On July 2, 1881, at 9:30 AM, James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, was shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., less than four months into his term as president.
The assassin was Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally ill and delusional office seeker, who had distributed copies of a speech he wrote aimed at promoting Garfield in the 1880 United States presidential election. Guiteau believed his campaigning had been vital to Garfield's eventual victory, and that Garfield owed him a diplomatic post in Europe for his assistance. After months of failed attempts to solicit such a reward from the Garfield administration, he purchased a revolver and began stalking Garfield with the goal of assassinating him, hoping that if he succeeded in doing so, Garfield's vice president Chester A. Arthur would give him the job he wanted upon assuming the presidency.
Guiteau shot Garfield twice from behind; one bullet grazed Garfield; the other entered his back. Garfield was carried back to the White House, where he underwent medical treatment for over two months. His condition fluctuated, though generally worsened over time as he began to suffer from septic shock. His treatment in part consisted of doctors trying in vain to find the bullet still lodged in his body; by doing so, they likely aggravated his existing wounds and introduced new sources of infection, decreasing his chances of survival. Garfield was later transported by train to a mansion in Elberon, New Jersey, where he died at 10:30 p.m. on September 19 and was succeeded by his vice president, Chester A. Arthur. Garfield was the second American president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Guiteau's trial was widely publicized, and his legal team's attempts to use the insanity defense failed. Guiteau was sentenced to death and executed by hanging.
Background
Guiteau had turned to politics after failing in several ventures, including theology, a law practice, bill collecting, and spending time in the utopian Oneida Community. Former President Ulysses S. Grant was the early front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 1880 and was supported by the Stalwart faction. Guiteau became a Stalwart and a Grant supporter, and authored a speech, "Grant against Hancock".
When Grant lost the nomination to dark horse candidate James A. Garfield, who was not affiliated with either the Stalwarts or their rivals the Half-Breeds, Guiteau revised his speech to "Garfield against Hancock" and tried to sign on as a campaigner for the Republican ticket. He never delivered the speech in a public setting, but had it printed (he never paid the bill) and distributed several hundred copies. The speech was ineffective, even in written form; among other problems, Guiteau had made a hurried but incomplete effort to replace references to Grant with references to Garfield. The result was that Guiteau appeared to give Garfield credit for accomplishments that he had originally ascribed to Grant, yet he convinced himself that his speech was largely responsible for Garfield's narrow victory over Democratic nominee Winfield Scott Hancock. Guiteau believed he should be awarded a diplomatic post for his supposedly vital assistance, first asking for a consulship in Vienna, then expressing a willingness to "settle" for one in Paris. He loitered around Republican headquarters in New York City during the winter of 1880–1881, expecting rewards for his speech, but to no avail.
Guiteau arrived in Washington, D.C., on March 5, 1881, the day after Garfield's inauguration, still believing that he would be rewarded. He obtained entrance to the White House and saw the President on March 8, 1881, dropping off a copy of his speech as a reminder of the campaign work which he had done on Garfield's behalf. Guiteau spent the next two months roaming around Washington, staying at rooming houses and sneaking away without paying for his meals and lodging. He passed his days loitering in hotel lobbies to read old newspapers and using hotel stationery to write letters to those who he thought could help him obtain an appointment from Garfield. In addition, he spent time shuffling back and forth between the State Department and the White House and approaching various Cabinet members and prominent Republicans to press his claim, all without success. Guiteau was destitute and increasingly slovenly because he was wearing the same clothes every day, and would walk through the cold, snowy city without overcoat, hat, gloves, or boots. On May 13, 1881, he was banned from the White House waiting room. The following day, he encountered Secretary of State James G. Blaine, who told him, "Never speak to me again on the Paris consulship as long as you live."
Guiteau's family had judged him to be insane in 1875 and attempted to have him committed, but he had escaped. Now his mania took a violent turn, and he decided that he had been commanded by a higher power to kill the President. He later stated, "I leave my justification to God."
Guiteau borrowed $15 (equivalent to $500 in 2025) from George Maynard, a relative by marriage, then went out to purchase a revolver. He knew little about firearms, but he believed that he would need a large caliber gun. O'Meara's store in Washington provided a choice between two versions of the .442 Webley caliber British Bulldog revolver, one with a wood grip and another with an ivory grip. He favored ivory because he thought that it would look better as a museum exhibit after the assassination, but could not afford the extra dollar, so the store owner dropped the price for him. (The handgun was recovered and displayed by the Smithsonian in the early 20th century, but it has since been lost.) Guiteau spent the next few weeks stalking Garfield and in target practice; the recoil kick from the gun almost knocked him over the first time that he fired it. He wrote a letter to Garfield, saying that he should fire Blaine or "you and the Republican party will come to grief". The letter was ignored, as was all the correspondence that Guiteau sent to the White House.
Guiteau continued to prepare carefully; he wrote a letter to William Tecumseh Sherman, the Commanding General of the Army, asking for protection from the mob that he assumed would gather after he killed the President, and he wrote other letters justifying his action as necessary to heal dissension between the factions of the Republican Party. He went to the District of Columbia jail to ask for a tour of the facility where he expected to be incarcerated, but he was told to come back later. He spent the whole month of June following Garfield around Washington. On one occasion, Guiteau trailed Garfield to the railway station as he was seeing his wife, Lucretia Garfield, off to a beach resort in Long Branch, New Jersey; he decided not to shoot the President then, as Lucretia was known to be in poor health and he did not want to upset her.
Assassination
Shooting
Garfield was scheduled to leave Washington on July 2, 1881, for his summer vacation, which was reported in the Washington newspapers, Guiteau arrived by a hired carriage at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue NW in Washington. Having been alerted to the president's schedule by a newspaper article, Guiteau lay in wait at the railroad station, getting his shoes shined, pacing, and engaging a cab to take him to the police station to turn himself in after the shooting. Garfield came to the station on his way to his alma mater Williams College, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech before beginning his vacation. He was accompanied by his sons James and Harry, and by Secretary of State James G. Blaine; Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln waited at the station to see him off. Garfield had no bodyguard or security detail; early presidents did not employ them, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
As Garfield entered the station's waiting room, Guiteau stepped forward and shot the president at point-blank range from behind. Garfield cried out, "My God, what is this?", flinging up his arms. Guiteau fired again, and Garfield collapsed. The first bullet grazed the President's shoulder, and the other struck him in the back, passing the first lumbar vertebra but missing the spinal cord before coming to rest behind his pancreas. Guiteau put his gun back in his pocket and turned to leave via a cab that he had waiting for him outside the station, but he collided with policeman Patrick Kearney, who was entering the station after hearing the gunfire.
Kearney apprehended Guiteau and was so excited at having arrested the man who had shot the president that he neglected to take the gun from him until after they arrived at the police station. Kearney demanded, "In God's name, man, what did you shoot the President for?" Guiteau responded, "I am a Stalwart, and want Arthur for President." The rapidly gathering crowd screamed, "Lynch him", but Kearney and several other police officers took Guiteau to the police station a few blocks away. As he surrendered to authorities, Guiteau uttered the exulting words, repeated everywhere: "I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts! I did it, and I want to be arrested! Arthur is President now!" In a letter left for the White House dated the day of the shooting, Guiteau elaborated: "The President's tragic death was a sad necessity, but it will unite the Republican party and save the republic... I had no ill-will toward the President. His death was a political necessity. I am a lawyer, a theologian, and a politician. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts." He also noted that he had left papers for the press at 1420 New York Avenue before turning himself in. This statement briefly led to unfounded suspicions that either Vice President Chester A. Arthur or his supporters had put Guiteau up to the crime.
The Stalwarts were a Republican faction loyal to Senator Roscoe Conkling; they supported Grant for a third term in 1880 and strongly opposed Blaine's Half-Breeds. Garfield was unaffiliated with either faction, but Blaine had given his support to Garfield once it became clear that Blaine could not win the presidential nomination. Arthur, a Conkling ally, had been selected as Garfield's running mate to placate the Stalwart faction. As a self-professed Stalwart, Guiteau convinced himself that by removing Garfield, he was striking a blow to unite the two factions of the Republican Party.
Treatment and death
Tended to by Dr. Charles Purvis, who became the first African-American physician to attend to a sitting president, Garfield was carried to an upstairs floor of the railway station, conscious but in shock. One bullet remained lodged in his body, but doctors could not find it. Robert Lincoln was deeply upset, thinking back to the assassination of his father, 16 years earlier; he said, "How many hours of sorrow I have passed in this town." He would again be near a presidential assassination 20 years later, when President William McKinley was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, which Robert was attending.
Garfield was carried back to the White House, and doctors told him that he would not survive the night; nevertheless, he remained conscious and alert. The next morning, his vital signs were good and doctors began to hope for recovery. Garfield gave a speech at an Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C. on July 4. He was feeling better and recovering and decided to give speeches everywhere in the United States, despite having two bullets lodged inside his body. A long vigil began, and Garfield's doctors issued regular bulletins that the American public followed closely throughout the summer of 1881. Garfield's condition fluctuated; fevers came and went, he struggled to keep down solid food, and he spent most of the summer consuming only liquids.
Navy engineers rigged up an air cooler to relieve Garfield from the heat of a Washington summer. Fans blew air over a large box of ice and into the President's sickroom, and the device worked well enough to lower the temperature 20 degrees (Fahrenheit). Doctors continued to probe Garfield's wound with unsterilized fingers and instruments, attempting to find the bullet, and Alexander Graham Bell devised a metal detector specifically to find it. He was unsuccessful, partly because Garfield's metal bedframe made the instrument malfunction, and partly because self-appointed chief physician Doctor Willard Bliss allowed Bell to use the device only on Garfield's right side, where Bliss insisted the bullet had lodged. Bell's subsequent tests indicated his metal detector was in good working order and that he would have found the bullet had he been allowed to use the device on Garfield's left side.
On July 29, Garfield met with his Cabinet for the only time during his illness; the members were under strict instruction from the doctors not to discuss anything upsetting. Garfield became increasingly ill over a period of several weeks due to infection, which caused his heart to weaken. He remained bedridden in the White House with fevers and extreme pains. His weight dropped from 210 pounds (95 kilograms) to 130 pounds (58 kilograms) as his inability to keep down and digest food took its toll. Nutrient enemas were given in an attempt to extend his life because he could not digest food. Septic shock set in, and the President suffered from hallucinations for a time. Pus-filled abscesses spread all over his body as the infections raged.