, and lakes.
"It was this great belief that lifted you all up into the heroic height
of great soldiers in war; and it is my belief that you cherish it
to-day, and carry it with you in all your pilgrimages and in all your
reunions. In that great belief and in that inspiring faith, I meet you
and greet you to-day, and with it _we will go on to whatever fate has in
store for us_."
Ah! how little the devoted band of comrades dreamed that bright October
morning, with what a new and solemn meaning before another twelve months
those earnest words would come back to them!
Four weeks after the battle of Chickamauga, General Rosecrans sent
Garfield on to Washington to report minutely to the War Department and
to the President, the position, deeds, resources, etc., of the army at
Chattanooga. In the mean time he had received the promotion of
major-general "for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of
Chickamauga;" and during the year previous, the Nineteenth Congressional
District of Ohio had elected him as their representative to the
Thirty-Eighth Congress.
Garfield's whole heart and soul were with the army, he would have
preferred to serve his country on the field rather than in the halls of
state; but when he expressed his desire to President Lincoln, the latter
urged him to resign his commission and come to Congress. There were
plenty of major-generals, he said, but able statesmen--like angels'
visits--were few and far between.
It was universally believed, at this time, that the war was drawing to a
close; and still another consideration that influenced Garfield in his
decision was the fact that a voice in military legislation might be of
great assistance to his comrades in arms. So, on the 5th of December,
1863, after three years of military life, he resigned his army
commission with its high emoluments, for the poor pay and arduous work
of a Congressman.
It is a little singular that he should have filled in Congress the very
seat left vacant by the death of Joshua R. Giddings, his boyhood's hero.
Did the mantle of this brave Elijah fall upon him, too, I wonder?
Upon his arrival at Washington, Garfield, with his characteristic energy
and perseverance, began a thorough course of study upon all topics with
which he might have to deal, giving especial attention to commerce,
manufactures, finance, the tariff, taxation, and international law.
Every spare moment was turned to the best account; an intimate friend
says he was seldom seen without a book in his hand, or in his pocket.
Both by nature and education, Garfield seemed specially endowed for the
office of a public speaker. He had a ready flow of language that
practice in debating clubs, the teacher's desk, at the bar, and in the
pulpit had rendered apt, pointed, and polished. His tall, massive
figure, powerful voice, and dignified manner gave additional weight to
every word that fell from his lips, while his fine scholarship,
extensive reading and wonderful memory furnished an inexhaustible
"reserve fund" of illustration and imagery. But above all and through
all, was the vital power of a warm, sympathetic, generous heart.
"His moral character," writes President Hinsdale, "was the fit crown to
his physical and intellectual nature. No man had a kinder heart or a
purer mind. Naturally, and without conscious plan or effort, he drew men
to him as the magnet the iron filings."
He had been the youngest man in the Ohio senate, the youngest
brigadier-general, and now, at the age of thirty-two, he was found to be
the youngest member of the House of Representatives. To make his mark
among so many brilliant intellects, so many fine orators, so many old
and well-tried statesmen, as graced the legislation halls of the nation
at that critical period of our history, required in the young and then
almost unknown congressman "a peculiar combination of strong talents and
intellectual acuteness."
One secret of his success lay in his "genius for hard work." He was not
one to take ideas at second-hand; he was never satisfied until he had
sifted the subject in hand to the very bottom, and when once assured of
the truth and right of any matter, no power on earth could move him.
"Comparatively few men or women," he said one day to a friend, "take the
trouble to think for themselves. Most people frame their opinions from
what they read or hear others say. I noticed this in early life, but
never saw the evil of it until I went to Congress."
From the very first, Garfield made his influence felt in the Hall of
Representatives. He was strong enough to break over the bars that
usually restrict the new and younger members of Congress, and soon took
up the gauntlet with debaters like Thaddeus Stevens, N. P. Banks, Roscoe
Conkling, and other old leaders in the legislative halls.
It was a tumultuous period in our national history; the War of the
Rebellion had brought to the surface many questions of debate that
required the utmost thought and deliberation, and upon whose decision
hung the weightiest of results.
But Garfield as some able writer says, was "a man who was always equal
to the greatest opportunity; often surpassed it. He was great on great
occasions, because in temperament, intelligence, enthusiasm, and
eloquence, he rose, like air, to its highest limit."
The first speech he delivered of any length, was on January 28th, 1864,
and was a reply to his Democratic colleague, Mr. Finck. It was in favor
of the confiscation of rebel property, and the following passage will
give an idea of his style of argument in those early days:--
"The war was announced by proclamation, and it must end by proclamation.
We can hold the insurgent states in military subjection half a
century--if need be, until they are purged of their poison and stand up
clean before the country. They must come back with clean hands, if they
come at all. I hope to see in all those states the men who fought and
suffered for the truth, tilling the fields on which they pitched their
tents. I hope to see them, like old Kaspar of Blenheim, on the summer
evenings, with their children upon their knees, and pointing out the
spot where brave men fell and marble commemorates it."
His answer to Mr. Long, in the campaign of 1864, when McClellan was
proposed as the Democratic candidate, will never be forgotten. It was
delivered on the impulse of the moment and excited the wildest applause
throughout the House. The older members began to realize what a growing
power they had in their midst, and were not slow to seek Garfield's
assistance when they had some pet measure to bring forward.
As the time drew near for holding the Congressional Convention of 1864,
in the Nineteenth District, a report was circulated in the Western
Reserve, that Garfield was the author of the famous Wade-Davis
manifesto.
The convention wished to nominate him, but hesitated. Would he not come
forward and explain himself?
Now this was just what Garfield was longing to do. With a firm step he
walked up to the platform and in a brief, trenchant speech, declared
that although he had not written the Wade-Davis letter, he was in
sympathy with the authors. If the Nineteenth District did not want a
representative who would assert his independence of thought and action,
it must find another man. Having stated his conviction of the truth in
the plainest, strongest terms, he came down from the platform and
quietly left the hall. A great noise from the building greeted his ears
as he turned the street-corner. He thought they were having an
indignation meeting, and he fully expected to be apprized of his
rejection.
To his astonishment, however, he learned that the noise he had heard was
the cheering of the people upon his nomination.
The convention had been taken entirely by surprise. Before any of his
opponents had had time to say a word, an Ashtabula delegate had risen to
his feet and declared that "a man who could face a delegation like that,
ought to be nominated by acclamation." Then, the popular feeling
expressed itself freely, and Garfield was renominated with great
applause.
"It was a bold action on my part," he said afterward, "but it showed me
the truth of the old maxim that 'Honesty is the best policy,' and I have
ever since been entirely independent in my relations with the people of
my district."
Ben Wade, the "old war-horse," was greatly touched by Garfield's
championship.
"I shall never forget it, never, sir, while I live on this earth!" he
exclaimed as he held the hand of the young statesman in his iron grasp.
Garfield was elected by a majority of twelve thousand, and on his return
to Congress the second term, the secretary of the treasury requested
that he might have a place on the Committee of Ways and Means.
From his entrance into Congress, Garfield had made a special study of
finance and political economy. He was therefore, well equipped for this
new position, and nothing could move him from the firm stand he had
taken in favor of specie payments and the honorable fulfilment of the
nation's contract.
"I affirm," he boldly declared before the House, "against all opposers,
that the highest and foremost present duty of the American people is to
complete the resumption of specie payments; and first of all, because
the sacred faith of this republic is pledged to resumption; and if it
were never so hard to do it, if the burdens were ten times greater than
they are, this nation dare not look in the face of God and men, and
break its plighted word.
"It is a fearful thing for one man to stand up in the face of his
brother-man and refuse to keep his pledge; but it is a forty-five
million times worse thing for a nation to do it. It breaks the
mainspring of faith. It unsettles all security; it disturbs all values;
and it puts the life of the nation in peril for all time to come.
"I am almost ashamed to give any other reason for resumption than this
one I have given. It is so complete that no other is needed; but there
is another almost as strong. If there were no moral obligations resting
upon the nation, if there were no public faith pledged to it, I affirm
that the resumption of specie payment is demanded by every interest of
business in this country, and so imperatively demanded that it can be
demonstrated that every honest interest in America will be strengthened
and bettered by the resumption of specie payment."
Garfield's fidelity to conviction was strikingly shown in a case at this
time when in some of the states there were conflicts between civil and
military authorities. He was too well versed in law to follow blindly
the opinion of the majority.
"Young man," said Judge Jeremiah Black to him, "it is a perilous thing
for a young Republican in Congress to take such an independent stand,
and I don't want you to injure yourself."
"That consideration," replied Garfield, "does not weigh with me; I
believe in English liberty and English law."
Speaker Colfax wanted to reappoint him on the military committee, but he
asked to be excused, saying,--
"I would rather serve where I can study finance; this is to be the great
question in the future of our country."
In his first speech on the tariff question, he defines his position as
follows:--
"I hold that a properly adjusted competition between home and foreign
products is the best gauge to regulate international trade. Duties
should be so high that our manufacturers can fairly compete with the
foreign product, but not so high as to enable them to drive out the
foreign article, enjoy a monopoly of the trade, and regulate the price
as they please. This is my doctrine of protection."
In the well-remembered controversy that succeeded General Schenck's
tariff bill, Garfield said,--
"The great want of industry is a stable policy; and it is a significant
comment on the character of our legislation that Congress has become a
terror to the business men of the country.... A distinguished citizen
of my own district has lately written me this significant sentence: 'If
the laws of God and nature were as vacillating and uncertain as the laws
of Congress in regard to the business of its people, the universe would
soon fall into chaos.'
"Examining thus the possibilities of the situation I believe that the
true course for the friends of protection to pursue, is to reduce the
rates on imports when we can justly and safely do so, and accepting
neither of the extreme doctrines, endeavor to establish a stable policy
that will commend itself to all patriotic and thoughtful people."
Finding that no one in Congress had made a business of examining in
detail the various appropriations of the public money, Garfield took the
arduous task upon his own shoulders so that he might vote more
intelligently. Having made out a careful analysis, he delivered it
before the House; it was so well received, that each succeeding year
another was called for until "Garfield's budget speech" became a
well-known institution in Congress, and was considered a most important
help in reducing the expenditures of the Government.
A few years later, Garfield was promoted to the chairmanship of the
Committee on Appropriations.