April 5, 1881 James A. Garfield Presidential Files Letter~Cleveland Grays Escort

Description: **SEE OUR OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE VINTAGE HISTORIC ITEMS** April 5, 1881 President James A. Garfield Presidential Files Letter ~ regarding The Cleveland Grays Escort During His March 4th Inauguration The original Garfield letter to the Grays was burned in 1892! ~Comes with LOA from original family member~ ~The 5th scan is super high resolution~shows the ink flow!~ The first 6 uploaded eBay images show what you get! Also included with the letter is the as-shown original 1881 Harper's Weekly illustrated newspaper page showing great views of Garfield's inauguration parade with soldiers. Would frame nicely with this letter! Garfield was only President for a few short months so anything signed by him as President is extremely scarce & sought after...especially if it is historically significant like this letter! The Cleveland Grays famously escorted President-elect Abraham Lincoln (in Cleveland) & James A Garfield (in Washington D.C.)...they would also famously provide honor guard at both of their funerals. The Cleveland Grays provided escort for many Presidents on various special occasions including Harrison, Van Buren, William McKinley, & Teddy Roosevelt. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Grays Armory is a historic building in Cleveland, Ohio. It was built by the Cleveland Grays, a private military company which was founded in 1837. Built in 1893 this is one of the oldest standing buildings in downtown Cleveland. The Grays saw military service as a unit during the Civil War and the Spanish–American War as well as being escorts to many U.S. Presidents. By March 20, 1880 the Grays had moved into the new City Armory on Long Street and used that facility as its headquarters along with the 5th Regiment, Ohio National Guard until December 8, 1892 when fire destroyed the building and much of its contents including equipment and guns belonging to the Grays. The unit was able to recover very quickly and funds were soon amassed for the purpose of building a new armory. Description:Offered her is an incredibly rare & highly desirable original letter from the Presidential files of the late assassinated President James A. Garfield thanking the Cleveland Grays militia unit for escorting him during his inauguration ceremonies just one month prior on March 4th 1881. This amazing letter was meant to be saved in his White House presidential files as a copy of letter sent to the Grays. It was signed/notated by him on April 5th 1881. The original letter was sadly & famously destroyed by a devastating fire which annihilated the Cleveland Grays Armory on Long Street December 8, 1892. It was quickly rebuilt a year later & a facsimile of this letter now proudly hangs on their wall. This letter now offered here is just as good as having the original, as it is definitely signed/notated by President Garfield & it came from his Presidential files. See the lower margin LOA written by original family member of the Cleveland Grays soldier who owned this letter. We purchased the soldiers very cool historic scrap book & other items at estate auction about 10 years ago & found this incredible letter in it. The letter is pasted to the scrap book page & is completely intact. Has toning/wrinkles but we've had it about 10 years & the toning has stayed the same...so it seems very stable & fine as-is. We are not sure if Garfield's secretary Joseph Stanley-Brown wrote the body of the letter, but Garfield absolutely signed it & annotated the word "copy" in the upper left corner. It is possible that Garfield wrote the whole thing, but we are only saying he signed & notated for sure. Included are a few comparison examples from same time period we found mostly on the Library of Congress site containing the Garfield Presidential Papers which you can peruse & decide for yourself. As shown by the LOC examples it was Garfield's characteristic to sign his name & write the word "copy" in his own hand upper left corner for letters of great importance to him. Sometimes the copy files letters were all in his hand & sometimes partially secretary. Garfield always made copies of his letters & went over them! He was famously OCD about it. The lower margin LOA states that this letter originally came from the President's son James R. Garfield who famously turned his fathers' Presidential Papers over to the LOC in 1930 after much much delay. James R had his own law practice in the Cleveland area & he had possession of his father's Presidential Papers for many years housing them in a special fire proof vault in the gorgeous Presidential Library room at Lawnfield in Mentor, OH. As the lower margin LOA info indicates - this amazing letter would have been gifted by James R to the Cleveland Grays soldier after the fire at the Grays armory in 1892 destroyed the original letter. For many years following the 1881 assassination, the Garfield family was constantly flooded with requests for anything & everything signed by President Garfield & they were known to be very generous with the public in their requests! To show that we have some idea what we are talking about...Our late friend & famous Garfield author/expert Dr. Allan Peskin had some interesting things to say about this letter. We have family (future Garfield author-working on a book) who own the Garfield's "other" home in Hiram where he lived as President of Hiram College before he left for the Civil War (the very haunted one) & we also enjoy visiting nearby Lawnfield & the Cleveland Grays Armory. Please enjoy the uploaded related historical info! For Advanced Collectors and the Person with EverythingCondition & SizesLetter Measures approx. 8.5" (inches) X 10.5".Trimmed scrapbook page Measures approx. 9.5" (inches) X 13".Paper is now perfectly flat mounted to album page with original folds & some wrinkles, toning, stains. Lower album page trimmed & archivally taped to strengthen & preserve the crucial family LOA information. Outer edges of album page also archivally taped to give strength. Tape does not touch the Garfield letter! Reverse side has a Cleveland Grays document (not shown). No odors - smoke free.See photos for exact conditions & detail. The Grays & Presidents | 1840: William Henry Harrison visited Cleveland & was met by the Cleveland Grays. Refusing a carriage, they marched to the American House where he made a speech. Harrison served only 1 month before dying of pneumonia. The Grays & Presidents | 1842: as his boat neared the harbor, a gun salute was fired...Amid cheers, the Cleveland Grays escorted Martin Van Buren (8th Pres) on parade from the docks to the American House. He spoke of canals & advancing transportation. The Grays & Presidents | 1861: Lincoln stopped in Cleveland on the way to his inauguration & the Grays lead the military escort. He was taken in an open carriage drawn by four white horses to the Weddell House. The Grays marched in perfect precision as church bells rang, factory whistles shrieked and the crowds cheered themselves hoarse. The Grays & Presidents | 1865: The Cleveland Grays were guard of honor for the remains of President Lincoln as he lay in state on Public Square. More Grays & Presidents | Oct 1892: After many moments of suspense regarding position in the great military parade, sadness was turned to joy by the verbal order of Governor McKinley: “Fall in here, the Ohio troops are lost.” This made the Grays escort for the President & lead column for VP & foreign diplomats at the Great Chicago Exposition—one of the greatest moments in Grays history. The Grays & Presidents | Sept 1881: The Grays were guard of honor for Pres Garfield as he lay in state on the Public Square & led the funeral procession to Lakeview Cemetery. The Grays & Presidents | 1881: The Cleveland Grays were selected by Gen Sherman as escort to Pres Hayes & Gen Garfield from the White House to the Capitol for the inauguration & bodyguard to Pres Garfield upon his return to the exec mansion.FOR COMBINED SHIPPING ON MULTIPLE PURCHASES - PLEASE ADD TO CART & "REQUEST TOTAL FROM SELLER".Please email any questions/concerns to me prior to close of auction. Thank you. Payment must be made within 3 days of purchase. PAYPAL ACCEPTED.

Price: 16380 USD

Location: Mentor, Ohio

End Time: 2024-11-07T06:27:58.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD