When, on the 5th of December, 1863, Garfield took his seat in the House of Representatives, he was the youngest member of that body.  The Military Committee was the most important committee of Congress, and he was put upon that, on account of his practical experience in the field.  This, of course, brought him, though a new and young member, into immediate prominence, and his familiarity with the wants of the army enabled him to be of great service.

I do not propose to detail at tiresome length the legislative achievements of Gen. Garfield in the new position which he was destined to fill for eighteen years.  I shall only refer to such as illustrate his characteristic devotion to duty without special regard to his own interests.  He never hesitated to array himself in opposition to the popular will, if he thought the people were wrong.  It was not long before an occasion came up which enabled him to assert his independence.

The country needed soldiers, and had inaugurated a system of bounties which should tempt men to join the ranks of the country’s defenders.  It was only a partial success.  Some men, good and true, were led to join by the offer of a sum which made them more at ease about the comfort of their families, but many joined the service from mercenary considerations only, who seized the first opportunity to desert, and turning up in another locality, enlisted again and obtained a second bounty.  These men obtained the name of bounty-jumpers, and there was a host of them.  Yet the measure was popular with soldiers, and Congress was unanimously in favor of it.  Great was the amazement of his fellow-members when the young member from the Nineteenth Ohio district rose in his seat and earnestly opposed it.  He objected that the policy was ruinous, involving immense expense, while effecting little good.  He claimed that the country had a right to the service of every one of its children at such a crisis, without hire and without reward.

But one man stood with him, so unpopular was the stand he had taken; but it was not long before the bounty system broke down, and Garfield’s views were adopted.

Later on he had another chance to show his independence.  President Lincoln, foreseeing that at a certain date not far ahead the time of enlistment of nearly half the army would expire, came before Congress and asked for power to draft men into service.  It met with great opposition.  “What! force men into the field!  Why, we might as well live under a despotism!” exclaimed many; and the members of Congress, who knew how unpopular the measure would be among their constituents, defeated it by a two-thirds vote.

It was a critical juncture.  As Lincoln had said in substance, all military operations would be checked.  Not only could not the war be pushed, but the Government could not stand where it did.  Sherman would have to come back from Atlanta, Grant from the Peninsula.

The voting was over, and the Government was despondent.  Then it was that Garfield rose, and moving a reconsideration, made a speech full of fire and earnestness, and the House, carried by storm, passed the bill, and President Lincoln made a draft for half a million men.