GARFIELD DID KNOW A LOT ABOUT GEOLOGY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL LECTURES AND BOOKS OF JAMES A. GARFIELD (CIVIL WAR GENERAL AND 20th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES), AND A LOOK AT GEOLOGICAL COMMONALITIES HE SHARED WITH GENERAL WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS

Union General James A. Garfield's (1831-1881) interest in geology has been under appreciated, especially in comparison with that of Union General William S. Rosecrans (1819-1898), who has been noted as being one of the most geologically attuned of Civil War generals. Garfield served as aide to General Rosecrans before and during the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga.

The lack of recognition of Garfield’s interest in geology has prompted a detailed reexamination of previous works on Garfield that have noted his interest in geology, Garfield’s notes for his 1859 geology lectures at Western Reserve Eclectic in northern Ohio, and notes taken by one of the students who attended his 1859 geology lectures, as well as an examination of his personal copies of geology books now owned by the Western Reserve Historical Society and housed at the library at his home in Mentor, Ohio. Garfield’s lecture notes and the lecture notes of his student F. M. Green show that he covered topics that would be included in beginning geology and physical-geography classes today, including the distribution of continents and seas, the age of the Earth, the igneous origin of granite, and the effect of mountains on weather. Garfield’s library includes a copy of one of his first geological texts, St. John’s Elements of Geology (purchased by Garfield in 1851, the year it was published), as well as geological books by Edward Hitchcock, Hugh Miller, Ebenezer Emmons, and others. The content of these lecture notes and books reinforce a number of previous works indicating that Garfield was knowledgeable about geology.

Rosecrans taught civil and military engineering at West Point, experimented with petroleum products, and, during the Civil War, made important innovations in wartime mapping. Garfield and Rosecrans shared the following geological commonalities: both studied geology (mostly on their own); both taught geological topics or topics related to geology; both had dealings with or interests in coal (and shipping coal along canals) as well as petroleum; and both were Civil War generals who had a handle on topography and terrain. Both Rosecrans and Garfield knew a lot about geology.