Reading through Candice Millard’s excellent drama, “The Destiny of the Republic,” the coincidences between the lives of Harrison and Garfield struck me. So I took some time this morning and wrote a short essay paralleling the two, bearded, Ohio Republicans.
Their families came into the Ohio Valley at the beginning of the 19th century. For Garfield, it was his ill-fated father in the 1820s. William Henry Harrison came to the territory in the 1790s as a penniless army ensign. Through marriage and shrewd dealing, the Harrisons of Ohio came into some land.
John Scott and his brother William Henry married a pair of sisters, as did Abram and his brother. The Harrison family luck held better; John Scott lived a full life, while Abram Garfield died at 33 leaving his two-year-old son in a perilous state. Benjamin Harrison had a better beginning in life by the meager standards of frontier living.
Both men left home at the same time, in 1847. Harrison went with his brother to school; Garfield joined the crew of a canal boat. Sickness pushed Garfield back home, where his mother would persuade him to attend school. While Harrison was attending preparatory school at Farmer’s College, Garfield was enrolled at Geauga Seminary. At the end of two years, Garfield was baptized as a Disciple of Christ. Harrison joined the Presbyterian church at the end of his college career.
In 1850, Garfield transferred to Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College). Harrison joined the class of 1852 at Miami University. Latin and Greek were the favorite subjects, and both excelled at mathematics. Garfield’s slow start meant that he attended Western Reserve until 1854 before transferring to Williams College in Massachusetts to finish his degree in 1856. Harrison and Garfield would finish as salutatorian.
Lucretia Randolph and Caroline Scott would meet their husbands at school, but the Garfields would not marry until 1858. The Harrisons married before Ben had acquired a livelihood, in 1853.
Harrison went directly to study law at Cincinnati, was admitted to the bar, and began practicing law in 1854. Two years later, the Republican party supported his election as Indianapolis city attorney. In 1857, Garfield’s alma mater Western Reserve invited him to become president, and while serving he read law, admitted to the bar in 1861.
Though Harrison had been involved in Republican politics since the party’s inception, Garfield’s experience and ability saw that his star rose faster. He replaced a deceased state senator in 1861, and was elected to Congress in 1862, all without self-promotion. Harrison acquired statewide office on a smaller scale just prior to the Civil War, as Supreme Court Reporter.
Garfield joined the war a year earlier than Harrison. Both men began as colonels, and filled a regiment: the 42nd Ohio and 70th Indiana respectively. The 42nd joined the Army of the Ohio and the 70th joined the Army of the Cumberland, but both started their service in Kentucky. Harrison’s unit protected railroads, where the 42nd was tasked with driving Confederates from eastern Kentucky. Garfield excelled at his work, and earned a promotion to brigadier general at the age of thirty. Harrison earned his promotion to that rank at the same age, in 1864.
Politics pulled them both from the battlefield. While serving as General Rosecrans’ chief of staff, Garfield further distinguished himself for leadership and was promoted to major general, shortly before Lincoln ordered him to report to Congress, in December, 1863. 1864 would see Governor Morton of Indiana order Harrison to report for special assignment: campaigning for Lincoln’s reelection.
After the war, Garfield would serve in Congress until his election to the presidency in 1880. Harrison would rise to the top of Indiana’s Republican party and the Indiana bar, but would not serve in elected office until the legislature sent him to the Senate that same year, 1880.
The two men first crossed paths indirectly, relating to the case of Lamdin P. Milligan. Milligan and three co-conspirators had been convicted in a military tribunal at Indianapolis during the war. They appealed their case to the Supreme Court in 1866, and Garfield along with two others represented them before the high court. Milligan won his case, and afterwards filed a civil suit for damages. President Grant appointed Benjamin Harrison to represent the government against Milligan’s claim. Milligan won his suit, but Harrison so discredited the pro-Confederate Milligan that the jury awarded only $5 to Milligan, plus court costs. Milligan never collected.
As a leader in the Indiana Republican party, Harrison had the attention of Ohio’s distinguished Congressman. Garfield urged on Harrison’s failed campaign for governor in 1876, and the two men met when Garfield joined a Grand Army of the Republic parade at Indianapolis that year. Harrison struck up a friendship with Garfield while giving him a tour of the city.
The crucial moment in their relationship came at the sweltering 1880 Republican National Convention. On the fourth day of the deadlocked convention, Harrison visited Garfield at his room, and asked under what conditions Garfield would accept a nomination. Garfield made it clear that he had come to support John Sherman, and would not allow his name to be used.
On the last day of the convention, the thirty-fourth ballot, 17 Wisconsin delegates sent their votes toward Garfield. The Ohioan protested, but chairman George Frisbie Hoar declined to call a point of order. On the next ballot General Harrison ordered the entire Indiana delegation to shift to Garfield. The final, thirty-sixth ballot nominated Garfield.
The relationship between Garfield and Harrison from that point on was one of friendship and mutual respect. The new president wished to appoint Harrison to a cabinet post, but he declined, choosing his Senate seat instead. Undoubtedly, they looked forward to four years working together for civil service reform, civil rights, and the Republican agenda.
Like Garfield, Harrison knew Charles J. Guiteau, who had bothered him at the hotel that GOP Senators frequented. After the assassination, Harrison consulted with Dr. Bliss, attempted to see the president, and lost sleep with worry. The President died after more than two months of suffering.
Benjamin Harrison would be the next elected Republican. Spoils system office seekers and a divided Republican party would vex him as they had Garfield. Ultimately, Harrison’s contemporaries would regard his presidency as a disappointment, and both Harrison and Garfield would not sustain history’s attention.
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