PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD - PHOTOGRAPH MOUNT SIGNED - HFSID 292717

JAMES A. GARFIELD
4x6½ cabinet card photo, signed on the mount, matted and framed to 12¾x16
Photograph Mount signed: "J. A. Garfield". B/w, 4x6½. Harroun & Bierstadt artotype cabinet card, matted and framed to an overall size of 12¾x16. James Abram Garfield (1831-1881) rose to the rank of Major General in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, participating in the battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga, before resigning his commission to take a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863-1880). A political moderate, Garfield was the compromise choice of a deadlocked Republican Convention in 1880, nominated on the 36th ballot and elected President by a narrow margin. Garfield's assassination by a disappointed office seeker helped advance the cause of civil service reform which he had advocated. This photograph of Garfield was taken by Horace W. Tibbals, who lived seven miles from Garfield's home in Mentor, Ohio, from 1871 to 1884. He sent the original image to the well-known firm of Harroun & Bierstadt in New York, who produced this cabinet card for the Presidential campaign of 1880. It was signed by Garfield either as a Presidential candidate or as President. Shot on July 2 1881, Garfield died on September 19, only 200 days into his term. Signatures of Garfield as President, are thus extremely rare. Lightly toned and soiled. Otherwise, fine condition. Framed by unknown individual.