James A. Garfield - State Funeral, Monuments, and Memorials

State Funeral, Monuments, and Memorials

President Garfield's casket and face were viewed by 1,500 people in Long Branch before being loaded on the funeral car. As Garfield's funeral train set out, first to the Capitol and then continuing on a final leg to Cleveland for the burial, the tracks were blanketed with flowers and houses were adorned with flags. More than 70,000 citizens, some waiting over three hours, passed by his coffin as his body lay in state in Washington; later, on September 25, 1881, in Cleveland, more than 150,000—a number equal to the entire population of that city—likewise paid their respects. Garfield's body was viewed in a specially made pavilion powered by electric lighting. A wreath sent by Queen Victoria adorned Garfield's coffin. His body was temporarily interred in a vault in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery until his permanent memorial was made.

In 1884, a monument to President Garfield was completed by sculptor Frank Happersberger and was placed on the grounds of the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. On the base of the Garfield statue is a figure holding a broken sword symbolizing Garfield's assassination.

On May 18, 1887, the James A. Garfield Monument was dedicated in Washington. The monument is a 9-foot bronze statue of Garfield mounted on a 16-foot Baroque style base, located on the U.S. Capitol grounds. Three male figures, each 5 feet in height, are on the base, representing Garfield's life stages as a scholar, soldier, and statesman.

In 1889, members of the California gold mining town Bodie commemorated Garfield's life and death by inscribing his name on a cenotaph located in Miners Union Cemetery in Bodie. The monument had initially been made to honor W. S. Bodey, founder of the town; however, the community decided to commemorate the memorial to Garfield.

On May 19, 1890, Garfield's body was permanently interred, with great solemnity and fanfare, in a mausoleum in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. Attending the "impressive" dedication ceremonies were former President Rutherford B. Hayes, then current President Benjamin Harrison, and future President William McKinley. Garfield's former Sec. Windom also attended the ceremony. President Harrison stated that Garfield was always a "student and instructor" and that his life works and death would "continue to be instructive and inspiring incidents in American history". Five panels on the monument display Garfield as a teacher, Union Major General, an orator, taking the Presidential oath, and his body lying in state at the Capitol rotunda in Washington D.C. from September 21, 1881 – September 23, 1881. The U.S. has twice had three presidents in the same year. The first such year was 1841. Martin Van Buren ended his single term, William Henry Harrison was inaugurated and died a month later, and then Vice President John Tyler stepped into the vacant office. The second occurrence was in 1881. Rutherford B. Hayes relinquished the office to James A. Garfield. Upon Garfield's death, Chester A. Arthur became president.

President Garfield's murder by a deranged federal office seeker awakened public awareness and prompted Congress to pass civil service reform legislation. Senator George H. Pendleton, a Democrat from Ohio, launched a reform effort that resulted in President Chester A. Arthur signing into law the Pendleton Act in January 1883. This act reversed the "spoils system" where office seekers paid or gave political service in order to obtain or keep federally appointed positions. Under the Pendleton Act, office appointments were awarded on merit and competitive examination. The law made illegal the long-time practice of giving money or service to obtain a federal appointment. To ensure the reform was implemented, Congress and President Arthur established and funded the Civil Service Commission. The Pendleton Act, however, only covered 10% of federal government workers. President Arthur, who was previously known for having been a "veteran spoilsman", became an avid civil service reformer after President Garfield's assassination.

Garfield's stress on the importance of education for African Americans served as a catalyst for their advancement. As a scholar president, pre-dating Woodrow Wilson, Garfield was an avid reader, having a 3,000-book library that included Horace, Shakespeare, Goethe, Tennyson, and Froude's history of England.

In 1876, Garfield displayed his mathematical talent when he developed a trapezoid proof of the Pythagorean theorem. His finding was placed in the New England Journal of Education. Math historian William Dunham stated that Garfield's trapezoid work was "really a very clever proof."

Garfield, Victoria, Australia originally known as Cannibal Creek, was renamed in honor of the fallen president.