James Abram Garfield was born in a log cabin in Ohio. His father died when he was two years old. As a boy, Garfield took odd jobs to support his mother and his siblings. He was a barge driver and a carpenter. In 1849, Garfield enrolled in the Geauga Academy (Chester, Ohio). While he was a student, Garfield found a job teaching in Solon, Ohio.
1851, Garfield entered the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (Hiram College). He graduated from Williams College in 1856. After college, Garfield taught classics at Hiram College. In 1857, he became president of the college. In 1859, Garfield won a seat in the Ohio state senate. When the Civil War began, he joined the Union Army. In the army, he rose from lieutenant colonel to the rank of brigadier general.
In 1863, Garfield was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He resigned his army commission after the election. In the House, he became chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. In 1880, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. The same year, the Republican Party nominated Garfield for president. He won the election.
Garfield was inaugurated on March 4, 1881. On July 2, 1881, he was shot by Charles J. Guiteau in the train station in Washington, D.C. Guiteau had sought a diplomatic post in the Garfield administration. When he was rebuffed, he decided to shoot the president. He claimed a vision instructed him to assassinate Garfield.
After Garfield was wounded, doctors predicted he would recover. (The president should have survived. But poor medical techniques caused him to contract blood poisoning.) In early September, Garfield left Washington to convalesce. He was taken by train to Elberon, New Jersey. He died in Elberon on September 19, 1881. James Garfield is buried at the Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
