Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them July 12, 1958 Issue

James Abram Garfield, 1831-1881

[Mentioned in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 112]

James A. Garfield, twentieth President of the United States, was, like Lincoln, a product of the American frontier. Born in a log cabin in Orange, Ohio, Garfield knew hardship and privation in his early life, for his father died before he was two. But these hardships were softened by a wealth of family affection. He worked hard on his father's farm and, when he was old enough, earned money by driving horses and mules on the towpath of the Ohio Canal; later he was a steersman on canal boats.

By nature a student, Garfield longed to be a teacher. He worked his way through the Eclectic Institute at Hiram, Ohio (later known as Hiram College), and at twenty-two entered the junior class at Williams College, from which he graduated with high honors, fifth in his class. He loved his two years at Williams and said of its president, Mark Hopkins, "A log with a student at one end and Mark Hopkins at the other is my ideal college."' From Williams, Garfield returned to Hiram to teach; later he became principal. On the side, he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He was also elected to the Ohio state senate.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Garfield entered the military field, for which his only preparation was book knowledge. His first assignment was commanding a brigade in eastern Kentucky against one commanded by a West Point graduate. With fewer than two thousand men, Garfield defeated a force of five thousand. More than this, he broke up the plan to gain control of Kentucky, thus precipitating the state into secession. President Lincoln named Garfield a brigadier general. For his gallantry in the battle of Chickamauga, he was commissioned a major general.

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James Abram Garfield, 1831-1881

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