Among the most enjoyable experiences I had while researching this book was the time I spent with several of Garfield’s descendants. There is no doubt in my mind that James Garfield would have been exceptionally proud of the fine family that grew out of his marriage to Lucretia. The president’s descendants—from great-grandchildren to great-great-great-grandchildren—were every bit as warm and kind as their famous forefather is remembered to have been. I would especially like to thank James A. Garfield III, known as Jay, who, along with his mother, Sally, and brother, Tom, generously invited me to a delicious, fascinating, and very fun family dinner. I will never forget their kindness and hospitality, or the wonderful stories they told. I am also very grateful to Rudolph Garfield, known as Bob, who shared with me details of his family’s history as well as memories of his grandfather James, who had been in the train station with his father, President Garfield, on that fateful day. I would also like to thank Wyatt Garfield, whom I interviewed over the phone, and Jill Driscoll, Mollie Garfield’s great-great-granddaughter, who kindly sent me a copy of the treatise that her father, a physician, wrote about the medical care Garfield received after the shooting.
For help with tracking down elusive newspaper articles, many thanks go to my very smart, resourceful friend Stacy Benson. I am grateful to Lora Uhlig for spending several painful weekends copying the nearly three thousand pages of the trial record of United States v. Guiteau. Thanks too to David Uhlig and Clif Wiens for helping me to understand and navigate the world of social media. I am grateful to Michelle Harris for applying her impressive and abundant research skills toward fact-checking this book. For stirring in me an early interest in history and the world outside our hometown, I would like to thank my lifelong friend Jodi Lewis. For her great warmth and kindness to my family, I will always be grateful to Betty Jacobs.
As a writer, I am extremely fortunate to have a brilliant editor in Bill Thomas, an extraordinary agent in Suzanne Gluck, and an incredibly talented publicist in Todd Doughty. I would like to thank them not only for the time and talent they have devoted to this book, but for their kindness and encouragement.
Many thanks and much love to my parents, Lawrence and Constance Millard, to whom this book is dedicated; my sisters, Kelly Sandvig, Anna Shaffer, and Nichole Millard; my mother-in-law, Doris Uhlig; and my bright, sweet, funny, precious-beyond-words children, Emery Millard Uhlig, Petra Tihen Uhlig, and Conrad Adams Uhlig.
My husband, Mark Uhlig, has been a constant source of encouragement, inspiration, and pure happiness for the past nearly twenty years of my life. He deserves more thanks than I could possibly fit into a thousand books, much less one, so I carry them all in my heart. A tu lado.
Finally, over the years I spent writing this book, my family and I have learned firsthand how fortunate we are to live in a time when medical science has advanced in the treatment not just of bullet wounds and infections, but of diseases as mysterious and insidious as cancer. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Gerald Woods, Cathy Burks, Dr. Brian Kushner, Dr. Margaret Smith, Lynn Hathaway, and Dr. Edward Belzer, as well as the many exceptional men and women at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. From the bottom of this mother’s heart, and on behalf of every member of my family, thank you, thank you, thank you.
NOTES
Prologue: Chosen
1 Crossing the Long Island Sound: New York Times, June 13, 1880.
2 Although most of the passengers: Report of the Proceedings in the Case of the United States v. Charles J. Guiteau, Tried in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, Holding a Criminal Term, and Beginning November 14, 1881 (1882), 583–84. (Hereafter United States v. Guiteau.)
3 Absorbed in his own thoughts: Ibid.
4 As the Stonington recoiled: Harper’s Weekly, July 3, 1880.
5 On board the Narragansett: New York Times, June 13, 1880; Harper’s Weekly, July 3, 1880; Manitoba Daily Free Press, June 26, 1880.
6 As the passengers of the Stonington watched in horror: Daily Evening Bulletin, June 12, 1880.
7 In just minutes, the fire grew in intensity: Indiana Statesman, June 17, 1880.
8 As the tragedy unfolded before him: United States v. Guiteau, 583–84.
9 The frightened and ill-prepared crew: Indiana Statesman, June 17, 1880.
10 When the Stonington finally staggered: New York Times, June 13, 1880.
11 The ship’s bow had been smashed in: Notes from the Stonington Historical Society.
12 Guiteau, however, believed that luck: United States v. Guiteau, 598.
Chapter 1: The Scientific Spirit
1 Even severed as it was: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 125; Hilton, The Way It Was, 190–91.
2 Across the lake from the statue: Garfield, Diary, May 10, 1876, 3:290.
3 Although he was a congressman: Ibid.
4 With fourteen acres of exhibits: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 67–82.
5 In fact, so detailed was his interest in mathematics: Dunham, The Mathematical Universe, 95–101.
6 “The scientific spirit has cast out the Demons”: Garfield, Speech to the U.S. House of Representatives, December 16, 1867.
7 After his first day at the exposition: Shaw, Lucretia, 68.
8 With characteristic seriousness of purpose: Garfield, Diary, May 11, 1876, 3:291.
9 As fairgoers stared in amazement: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 73. Edison would invent the electric light just three years later.
10 So incomplete and uncertain: Hilton, The Way It Was, 86.
11 Is freedom “the bare privilege of not being chained?”: Quoted in Peskin, Garfield, 253.
12 “instruments for the curing”: “Scenes in the Grand Hall,” New York Times, May 14, 1876.
13 His first child: Garfield, Diary, 1:xxxvii.
14 With his quick, crisp stride: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 22.
15 In many ways, Garfield had less in common: Hilton, The Way It Was, 189.
16 Next door to Machinery Hall: Gross, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 26–29.
17 Inside, at the far east end of the building: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 193–95; Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 119; Post, 1876, 63; Gross, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 30.
18 Bell’s school would administer: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 119.
19 From the moment Bell had stepped: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 120.
20 To his horror, when he examined: Grosvenor and Wesson, Alexander Graham Bell, 71.
21 When Bell had finally reached: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 119; Post, 1876, 63.
22 Fearing that he would be forgotten: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 121.
23 “How do you do, Mr. Bell?”: Ibid., 122; Grosvenor and Wesson, Alexander Graham Bell, 72.
24 With the judges waiting anxiously nearby: Bell to his parents, June 27, 1876; Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 122.
25 After the group had crossed the vast hall: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 195.
26 As the judges gathered around him: Ibid., 196.
27 Leaning into a transmitter: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 123.
28 Sitting at the table, with the iron box receiver: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 197.
29 Although the results were dramatic: Noble, The Courage of Dr. Lister, 134.
30 Even Dr. Samuel Gross: Gross had personally invited Lister to Philadelphia to talk about antisepsis, but apparently only as an opportunity to discredit it.
31 “Little, if any faith”: Clarke et al., A Century of American Medicine, 1776–1876, 213.
32 There was a much-admired exhibit: Post, 1876, 153.
33 “American surgeons are renowned”: Ashhurst,
Transactions of the International Medical Congress of Philadelphia, 1876, 517.
34 For three hours, Lister did all he could: Ibid., 535.
35 “It is worth some trouble”: “Exsection” is a nineteenth-century term for excision.
36 “glad to have you convince us”: Ashhurst, Transactions of the International Medical Congress of Philadelphia, 1876, 532.
37 A few weeks after Lister tried in vain: Garfield, Diary, September 3, 1876, 3:344.
38 At his home in Washington, he watched helplessly: Ibid., October 25, 1876, 3:370.
39 “I am trying to see through it”: Ibid., October 27, 1876, 3:371.
40 “The children were not pleased”: Ibid., November 21, 1875, 3:186.
Chapter 2: Providence
1 James Garfield’s father, Abram: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 9.
2 It consisted of one room: Alger, From Canal Boy to President, 3.
3 Like his ancestors, who had sailed: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 2.
4 In 1819, he and his half brother: Ibid., 3; Conwell, The Life, Speeches, and Public Services of James A. Garfield, 34.
5 Although land was available: Conwell, The Life, Speeches, and Public Services of James A. Garfield, 37.
6 Soon after their arrival, they met: Ibid., 34.
7 In 1829 the two couples: Ibid., 37.
8 When Abram had seen the wildfire: Ridpath, The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, 21–22.
9 “Let us never praise poverty”: Garfield to J. H. Rhodes, November 19, 1862, in Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 36.
10 Between them, working as hard as they could: Ridpath, The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, 23.
11 So little did they have to spare: Alger, From Canal Boy to President, 5.
12 “received no aid, worked and won”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 11.
13 “If I ever get through a course of study”: Ibid., 53.
14 She came from a long line: Conwell, The Life, Speeches, and Public Services of James A. Garfield, 35.
15 She donated some of her land: Alger, From Canal Boy to President, 6.
16 “Whatever else happens”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 15.
17 Although he could not swim: Ibid., 22.
18 Garfield’s first job on the canal: Ibid., 23.
19 Now it was midnight: Ibid., 24.
20 “Carefully examining it”: Ibid., 24–25.
21 “Providence only could have saved”: New York Times, September 20, 1881.
22 “As I approached the door”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 25.
23 “I took the money”: Ibid., 26.
24 By the fall of 1851, Garfield had transformed: The Western Reserve Eclectic Institute would become Hiram College in 1867.
25 “It was without a dollar of endowment”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 44.
26 Unable to afford tuition: Dean, “Reminiscences of Garfield: Garfield the Student, the Eclectic Institute,” Hiram College Archives.
27 “tread was firm and free”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 46.
28 “The ice is broken”: “Rough Sketch of an Introduction to a Life of General Garfield,” typescript, Hiram College Archives.
29 His day began at 5:00 a.m.: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 58.
30 “If at any time I began to flag”: Ibid., 45.
31 So vigorously did Garfield: Shaw, Lucretia, 9.
32 “There is a high standard”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 74.
33 “I am aware that I launch out”: Garfield, Diary, August 23, 1859, 1:340–41.
34 “no heart to think of anything”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 160.
35 Four months after Confederate: Ridpath, The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, 92.
36 “pride and grief commingled”: Garfield to Lucretia Garfield, September 23, 1863, in Shaw, Crete and James, 189.
37 “I hope to have God on my side”: Perry, Touched with Fire, 60.
38 Garfield’s regiment did not have: Ibid., 59–63.
39 After he received his orders: Conwell, The Life, Speeches, and Public Services of James A. Garfield, 139.
40 In the end, the struggle: Perry, Touched with Fire, 76–87.
41 “The [Confederate] regiment and battery”: Ibid.
42 “resting there after the fatigue”: Peskin, Garfield, 118–19.
43 “something went out of him”: Ibid., 19. Although Garfield had no sympathy for the Confederates, he could not help but admire the passion with which they fought for their beliefs, no matter how misguided. “Let us at least learn from our enemies,” he wrote. “I have seen their gallantry in battle, their hoping against hope amid increasing disaster, and traitors though they are, I am proud of their splendid courage when I remember that they are Americans.”
44 “By thundering volley”: Ibid., 233.
45 “like throwing the whole current”: Garfield, Diary, November 2, 1855, 1:273. Although Garfield was a fierce and effective advocate for rights for freed slaves, his vocabulary at times reflected the racial prejudice of the time. While at the same time praising black men’s courage and defending their right to fight for “what was always their own,” he could casually refer to a neighborhood as “infested with negroes.”
46 “trust to God and his muscle”: Ibid., October 6, 1857.
47 “For what else are we so fearfully”: Peskin, Garfield, 234.
48 “A dark day for our country”: Garfield, Diary, December 2, 1859.
49 In the fall of 1862: Garfield defeated D. B. Woods 13,288 votes to 6,763.
50 “I have resigned my place in the army”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 355–56. Garfield did not hold Lincoln in high esteem. He thought the president was not strong enough, and he feared that Lincoln would lose his bid for reelection because of his “painful lack of bold and vigorous administration.” Quoted in Peskin, Garfield, 239.
51 “What legislation is necessary”: Peskin, Garfield, 234.
52 “who have been so reluctantly compelled”: Ibid., 253.
53 As head of the Appropriations Committee: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 796.
54 Garfield even defended: Ibid., 826–27.
55 “law of life”: Garfield, Diary, December 31, 1880, 4:499–500.
56 “I suppose I am morbidly sensitive”: Peskin, Garfield, 301.
57 “first, I should make no pledge”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 140–41.
58 “if the Senatorship is thus”: Peskin, Garfield, 340.
59 After a landslide victory: Ibid., 447.
60 “I have so long and so often”: Garfield, Diary, February 5, 1879.
61 “wait for the future”: Rockwell, “From Mentor to Elberon.”
Chapter 3: “A Beam in Darkness”
1 “Don’t fail to write me”: Garfield to Lucretia Garfield, May 29, 1880, in Shaw, Crete and James, 369.
2 “The first half of my term”: Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes, 402–3.
3 Hayes’s abdication: Clancy, The Presidential Election of 1880, 82.
4 The Half-Breeds had two top candidates: Presidential nominees would be chosen at their party’s national conventions until the mid-twentieth century.
5 Although the Republican Party: Andrew Johnson was a Democrat and a southerner, but to prove that they embraced all men loyal to the Union, and to ensure Abraham Lincoln’s election, the Republicans had made him one of their own by choosing him to be Lincoln’s vice president. He became president after Lincoln was assassinated.
6 The street he was walki
ng on: Author interview with Chicago History Museum; Encyclopedia of Chicago, “Chicago’s Lakefront Landfill,” http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3713.html.
7 At the time of the fire: PBS American Experience, “People & Events: The Great Fire of 1871,” www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/peopleevents/e_fire.html; Encyclopædia Britannica, online, “Chicago Fire of 1871.”
8 Within a year of the fire: Rayfield, “Tragedy in the Chicago Fire and Triumph in the Architectural Response,” http://www.lib.niu.edu/1997/iht419734.html.
9 “Fresh crowds arriving”: Garfield, Diary, May 31, 1880, 4:424.
10 The Interstate Industrial Exposition Building: Encyclopedia of Chicago, “Places of Assembly,” www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/333.html. The Interstate Industrial Exposition Building was razed twelve years later to make room for Chicago’s Art Institute.
11 “the cool air of the lake”: “The President-Makers,” New York Times, June 5, 1880.
12 Although the hall could accommodate: “The Convention and Its Work,” New York Times, June 3, 1880; “The Story of the Ballots,” New York Times, June 8, 1880; photograph of convention floor, published in several sources.
13 “Blaine! Blaine!”: Quoted in Peskin, Garfield, 465.
14 “asked me to allow his brother”: Garfield to Lucretia Garfield, June 2, 1880, in Shaw, Crete and James, 373.
15 “It is evident”: Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes, 403.
16 “It is impossible”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 50–51.
17 “too fond of talking”: Peskin, Garfield, 293.