Presdent James Abram Garfield
Born in a log cabin, James Abram Garfield rose by his own efforts to become a college president, a major general in the Civil War, a leader in Congress, and finally president of the United States. Four months after his inauguration, he was shot by an assassin. After weeks of suffering he died.
Birth and Boyhood
James Abram Garfield was born in Orange Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Nov. 19, 1831. His father, Abram Garfield, had emigrated to Ohio from New York with his half brother, Amos Boynton, to work on the Ohio Canal. Abram married Eliza Ballou and Amos married her sister, Alpha. After ten years of working on the canal, the two brothers bought land in Orange, about 15 miles southeast ...
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also sewed for the neighbors, and her girls learned to card wool and weave cloth. James early showed a love for books and his mother determined that he should have an education. When he was four years old, a log schoolhouse was built on the Garfields' lot.
The Boy on the Towpath
When he was 15, James was big enough and strong enough to do a man's work. He hired out to the neighbors for chopping wood, washing sheep, planting, plowing, and sowing. When he was 16, he decided to become a sailor and see the world. "Nautical novels did it," he said, " . . . especially the 'Pirates' Own Book'."
Unable to get a job on a lake steamer, the boy hired out for three months on a canalboat. The boat carried copper ore from Cleveland to Pittsburgh and returned with coal. James started as a driver boy on the towpath, leading the mules that pulled the boat. On the return trip he was promoted to steersman. Before his three months' engagement was over, he became ill with malaria and trudged ...
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was a student on one end of a log and Mark Hopkins on the other.
Garfield was nearly 23 when he arrived in Williamstown. Six feet tall and muscular, with blue eyes and a mass of blond hair, he looked like a backwoodsman in his rough western clothes. His eastern classmates stared at him, but he soon won their affection by his friendliness.
He studied in earnest, determined to excel his classmates. Debating was his chief delight. He became a leader of the nonfraternity group and at the end of his first year was elected president of his class. The next year Lucretia came east to see him graduated with high honors (August 1856).
From College President to Civil War General
Garfield ...
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Presdent James Abram Garfield. (2008, December 24). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Presdent-James-Abram-Garfield/95109
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"Presdent James Abram Garfield." Essayworld.com. December 24, 2008. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Presdent-James-Abram-Garfield/95109.
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