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A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 8, part 1: James A. Garfield — A Closer Reading

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Authors: Richardson, James D. (James Daniel), 1843-1914 [Editor] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2004 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: United States -- Politics and government; United States -- History -- Sources; Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Presidents -- United States Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 13,833

Reading time 61 min

Text sections 2

Before opening A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 8, part 1: James A. Garfield — A Closer Reading, the edition data offers a quick orientation: 13,833 words, 1 hr 1 min estimated reading time, and 2 detected text sections.

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Source: Project Gutenberg record #12318

This volume collects official messages, proclamations, and executive orders from James A. Garfield's brief presidency, including military orders and correspondence following his assassination, offering a primary-source view of presidential governance in 1881.

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President had just reached the Baltimore and Potomac station, at about 9.20, intending, with a portion of his Cabinet, to leave on the limited express for New York. I rode in the carriage with him from the Executive Mansion and was walking by his side when he was shot. The assassin was immediately arrested, and the President was conveyed to a private room in the station building and surgical aid at once summoned. He has now, at 10.20, been removed to the Executive Mansion. The surgeons, on consultation, regard his wounds as very serious, though not necessarily fatal. His vigorous health gives strong hopes of his recovery. He has not lost consciousness for a moment. Inform our ministers in Europe.

JAMES G. BLAINE, _Secretary of State_.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH BY THE PHYSICIANS.

[From the New York Herald, September 20, 1881.]

Elberon, N.J., _September 19--11.30 p.m._

The President died at thirty-five minutes past 10 p.m. After the bulletin was issued at half past 5 this evening the President continued in much the same condition as during the afternoon, the pulse varying from 102 to 106, with rather increased force and volume. After taking nourishment he fell into a quiet sleep about thirty-five minutes before his death, and while asleep his pulse ran to 120 and was somewhat more feeble. At ten minutes after 10 o'clock he awoke, complaining of severe pain over the region of the heart, and almost immediately became unconscious, and ceased to breathe at twenty-five minutes to 11.

D.W. BLISS. FRANK H. HAMILTON. D. HAYES AGNEW.

ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT.

[From the New-York Times, September 20, 1881.]

[Long Branch, N.J., _September 19, 1881_.]

Hon. Chester A. Arthur, _No. 123 Lexington Avenue, New York:_

It becomes our painful duty to inform you of the death of President Garfield and to advise you to take the oath of office as President of the United States without delay. If it concur with your judgment, we will be very glad if you will come here on the earliest train to-morrow morning.

WILLIAM WINDOM, _Secretary of the Treasury._ WILLIAM H. HUNT, _Secretary of the Navy._ THOMAS L. JAMES, _Postmaster-General._ WAYNE MacVEAGH, _Attorney-General._ S.J. KIRKWOOD, _Secretary of the Interior._

[The Secretaries of State and of War were absent from Long Branch.]

REPLY OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT.

[From the Evening Star, Washington, September 20, 1881.]

New York, _September 20, 1881_.[A]

I have your message announcing the death of President Garfield. Permit me to renew through you the expression of sorrow and sympathy which I have already telegraphed to Attorney-General MacVeagh. In accordance with your suggestion, I have taken the oath of office as President before the Hon. John R. Brady, justice of the supreme court of the State of New York. I will soon advise you further in regard to the other suggestion in your telegram.

[Footnote A: Addressed to the Cabinet.]

ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES ABROAD.

[From the Sun, New York, September 21, 1881.]

[Long Branch, N.J., _September 20, 1881_.]

Lowell, _Minister, London:_

James A. Garfield, President of the United States, died at Elberon, N.J., last night at ten minutes before 11 o'clock. For nearly eighty days he suffered great pain, and during the entire period exhibited extraordinary patience, fortitude, and Christian resignation. The sorrow throughout the country is deep and universal. Fifty millions of people stand as mourners by his bier. To-day, at his residence in the city of New York, Chester A. Arthur, Vice-President, took the oath of office as President, to which he succeeds by virtue of the Constitution. President Arthur has entered upon the discharge of his duties. You will formally communicate these facts to the British Government and transmit this dispatch by telegraph to the American ministers on the Continent for like communication to the Governments to which they are respectively accredited.

ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES.

[From official records, Department of State.]

Department of State _Washington, September 20, 1881._

Sir: It is my sad duty to announce to you that the illness of the President of the United States, which you have followed with an anxiety similar to our own and a sympathy which you have repeatedly testified to this Department during the sorrowful period that has passed since he was shot by an assassin on the 2d of July, terminated last evening, when he expired at thirty-five minutes past 10 o'clock.

As soon as the order and details of the funeral ceremonies are arranged you will be duly informed thereof.

ROBERT R. HITT, _Acting Secretary._

ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE ARMY.

[From official records, War Department.]

General Orders, No. 71.

Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant-General's Office, _Washington, September 20, 1881._

I. The following order of the Secretary of War announces to the Army the death of James A. Garfield, President of the United States:

War Department, _September 20, 1881_.

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This volume opens with a prefatory note that frames the Garfield-Arthur term as a period of institutional resilience: the assassination of a president and the succession of a vice-president caused no dangerous strain upon our institutions. The editor, James D. Richardson, a former U.S. Representative, compiles official documents—messages, proclamations, executive orders, and military announcements—rather than narrative biography. The text thus foregrounds the bureaucratic voice of the executive branch, with its formal diction and procedural precision.

The excerpts reveal a striking shift in register: from the measured language of presidential messages to the clipped, imperative tone of general orders. For instance, a War Department order commands that the colors of the regiments will be draped in mourning for the period of six months, while a Navy Department special order describes Garfield as struck down by the hand of a cowardly assassin. These juxtapositions highlight how different arms of government codify grief and continuity through distinct rhetorical conventions.

Formal Diction and the Voice of Authority

The documents in this collection consistently employ a formal, almost legalistic diction that reinforces the authority of the executive. Presidential messages use phrases like I transmit herewith and I recommend to your consideration, establishing a deferential but commanding tone. Military orders, by contrast, adopt a more direct imperative: The following officers of the Army will... compose the guard of honor. This variation in grammatical mood—indicative in messages, imperative in orders—reflects the different relationships between the speaker and the audience. The president addresses Congress as a coequal branch; the Secretary of War addresses subordinates. The editor's prefatory note, written in a historian's voice, bridges these registers with phrases like able and learned discussion and interesting and effective papers, offering a third, evaluative layer.

Ritualized Language of Mourning and Succession

The assassination and succession generate a distinct subgenre of official prose: the announcement of death and the transfer of power. The Navy Department's general order of September 20, 1881, uses a tripartite structure: notification of death, declaration of succession, and a call for proper expression of respect. The language is both factual and ceremonial: the heart of the nation is heavy with grief appears alongside precise instructions for half-masted flags and gun salutes. A later special order amplifies the pathos, describing Garfield as bearing with heroic fortitude untold suffering. These passages reveal how the government scripts collective emotion through standardized phrases—duly took the oath, obeyed and respected—while still allowing for rhetorical flourish in moments of crisis.

Structural Patterns in Executive Orders

The military orders in this volume follow a consistent structural template: a heading (e.g., General Orders, No. 72), a source attribution (By command of General Sherman), and a body that alternates between narrative explanation and numbered directives. For example, one order begins by recounting the president's death and the vice-president's oath, then lists specific mourning protocols. This pattern—context followed by prescription—mirrors the logic of bureaucratic communication: first establish the situation, then dictate the response. The repetition of phrases like the following and to this end creates a rhythm of anticipation and fulfillment. The editor's prefatory note also uses a similar structure, opening with a summary of the period and then detailing key events.

The Editor's Framing and Selection Choices

James D. Richardson's prefatory note reveals his editorial priorities: he emphasizes constitutional continuity (no dangerous strain upon our institutions) and highlights specific documents he deems significant, such as Arthur's civil service rules and Cleveland's vetoes. He also notes the relative space each president occupies—Cleveland's papers fill 558 pages, Andrew Johnson's 457—suggesting a quantitative approach to historical importance. The note's language is evaluative but restrained: interesting and effective papers is the strongest praise. By including military orders alongside presidential messages, Richardson implicitly argues that the full record of an administration includes its bureaucratic machinery, not just its chief executive's words. This selection invites readers to consider how power is exercised through multiple voices within the executive branch.

Readers approaching this volume should attend to the interplay between the editor's framing and the primary documents. The prefatory note offers a historian's synthesis, but the orders and messages themselves reveal the raw mechanics of governance—how grief is standardized, authority is transferred, and policy is enacted through precise language. Comparing the rhetorical strategies of different departments (War, Navy, State) can illuminate how each branch of the executive adapted its voice to its function. This is not a narrative history but a documentary record; its value lies in the details of phrasing and structure that official prose often conceals.

Those few months of Garfield’s presidency, so earnest and so abruptly stilled, have a peculiar quietness on the page. I often think of them beside A Book of Prefaces — Context and Discussion, where the weight of what precedes a voice becomes its own gentle music. Both volumes hold a breath before the turning, a hush I’ve come to cherish.