James A. Garfield, twentieth president of the United States, was born on November 19, 1831, in Orange, Ohio. On August 21, 1861, he received a commission as lieutenant colonel of the Union army's 42d Ohio Regiment, which he recruited and trained. He was promoted to colonel on November 27. In December Garfield and his regiment were ordered to Louisville. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, commander of the Army of the Ohio, ordered Garfield to take command of the 18th Infantry Brigade in eastern Kentucky and operate against a Confederate force of approximately 2,000 men under Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall in the Big Sandy Valley.

Garfield's column, consisting of 3,000 men and some cavalry, confronted the Confederates along Middle Creek between Paintsville and Prestonsburg on January 10, 1862. In a day-long skirmish, referred to as the Battle of Middle Creek, Garfield's force suffered twenty-one casualties, including three killed, while Marshall later reported ten men killed and fourteen wounded. Although tactically indecisive, the battle proved to be a strategic success for the Union as Marshall and his Confederates were compelled to withdraw into Virginia. This battle, coupled with Union Gen. George Thomas's victory over a Confederate force at Logan's Crossroads on January 19, 1862, helped to secure Kentucky for the Union. Publicity for his victory brought Garfield a promotion to brigadier general, with the commission backdated to January 10. After the battle Garfield established his headquarters in Prestonsburg and remained in eastern Kentucky for two months. In March he was transferred to Buell's Army of the Ohio on its march to join Grant at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.

Garfield, elected president in 1880, was shot by an assassin on July 2, 1881, and died on September 19.

John M. Taylor, Garfield of Ohio: The Available Man (New York 1970).

In the print edition this entry appears on page 363