“It can be done, and it must be done,” cried Garfield; and he leaped into the yawl, calling Brown to follow, and steered for the shore. The wild torrent swept them down the stream a short distance, but they rallied by almost superhuman strength, reached the shore, fastened the line, constructed a windlass, and, in a short time, the steamer was drawn from her bed in the mud, and was on her triumphant way up the stream. From Saturday until nine o’clock Monday morning Garfield stood at the wheel, night and day; and when he reached Paintsville his troops were reduced almost to their last cracker. His experience with rough men at the “Black-salters,” and on the canal, qualified him to deal with such a rebel as the captain of the Sandy Valley.

When the steamer drew up to the Union camp, Garfield’s men were almost frantic with joy. They cheered and yelled, and seized their brave commander, and would have borne him upon their shoulders to head- quarters had he not resolutely protested against it.

General Garfield’s tact, sagacity, fidelity, spirit of self-sacrifice, and undaunted courage, so conspicuous in his early life, are illustrated by his famous ride from General Rosecrans to General Thomas, when the army of the Cumberland was almost routed in the famous battle of Chickamauga. It was necessary for General Thomas to know the disaster that had befallen Rosecrans’ forces, in order to meet the rebel General Longstreet victoriously. Garfield proposed to undertake the fearful ride, and reached Thomas, through a hurricane of bullets. His noble horse was shot, and fell dead at Thomas’s feet.

Garfield’s terrible ride saved the army of the Cumberland from remediless disaster.

His life in Congress abounds in thrilling incidents of moral courage, loyalty, and defence of right. “Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.”

President Lincoln vetoed a bill, in 1864, providing for the organization of civil governments in Arkansas and Louisiana, and appointed military governors. Many Republicans criticized him severely: among them Garfield. His constituents disapproved of his course, and resolved not to renominate him. The convention of his congressional district, the nineteenth of Ohio, met, and General Garfield was called upon for an explanation. When he went upon the platform the delegates expected to hear an apology from him; but, instead, he boldly defended his course, and that of Wade and Davis, who criticized the President sharply in the New York Tribune; and he gave the reasons for his action, adding:

“I have nothing whatever to retract, and I cannot change my honest convictions for the sake of a seat in Congress. I have great respect for the opinions of my constituents, but greater regard for my own conscience. If I can serve you as an independent representative, acting upon my own judgment and convictions, I would be glad to do so; but, if not, I do not want your nomination; I would prefer to be an independent private citizen.”

It was the coolest, plainest, most fearless speech, probably, that was ever made before a nominating convention in Ohio. Garfield withdrew from the hall as soon as he closed his speech. No sooner had he withdrawn, than a delegate arose and said:

“Mr. President, the man who has the courage to face a convention like that deserves a nomination. I move that General Garfield be nominated by acclamation.”

The motion was carried so quickly, and by such a round of applause, that General Garfield heard it before he reached the hotel.

General Garfield prosecuted a European tour in the summer of 1868, for his health.

On the fourteenth day of April, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated. The following morning New York city presented a scene of the most perilous excitement. Placards were pasted up in New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City, calling upon loyal citizens to meet around Wall Street Exchange, at eleven