James A. Garfield

James A. Garfield was born in Orange Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1831. He was the youngest of four children. His father was a canal worker and farmer who died tragically before Garfield's second birthday. His mother was an impoverished widow who worked the land with her four children. James was fortunate enough to attend school during the winter.

As a teenager Garfield drove boat teams along the Ohio and Erie Canal. He aspired to a life at sea, but his farthest destination was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In the spring of 1849, at the age of eighteen, Garfield attended Geauga Academy in Chester, Ohio and eventually studied at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute. He both studied and taught at the Institute and also taught elementary school. He eventually studied at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and eventually returned to Western Reserve to teach. He eventually became president of the school in 1857 and also served as a preacher and evangelist. He married his childhood sweetheart, Lucretia Rudolph, and together they had five sons and two daughters. He eventually studied law and opened a law office in Hiram, Ohio. and served two years in the Ohio state senate (1860-1861).

Garfield did not serve in the military until 1862, when he commanded Union forces and led a bridge to victory in Middle Creek, KY. He was promoted to brigadier general at the young age of thirty-one. Unfortunately, a length illness forced him to stay off the battlefield and recover.

Back home the Republican Party nominated him to the U.S. House of Representatives. After his election in 1862 he returned to the Army to fight in the Civil War with the Ohio Voluntary Brigade. After the battle at Chickamauga, Georgia, he was promoted to the rank of major general.

In late 1862 Garfield finally left the Army and returned to serve in the U.S. House. He served in Congress until 1880.

When he came to Washington in 1862 he proposed strict measure for Reconstruction. He disagreed with President Lincoln about policy but felt very sad after the assassination.

In 1880 the Ohio legislature voted Garfield to serve in the U.S. Senate (This was before there were direct popular elections of Senators in every state.) Garfield never served in the Senate because his was nominated to be the Republican candidate for President.

Garfield was forty-nine when he was elected in late 1880. The Republican part was split in two factions. Several members of his cabinet disagreed with his policies and some were very corrupt businessmen taking advantage of contracting opportunities with the Government. Garfield was supported by reformers who opposed the greedy practices.

Unfortunately, Garfield did not have a chance to complete his term in office. On July 2, 1881, he was going to take a vacation and had arrived at the Baltimore and Potomac railroad station in Washington where he was shot by Charles Guiteau. Guiteau was an angry office-seeker who could not meet with the President. Garfield lived for two months as doctors tried to save his life. Garfield finally died on September 19, 1881 at the age of forty-nine.