James A. Garfield National Historic Site

Did you know James Garfield was the last president born in a log cabin? Neither did I!

The James Garfield National Historic Site (this is not the log cabin he was born in) is located in Mentor, Ohio and is operated by the National Park Service. Although Garfield was only president for approximately 200 days before succumbing to the gunshot wound from an assassin there is a much to learn about this Union general and career politician at the site. The house is beautiful and something that I would love to have the chance to visit someday, but it won't likely be soon.

The Visitor Center provides a museum like exhibit located in what was once a carriage house. Areas of focus are his early life, Civil War career and his rise through the political rankings and also his assassination. You can then tour Garfield’s house complete with furnishings while listening to a guided tour – approximately 35 minutes. Then there is the expanse of grounds you can walk, enjoy a picnic, and just have a relaxing afternoon.

If you want a little more than that – stop by the site on the first or third Saturday of the month for more in-depth tours. A Behind the Scenes tour takes place on the first Saturday. You get to tour these additional areas: basement, servant’s quarters, third floor, windmill and the barn. The third Saturday features an in-depth look at Garfield’s Civil War career. You can learn about his participating at the Battle of Chickamauga and at Sandy Creek and tour the area of the house that was reserved for the family of Joe Rudolph – Garfield’s brother in law. Both of these tours are 1 ½ hours long and reservations are required.

Also, the Garfield Park is taking part in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with events throughout 2011-2015. Check out their special events calendar for those events if you are interested.

Admission to the park is $5.00 per person, kids under 15 are free.

To check out a panoramic of the Garfield Historic Site and hear a brief description of the site – go to the Historybuff website.





Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Unabridged, 9 hr. 47 min.

Random House Audio

Paul Michael (Narrator)

September 20, 2011

★★★★★+

Genre: Non-Fiction, Presidential Biography

Source: Downloaded from my local library

“James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back. 

But the shot didn't kill Garfield. The drama of what happened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in turmoil. The unhinged assassin's half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. As his condition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet. 

Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history.”

This was one of those books where I was interested in reading it mostly because of the cover and had no idea if I was going to like the subject or not. President James Garfield I had no prior knowledge about – with the exception that he was assassinated. I didn’t have an interest in the man, hadn’t heard any early reviews of the book, and basically read it because it fulfilled a segment on my quest to read a book about all of the presidents. However, what I walked away with was a powerful respect for an intelligent man, disappointment for the country over his assassination and an all consuming passion to tell everyone I know about this great man.

I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this book. First of all it is written in a narrative style and the story just moves right along and keeps you riveted to the story – at no time did my mind wander. It is also more than just a story of one man; the story truly has 3 threads – the story of James Garfield (the main narrative), the story of Charles Guiteau (the assassin) and that of Alexander Graham Bell. I won’t spoil for you how Bell becomes involved – as you read you are like, “how does this relate at all”, but I assure you that it all ties together in the end. While you may think that a book with storylines about an assassin and his victim will be tinged with a hatred and respect respectively, that really is not the case here. Millard lets you see a well rounded view of the president – including the fact that he had an affair while away from his wife – as well as what I believe to be a fair view of a clearly mentally unstable man (Guiteau).

You could feel the author’s passion in every word that she wrote and that passion is passed on to the reader. I ran the gamut of emotions with this work – and that is not easy for non-fiction to do. There were moments that brought tears to my eyes, moments of anger and frustration, and sympathy and admiration. This book truly made me care very much about a man and president that I had no interest in. Since I put the book down, the story of James Garfield has not left my mind. The fact that there was the medical understanding at the time to have saved his life and this man could have likely been one of our great presidents and yet they still managed to mess up at every turn has left me exasperated.

I highly recommend this read to anyone who is looking for a good non-fiction read and especially anyone interested in the presidents. I cannot wait to have the opportunity to read her other book on Theodore Roosevelt, although I’m giving it time in between as I am still caught up in Garfield’s story.

★★★★★+

One of the things that I cannot be remiss to mention is the quality of the audio production – it was fantastic. The narrator was wonderful. One of the aspects that I enjoyed the most was that when he was reading a quotation you knew it was a quotation because he would alter his voice and create a voice for the character. The regular narrative was read in his standard reading voice. I have read several non-fiction books on audio format and one of the most difficult things can be to tell if what you are hearing is the words of the author or a quotation of someone. That is never the problem here and it keeps you interested.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the print book or this audio sample below (links to Audible) 

You can also watch the book trailer below.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• The Picky Girl
• Caroline Bookbinder

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Candice Millard

The River of Doubt

Hero of the Empire

Find Candice Millard: Website | Facebook | Twitter 

 
Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Video Clip - Book Talk with Candice Millard

I wanted to share this video with you.  This is a full-length segment of CSPAN's Book TV with Candice Millard - author of Destiny of the Republic about President James A. Garfield.  She speaks at the James A. Garfield Historic Site about the book and the man.  I encourage you to watch this segment (it's 54 minutes long) and learn something about this great man.

I had intended to write a post today about his surprise election - however I found this video which does talk about his election in a much more eloquent manner and provides additional information about the man.

It doesn't allow embedding, so here is the link.  Hope you enjoy it!




Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Songs of the Assassination of James Garfield

This week I will be sharing some posts with you about the 20th president, James Garfield.  He was someone that I knew almost nothing about, but after I finished reading Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard he is someone I deeply admire.  So stay tuned all week for some different facts about Mr. Garfield.

Today I wanted to share a 2 video clips and song lyrics that I found about the assassination of James Garfield.  I love finding folk songs about historical events.  It is interesting that a president who was only in office for just shy of 6 months has 2 popular (at their own time) songs about him.  I guess it goes to show how the emotional legacy persevered.

First up - Mr. Garfield - this was first recorded by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in March of 1949.  This is an epic narrative of the events and emotions surrounding the assassination of James Garfield.  While it was somewhat popular in this version, Johnny Cash made it even more so on his album of songs of the Old West (which James Garfield was not a part of but anyway).  Below I have a clip of Cash performing the song as well as the lyrics (be prepared, I said it was an epic!).

Me and my brother was down close to the depot
When I heard the report of a pistol
I hollered, "I wonder what was that!"

He run out and come back and he said
"That was a report of a pistol"

And I thought I was gonna faint when he said it
"Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low"

Lord, I knew the President was supposed to be down the depot that day
But I just wouldn't let myself believe that he'd been shot

Me and my bother run out there and everybody was all confused
And hollering' and running' round
And I stepped up to this one lady and I said that

"Ma'am what was it really that happened Ma'am?", and she said that
"Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low"

Well, it looked like everybody felt just about as bad as I did
Everybody started drift off to home
Me and my brother did too

Then a few weeks later, I heard that the President was still alive
So I told my brother, I said, "Hey let's get on a train
And go to that Big House up there and see how the President is"

"Let's go up there to where he's laid up hurt and sick we'd see him"
So we went on up there and that big White House
And there was a soldier boy standin' round upside, outside

And, I sidled up to him and I said to that soldier boy
I said "Who was it that did it?
Who was it that shot the President?"
And he said that, "It was Charlie Guiteau that shot Mr. Garfield"

And I said, "Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man, good man
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man low
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man, good man"

That soldier boy said that
Miss Lucretia Garfield was always at his bedside
In the heat of the day fannin' him when he was hot

And he said just that mornin' that he had been at the window
And he'd overheard Miss Lucretia and Mr. Garfield talkin'
And Mr Garfield said, "Crete, honey", he called her Crete

He said, "Crete, honey, if somethin' worse would happens to me"
He said, "You get yourself a good man"
And she said, "Now James", she called him James

She said, "James, I won't hear to that now
'Cause I love you too much"

And he said that "You'll make some good man a good wife, good wife
You'll make some man a good wife gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life, good gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life"

That's what he said, "Don't pull in single harness all your life"

Well a little while later, we come back around there
And things have changed
The flag was hangin' halfway up the flagpole

And everybody was cryin' and standin' 'round sad
And I walked back up to this soldier boy and I said
"Soldier boy, is he, is Mr Garfield?" and he said, "Yeah, he's gone"

Gonna lay him by that cold lonesome branch down low
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low
Oh, Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low

Have you heard the news?
Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low, Lord

The second song that I have for you is called Charles Guiteau - this was first recorded in 1927 by Kelly Harrell and has been more popularly recorded by the Phipps Family.  This song is about the assassin.  Apparently this song has been used for other assassins as well and the details are just changed to fit each one.  I have a video of someone performing the song below as well as the lyrics.

Come all you tender Christians
Wherever you may be
And likewise pay attention
To these few lines from me.
On the thirtieth day of June 
I am condemned to die

For the murder of James A. Garfield
Upon the scaffold high.

My name is Charles Guiteau,
My name I'll never deny,
To leave my aged parents
To sorrow and to die.
But little did I think
While in my youthful bloom
I'd be carried to the scaffold
To meet my fatal doom.

I tried to play off insane
But found it would not do;
The people all against me,
It proved to make no show.
Judge Cox he passed the sentence,
The clerk he wrote it down,
On the thirtieth day of June
To die I was condemned.

My name is Charles Guiteau,
My name I'll never deny,
To leave my aged parents
To sorrow and to die.
But little did I think
While in my youthful bloom
I'd be carried to the scaffold
To meet my fatal doom.

And now I mount the scaffold
To bid you all adieu,
The hangman now is waiting,
It's a quarter after two.
The black cap is o'er my face,
No longer can I see,
But when I'm dead and buried,
Dear Lord, remember me.

My name is Charles Guiteau,
My name I'll never deny,
To leave my aged parents
To sorrow and to die.
But little did I think
While in my youthful bloom
I'd be carried to the scaffold
To meet my fatal doom.

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court