James Abram Garfield, who would become the 20th President of the United States, was baptized into Christ at the age of 18 in the Chagrin River of northeast Ohio in 1850. Shortly after, Garfield began lay preaching in churches associated with the American Restoration Movement. A powerful Christian voice in the abolitionist movement, both as a preacher and state senator, Garfield organized the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, achieving battlefield success and rising to the rank of major general in the Union Army. Elected to Congress in 1862, Garfield became a unifier and peacemaker during the turbulent Reconstruction and the Gilded Age’s contentious machine politics. A dark horse candidate at the 1880 Republican Convention, he won the White House before his tragic assassination in 1881.
Join us on Sunday, October 27, for a live recording of The Christian Chronicle’s popular podcast right here in the FCCOC auditorium. We’re thrilled to host historian and Garfield biographer C.W. Goodyear for this special evening event, followed by light refreshments in the lobby. His acclaimed biography, “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier,” is available for purchase online and at bookstores.
Maranatha, Jordy
