USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Sixth congressional district, Maryland V. 1 > Part 7
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In1 1856 he was nominated to the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but he declined to accept the nomination. Two years later, the of- fice of City Solicitor becoming vacant, the City Council elected him for the unexpired term.
In 1861, when the Rebellion broke out, lie was at the zenitli of his professional life. His rank at
the Bar was among the first. But the news of the attack on Ft. Sumter found him eager to take up arıns for the defense of his country.
His military record was bright and illustrious. In October, 1861, he was made Lieutenant-Colo- nel, and in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio Regiment, but he refused to leave his old comrades and go among strangers. Subsequently, however, he was made Colonel of his old regiment. At the battle of South Moun- tain he received a wound, and while faint and bleeding displayed courage and fortitude that won admiration from all.
Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, after his recovery, to act as Brigadier-General, and placed in command of the celebrated Kanawlia division, and for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he was promoted Brigadier-General. He was also breveted Major-General, "for gallant and distinguished services during the campaigns of 1864, in West Virginia." In the course of his arduous services, four horses were shot from un- der him, and he was wounded four times.
In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress from the Second Ohio District, which had long been Democratic. He was not present during the campaign, and after the election was importuned to resign his commission in the army; but he fi- nally declared, " I shall never come to Washing- ton until I can come by way of Richmond." He was re-elected in 1866.
In 1867, Gen. Hayes was elected Governor of Olio, over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popular Democrat, and in 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton. He was elected Governor for the third term in 1875.
In 1876 he was the standard-bearer of the Re- publican party in the Presidential contest, and after a liard, long contest was chosen President, and was inaugurated Monday, March 5, 1877. He served his full term, not, however, with satis- faction to his party, but liis administration was an average one. The remaining years of his life were passed quietly in his Ohio home, where he passed away January 17, 1893.
93
JAMES A. GARFIELD.
94-95
JAMES A. GARFIELD.
AMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth President of the United States, was born November 19, 1831, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. His parents were Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Garfield, both of New England ancestry, and from families well known in the early history.of that section of our country, but who had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settlement.
The house in which James A. was born was not unlike the houses of poor Ohio farmers of that day. It was about 20 x 30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces between the logs filled with clay. His father was a hard-working farmer, and he soon had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. The household comprised the father and mother and their four children, Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In May, 1823, the father died from a cold contracted in helping to put out a forest fire. At this time James was about eighteen months old, and Thomas about ten years old. No one, perhaps, can tell how much James was indebted to luis brother's toil and self-sacrifice during the twenty years succeeding his father's death. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live in Solon, Ohio, near their birthplace.
The early educational advantages young Gar- field enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of them. He labored at farm work for others, did carpenter work, chopped wood, or did anything that would bring in a few dollars to aid his widowed mother in her struggles to keep the little family together. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever aslıamed of his origin, and he never forgot the friends of his struggling childhood, youth and manhood; neither did they ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor, the humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the sym- pathy of one who had known all the bitterness of
want and the sweetness of bread earned by the sweat of the brow. He was ever the simple, plain, modest gentleman.
The highest ambition of young Garfield until he was about sixteen years old was to be cap- tain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard a vessel, but this his mother strongly opposed. She finally consented to his going to Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that he should try to obtain some other kind of em- ployment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. This was his first visit to the city. After making inany applications for work, and trying to get aboard a lake vessel and not meeting with suc- cess, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. He remained at this work but a short time, when he went home, and attended the seminary at Chester for about three years. He then entered Hiram and the Eclectic Institute, teaching a few terms of school in the mean time, and doing other work. This school was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of which body he was then a member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way. He then became both teacher and pupil. Soon "exhausting Hiram," and needing a higher education, in the fall of 1854 he entered Williams College, from which he grad- uated in 1856, taking one of the highest honors of his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram Col- lege as its President. As above stated, he early united with the Christian, or Disciples, Church at Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealous member, often preaching in its pulpit and places where he happened to be.
Mr. Garfield was united in marriage, Novem- ber 11, 1858, with Miss Lucretia Rudolpli, who proved herself worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved. To them were born seven children, five of whom are still living, four boys and one girl.
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JAMES A. GARFIELD.
Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 1856, in Hiram and the neighboring villages, and three years later. he began to speak at county mass-meetings, and became the favorite speaker wherever he was. During this year he was elected to the Ohio Senate. He also began to study law at Cleveland, and in 1861 was admitted to the Bar. The great Rebellion broke out in the early part of this year, and Mr. Garfield at once resolved to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to defend the Old Flag. He received his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-second Regi- ment of Ohio Infantry August 14, 1861. He was immediately put into active service, and be- fore he had ever seen a gun fired in action, was placed in command of four regiments of infantry and eight companies of cavalry, charged with the work of driving out of his native State the able rebel officer, Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky. This work was bravely and speedily accomplished, although against great odds, and President Lin- coln commissioned him Brigadier-General, Janu- ary 10, 1862; and "as he had been the youngest man in the Ohio Senate two years before, so now he was the youngest General in the army." He was with Gen. Buell's army at Shiloh, in its operations around Corinth and its march through Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of the general court martial for the trial of Gen. · Fitz-John Porter. He was next ordered to re- port to Gen. Rosecrans, and was assigned to the " Chief of Staff." The military history of Gen. Garfield closed with his brilliant services at Chick- amauga, where he won the rank of Major-General.
Without an effort on his part, Gen. Garfield was elected to Congress in the fall of 1862, from the Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of Ohio had been represented in Congress for sixty years mainly by two men-Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua R. Giddings. It was not without a strug- gle that he resigned his place in the army. At the time he entered Congress he was the youngest member in that body. There he remained by successive re-elections until he was elected Presi- dent, in 1880. Of his labors in Congress, Senator Hoar says: "Since the year 1864 you cannot think of a question which has been debated in 1
Congress, or discussed before a tribunal of the American people, in regard to which you will not find, if you wish instruction, the argument on one side stated, in almost every instance better than by anybody else, in some speech made in the House of Representatives or on the hustings by Mr. Garfield."
Upon January 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elect- ed to the United States Senate, and on the 8th of June, of the same year, was nominated as the candidate of his party for President at the great Chicago Convention. He was elected in the fol- lowing November, and on March 4, 1881, was inaugurated. Probably no administration ever opened its existence under brighter auspices than that of President Garfield, and every day it grew in favor with the people. By the Ist of July he had completed all the initiatory and prelimi- nary work of his administration, and was prepar- ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Will- iams College. While on his way and at the depot, in company with Secretary Blaine, a man stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and fired directly at his back. The President tottered and fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his victim, but inflicting no further injury. It has been very truthfully said that this was " the shot that was heard around the world." Never before in the history of the nation had anything occur- red which so nearly froze the blood of the people for the moment as this awful deed. He was smitten on the brightest, gladdest day of all his life, at the summit of his power and hope. For eighty days, all during the hot months of July and August, he lingered and suffered. He, how- ever, remained master of himself till the last, and by his magnificent bearing taught the country and the world one of the noblest of human les- sons-how to live grandly in the very clutch of death. Great in life, he was surpassingly great in death. He passed serenely away September 19, 1883, at Elberon, N. J., on the very bank of the ocean, where he had been taken shortly be- fore. The world wept at his death, as it rarely ever had done on the death of any other great and noble man.
97
CHESTER A. ARTHUR.
98.99
CHESTER A. ARTHUR.
HESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first Presi- dent of the United States, was born in Frank- lin County, Vt., on the 5th day of October, 1830, and was the eldest of a family of two sons and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who emi- grated to this country from County Antrim, Ire- land, in his eighteenth year, and died in 1875, in Newtonville, near Albany, after a long and suc. cessful ministry.
Young Arthur was educated at Union College, Schenectady, where he excelled in all his studies. Aiter his graduation he taught school in Ver- mont for two years, and at the expiration of that time came to New York, with $500 in his pocket, and entered the office of ex-Judge E. D. Culver as a student. After being admitted to the Bar, he formed a partnership with his intimate friend and room-mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the inten- tion of practicing in the West, and for three months they roamed about in the Western States in search of an eligible site, but in the end re- turned to New York, where they hung out their shingle, and entered upon a successful career al- most from the start. Gen. Arthur soon after mar- ried the daughter of Lieut. Herndon, of the United States Navy, who was lost at sea. Con- gress voted a gold medal to his widow in recog- nition of the bravery he displayed on that occa- sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. Arthur's nomination to the Vice-Presidency, leav- ing two children.
Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celeb- rity in his first great case, the famous Lemmon suit, brought to recover possession of eight slaves who had been declared free by Judge Paine, of the Superior Court of New York City. It was in
1852 that Jonathan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to New York with his slaves, intending to ship them to Texas, when they were discovered and freed. The Judge decided that they could not be held by the owner under the Fugitive Slave Law. A howl of rage went up from the South, and the Virginia Legislature authorized the Attorney-General of that State to assist in an appeal. William M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed to represent the people, and they won their case, which then went to the Supreme Court of the United States. Charles O'Conor here espoused the cause of the slaveholders, but he, too, was beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, and a long step was taken toward the emancipation of the black race.
Another great service was rendered by Gen. Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jen- nings, a respectable colored woman, was put off a Fourth Avenue car with violence after she had paid her fare. Gen. Arthur sued on her behalf, and secured a verdict of $500 damages. The next day the company issued an order to admit colored persons to ride on their cars, and the other car companies quickly followed their example. Be- fore that the Sixth Avenue Company ran a few special cars for colored persons, and the other lines refused to let them ride at all.
Gen. Arthur was a delegate to the convention at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of the Second Brigade of the State of New York, and Gov. Morgan, of that State, appointed him Engineer-in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was made Inspector-General, and soon afterward be- came Quartermaster-General. In each of these offices he rendered great service to the Govern-
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CHESTER A. ARTHUR.
ment during the war. At the end of Gov. Mor- gan's term he resumed the practice of law, forn- ing a partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then Mr. Phelps, tlie District Attorney of New York, was added to the firm. The legal practice of tliis well-known firm was very large and lucrative, as each of the gentlemen composing it was an able lawyer, and possessed a splendid local reputa- tion, if not, indeed, one of national extent.
Mr. Arthur always took a leading part in State and city politics. He was appointed Collector of the Port of New York by President Grant, No- veniber 21, 1872, to succeed Thomas Murphy, and he held the office until July 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Collector Merritt.
Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at tlie famous National Republican Convention held at Chicago in June, ISSo. This was perhaps the greatest political convention that ever assembled on the continent. It was composed of the lead- ing politicians of the Republican party, all able men, and each stood firm and fought vigorously and with signal tenacity for his respective can- didate that was before the convention for the nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield received the nomination for President, and Gen. Arthur for Vice-President. The campaign which followed was one of the most animated known in the his- tory of our country. Gen. Hancock, the stand- ard-bearer of the Democratic party, was a popular man, and his party made a valiant fight for his election.
Finally the election came, and the country's choice was Garfeld and Arthur. They were in- augurated March 4, 1881, as President and Vice- President. A few months only had passed ere the newly-chosen President was the victini of tlie assassin's bullet. Then came terrible weeks of suffering-those moments of anxious suspense, when the hearts of all civilized nations were throbbing in unison, longing for the recovery of the noble, the good President. The remarkable patience that lie manifested during those hours and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible suffering man lias ever been called upon to en- dure, was seemingly more than human. It was
certainly godlike. During all this period of deepest anxiety Mr. Arthur's every move was watclied, and, be it said to his credit, that his every action displayed only an earnest desire tliat the suffering Garfield might recover to serve tlie re- mainder of the term he had so auspiciously be- gun. Not a selfisli feeling was manifested in deed or look of this man, even though the mnost honored position in the world was at any moment likely to fall to him1.
At last God in his mercy relieved President Garfield from further suffering, and the world, as never before in its history over the death of any other man, wept at his bier. Then it became the duty of the Vice-President to assume the respon- sibilities of the high office, and he took the oath in New York, September 20, 1881. The position was an embarrassing one to him, made doubly so from the fact that all eyes were on him, anxious to know what he would do, what policy he would pursue, and whom he would select as advisers. The duties of the office had been greatly neglected during the President's long illness, and many im- portant measures were to be immediately decided by him; and to still further embarass him he did not fail to realize under what circumstances he became President, and knew the feelings of many on this point. Under these trying circumstances, President Arthur took the reins of the Govern- ment in his own hands, and, as embarrassing as was the condition of affairs, he happily surprised the nation, acting so wisely that but few criticized his administration. He served the nation well and faithfully until the close of his administra- tion, March 4, 1885, and was a popular candidate before his party for a second term. His name was ably presented before the convention at Clii- cago, and was received with great favor, and doubtless but for the personal popularity of one of the opposing. candidates, he would have been selected as tlie standard-bearer of his party for another campaign. He retired to private life, car- rying with liim the best wishes of the American people, whom he had served in a manner satisfac- tory to tlien and with credit to himself. One year later he was called to his final rest.
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101-102
STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND.
103
STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND.
TEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND, the twenty-second President of the United States, was born in 1837, in the obscure town of Caldwell, Essex County, N. J., and in a little two-and-a-half-story white house, which is still standing to characteristically mark the humble birthplace of one of America's great men, in striking contrast with the Old World, where all men high in office must be high in origin and born in the cradle of wealth. When the subject of this sketch was three years of age, his father, who was a Presbyterian minister with a large family and a small salary, moved, by way of the Hudson River and Erie Canal, to Fayetteville, N. Y., in search of an increased income and a larger field of work. Fayetteville was then the most straggling of country villages, about five miles from Pompey Hill, where Governor Seymour was born.
At the last-mentioned place young Grover com- menced going to school in tlie good, old-fashioned way, and presumably distinguished himself after the manner of all village boys-in doing the things he ought not to do. Such is the dis- tinguisliing trait of all geniuses and independent thinkers. When he arrived at the age of four- teen years, he had outgrown the capacity of the village school, and expressed a most emphatic de- sire to be sent to all academy. To this his fa- ther decidedly objected. Academies in those days cost money; besides, his father wanted him to become self-supporting by the quickest pos- sible means, and this at that time in Fayetteville seemed to be a position in a country store, where his father and the large family on his hands liad i
considerable influence. Grover was to be paid $50 for his services the first year, and if lie proved trustworthy he was to receive $100 the second year. Here the lad commenced his career as salesman, and in two years he had earned so good a reputation for trustworthiness that his employ- ers desired to retain him for an indefinite length of time.
But instead of remaining with this firm in Fayetteville, he went with the family in their re- moval to Clinton, where he liad an opportunity of attending a High School. Here he industri- ously pursued his studies until the family re- moved with him to a point on Black River known as the "Holland Patent," a village of five or six hundred people, fifteen miles north of Utica, N. Y. At this place his father died, after preaching but three Sundays. This event broke up the family, and Grover set out for New York City to accept, at a small salary, the position of under-teacher in an asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully for two years, and although he obtained a good reputation in this capacity, he concluded that teaching was not his calling in life, and, revers- ing the traditional order, he left the city to seek his fortune, instead of going to the city. He first thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as there was some charm in that name for him; but before proceed- ing to that place he went to Buffalo to ask advice of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted stock- breeder of tliat place. The latter did not speak enthusiastically. "What is it you want to do, my boy?" he asked. "Well, sir, I want to study law," was the reply "Good gracious!" remarked the old gentleman; "do you, indeed? Whatever
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put that into your head ? How much money have you got?" "Well, sir, to tell the truth, I haven't got any."
After a long consultation, his uncle offered him a place temporarily as assistant herd-keeper, at $50 a year, while he could look around. One day soon afterward he boldly walked into the of- fice of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and told them what he wanted. A number of young men were already engaged in the office, but Gro- ver's persistency won, and he was finally per- mitted to come as an office boy and have the use of the law library, receiving as wages the sum of $3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for his board and washing. The walk to and from his uncle's was a long and rugged one; and although the first winter was a memorably severe one, his shoes were out of repair, and as for his overcoat he had none; yet lie was, nevertheless, prompt and regular. On the first day of his service there, his senior employer threw down a copy of Black- stone before him, with a bang that made the dust fly, saying "That's where they all begin." A titter ran around the little circle of clerks and students, as they thought that was enough to scare young Grover out of his plans; but in due time he mastered that cumbersome volume. Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleve- land exhibited a talent for executiveness rather than for chasing principles through all their metaphysical possibilities. "Let us quit talking and go and do it," was practically his motto.
The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland was elected was that of Sheriff of Erie County, N. Y., in which Buffalo is situated; and in such capacity it fell to his duty to inflict capital punish- ment upon two criminals. In 1881 he was elected Mayor of the City of Buffalo, on the Democratic ticket, with especial reference to bring- ing about certain reforins in the administration of the municipal affairs of that city. In this of- fice, as well as in that of Sheriff, his performance of duty has generally been considered fair, with possibly a few exceptions, which were ferrcted out and magnified during his Presidential cam- paign. As a specimen of his plain language in a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an
iniquitous street-cleaning contract: "This is a time for plain speech, and my objection to your action shall be plainly stated. I regard it as the culmination of a most bare-faced, impudent and shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people and to worse than squander the people's money." The New York Sun afterward very highly commended Mr. Cleveland's administra- tion as Mayor of Buffalo, and thereupon recom- mended him for Governor of the Empire State. To the latter office he was elected in 1882, and his administration of the affairs of State was generally satisfactory. The mistakes he made, if any, were made very public throughout the na- tion after he was nominated for President of the United States. For this high office he was nominated July 11, 1884, by the National Demo- cratic Convention at Chicago, when other com- petitors were Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc .; and he was clected by the people, by a majority of about a thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Re- publican statesman, James G. Blaine. President Cleveland resigned his office as Governor of New York in January, 1885, in order to prepare for his duties as the Chief Executive of the United States, in which capacity liis term commenced at no011 on the 4th of March, 1885.
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