As President James Garfield prepared to board a train at the 6th Street railroad station in the nation’s capital on July 2, 1881, gunshots rang out and the president fell stricken to the floor.

Charles Guiteau gunned down the president and was quickly captured. Garfield was shot twice, a grazing wound in the shoulder and a shot that struck him in the back, severing his spine. He was quickly attended to by medical authorities and rushed to the White House for treatment of his wounds.

News of the shooting quickly raced across the country. The Daily Union-Leader of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania described how the disturbing news was received by the people of Luzerne County and the Coal Region.

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When President Lincoln was assassinated on the 14th day of April 1865, the whole land was plunged into grief and mourning. Party differences were forgotten and men of every political faith were overcome with the sad intelligence.

This morning when the meagre dispatch announcing simply that President Garfield had been shot, was received and placed upon the bulletin boards of the UNION-LEADER, the same grief manifested itself as was shown when Lincoln was shot.

There was but one expression, and that of sorrow and surprise. This was supplemented by the wildest anxiety to learn the full particulars, for the message left everything in doubt as to the nature of the wound, and as to whether the bullet had been directed by the hand of an assassin or not…

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For the remainder of the summer of 1881, the nation’s attention focused on the increasingly poor medical treatment administered to President Garfield. The president succumbed to his wounds on September 19, 1881, plunging the country into mourning and making Chester Arthur the 21st President of the United States.

Check out my presentation about the Garfield assassination and the legacy of Civil War medicine from my time at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine

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We are excited to see that Netflix will be debuting a miniseries about the Garfield assassination called “Death by Lightning” later in 2025 – more information here.

Read more about Civil War medicine and history

A Civil War officer’s grisly amputation at Spotsylvania Court House on May 10, 1864

A Civil War soldier learns of his brother’s death from typhoid fever | 1863

A vaccination campaign for schoolchildren in Schuylkill County in the 1850s

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