Destiny of the Republic (37 page)

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 walking 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.

18
“We have but faith”: “Garfield’s Eulogy of Lincoln,”
New York Times
, July 13, 1881.

19
“I have arisen at 7 this morning”: Garfield to Lucretia Garfield, June 2, 1880, in Shaw,
Crete and James
, 373.

20
Ten years earlier: Hoogenboom,
Rutherford B. Hayes
, 324.

21
Since then, Conkling had personally made: Doenecke,
The Presidencies of James A. Garfield & Chester A. Arthur
, 12.

22
He had helped to draft: Five years earlier, when Blanche Kelso Bruce, a former slave, was sworn in to the Senate after having been elected in Mississippi, Conkling escorted him up the Senate’s aisle when the senior senator from Bruce’s state refused to perform that traditional duty.

23
“thoroughly rotten man”: Quoted in Hoogenboom,
Rutherford B. Hayes
, 412.

24
He offended fellow senators: Ackerman,
Dark Horse
, 317n.

25
“some ill-bred neighbor”: Conkling,
The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling
, 44.

26
“his haughty disdain”: Chidsey,
The Gentleman from New York
, 91.

27
Even Garfield, who admired Blaine: After watching Blaine unashamedly try to prevent the publication of an article on black suffrage that Garfield had written because it would outshine Blaine’s own work, Garfield noted with astonishment, “It is apparent to me that Blaine cares more about the glory … than having the cause of negro enfranchisement defended.” Peskin,
Garfield
, 435.

28
“cool, calm, and after his usual fashion”: “The Struggle at Chicago,”
New York Times
, June 4, 1880.

29
“serene as the June sun”: “The Convention and Its Work,”
New York Times
, June 3, 1880.

30
“I shall never cease to regret”: “The Evening Session,”
New York Times
, June 6, 1880; Peskin,
Garfield
, 467.

31
“folded his arms across”: “The Evening Session,”
New York Times
, June 6, 1880; Peskin,
Garfield
, 467.

32
“New York is for Ulysses S. Grant”: “The Evening Session,”
New York Times
, June 6, 1880.

33
“New York requests that Ohio’s real candidate”: Ackerman,
Dark Horse
, 84.

34
“Conkling’s speech”: Garfield to Lucretia Garfield, June 6, 1880, in Shaw,
Crete and James
, 376.

35
“I have witnessed the extraordinary”: “Nomination of John Sherman,” James A. Garfield Papers, Library of Congress; Hoar,
Autobiography of Seventy Years
, 393–95.

36
“And now, gentlemen of the Convention”: “Nomination of John Sherman,” James A. Garfield Papers, Library of Congress.

37
“I presume I feel very much as you feel”: Conkling,
The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling
, 604.

38
The convention chairman: Hoar,
Autobiography of Seventy Years
, 395.

39
“The chair,” wrote one reporter: “The Evening Session,”
New York Times
, June 6, 1880.

40
“Never”: “Two Remarks of Garfield’s,”
New York Times
, July 10, 1881.

41
“General,” he said, “they are talking”: Peskin,
Garfield
, 472.

42
The balloting began at ten: “The Story of the Balloting,”
New York Times
, June 9, 1880.

43
Grant, as had been expected: “The Twenty-Eight Ballots,”
New York Times
, June 8, 1880.

44
“By high noon”: “The Excitement in this City,”
New York Times
, June 8, 1880.

45
“elbow [his] way through”: “Fight it Out!”
Boston Globe
, June 8, 1880.

46
On the thirty-fourth ballot: “The Story of the Balloting,”
New York Times
, June 9, 1880.

47
“Mr. President”: Hoar,
Autobiography of Seventy Years
, 397.

48
“No, no, gentlemen”: “Gen. Garfield’s Nomination,”
New York Times
, June 15, 1880.

49
“No candidate has a majority”: “The Story of the Balloting,”
New York Times
, June 9, 1880.

50
“If this convention nominates me”: Peskin,
Garfield
, 476.

51
“And then,” a reporter wrote with awe, “then the stampede came”: “The Story of the Balloting,”
New York Times
, June 9, 1880.

52
“Whenever the vote of Ohio”: Sherman,
Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet
, 775.

53
“Cast my vote for Sherman!”: Peskin,
Garfield
, 476.

54
“Shall the nomination”: “Roscoe Conkling, Political Boss,”
New York Times
, April 14, 1935.

55
“The delegates and others on the floor”: “The Story of the Balloting,”
New York Times
, June 9, 1880.

56
“Only once,” a reporter recalled, “did he express”: “The Story of the Balloting,”
New York Times
, June 9, 1880; “U.S.G.’s Waterloo,”
Boston Globe
, June 9, 1880.

57
“As Garfield entered the carriage”: “Gen. Garfield’s Nomination,”
New York Times
, June 15, 1880.

58
“grave and thoughtful expression”: Ibid.

59
When the carriage pulled: “The Story of the Balloting,”
New York Times
, June 8, 1880.

60
“pale as death”: “Gen. Garfield’s Wife Notified,”
New York Times
, June 13, 1880.

Chapter 4: God’s Minute Man

1
From an early age:
United States v. Guiteau
, 348, 354, 419.

2
“My mother was dead”: Ibid., p. 547

3
Charles’s own fanaticism grew: Carden,
Oneida
, xiii.

4
Like most of Noyes’s followers: Ibid., 43.

5
“unhealthy and pernicious”: Ibid., 49–54.

6
“up to the very moment”: Ibid., 49–50.

7
“You prayed God”: Guiteau to J. H. Noyes, no date, Library of the New York City Bar.

8
“I ask no one to respect me”: Guiteau to “Mr. Burt,” no date, Library of the New York City Bar.

9
“God’s minute man”: Guiteau to George Campbell, June 21, 1865, Library of the New York City Bar.

10
“in the employ of Jesus Christ”: Guiteau to “The Community,” no date, Library of the New York City Bar.

11
“Chas. J. Guiteau of England”: Clark,
The Murder of James A. Garfield
, 4–5.

12
“the Community women”: Noyes, “
Guiteau v. Oneida Community
,” 3.

13
In fact, so thorough: Rosenberg,
The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau
, 19.

14
“practically a Shaker”:
United States v. Guiteau
, 549.

15
“egotism and conceit”: Ibid., 297; Rosenberg,
The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau
, 19–20.

16
“destined to accomplish”:
Guiteau v. Oneida Community
, 3.

17
“God and my own conscience”: Guiteau to “The Community,” no date.

18
“
warm friend of the Bible
”: Guiteau to “The Community,” April 10, 1865.

19
“labored there for weeks and months”:
United States v. Guiteau
, 297.

20
“lost [his] eternal salvation”: Ibid., 556.

21
“asked him three questions”: Ibid., 299.

22
“The style and plea of his conduct”: Beard, “The Case of Guiteau—A Psychological Study,” 32.

23
“talked about theology”:
United States v. Guiteau
, 392.

24
Much more than the work itself: Clark,
The Murder of James A. Garfield
, 12–13.

25
“I asked Mr. John H. Adams”:
United States v. Guiteau
, 560.

26
“have been in the habit”: Ibid., 566.

27
“failure all the way through”: Ibid., 567.

28
After arriving in a town: Ibid., 573.

29
On most nights: Rosenberg,
The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau
, 33.

30
“You may say that this is dead beating”:
United States v. Guiteau
, 570.

31
“I had no trouble”: Ibid., 569.

32
“you can arrest a man for a board-bill”: Ibid., 568.

33
“I was never so much tortured”: Ibid., 558–59.

34
“If Mr. Scoville would let me”: Guiteau to Frances Scoville, December 11, 1864.

35
Much larger sums of money:
United States v. Guiteau
, 562; Rosenberg,
The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau
, 30.

36
Searching for another target: “Scoville, Guiteau and Oneida Community,” 4, Library of the New York City Bar; Rosenberg,
The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau
, 24.

37
“moody [and] self-conceited”:
United States v. Guiteau
, 1048–49.

38
“If you intend to pay”: Guiteau to John Humphrey Noyes, February 19, 1868.

39
“I infer from your silence”: Guiteau to John Humphrey Noyes, March 2, 1868. Hostility against the Oneida Community grew until Noyes and his followers stopped their practice of complex marriage in 1879. A few years later, Noyes and a small group moved to Canada, where Noyes died in 1886.

40
“I have no ill will toward him”: Rosenberg,
The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau
, 26, 30, 31.

41
“cut up a little wood for us”:
United States v. Guiteau
, 469.

42
“explosions of emotional feeling”: Ibid., 352.

43
“I had no doubt then”: Ibid., 476–77.

44
For the next five years: Ibid., 583.

45
Believing, as did most of the country: Ibid., 584.

46
“I remember distinctly”: Hayes and Hayes,
A Complete History of the Life and Trial of Charles Julius Guiteau, Assassin of President Garfield
(hereafter,
A Complete History
), 452.