neration of
all who love the Union of the States.

"Early in 1863 Garfield was assigned to the highly important and
responsible post of Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans, then at the
head of the Army of the Cumberland. Perhaps in a great military campaign
no subordinate officer requires sounder judgment and quicker knowledge
of men than the Chief of Staff to the Commanding General. An indiscrete
man in such a position can sow more discord, breed more jealousy, and
disseminate more strife than any other officer in the entire
organization. When General Garfield assumed his new duties he found
various troubles already well developed and seriously affecting the
value and efficiency of the Army of the Cumberland. The energy, the
impartiality, and the tact with which he sought to allay these
dissensions, and to discharge the duties, of his new and trying
position, will always remain one of the most striking proofs of his
great versatility. His military duties closed on the memorable field of
Chickamauga, a field which, however disastrous to the Union arms, gave
to him the occasion of winning imperishable laurels. The very rare
distinction was accorded him of a great promotion for bravery on a
field that was lost. President Lincoln appointed him a Major-General in
the Army of the United States, for gallant and meritorious conduct in
the battle of Chickamauga.

"The Army of the Cumberland was reorganized under the command of General
Thomas, who promptly offered Garfield one of its divisions. He was
extremely desirous to accept the position, but was embarrassed by the
fact that he had, a year before, been elected to Congress, and the time
when he must take his seat was drawing near. He preferred to remain in
the military service, and had within his own breast the largest
confidence of success in the wider field which his new rank opened to
him. Balancing the arguments on the one side and the other, anxious to
determine what was for the best, desirous above all things to do his
patriotic duty, he was decisively influenced by the advice of President
Lincoln and Secretary Stanton, both of whom assured him that he could,
at that time, be of especial value in the House of Representatives. He
resigned his commission of major-general on the 5th day of December,
1863, and took his seat in the House of Representatives on the 7th. He
had served two years and four months in the army, and had just completed
his thirty-second year.

"T