James Abram Garfield (1831-1881)/biography

James Abram Garfield (, –, ) was a major general in the, member of the , and the twentieth. He was the second U.S. President to be &mdash;  was the first. Garfield had the second shortest presidency in U.S. history, after 's. In office for six months and fifteen days, President Garfield, a, actually served for less than four months before being fatally shot on ,.

Early life
Garfield was born in, now. His father died in 1833, when James Abram was two years old; he was brought up and cared for by his mother, a brother, and an uncle. In Orange Township, Garfield attended school, a predecessor of the. From 1851 to 1854, he attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later named ) in. He then transferred to in, where he was a brother of  fraternity. He graduated in 1856 as an outstanding student who enjoyed all subjects except. Garfield ruled out becoming a preacher and considered a job as principal of a high school in. After losing that job to another applicant, he taught at the Eclectic Institute. Garfield was an instructor in for the 1856–1857 academic year, and was made principal of the Institute from 1857 to 1860.

On, , he married. They had seven children (five sons and two daughters): Eliza Arbella Garfield (1860–63); (1863–1942);  (1865–1950); Mary Garfield (1867–1947); Irvin M. Garfield (1870–1951); Abram Garfield (1872–1958); and Edward Garfield (1874–76). One son, James R. Garfield, followed him into politics and became under President.

Garfield decided that the academic life was not for him and studied law privately. He was admitted to the  in 1860. Even before admission to the bar, he entered politics. He was elected an Ohio state senator in 1859, serving until 1861. He was a all his political life.

Military career
With the start of the, Garfield enlisted in the , and was assigned to command the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. General assigned Colonel Garfield the task of driving  forces out of eastern  in November 1861, giving him the 18th Brigade for the campaign. In December, he departed, with the 40th and 42nd Ohio and the 14th and 22nd Kentucky infantry regiments, as well as the 2nd (West) Virginia Cavalry and McLoughlin's Squadron of Cavalry. The march was uneventful until Union forces reached, where Garfield's cavalry engaged the Confederate cavalry at Jenny's Creek on ,. The Confederates, under, withdrew to the forks of Middle Creek, two miles from , on the road to. Garfield attacked on. At the end of the day's fighting, the Confederates withdrew from the field, but Garfield did not pursue them. He ordered a withdrawal to so he could resupply his men. His victory brought him early recognition and a promotion to the rank of brigadier general on.

Garfield served as a brigade commander under Buell at the and under  in the subsequent. His health deteriorated and he was inactive until autumn, when he served on the commission investigating the conduct of. In the spring of 1863, Garfield returned to the field as Chief of Staff for, commander of the.

Later political career
In 1863, he re-entered politics, being elected to the for the. Garfield was promoted to after the, shortly after he had been elected. He left the army and returned to Ohio to take his seat in Congress. He succeeded in gaining re-election every two years up through 1878. In the House during the Civil War and the following era, he was one of the most hawkish Republicans. In 1872, he was one of many congressman involved in the. Garfield denied the charges against him and it did not put too much of a strain on his political career since the actual impact of the scandal was difficult to determine. In 1876, when moved from the House to the, Garfield became the Republican  of the House.

In 1876, Garfield was a Republican member of the that awarded 22 hotly-contested electoral votes to  in his  for the Presidency against. That year, he also purchased the property in that reporters later dubbed, and from which he would go on to conduct the first successful  for the Presidency. The home is now maintained by the as the.

Election of 1880
In 1880, Garfield's life underwent tremendous change with the publication of the, and the end of U.S. Senator  term. The Ohio, which had recently again come under Republican control, chose Garfield to fill Thurman's seat. However, at the Garfield gained support for the party's Presidential nomination, and on the 36th ballot Garfield was nominated, with virtually all of Blaine's and  delegates breaking ranks to vote for the  nominee. Ironically, the U.S. Senate seat to which Garfield had been chosen ultimately went to Sherman, whose Presidential candidacy Garfield had gone to the convention to support.

In the general election, Garfield defeated the Democratic candidate, another distinguished former Union Army general, by 214 electoral votes to 155. (The popular vote had a plurality of 9,464 votes out of more than nine million cast; see .) He became the only man ever to be elected to the Presidency straight from the House of Representatives. Garfield took office on,.

Administration and Cabinet


Between his election and his inauguration, Garfield was occupied with constructing a cabinet that would balance all Republican factions. Blaine was rewarded with the State Department. William Windom of Minnesota was named secretary of the Treasury. The Navy Department was headed by William H. Hunt of Louisiana; the War Department by Robert Todd Lincoln; and the Interior Department by Iowa's Samuel J. Kirkwood. Wayne MacVeagh of Pennsylvania was asked to be Attorney General, and New York was represented by Postmaster General. This last appointment infuriated Garfield's rival, who demanded nothing less for his faction and his state than the Treasury Department. He was so insulted that he, in effect, declared war on the administration.

This unedifying squabble would consume the energies of the brief Garfield presidency. It overshadowed promising activities such as Blaine's efforts to build closer ties with Latin America, Postmaster General James's investigation of the "" postal frauds, and Windom's successful refinancing of the federal debt.

The feud with Conkling reached a climax when the President, at Blaine's instigation, nominated Conkling's enemy, Judge William H. Robertson, to be collector of the port of New York. Conkling raised the time-honored principle of senatorial courtesy in attempting to defeat the nomination but to no avail. Finally he and his junior colleague,, resigned their Senate seats to seek vindication, but they found only further humiliation. Garfield's victory was complete. He had routed his foes, weakened the principle of senatorial courtesy, and revitalized the presidential office.

Assassination
Garfield had little time to savor his triumph. He was shot by, disgruntled by failed efforts to secure a federal post, on , , at 9:30 a.m., less than four months after taking office. The President had been walking through the Sixth Street Station of the (a predecessor of the ), on his way to his , , where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, accompanied by  ,   and two of his sons,  and. The station was located on the southwest corner of present day Sixth Street Northwest and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., a site that is now occupied by the. As he was being arrested after the shooting, Guiteau excitedly said, "I am a Stalwart of the s! I did it and I want to be arrested! Arthur is President now," which briefly led to unfounded suspicions that Arthur or his supporters had put Guiteau up to the crime. (The Stalwarts strongly opposed Garfield's s; like many Vice Presidents, Arthur was chosen for political advantage, to placate his faction, rather than for skills or loyalty to his running-mate.) Guiteau was upset because of the rejection of his repeated attempts to be appointed as the United States in &mdash;a position for which he had absolutely no qualifications. Garfield's assassination was instrumental to the passage of the on,.

One bullet grazed Garfield's arm; the second bullet lodged in his spine and could not be found, although scientists today think that the bullet was near his lung. devised a specifically for the purpose of finding the bullet, but the metal bed frame Garfield was lying on made the instrument malfunction. Because metal bed frames were relatively rare, the cause of the instrument's deviation was unknown at the time. 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. In early September, the ailing President was moved to the in the vain hope that the fresh air and quiet there might aid his recovery. He died of a massive or a ruptured splenic artery, following  and bronchial , at 10:35 p.m. on Monday, , , in the  section of. The wounded president died exactly two months before his 50th birthday. During the eighty days between his shooting and death, his only official act was to sign an paper.

Most historians and medical experts now believe that Garfield probably would have survived his wound had the doctors attending him been more capable. Several inserted their unsterilized fingers into the wound to probe for the bullet, and one doctor punctured Garfield's liver in doing so. This alone would not have brought about death as the liver is one of the few organs in the human body that can regenerate itself. However, this physician probably introduced Streptococcus bacteria into the President's body and that caused blood poisoning for which at that time there were no antibiotics.

Guiteau was found guilty of assassinating Garfield, despite his lawyers raising an. He insisted that incompetent medical care had really killed the President. Although historians generally agree that while poor medical care was a contributing factor, it was not a legal defense. Guiteau was sentenced to death, and was executed by hanging on, , in Washington, D.C. Garfield was buried, with great and solemn ceremony, in a in  in. The monument is decorated with five  panels by sculptor, depicting various stages in Garfield's life. In 1887, the was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

At the time of his death, Garfield was survived by his mother. He is one of only three presidents to have predeceased their mothers.

Trivia

 * Garfield and fellow Ohio President Rutherford B. Hayes both served on the first board of trustees of Western Reserve University (now ) following the school's move from to Cleveland.
 * Garfield was a minister and an elder for the, making him the first&mdash;and to date, only&mdash;member of the clergy to serve as President. He is also claimed as a member of the , as the different branches did not split until the 20th century. Garfield preached his first sermon in Poestenkill, New York. When Garfield relinquished his Eldership, it is said that he stated, "I resign the highest office in the land to become President of the United States."[[Image:GarfieldMonument.jpg|thumb|right|Garfield Monument at in .]]
 * Garfield was a member of the International Fraternity.
 * Garfield is the only person in US history to be a Representative, Senator-elect, and at the same time. To date, he is the only Representative to be directly elected President of the United States.
 * In 1876, Garfield discovered a novel proof of the using a  while serving as a member of the House of Representatives.
 * Garfield was the first president. It was said that one could ask him a question in English and he could simultaneously write the answer in  with one hand, and  with the other.
 * In the famous drawing of Guiteau shooting Garfield, it is believed that the color of their suits at the time was reversed.
 * The assassination is also mentioned in the tune, "Mister Garfield (Has Been Shot Down)" according to the album sleeve written by J. Elliot, released in 1965 by Columbia Records, and re-recorded for the 1972 album America - A 200 Year Salute in Story And Song, as well in the song "Charles Guiteau" by Kelly Harrell & the Virginia String Band as included in the .
 * In the 1992 film , set in 1881, the character English Bob mocks his (American) fellow travelers for the murder of President Garfield, comparing the republican system of government unfavorably with the monarchical. "If you were to try to assassinate a king, sir, the, how shall I say it, the majesty of royalty would cause you to miss. But, a President, I mean, why not shoot a President?"
 * Garfield was assassinated only months after of Russia was assassinated.
 * , son of Abraham Lincoln, was a witness to Garfield's assassination.
 * 's musical includes the story of  and his assassination of Garfield and features a song, "The Ballad of Guiteau."[[Image:Garfield-monument.jpg|thumb|right|Garfield Monument in ]]
 * Part of Charles Guiteau's preserved brain is on display at the at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Guiteau's bones and more of his brain, along with Garfield's backbone and a couple ribs, are kept at the  in Washington, D.C. on the grounds of the.
 * Garfield was a direct descendant of  passenger through his son Francis, another Mayflower passenger. John Billington was convicted of murder at Plymouth Mass. 1630.
 * Garfield juggled to build his muscles.
 * James Garfield was featured on series 1882 $5 National Currency notes, and the series 1886 $20 Gold Certificate. Both of these currency notes are considered to be of moderate rarity, and are quite valuable to collectors.
 * Garfield has a street in a suburb in,  named after him - Garfield Street.
 * Garfield was related to, and both were descendents of.