President James Garfield was shot by a lunatic named Charles Guiteau on July 2, 1881 at around 9:15 in the morning, less than 4 months into his term as the twentieth President. He died 11 weeks later on September 19, 1881. The shooting and ensuing months involved a cast of people for various reasons; Secretary of War Robert Lincoln (who had just lived through his fathers’ assassination, Alexander Graham Bell, who had just invented a crude type of metal detector and General William Sherman, charged with the protection of Charles Guiteau. Another innovation at the time was an air conditioner rigged up by the Army Corps of Engineers, to keep the President cool in the hot, humid summer of the Capitol. It was also a milestone in the use of the insanity plea in a murder trial.
Garfield left Washington D.C. that morning intent on going on holiday for the summer. First he had to stop at Williams College, his alma mater, to deliver a speech. As he entered the 6th Street railroad station he walked with Secretary of State Blaine. Guiteau, who had been laying in wait for him walked up behind him and, without saying a word, shot twice. The first bullet passed harmlessly through Garfield’s right coat sleeve but the second one entered him above his third rib and passed in front of his spinal cord, according to autopsy reports. Sadly, Secret Service protection for the President didn’t come about until the assassination of President McKinley, twenty years later.
Charles Guiteau was considered a lunatic, from all references. As a lawyer he was abysmal and dealt mainly with collections, of which it is said he took a 75% commission, unheard of today. He was a deadbeat, according to The National Police Gazette: New York who would skip out on his boarding house bill in the middle of the night.(1) Having been run out of Chicago for his stealing ways, he ended up in New York where he advertised himself as a lawyer and Theologian. According to the New York Herald he was jailed there for indebtedness. After the New York press took him to task and publicized his misdeeds he moved back to Chicago in 1868. During this time he married a Miss Annie Bunn in 1869. Everything was good initially but within the first year Charles was back to skipping out on bills and getting them evicted. According to his wife she had to once beg to get into the storage area where their things were locked up for nonpayment so she could get a dress to sell to pay the bills. He also started abusing her and would lock her in a closet all night and beat her. She divorced him in 1874, after they had moved back to New York, following the Chicago fire.(2)
It was in 1880 that Charles turned to politics. At first a Republican he turned to the “Stalwart” faction of the party who supported the reelection of U.S. Grant, after Garfield was elected, he became a Garfield supporter. Having once given a speech supporting Garfield (a rehashed version he wrote for Grant) he felt Garfield owed him. According to Guiteau, it was him that got Garfield elected. After Garfield’s election Guiteau moved to Washington D.C. in hopes of securing an appointment. Those were the days when cronyism filled ambassadorships and departments. He wanted an appointment as the ambassador to Vienna but would settle for Paris. He was a frequent visitor to the White House and to the State Department where he would wander the halls or just hang out, writing notes to himself and others, using government stationary until Col. Crook, the disbursing clerk, put a stop to that. In a telling exchange with Crook, after being put off the stationary, said “Do you know who I am? I am one of the men who made Garfield President”. He accosted and annoyed Secretary of State James Blaine so much that at one point Blaine told him “Never speak to me again of the Paris consulship as long as you live.”(3) Rebuffed at every turn, Guiteau became a Stalwart again and turned against Garfield. It was in May of 1881 he decided to get rid of Garfield and in June of 1881 he sent several messages to newspapers and even one to the Whit House explaining his actions. In his “Address to the American People” he sought to explain that his upcoming deed was not murder, it was a political necessity. Garfield’s crime was “he has wrecked the once grand old Republican party; and for this he dies”. He also wrote a letter to General Sherman to be delivered after the assassination saying “I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts…” and asking for protection from the mob that he knew would form.(4)
Guiteau borrowed, some say $10, some say $15, to buy a gun that summer. He chose his gun carefully, finally settling on a .44 Webley British Bulldog revolver. It was relatively small and concealable but with a huge impact. There were two models available; one with wooden handles and one with ivory handles. Guiteau picked the ivory handles because “he thought it would look good as a museum exhibit” after the assassination.(5) He stalked Garfield the entire month of June, looking for a chance to kill him and once could have at a rail station but Mrs. Garfield was there, feeling poorly, and he didn’t want to upset her.(6)
After Guiteau shot Garfield he simply put the gun back in his pocket and started for the cab he had waiting to take him to jail. Earlier in the week he had actually visited the jail, trying to get a walk through. He told the police he wanted to see what his future accommodations were going to be. At any rate, before Guiteau could leave, policeman Patrick Kearney grabbed him and put him under arrest. In a funny aside, Kearney was so wrapped up in arresting Guiteau he forgot to disarm him until they got to the jail. Garfield was taken to the second floor of the railroad station, attended by many physicians. There they tried to find the bullet but were unable and unwilling to possibly cause more harm decided it was best to move him to the White House where he would be more comfortable.


1.National Police gazette, July 23, 1881
2.Charles Guiteau Collection,http://library.Georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/c1133.htm
3.Peskin, Allan "Garfield: A Biography, Kent State University Press, 1978 Page 590
4.Vowell, Sarah "Assassination Vacatin", Simon and Schuster, 2005 Pages 164-165
5.Peskin, Allan Page 591
6.Peskin, Allan Page 592