Raynors HCA 2016-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/17/2016
GARFIELD, James (1831-1881) was the 20th President of the United States. His death, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure the second shortest (after William Henry Harrison) in United States history. Before his election as president, Garfield served as a major general in the United States Army and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a member of the Electoral Commission of 1876. Garfield was the second U.S. President to be assassinated; Abraham Lincoln was the first. President Garfield, a Republican, had been in office a scant four months when he was shot and fatally wounded on July 2, 1881. He lived until September 19, having served for six months and fifteen days. To date, Garfield is the only sitting member of the House of Representatives to have been elected President. Autograph Letter Signed, “J. A. Garfield”, 1pp., Washington (DC), December 1, 1862, 5 ¼" x 8", archival tape at folds on verso, light age, else fine. Garfield writes to his brother and sister in Ohio about a possible visit, but mentions that he is very busy in Washington, mainly due to the court martial trial, in full: "Dear Bro & Sister, Your kind letter of the 22nd Nov. was duly received for which please accept my thanks. I should be greatly pleased to accept your kind invitation to visit you, but I am now in a Court Martial which keeps every day engaged. When this work is over, I expect to be off soon for the South. But I shall try to visit you, in case I should have any leisure before I go. With much love, I am Very Truly Yours, J. A. Garfield". The future President had served with the 42nd Ohio, participating in battles at Shiloh, Chickamauga, and Corinth. During the summer of 1862 Garfield suffered from jaundice and significant weight loss. He was forced to return home, where his wife nursed him back to health. While he was home, Garfield's friends worked to gain him the Republican nomination for Congress, although he refused to politick with the delegates. He returned to military duty that autumn and went to Washington to await his next assignment. During this period of idleness, a rumor of an extra-marital affair caused friction in the Garfield marriage until Lucretia eventually chose to overlook it. Garfield repeatedly received tentative assignments that were quickly withdrawn, to his frustration. In the meantime, he served on the court-martial of General Fitz John Porter, a sensational trial in which Porter was tried for his tardiness at the Second Battle of Bull Run. He was convinced of Porter's guilt, and voted with his fellow generals to convict. The trial lasted almost two months, from November 1862 to January 1863. The official charges were two violations of the Articles of War for his actions during the Second Battle of Bull Run, Article IX, disobeying a lawful order, and Article LII, misbehavior in front of the enemy. Both charges contained specifications, examples when Porter allegedly committed the offense. The two charges were serious and a conviction could result in anything from expulsion from the army to execution. The court martial was eventually found unjust and overturned, and Porter was reinstated. Civil War letters written by Garfield are quite scarce. Examples written to family members with such historical content are exceedingly rare.
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