ate with it. Senators Monroe and Cox stood with him then, and later, Senators Morse, Glass, Buck, Parish and Smith voted with him. When the constitutional amendment was submitted to the Ohio Legislature, which would guarantee to the slave States the perpetuity of slavery, he led the uncompromising minority, and with a remarkable display of ability, opposed, with pointed speeches and his vote, every measure or resolution which could be construed into a concession to the party in favor of human bondage. He was in earnest. He had a ready command of language. He knew the laws and their purpose. He had been bred to hate every form of meanness, unkindness, and oppression. Hence, his speeches were eloquent, thoughtful, and sincere. He seemed to care nothing for popularity, and expected only to do his duty while there, and retire with a clear conscience to private life, when his term of office should close.

But the earthquake of the rebellion overturned many plans, and sent confusion and alarm into every household in the nation. While he was yet in the Senate, the attack on Fort Sumter, and the battle of Bull Run added dismay to the already over-excited public mind. Mr. Garfield, from the first, declared his intention of going to the war, should it last more than the "ninety days," and the regular militia of the State prove insufficient.

At the adjournment of the Legislature, he offered his services to Governor Dennison, to assist him in the difficult task of organizing and providing supplies

for the troops, then flocking toward the camps. In the multiplicity of duties, and the incessant annoyances which perplexed and harassed Governor Dennison, he appears to have overlooked Mr. Garfield's ability and patriotism, and to have repeatedly promoted to high office, men of much inferior ability, because, in some way, they were placed prominently before the Governor's attention. Mr. Garfield would never ask for an office, and worked diligently on in his unofficial relation to the Governor for some weeks, going hither and thither for arms, clothing, ammunition, and provisions, never appearing to have had a thought that, amid all these army promotions and profitable stations, he might have secured a valuable office for himself. If a high official position had been offered him in the army, he would have refused it, with his usual excuse that he did not feel competent to undertake it.

But when the news came to the Governor that the students of Hiram College, over which Mr. Garfield was still the official head, purposed to organize a regiment, it at last occurred to him that Mr. Garfield could possibly be spared in such an emergency, and he asked the latter to recruit and organize it.

Mr. Garfield would not at first take the office of colonel, saying that he should need some military training before he could handle a regiment. He seems to have forgotten that his less able colleagues in the Legislature had taken commissions as brigadier-generals, without the slightest hesitation. So he was appointed, August 14, 1861, a lieutenant

colonel, and entered upon the task of organizing his command.

One of the first meetings for raising volunteers for his regiment was held at Hiram, and the enthusiasm was intense. The institution was almost wholly depleted of its male students by the spontaneous enlistment of the scholars. Graduates of the school came from distant counties, and even from other States, moved by the popularity of Mr. Garfield, and the great enthusiasm of that early period of the war. Although the regiment was filled almost immediately, there were many delays, caused by the difficulty of securing arms and uniforms, and it did not leave for the South until September 14th. Meantime, the pressure upon the Governor, on the part of the regiment and its friends, for the promotion of Mr. Garfield to the head of the regiment, was so unanimous and persistent that both the Governor and Mr. Garfield were compelled to submit to the demand.

September 18th, Colonel Garfield's regiment, the 42d Ohio, arrived at Cattletsburg, Kentucky, which is close to the border of both Ohio and Virginia, the two rivers at the junction of which it was situated being the boundaries of the three States. Colonel Garfield was ordered to report, in person, to General Buel, at Louisville.

General Buel was a native of Ohio, as were also Generals Grant, Sherman, McPherson, Sheridan, McClellan, Rosecrans, Mitchel, Gilmore, McDowell, Schenck, Custer, Hazen, Cox, Steadman, Weitzel,

Stanley, Crook, Swain, McCook, and Leggett, surely a most astounding leadership to be obtained so honorably by a single State. General Buel was not ignorant of Colonel Garfield's ability, nor of his popularity in Ohio, and hoped to find in the new colonel a vigorous supporter. The campaign in West Virginia had succeeded passably well, and General Buel hoped to be able to be equally successful in clearing Kentucky of the rebels, and of capturing Nashville. The general was a rather harsh disciplinarian, and did many foolish things with his raw troops. His ideas of military discipline were better adapted to a military empire, or an established and unlimited monarchy, than to the assemblies of free men, who were fighting for themselves, and not for a king. However, he was earnest, patriotic, and brave, and recognizing those qualities in Colonel Garfield, he at once confided to him the plan of the Kentucky campaign. Colonel Garfield did not pretend to be a military strategist, but when he looked over the map with General Buel, and heard how many rebel forces were in Eastern Kentucky, and how many in Western Kentucky, he thought it was folly to attempt to march through the center of the State to Nashville, with such forces on both flanks. The general thought that some movement ought to be made at once, and if the colonel had any doubts about the proposed plan it would be well to think the matter over and consult again about it the next day.

The following morning Colonel Garfield brought in a draft of his plan, which was to move into the

State in three columns, leaving no forces behind them, and if either column defeated its opponent, it could readily unite with the center and move on to Nashville. After some discussion, and after the general had asked the colonel if he would undertake the direction of the eastern column, the plan submitted was adopted so far as it could be without the co-operation of General Halleck's command in Missouri. The general plan was, however, somewhat modified by Zollicoffer's entrance into Kentucky at Cumberland Gap with a rebel army to co-operate with General Humphrey Marshall, who was already in Kentucky near Pound Gap. But General George H. Thomas was sent to drive back Zollicoffer, and Colonel Garfield's orders to attack Humphrey Marshall were not changed.

Thus we find him with a most important campaign on his hands before he had any useful experience in drilling a regiment in the manual of arms. The purposed movement was one of such importance, in view of the necessity of keeping Marshall from moving to Zollicoffer's aid and striking General Thomas's forces on the flank, that it is a little surprising that General Buel with his ideas of military manoeuvers, should have intrusted it to a commander so fresh from civil life. Colonel Garfield had never seen a skirmish nor heard the crack of a single hostile rifle. It therefore seemed somewhat inconsistent with Colonel Garfield's well known character to assume the direction of so important a military movement. It seems probable that he did not know just how important it was, nor