Historic Highlights: President Garfield was assassinated by Illinois native

Of the four U.S. presidents to die by assassination, Lincoln and Kennedy are the best remembered. One is just a footnote in the history books.

Over 140 years later, the shooting of President James Garfield is barely known to most Americans. His assassin was an Illinois native.

Inaugurated just four months before, Garfield was walking in a Washington train depot on July 2, 1881, when a lone gunman approached from behind. Two shots were fired at Garfield, one piercing the right side of his back.

His assassin was Charles Guiteau, a native of Freeport, who later lived in Chicago. A former Garfield supporter, some believe that the term “disgruntled office seeker” arose from the deranged resentment that festered in Guiteau after failing to receive a prime political appointment.

His place of birth gives Illinois an unusual distinction as the only state where both a president (Ronald Reagan) and a presidential assassin (Guiteau) were born.

Garfield languished longer after his shooting than any of the assassinated presidents. He lingered for 80 days, first in the White House and then at Elberon, New Jersey, a favorite vacation spot, where he was moved by special train on Sept. 5. He died at Elberon on Sept. 19.

Many scholars believe he suffered from medical care that was both incompetent and hampered by the limitations of the era. Constant probing with bare fingers by Garfield’s medical team, coupled with unsterilized instruments, caused blood poisoning that eventually claimed his life.

Todd Arrington, chief of interpretation and education at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio, notes that many Americans saw Lincoln’s death in 1865 as the final tragedy of the Civil War, and never expected to see another presidential assassination.

“There was great sympathy for both Garfield and his family,” said Arrington. “The nation was riveted by the press coverage of Garfield’s recovery over those two and a half months, as the papers provided extreme detail on his condition.”

Garfield’s assassin was Charles Guiteau, 40, a failed lawyer and self-styled theologian from New York whose derangement was obvious. Born in Freeport, he had bounced from city to city, avoiding bill collectors and charges of theft and other misdeeds.

For several years, Guiteau worked in Chicago as a law clerk. Ironically, much of his duty was in debt collection. He tried only one case in court – and lost, resulting in a conviction for his client.

In Chicago, he married Annie Bunn, a librarian who recalled his unethical behavior and suffered from his physical abuse. The couple later divorced.

Guiteau had supported Garfield in the 1880 election and provided some marginal volunteer efforts, which apparently convinced him that he was owed a high-level patronage job, such as the consulship to Paris.

He visited the White House several times seeking his desired jobs, to the disgust of administration officials. After yet another encounter, Secretary of State James Blaine finally snapped, “Never speak to me again on the Paris consulship as long as you live!”

Curtly rebuffed, Guiteau decided to kill Garfield, calling it a “political necessity.” He borrowed $15 from a relative to buy a revolver that he believed would look good in a museum and tracked Garfield to the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station in Washington on July 2, 1881.

There, the president was walking arm-in-arm with Blaine, while other cabinet members, including Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln, were nearby. Security detail was scarce, as most presidents in the era had little to no protection from bodily threats.

Guiteau stepped up to the president from behind and fired two shots. He then was apprehended by a policeman who had heard the gunfire.

A jury only needed an hour to convict Guiteau in January 1882. He acted in a bizarre fashion through much of the trial, where he was defended by his brother-in-law.

Guiteau was hanged that June 30. Disturbed to the end, he sang a hymn he had written for the occasion.

The other presidential assassination was William McKinley, who died on Sept. 14, 1901, eight days after his shooting. He was the third chief executive to die at the hands of an assassin in just 36 years.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.