Married Lucretia Rudolph
November 11, 1858. In 1859 was chosen to represent the counties of
Summit and Portage in the Ohio senate. In August, 1861, Governor William
Dennison commissioned him lieutenant-colonel in the Forty-second
Regiment Ohio Volunteers. Was promoted to the command of this regiment.
In December, 1861, reported to General Buell in Louisville, Ky. Was
given a brigade and assigned the difficult task of driving the
Confederate general Humphrey Marshall from eastern Kentucky. General
Garfield triumphed over the Confederate forces at the battle of Middle
Creek, January 10, 1862, and in recognition of his services was made a
brigadier-general by President Lincoln. During the campaign of the Big
Sandy, while Garfield was engaged in breaking up some scattered
Confederate encampments, his supplies gave out and he was threatened
with starvation. Going himself to the Ohio River, he seized a steamer,
loaded it with provisions, and on the refusal of any pilot to undertake
the perilous voyage, because of a freshet that had swelled the river, he
stood at the helm for forty-eight hours and piloted the craft through
the dangerous channel. In order to surprise Marshall, then intrenched in
Cumberland Gap, Garfield marched his soldiers 100 miles in four days
through a blinding snowstorm. Returning to Louisville, he found that
General Buell was away; overtook him at Columbia, Tenn., and was
assigned to the command of the Twentieth Brigade.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25