The Assassination of James Garfield

On this day in 1881, President James Garfield died in New Jersey. He had been shot months earlier by Charles Guiteau at the Baltimore and Pacific train station in Washington, DC train station.  Garfield died eleven weeks later, most likely from an infection that was spread as doctors used their unsterilized fingers to probe the bullet wound.  Guiteau, on the other hand, was immediately apprehended.  He was convicted on murder and hanged on June 30, 1882.

To learn more about James Garfield and his assassination, try the following resources:

• American President: James A. Garfield (Miller Center)
• Charles Guiteau Trial (Famous Trials)
• Life and Death in the White House (National Museum of American History)
• Murder of a President (American Experience)
• The Death of of President Garfield, 1881 (Eyewitness to History)