Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VIII.: James A. Garfield | Page 3

skill in repairing the fortifications of Huntsville. Was granted leave of absence July 30, 1862, on account of ill health, and returned to Hiram, Ohio, where he lay ill for two months. Went to Washington on September 25, 1862, and was ordered on court-martial duty. November 25 was assigned to the case of General Fitz John Porter. In February, 1863, returned to duty under General Rosecrans, then in command of the Army of the Cumberland. Rosecrans made him his chief of staff, with responsibilities beyond those usually given to this office. In this field Garfield's influence on the campaign in middle Tennessee was most important. One familiar incident shows and justifies the great influence he wielded in its counsels. Before the battle of Chickamauga, June 24, 1863, General Rosecrans asked the written opinion of seventeen of his generals on the advisability of an immediate advance. All others opposed, but Garfield advised it, and his arguments were so convincing that Rosecrans determined to seek an engagement. General Garfield wrote out all the orders of that fateful day, September 19, excepting one, and that one was the blunder that lost the day. Garfield volunteered to take the news of the defeat on the right to General George H. Thomas, who held the left of the line. It was a bold ride, under constant fire, but he reached Thomas and gave the information that saved the Army of the Cumberland. For this action he was made a major-general September 19, 1863--promoted for gallantry on a field that was lost. Yielded to Mr. Lincoln's urgent request and on December 5, 1863, resigned his commission and hastened to Washington to sit in Congress, to which he had been chosen fifteen months before. Was offered a division in the Army of the Cumberland by General Thomas, but yielded to the representations of the President and Secretary Stanton that he would be more useful in the House of Representatives. Was placed on the Committee on Military Affairs, then the most important in Congress. In the Thirty-ninth Congress (1865) was changed, at his own request, from the Committee on Military Affairs to the Committee on Ways and Means. In the Fortieth Congress (1867) was restored to the Committee on Military Affairs and made its chairman. In the Forty-first Congress the Committee on Banking and Currency was created and he was made its chairman. Served also on the Select Committee on the Census and on the Committee on Rules. Was chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses. In the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-sixth Congresses (the House being Democratic) was assigned to the Committee on Ways and Means. In 1876, at President Grant's request, went to New Orleans in company with Senators Sherman and Matthews and other Republicans, to watch the counting of the Louisiana vote. He made a special study of the West Feliciana Parish case, and embodied his views in a brief but significant report. In January, 1877, made two notable speeches in the House on the duty of Congress in a Presidential election, and claimed that the Vice-President had a constitutional right to count the electoral vote. Opposed the Electoral Commission, yet when the commission was ordered was chosen by acclamation to fill one of the two seats allotted to Republican Representatives. Mr. Blaine left the House for the Senate in 1877, and this made Mr. Garfield the undisputed leader of his party in the House. At this time and subsequently was its candidate for Speaker. Was elected to the United States Senate January 13, 1880. Attended the Republican convention which met at Chicago in June, 1880, where he opposed the renomination of President Grant and supported Senator Sherman. On the thirty-sixth ballot the delegates broke, their ranks, and, rushing to General Garfield, he was unanimously nominated for President on June 8, 1880. Was elected November 2, 1880, receiving 214 electoral votes to 144 that were cast for Winfield S. Hancock. Was shot July 2, 1881, by an assassin in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station, in Washington, and died from the effects of the wound September 19 at Elberon, N.J. He was buried at Cleveland, Ohio.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Fellow-Citizens: We stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks a hundred years of national life--a century crowded with perils, but crowned with the triumphs of liberty and law. Before continuing the onward march let us pause on this height for a moment to strengthen our faith and renew our hope by a glance at the pathway along which our people have traveled.
It is now three days more than a hundred years since the adoption of the first written constitution of the United States--the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The new Republic was then beset with danger on every hand. It had not conquered a