[180] News and Courier, Charleston, S.C., July 13, 1881. When Garfield was
shot, July 2, this paper carried an editorial of similar content. Five
days after the appearance of the editorial here quoted, when recovery
seemed assured, the paper said this: "One thing the President's desperate
illness has unquestionably effected. It has done more than years of
ordinary events in bringing the North and South together--vainly will the
politicians flourish the 'bloody flag'. The people will not rally on the
ensanguined colors again. For the Republic, as well as the President, the
danger line is well nigh, passed."
[181] News and Courier, Sept. 20, 1881. Garfield died at Elberton, N.J.,
September 19. That Charleston meant what she said is shown in the
reception which was accorded the First Connecticut Regiment, invited to
visit the city after attending the Centennial Celebration at Yorktown,
Virginia. The New Englanders came six weeks after the death of
Garfield--October 24. On this day the newspaper carried at the head of the
first column the Connecticut and South Carolina flags crossed, above them
the words "Yankee Doodle Came to Town", and below "A Welcome Invasion!" An
editorial headed "Happy Day" had these words: "It does not strain the
probabilities to believe that the visit of the First Connecticut Regiment
to Charleston is the outgrowth and sentiment and interest which found
expression when the President of the United States lay dying, and when
after his long agony he died. Had not President Garfield been slain, and
the South felt differently and, therefore, acted differently, this present
unpremeditated fraternization would have been impossible. There is no
shock now in removing mourning trappings to make room for the wreaths and
garlands of joy. It is the fit succession of events, a consequence of the
murder of the President. The blood of the Chief Magistrate is the seed of
union. Yorktown in itself a reminder of the days when North and South had
felt one aim and purpose, furnished the opportunity or occasion, and the
unselfish sorrow of the Southern people during the President's mortal
illness furnished the motive. The relation of the two events is too plain
to be ignored or misunderstood. This is the significance of the coming of
the Connecticut First from the land of abundance and diversified wealth to
battle-scarred and struggling Charleston."
[182] Interview with C. C. Baldwin In the New York Herald, reprinted in
News and Courier, July 11, 1881.
[183] The Daily Dispatch, Richmond, Va., March 5, 1880.
[184] News and Observer, Dec. 1, 1880.
[185] News and Observer, Mar. 25, 1881.