We shall need all the wisdom and patriotism the country possesses

I recently watched the four-episode series Death by Lightning on Netflix, which tells the story of the 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield, and the man who eventually assassinated him, Charles Guiteau. It's an interesting piece of American history that I knew nothing about. I won't get into it, but go here if you want to know more about Guiteau and the assassination. Inspired by the series, I decided to read up on Garfield and eventually found a letter worth sharing. 

Born into poverty in a log cabin on 19 November 1831, James Garfield grew up in Ohio and was a professor, a preacher and an attorney before turning to politics. In 1859, he became a Republican member of the Ohio State Senate, but with the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, he left the Senate and joined the Union Army, eventually becoming major general. While still serving in the army, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1862, but it wasn't until late 1863 that he would take his congressional seat. He subsequently served nine terms in the House, representing Ohio. After a narrow victory over his Democratic opponent, Winfield Scott Hancock, Garfield was elected president of the United States in November 1880, with his 200-day tenure being the second shortest in U.S. history. On 19 September 1881, two and a half months after being shot by Guiteau, he died from a massive infection of his wounds, at the age of 49.

On 9 November 1876, four years prior to becoming president, Garfield wrote the following letter to Corydon Fuller, a former college classmate and one of his most intimate friends. After sharing the news about the death of his son, he commented on the U.S. presidential election which had taken place two days earlier. At the time of writing, the early returns favoured the Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden, over his Republican opponent, Rutherford B. Hayes. Some newspapers had already declared Tilden elected. Garfield was concerned that a Democratic victory would jeopardise the "fruits" of the Civil War and Reconstruction, which included the addition of three amendments to the United States Constitution, granting citizenship and equal civil rights to the newly freed slaves. Garfield was a strong advocate for civil rights for African Americans, later declaring in his inaugural address that "the elevation of the negro race from slavery to the full rights of citizenship is the most important political change we have known since the adoption of the Constitution of 1787."

Washington, Nov. 9, 1876.

My Dear Corydon: I arrived in this city yesterday afternoon and found that your kind letter of the 2d inst. was awaiting me. Our precious little Eddie died on the 25th of October, and the same evening 'Crete and I left with the body, and on the 27th we buried him beside our little girl who died thirteen years ago. Both are lying in the graveyard at Hiram, and we have come back to those which are still left us, but with a desolation in our hearts known only to those who have lost a precious child. It seems to me that we are many years older than we were when the dear little boy died. His little baby ways so filled the house with joy that the silence he has left is heartbreaking. It needs all my philosophy and courage to bear it. It was very hard to go on with the work of the great campaign with so great a grief in my heart, but I knew that it was my duty, and I did it as well as I could. I spoke almost every day till the election, but it now appears that we are defeated. What the future of our country will be no one can tell. The only safety we can rely on lies in the closeness of the vote both on the Presidency and on the members of the House of Representatives. We have so far reduced the strength of the Democratic House that I hope they will not be able to do much harm. Still we shall have a hard, uncomfortable struggle to save the fruits of our great war. We shall need all the wisdom and patriotism the country possesses to save ourselves from irretrievable calamity. If we had carried the House of Representatives it was almost certain that I should have been elected Speaker; but, of course, that has gone down in the general wreck. 'Crete joins me in kindest regards to you and May. I hope the time may come when we can sit down and renew the memories of other days and enjoy a long visit. I am here now for the winter, and shall soon be at work in the Supreme Court, where I am having a number of important cases. With as much love as ever, I am your friend and brother,

James A. Garfield.

In the end, while Democrats retained control of the House of Representatives, Republicans won the presidency in what is considered one of the most disputed elections in U.S. history (read more in detail here). Nevertheless, Garfield's concerns had not been unfounded. Part of the controversy surrounding the election was the informal deal reached between Southern Democrats and the Republicans, later known as the Compromise of 1877 (or the Bargain of 1877, or the Corrupt Bargain). In exchange for Democrats accepting Hayes' victory and not blocking his inauguration, Republicans made a major concession by agreeing to remove the remaining federal troops from the South. After Hayes took office, the troops were withdrawn, which effectively ended Reconstruction. The Redeemers, the Southern wing of the Democratic Party, took full control of the Southern states, and African Americans saw the rights they had gained during Reconstruction being stripped away. This prompted W. E. B. Du Bois, a pioneering civil rights activist, to later write: "The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery."

Note: 

Garfield and his wife Lucretia ('Crete') had seven children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Edward, referenced in the letter, was their last-born and died from whooping cough just two months before his second birthday.  Their first-born —daughter Eliza— had died from diphtheria in 1863, at the age of three. Garfield and his wife often had a troubled relationship, especially during the early years of their marriage. Mainly due to Garfield's work and his military service, the couple spent long periods apart, during which Garfield became romantically involved with other women. The deaths of their children, especially Eddie's, brought them closer together. The final phase of Garfield's life seemed to mark a happier time in their marriage. Lucretia —a highly educated woman and well informed about Washington politics— often acted as her husband's unofficial adviser. After Garfield's death, she never remarried.

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Source letter: The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield (1881), by E. E. Brown

Source:  Internet Archive

Image top: Official White House portrait of James Garfield, 1881

Image bottom: James Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph photographed around the time of their engagement in 1858. They married on 11 November 1858.

Source images: Wikimedia Commons