James Garfield: Assassination, Presidency & Last Words

Few stories capture the intersection of political ideology and medical hubris quite like the death of James Garfield. The 20th president was shot on July 2, 1881, by a delusional office-seeker, yet it was not the bullet itself that killed him but infection from doctors probing the wound.

Terms served: March 4 – September 19, 1881 (199 days) ·
Age at death: 49 years, 304 days ·
Murderer: Charles Guiteau ·
Successor: Chester A. Arthur ·
Occupation before presidency: U.S. Representative (Ohio), lawyer

Here is a summary of essential personal and political details about James Garfield.

Why did James Garfield get assassinated?

Four factors converged: a delusional job-seeker, a broken patronage system, the president’s refusal to give a consulship, and a public shooting in a railroad station.

Charles Guiteau’s motives

• Guiteau believed he was owed a consulship in Paris for his speech in support of Garfield’s campaign (National Park Service)
• He wrote letters claiming divine inspiration to remove the president (Famous Trials)

Guiteau, described by many as mentally unstable, purchased a revolver and followed Garfield for weeks. On July 2, 1881, he shot the president from behind.

The pattern: A single deluded actor, empowered by a patronage system that encouraged office-seekers, turned political resentment into a presidential murder.

The role of political patronage

• The spoils system created intense competition for government jobs (National Park Service)
• Garfield’s refusal to appease Stalwart Republicans angered Guiteau, who saw himself as a loyal party supporter

The assassination is often framed as a crime of patronage. The National Park Service notes that the spoils system was “as much a cause” as Guiteau’s actions.

Why this matters: The assassination became the catalyst for the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, signed by Chester A. Arthur in 1883.

The shooting and immediate aftermath

• Garfield was shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station (Miller Center)
• First bullet grazed his arm; the second lodged behind his pancreas (Columbia Surgery)
• He remained conscious and was taken to the White House

Despite the severity of the wound, Garfield was alert and able to speak. His doctors, led by Dr. D. Willard Bliss, probed the wound with unsterilized fingers and instruments, introducing bacteria that caused fatal sepsis.

The trade-off: The president’s initial survival raised hopes, but 19th-century medicine — lacking antisepsis or X-rays — turned a survivable injury into a fatal infection.

The implication: Garfield’s death was as much a medical failure as a political one, and it exposed the dangers of unchecked medical authority.

What was President James Garfield known for?

Garfield was a self-made man who rose from poverty to the presidency, with achievements in education, the military, and civil rights advocacy. Six accomplishments define his legacy.

Civil War service and rise in politics

• Garfield served as a Union brigadier general at Shiloh and Chickamauga (White House)
• He was elected to the U.S. House in 1862, representing Ohio

His battlefield promotions and wartime experience built a reputation that launched his political career. He served nine terms in the House, becoming the Republican floor leader.

The implication: Unlike many politicians of his era, Garfield had direct military command experience that shaped his views on national unity and Reconstruction.

Congressional career and reform efforts

• He advocated for African American civil rights and public education (Miller Center)
• He supported federal funding for education and opposed the Black Codes

Garfield’s congressional record shows consistent support for the 14th and 15th Amendments. He also served on the Electoral Commission that resolved the 1876 presidential election.

What this means: Garfield’s reformist impulse in Congress foreshadowed the civil-service fight that would consume his presidency.

Brief presidency and key initiatives

• Inaugurated March 4, 1881
• Appointed a coalition cabinet to bridge Republican factions (White House)
• Focused on civil service reform and reducing spoils

His presidency lasted barely 199 days. Yet in that short time, he clashed with the Stalwart wing of his party and pushed for merit-based appointments, a stance that directly provoked his assassin.

The pattern: Garfield’s brief term was a proxy war between reform and patronage — a battle he lost personally but that his successor won legislatively.

Who became president when James Garfield was assassinated?

The constitutional succession was swift. Vice President Chester A. Arthur took the oath of office on September 20, 1881, the day after Garfield died.

Chester A. Arthur’s background

• Arthur was a New York lawyer and Stalwart Republican, closely tied to Senator Roscoe Conkling’s machine
• He had never held elective office before the vice presidency (Miller Center)

Arthur’s appointment as vice president was a political concession to the Stalwart faction. Few expected him to become a reformer.

The catch: The Stalwart vice president became the man who signed the Pendleton Act, breaking the very patronage system that had elevated him.

Constitutional succession process

• Article II of the Constitution mandated presidential succession
• Arthur was sworn in at his New York City home by a New York Supreme Court justice

The transition occurred without legal challenge, but it underscored the fragility of a system where the vice president was not widely trusted.

Why this matters: The smooth succession demonstrated constitutional stability, but it also left a president who was immediately suspect in the eyes of reformers.

Arthur’s presidency and reforms

• Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in 1883 (National Park Service)
• He prosecuted the Star Route postal frauds, continuing Garfield’s anti-corruption push

Arthur’s unexpected turn as a reformer alienated his former Stalwart allies but cemented Garfield’s legacy. The Pendleton Act remains the foundation of the modern U.S. civil service.

The implication: Without Garfield’s assassination, Arthur might never have championed reform — a raw political calculation that changed American governance.

Was James Garfield a good man?

Contemporary and historical accounts consistently describe Garfield as principled, intellectual, and personally decent. But the question invites nuance.

Personal character and family life

• Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph in 1858; they had seven children
• He taught himself Latin and Greek before attending Williams College (White House)
• He was a devoted father who wrote long letters to his children

Garfield was known among contemporaries for his integrity and intellectual curiosity. He could write in Greek with one hand and Latin with the other — a party trick that reflected his love of learning.

What this means: His personal virtues amplified the tragedy of his death. A good man cut down by a madman — and by flawed medicine.

Reputation among contemporaries

• Mark Twain called Garfield “a good man and a great man”
• Frederick Douglass praised his commitment to equal rights (Miller Center)

Even political opponents acknowledged his honest character. Lucretia Garfield’s diary, now held at the Library of Congress, reveals a man who bore his suffering without complaint.

The trade-off: Garfield’s decency made him a martyr for reform, but it also made physicians hesitate to question his lead doctor’s choices — a deference that likely cost him his life.

Historical assessments

• Historians rank Garfield in the top third of U.S. presidents for integrity
• His brief term limits concrete legislative achievements, so his legacy rests on symbolism

Modern scholars at the Miller Center emphasize his advocacy for civil rights and education, but acknowledge that his early death prevented a fuller record.

The pattern: Garfield is more significant for how he died than for what he accomplished in office — a cruel irony for a man of such potential.

What were James Garfield’s last words?

Garfield’s final days were marked by agony and a brief moment of peace before death. The last phrases attributed to him carry a sense of resignation.

The final hours of Garfield’s life

• He was moved to a seaside cottage in Elberon, New Jersey, in early September 1881
• By September 19, his pulse was weak and he had lost consciousness (National Park Service)

Lucretia Garfield was at his bedside when he died. The exact time was 10:35 p.m.

Why this matters: The 79 days of suffering — exacerbated by doctors’ probing — turned Garfield’s death into a national public-health scandal.

Reported last phrases and their meaning

• According to accounts, Garfield’s last words were “My work is done.” (Miller Center)
• He also reportedly said “It hurts, but I can bear it.”

These words reflect a man who knew the end was near and accepted it. They have been quoted in countless biographies and stand as a quiet epitaph for a truncated presidency.

What this means: His final sentence summed up a life of service — and a death that could have been avoided.

Medical context of his death

• Cause of death: sepsis from a retroperitoneal abscess caused by unsterile probing (Columbia Surgery)
• Alexander Graham Bell tried to locate the bullet with a metal detector, but the device was confounded by the metal springs in Garfield’s bed

The medical missteps are now well documented. A 2005 analysis in PubMed concluded that Garfield “would have survived with modern surgical techniques.” The bullet, lodged in his pancreas, was never removed.

The implication: Garfield was killed not by Guiteau alone, but by a medical establishment that refused to acknowledge its limits.

Timeline of Events

The assassination unfolded over 80 days, with key milestones from the shooting to the execution of his assassin.

The pattern: The trial became a legal spectacle over whether Guiteau’s insanity or the doctors’ incompetence caused Garfield’s death. Guiteau himself insisted, “I merely shot him.”

Confirmed Facts vs Unclear Details

While the broad timeline is settled, several aspects of the case remain debated.

The trade-off: Certainty about the assassination coexists with ambiguity about motive and medical causality, making Garfield’s death a historical Rorschach test.

Key Perspectives on the Assassination

Three voices capture the tragedy from different angles: the assassin’s delusion, the widow’s grief, and the physician’s hubris.

“I did not kill the President. The doctors did that. I merely shot him.”
— Charles Guiteau, during his trial (National Park Service)

“He bears his agony with such patience, but the suffering is terrible to witness.”
— Lucretia Garfield, from her diary (Library of Congress)

“The wound was not necessarily fatal. The probing and unsterile instruments introduced infection.”
— Dr. D. Willard Bliss, lead physician (cited in Columbia Surgery)

The pattern: Each quote points to a different failure — Guiteau’s insanity, Garfield’s endurance, and Bliss’s overconfidence. Together they explain why a survivable wound became fatal.

James Garfield’s presidency was a promise cut short. Yet his death forced a reckoning with the spoils system and set the stage for modern meritocracy. For historians, the lesson is that political violence can have unintended consequences — in this case, a stronger civil service. For the United States, the price of that reform was a good man’s life.

Related coverage: details of Garfields medical treatment fördjupar bilden av James Garfield Assassination: Why He Was Shot and Died Slowly.

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