President James A. Garfield Autograph and Funeral Relics
Garfield (1831-1881) rose to the rank of Major General in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, participating in the battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga, before resigning his commission to take a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863-1880). A political moderate, Garfield was the compromise choice of a deadlocked Republican Convention in 1880, nominated on the 36th ballot and elected President by a narrow margin. Garfield's assassination by a disappointed office seeker helped advance the cause of civil service reform which he had advocated. Shot on July 2 1881, Garfield died on September 19, only 200 days into his term.
Addressed to Hon. N. Sutliff believed to be from a pioneer family in Trumbull County, coming from Connecticut. They settled in Vernon, Ohio, and succeeding generations were influential civic leaders through 1955. Brothers Levi (1806-1864), active in the Underground Railroad in Trumbull County, and Milton (1808-1880), Ohio Supreme Court Judge and Senator, supported the Abolition movement and the Underground Railroad financially and politically. They both attended the organizational meeting of the National Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia in 1833.
Inventory Number: POL 097