Ohio History Journal

Young Charley Dawes Goes to the

Garfield Inauguration: A Diary

 

Edited by ROBERT H. FERRELL*

 

 

 

CHARLES GATES DAWES, vice president of the United States

under Calvin Coolidge (1925-29), was a youth of fifteen when

he left his home in Marietta, Ohio, and with his father--just

elected to congress--went off to Washington early in 1881 to

see James A. Garfield inaugurated as president. Young

Charley was impressionable. His interests were properly those

of a person of his years. Already it was clear that he had an

observant and methodical, if perhaps slightly unimaginative,

mind. Most young men of fifteen would have tired of politics,

politicians, and sightseeing after some days in a wintry,

snowy city. Charley Dawes was game to the end. He attended

congress with his father because he found it interesting. He

went through the usual tourist's itinerary not as a matter of

duty but as a chance to learn something. Charles G. Dawes

was always interested in what he was doing, and frequently

enthusiastic about it, down to the time of his death in 1951,

when he was getting up a reception for General Douglas Mac-

Arthur in his--by then--home town of Evanston, Illinois.

The present pages are not the place to set down the career

of Dawes after he left Marietta and went west to seek his

fortune, but perhaps because he later had such a remarkable

life it is possible to say something about it in brief. As a young

man he went to Nebraska and settled in Lincoln, where he

opened a law office. He made the acquaintance of William

* Robert H. Ferrell is a member of the department of history at Indiana

University.

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YOUNG CHARLEY DAWES            333

Jennings Bryan and Second Lieutenant John J. Pershing,

fellow citizens of Lincoln. Toward the end of the century,

Dawes moved to Chicago, where he managed the Illinois cam-

paign of William McKinley in 1896. He became comptroller

of the currency in 1897, at the age of thirty-one. Before the

First World War he had established a large bank in Chicago

and become a rich man. During the war he rose from the rank

of major to brigadier general in charge of all supply purchases

in France for the American Expeditionary Force. In the

Harding administration he was director of the budget, and

once shouted "Hell and Maria!" to a congressional investigat-

ing committee, to the consternation of everyone in the room,

though endearing himself thereby to his fellow Americans.

He was chairman of the allied committee on German repara-

tions and gave his name to the Dawes Plan of 1924. He be-

came vice president under Coolidge, and as presiding officer of

the senate amused himself by rebuking senators who wasted

too much time. President Herbert Hoover made him am-

bassador to Great Britain. For a brief period in 1932 he was

the first head of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. His

last years he spent in Evanston and Chicago as a banker and

as Chicago's first citizen.

The following diary was in one of the Dawes trunks con-

taining correspondence and papers deposited in the North-

western University Library after the general's death. The

transcription is complete--this is the entire diary--except for

two illegible places marked by ellipsis points. I have made no

effort to change the original Dawes spellings.

 

 

Wednesday, March 2, 1881. We arrived at Washington at nearly

2 o'clock -- 3 hours behind. It was so late that we went to the Ebbitt

House instead of going to 830 12th st. I saw Senator Baily of Tennes-

see there. He was defeated for a second term in the Senate. We had

a good breakfast there and then went to Mrs Hills. When we were

just out of Washington coming in on the train we saw the electric

light in the dome of the Capitol which burns every night that Congress

is in session. As we came up to the Ebbitt House from the depot we

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saw the stands put up on the line of march. They looked rather weak

and were built like the seats in a circus. We went to Congress this

morning. We got in a street car and had gone a good while when

Roscoe Conkling got in. He is a fine looking man. Father got me a

seat in the members gallery with the aid of Genl Warner and left me

there while he went on the floor.¹ I took my directory and found

Hawley, Conger, Reed[,] Beltzhoover, Randall[,] Stephens, Updegraff,

Frye and a few others. The House looks very disorderly. All the

desks are covered with paper. The members are all either clapping for

pages or talking with each other. There are a good many people in

the Gallery here but they are not full. Clymer of Penn. is in the

Speakers Chair. He pounds with his gavel all the time to keep order

but he does not succeed very well. Hiscock of N. York is speaking

now. He has the attention of about 1/5 of the house. We went into the

senate chamber and saw   Senator Dawes,² Conkling[,] Hampton,

Davis and others. The Senate chairs are furnished with red. It is

a more quiet and dignified body than the house. After we left the

senate chamber we went up into the dome of the capitol. It is a very

long staircase to climb but we went up as far as they allow anyone

to go. We looked all over Washington and could see the different

department buildings and the preparations the people are making for

the inauguration. Down below us they were putting up the grand stand

and down Penn. Avenue the seats. We went to dinner then at a Res-

tuarant. After dinner we went to the Patent Office but only stayed

long enough to see the building and George Washington's old clothes.

Then we went to the Ordinance Museum at the War Department and

saw the flag of the 2nd Mississippi and the stump shot off by Union

bullets. I intend to go to both these places again tomorrow. I forgot

to tell you about the Supreme Court. I went in there this morning.

I saw Chief Justice Waite and the other judges. Stanley Matthews

was there on some business. The Supreme Court room is not very

large. There is a long bench for the judges. This evening we started

for the Capitol but before we got there the electric light went out. We

met Dave Chambers at the Riggs House and Father saw one of his

old Captains. I saw Sect. Belknap there too. He is a very large man.

As we came up to the house Father stopped in at the headquarters of

the Wisconsin Republican Association. A man asked him if he was a

1 Dawes's father, Rufus R. Dawes (1838-1899), was a Republican representative

from Ohio in the forty-seventh congress, 1881-83.

2 Henry Laurens Dawes (1816-1903), representative from Massachusetts, 1857-

75; senator, 1875-93.

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YOUNG CHARLEY DAWES                335

 

Wisconsin man. Father told him he was an Ohio man now but that

he was an old Wisconsin man. The man said that it was all right and

that they had just elected an Ohio man a member of the Ass. -- Genl

Dawes --. Then Father told him he was Genl Dawes and found that

he had known him in the war.³ He saw two other men that knew him.

We got our supper this evening at the Evans Restuarant. We can get

a good supper there for 30 cents. Father will get his meals there dur-

ing the Sessions of Congress perhaps.

Thursday, March 3, 1881. After breakfast we went to the different

departments. First we went to the Pension Office where Father did

his business and then to the Post Office Department. For about an

hour I was in the Patent Office where I saw the old clothes of Genl

Washington[,] his old writing desk and surveying instruments and

Benj. Franklins old Printing Press. All the cases were full of models

and I could not see one model out of a thousand but I saw the Patent

Office and that was enough. There were locks of hair of most all the

Presidents. We went after that to Congress. They were just reading

the Presidents veto of the funding bill. The Galleries were very much

crowded. Father got me in a private gallery. I saw Genl. Weaver of

Iowa there. There was great confusion in the house all the time. One

man got up and could not make his voice heard, even by the speaker

until he got mad and then he made me hear plainly at three times the

distance of the Speaker from him. The members listened better to the

reading of the veto but even then there was a great deal of noise. From

Congress we went to the Corcoran Art Gallery. There were a great

number of pictures there. I saw some very fine ones. There was one

painting, which attracted a good deal of attention, of a king mourning

over his dead wife. It was a very large one. Some of the paintings

were so smooth that I could not tell them from chromos. After we had

been an hour in the Art gallery we went to the White House but could

not get in. Then we came around to the Ebbitt House where all the

members of the Ohio General Assembly were. Father saw some men

he wanted to see and then we came up to supper. After supper we took

a street car for the Capitol. It was snowing very hard and the car was

full. I got a seat in the member gallery which was crowded. The eve-

ning in the House was spent in trying to pass pension bills. A man

from New York made a stump speech which made everybody laugh.

He was making a motion that the house devote an hour to the con-

sideration of pension bills so as to put these out of the way of more

3 Rufus R. Dawes was breveted brigadier general in 1865.

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important business. Genl Hooker of Miss. was drunk and the Repub-

licans allowed him to speak but the Democrats were very anxious to

get him down. At last Genl Hooker got mad and appealed from a

decision of the chair but he was not sustained in his appeal, the vote

standing 4 for the appeal and 104 against it. There was a great deal

of laughter at the result. When we started home it was snowing harder

than when we had come up to the Capitol. The streets were very

sloppy and people fell down a good many times. I saw a black porter

coming out of a house which had wood steps. He slipped and fell clear

down the steps on the pavement. Another black man came out of the

door and commenced to laugh at the fellow picking himself out of the

slush when he slipped and came down flying all the four steps. I saw

two other men fall down in a gutter together. We did not fall down but

came very near it two or three times.

March 4, 1881. This morning commences with a very bad storm. All

the streets are covered with slush. We do not know what to do about

the inauguration. Last night I saw Genl Hancocks⁴ carriage, escorted

by two companies of infantry. There was a large crowd cheering and

running along by the side of the carriage. I saw a regiment of Pennsyl-

vania troops come in all over snow. They had their bands playing and

their flags spread but they looked very wet. About ten oclock it

began to clear up and we went up to Congress. A man there was just

making a big speech because he had been stopped by "a soldier, dressed

in blue." There was a lively debate. Genl. Warner made a fitting

speech to wind up his career. Then Mr Carlisle got up and said that

they were making too great a fuss about a little matter. At 12 oclock

Speaker Randall read a speech and at its conclusion adjourned the 46th

Congress. I went then on to the floor of the house and in to the

speakers desk and around the different reception rooms. Then I found

a place where I could see the crowd and Genl. Garfield. It was in the

Capitol at a window. I could not hear him speak but all I wanted was

to see him and the crowd. The crowd filled all the space around the

platform for 200 yds on every side. There was a large scaffold right

by the platform from which the crowd was photographed. Before

Garfield was through speaking we went clear down opposite the White

House and went on a stand. It was a long walk. The stand was very

well situated to see the troops. It was opposite the stand where Gar-

field, Hayes, Hancock Mrs Hayes Mrs Garfield and some others stood

to view the procession. I did not see the Garfield children. Mrs Hayes

4 General Winfield Scott Hancock was the defeated Democratic candidate.

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YOUNG CHARLEY DAWES                337

 

had a white hat on, which made her very conspicuous. You would

have seen her long before Pres. Garfield. Mrs Garfield sat by the

side of Pres. Garfield, who spoke to her a great deal. When Genl.

Hancock came on the platform he was loudly cheered. There were

about 15,000 men in line of the procession. They were divided into

5 Divisions. We staid till they had all passed although it took 21/2

hours and it was rather cold. I cannot write much about the proces-

sion for it was too large. I noticed particularly the Naval Cadets first.

They kept a very good line. The Hampton Cadets were a colored

company and marched very well. In the 2nd Division the Penn. troops

and some batteries were applauded as they came past the Presidents

stand. Some man, with a blue hat covered with Garfield medals, and

short pants came down the street before the troops, waving a small

flag. The people around me said he was crazy. At last a policeman put

him off of the road. I saw the uniformed republican clubs of Phila-

delphia. Their uniforms were light overcoats with plug hats. They

had silk and velvet flags with Garfields picture on them. There were

some troops which had large white chapeaus on, which were a foot

and a half high. A part of the Columbus cadets called the Governors

Gaurd were among the troops from Ohio. There was a Glee Club

from Columbus also. After the procession we came home and Father

saw Mr. McLaughter and then we went to supper. That evening we

spent at the house.

March 5, 1881. This morning, after breakfast we went to the depart-

ments. Then we went to the Smithsonian Institute. It was very inter-

esting. I saw the great skeletons and got me a photograph of one. There

was the skeleton of an Irish elk. It was as large as a camel. Farther

on there was a plaster cast of this as it appeared alive. There were

many cases full of bears and buffaloes stuffed. I saw a live possum in

a cage at one side. There were a great many cases of stuffed birds.

I saw the different kinds of birds of paradise. They were very beauti-

ful. In one corner there were some African idols. They were very

ugly. All around the side of the main room were statues of the differ-

ent races of men with their characteristic dress. There were Indians

and Chinamen and Africans. I saw the cave towns of Arizona and

New Mexico made as they are there. I saw also the forms of the

mounds in Wisconsin. Some were shaped like a bird and others like

animals. There were a great many cases of Indian relics, arrowheads,

spears and other implements of warfare besides dishes and spades and

rings made of stone. I saw some of the crockery from the cave towns.

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It was very much broken. Just outside of the main entrance to the

institute is the Sarcophagus taken from an old Egyptian tomb and

presented to the United States by Egypt. After leaving the Smith-

sonian Mus. we took the street cars for the Capitol. Father went on

the floor of [the] Senate and got me a pass to the private gallery from

John Sherman. As the senate galleries outside were all full I was fortu-

nate to get a pass. I noticed Conger as he came in. I saw Blaine[,]

Harrison[,] Sewall, Logan, Dawes and Vice Pres. Arther. Arther

appeared a little embarassed but Father says he has Conkling to fight

his battles for him. Senator Blaine then introduced a resolution to

allow Genl. Hancock the floor during his stay in Washington. Then

the Senate adjourned. When we went to the restaurant for dinner we

had to wait a long time as there was a large crowd there. After dinner

we went to the war department. But they were closed for business.

A regiment of soldiers were quatered in the hall. A great number of

them were lying on the floor as we came in. From the War depart-

ment we went to the ordnance Museum but it was closed. Then we

went through the White House grounds towards home. There was a

band and a company of soldiers in front of the White house which

attracted a large crowd. The doors of the House were closed and

nobody could get in so they waited around outside and did nothing.

We stopped in at the Riggs House where I saw Genl A. V. Rice, the

Dem. candidate for Lieut. Govorner in 1879. There are a great number

of people in town now. They are going around the city to see the sights.

Some military companies were marching through the streets this

morning and drew crowds out wherever they went. One colored com-

pany was followed by a great many colored people. It had a colored

drum major with a white band. All the bands here have drum majors

and all of them are very finely dressed. I have forgotten to tell you

of the company of Continentals in yesterdays procession. They are

a company dressed in the old continental uniform which looks very

well. Everywhere they went people would wave their handkerchiefs.

This afternoon we went to the Capitol to see the Senate but it was

in executive session which is always secret. We went into the Statuary

room of the States and saw the statues of Ethan Allen[,] A. Lincoln, an

old statue of G. Washington made in 1788 by the General Assembly of

Virginia, and statues of other distinguished men. We went also in the

lobbies of the house where there are pictures of all the speakers and

which are furnished very finely. We came down Penn. Avenue in

street cars and then went to supper. For the last day or so we have

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YOUNG CHARLEY DAWES                339

 

been taking our meals at the Temple Restaurant. It is a better one

than the Evans dinning room and Father thinks of taking his meals

there during congress. It is only a square from Grant Place where he

will stay. There are a great many bycicles on the street here. I saw

4 of them going along together this afternoon. They go faster than

any carriage for the roads of Washington are just the place for them.

In the afternoon a piece of smooth pavement near our room is always

full of boys and girls with roller skates. There is a large roller skating

rink about 2 squares from our house but I have not been inside of it.

The streets are still crowded with poeple this evening and soldiers

are everywhere. Father went to get shaved this evening and was in

the same barber shop in which he heard for the first time of the assas-

sination of Lincoln.

March 6, 1881. I will not have much to write about today. I will try

to tell you of the things I have forgotten. I saw a little Garfield boy on

the stand. He was very restless and would jump up and fuss all the

time. Senator Kirkwood was pointed out to me in the senate two or

three hours before I knew of his appointment to the cabinet. I am

glad now to have seen him. Last night we got some presents for Be⁵

and Sister and Mother. I expect to find something for Rufe⁶ tomorrow.

As I am afraid I will not get to the Ordnance Museum again before I

start home I will tell you what I saw in the short time I was

there. As we came in the door about the first thing we saw were the

old battle flags. There were a good many of them. Around the room

were rows of guns. There were some gatling guns and mortars. At

one end of the room were four large stuffed horses which had their

war saddles on. They looked very naturel. I saw some old armor of

the middle ages. There were a great many pistols with gold plated

butts. Most of these were presented to the Ordnance museum by the

different manufactories. There was a large picture of Grant and his

Generals on the wall. We went to Grant Place the other day. There

are very nice rooms there. There is an organ in one of them. There are

fine houses all around it. It is a great improvement on our present

quarters. We went to church this morning at the First Presbyterian.

It is said that they have the best preacher in town. This is a very

large church but it was so full that the aisles were full a quarter of the

way to the pulpit. Genl. Hancock was in the congregation. The sing-

ing was very fine. They have an immense organ. After church we

 

5 Beman Gates Dawes, a younger brother.

6 Rufus Cutler Dawes, a younger brother.

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went to Mr. Chambers for dinner. As we walked up we saw a crowd

around a little church. Father said that it must be Garfields church so

we waited to see them come out. The church was jammed full so it

was quite a while before they came out. I saw Garfields forehead before

I saw him and it was so large I thought it must be his. First old Mrs

Garfield came out. She looks very old and very pleasant. Then Mr

and Mrs Garfield came out and behind them was a lady whom I did

not know. I saw them at a near distance as they passed along in the

carriage. After waiting until they had passed we started on again. I

saw a great many beautiful residences. The streets are very straight

and long. Every little while we would come upon a park. On one of

these parks is a statue of George Thomas. It is made of bronze. I saw

other bronze statues away off down the avenue. We got to Mr

Chambers about half past one and dinner at two. I saw a lady there

who knew Miss Julia Curtis. I forget her name now. We came home

another way and saw many beautiful houses. Mr Chambers house is

1441 I Street and in an excellent part of the city. After we came home

I stayed at the house and wrote a good deal. We then went to supper.

The crowd is rapidly thinning out and we do not have to wait so long

a time now for supper. I saw the day we were at the Smithsonian

Institute the museum where the inaugural ball was held. There was a

walk covered with canvass leading up to it. It was a large and fine

building. There were only 5000 people instead of 9000 at the ball and

then 1600 of these did not pay.

March 7, 1881. This morning we went to the different departments.

While Father was at the War department I went in the Ordnance

museum again. I saw some old revolutionary cannon presented to

the U.S. by Lafayette. They were painted and had latin words engraved

upon it. There was a large model of the U.S. arsenal at Illinois. At

one end of the room was a statue of Gen. McPherson made of bronze.

There were some old guns that were found at New Mexico. There was

a fine Mexican saddle there. After that we went to the Treasury Dept.

and Father left me there with C. H. Merwin, a clerk from this district,

while he went to the Ebbitt house. Mr Merwin took me in a large

vault and let me take a package of U.S. bonds worth $100,000,000 in

my hands. It was a package made up of $50,000 bonds and was pretty

heavy. Then he took me in an elevator to the highest floor and I saw

Mr Norman, a colored man, who used to live with Pres. Andrews.⁷

He is in charge of the . . . Life Saving room. It is filled with models

7 Israel Ward Andrews, president of Marietta College, 1855-85.

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YOUNG CHARLEY DAWES               341

of life boats and rubber suits and appliances for taking men from a

sinking ship. There was one ball there which was shot from a mortar,

with a rope and had saved 217 lives. Mr Norman was quite a speaker

and was explaining how the people were saved to a large crowd. He

asked me about Marietta and so forth. Mr Merwin said that Pres.

Andrews met him here about 3 weeks ago and knew him as soon as

he saw him. Then we went into an old Library up in the garret and

saw some very old records of 1776 and after. Mr Merwin said that

he was up there with Pres. Andrews when he was here, to see when

the U.S. began to use dollars and cents and stopped using pounds and

pence. They found that at one time they wrote accounts in dollars

and eights of a dollar. And then found records of only a few days

difference which were written over in dollars and eights the other, in

dollars and cents [sic]. So that they could tell very nearly when the sys-

tem of dollars and cents was adopted. He then took me into the place

where the counterfeit money was kept. I saw $40,000 worth of counter-

feit money and photographs of all the counterfeiters ever arrested.

I took some of the plates used for making the money in my hand and

some counter-money. Some of the money I could never have told

from good money. Then he took me into the Cash room of the Treas.

This is a very finely furnished room. It is made of marble. I saw a

great deal of money there. One pile of gold pieces was as large as

buckets and there were many piles of greenbacks on every desk. Mr

Merwin got his place from Uncle William when he was in Congress,

and has been advanced to a 4th class clerkship. He says he has a mania

for the old records up in the garret. He was a rat . . . in Marietta

College when father graduated. As we came home we stopped at the

Ebbitt House. I saw there Mr Crane of N.Y. and Genl. Kilpatrick.

When we were at the Post Office Dept. I saw Col. Dudley of Ind. I

forgot to tell you that this morning we went to the White House. We

went into the East Room. It is a large room furnished with red. At

one end is a very large mirror. The most noticable objects of all are

the great glass chandeliers. They are very large and there are four

of them. On the wall is a picture of Martha Washington. All around

the room are chairs and sofas. We did not stay there long but went

to the War Dept. I saw Hon. H. S. Neal on the street as I came

home this afternoon. We got your first letter today. Genl. Bragg and

Father went in together to see Genl. Garfield this afternoon at a time

when they only admitted Members of Congress. They staid about 5

or 10 minutes. I was at the house while they were away. This after-

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noon Mr Chambers was in to see father while he was away. We got

the Marietta papers this afternoon from Mr Martin of the Bureau of

Statistics. After coming home from the White House Father went to

see John Sherman while I took a walk. I went around and saw the

skating rink. It is a very large one. I read in the papers that the

Garfield boys are there most of the time. I saw a photograph of Gar-

fields family this morning. There are six children. The city is rapidly

getting itself again. There are no longer great crowds on Penn. Avenue.

After supper we took our valises and went to the depot. There were a

good many people there. We have an upper berth in a sleeping car. All

the rest are taken. Mr Bosworth has a berth in the same car. I have

got some roller skates for Sister and Rufe. I think they will go all

right on the pavement. I saw Mr New member of Congress from

Ind. on the train.

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