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Sale 2
Lot 129
Garfield, James A. The four letters are matted and framed together with a bronze Presidential medallion and inscribed plaque that reads: "James A. Garfield, 20th U.S. President, 1881." Overall size is 30 x 27." 20th President of the United States, 1881.
Letter Signed as President-elect and Senator-elect and Congressman and Autograph Letter Signed as Congressman. Framed collection of four choice Garfield items, including an additional Wayne McVeagh ALS, and a Lucrecia Garfield ANS:
A. Letter Signed as President-elect. One page, Octavo, Mentor, Ohio, November 20, 1880. On January 13, 1880, James Garfield, then a member of the House of Representatives, was elected to the US Congress. On November 4, 1880, Garfield was elected President, taking office March 4, 1881, and presiding for only four months before he was shot by a dissapointed office-seeker, dying two months later in September of that same year. In this terse letter, written to Henry Hubbard, Esq., Congressman and Senator-elect, and now President-elect James Garfield acknowledges congratuations on being elected the 20th US President. He writes, in full: "Dear Sir: Accept my thanks for your kind congratulations in letter of the 9th instant, in which Mrs. Hubbard joins. Very Truly Yours, J.A. Garfield." Garfield's signiture is in a lighter ink, and is somewhat faded, but still very even and legible. Fine condition.
B. Autograph Letter Signed as Congressman. One page, Octavo, Society of the Army of the Cumberland letterhead, Washington, D.C., November 22, 1879. Written to the Hon. J.M. Dalzell, as member of the Executive Committee of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, in which, during the Civil War, Garfield had served as Brigadier General, with such distinction that he was unsolicitedly elected to the Congress while he was still in the field. Now a Congressman, Garfield writes, in full: "Dear Dalzell: Thanks for your letter of the 11th which came to hand just before I left home. I shall be glad to hear from you at any time. I hope my friends will keep me advised of the various opposition movements. Do you happen to know how the Guernesy County man stands. Very Truly Yours, J.A. Garfield." Interesting political letter written at a critical point in Garfield's career, when the country's political future, as the term of President Hayes expired, was turbid and unclear. Garfield, in the midst of a crowded Presidential nomination bid, searches for information about the shifting political alliances that will decide the outcome of the imminent Presidential election. Minor repair to verso folds, with edge of tape slightly visible, else fine.
C. Wayne McVeagh Autograph Letter Signed. Garfield's Attorney General, One page, Quarto, The Elberon, N.J., September 8, 1881. Written to a Mrs. Childs ten days before the President's death, this astonishing letter is a misguidedly optimistic update on Garfield's failing physical condition. The Attorney General writes, in full: "My Dear Mrs. Childs: The President is far more comfortable this morn than for three weeks past. He is sleeping very nicely now and his pulse is down to 94 and his temperature and respiration are normal. It is the best news we have had for a long while. Sincerely Yours, Wayne McVeagh." On July 2, 1881, President Garfield had been shot in the back by an assassin's bullet; he died from the wound September 19, 1881. An arresting letter, in Fine condition.
D. Lucretia Garfield Autograph Note Signed. One page, possibly partial, 16mo., n.d., n.p. to John C. Martin, regarding an engraving of the President. The First Lady writes: "Rototype of him is a better likeness of him than any engraving I know of. This you can obtain by addressing …" Ink dot at upper left edge, else Fine. Also included is her addressed, postmarked envelope.
Estimated Value $2,000-UP.
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