James A. Garfield: The 20th US President, Polymath General, and Tragic Martyr of the Republic
The brilliant canal boy and Civil War general who became a college president, proved the Pythagorean Theorem, was elected president from the House of Representatives, and was assassinated after four months.
📌 Executive Profile & Vital Statistics
1. Log Cabin Poverty, Canal Boy & Polymath College President
James Abram Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a humble log cabin in Moreland Hills, Ohio, as the youngest of five children. His father died when James was just eighteen months old. Working as a towpath canal boy on the Ohio and Erie Canal at age sixteen, Garfield fell into the water sixteen times, caught a severe fever, and resolved to educate himself.
Graduating with highest honors from Williams College in 1856, Garfield became a professor of classical languages and, at the age of twenty-six, was named president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College). A polymath of astonishing intellect, Garfield authored an original trapezoid-based geometric proof of the Pythagorean Theorem (published in 1876 in the New England Journal of Education) and was ambidextrous, capable of writing Greek with one hand while simultaneously writing Latin with the other.
5. The July 2, 1881 Assassination by Charles Guiteau at Baltimore Depot
On the morning of July 2, 1881, after just four months in office, President Garfield was walking through the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., accompanied by Secretary of State James G. Blaine, en route to his college reunion at Williams College.
Mentally deranged lawyer and delusional office-seeker Charles J. Guiteau stepped behind Garfield and fired two shots from a .44-caliber British Bulldog revolver. One bullet grazed Garfield's arm; the second struck him in the back, shattering his eleventh rib and lodging deep behind his pancreas. Guiteau shouted: "I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts! Arthur is now President of the United States!"
6. 79 Days of Agony: Alexander Graham Bell's Metal Detector & Infection
Garfield survived the initial shooting, but suffered 79 agonizing days of medical torture. His chief physician, Dr. D. Willard Bliss, repeatedly probed the open bullet wound with unsterilized fingers and unwashed metal instruments, ignoring Joseph Lister's modern antiseptic techniques and introducing fatal bacterial infections.
Inventor Alexander Graham Bell constructed an experimental electromagnetic induction metal detector to locate the bullet in the president's body; however, the machine malfunctioned because Dr. Bliss refused to move Garfield off a metal-coil spring mattress. Garfield's weight plummeted from 210 pounds to under 130 pounds. Moved to the ocean breeze of Elberon, New Jersey, Garfield died on September 19, 1881, of septic blood poisoning and a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm at age 49. Modern medical historians agree that Garfield's wound was non-fatal and that he was killed by his doctors' unsterilized probing.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why was James A. Garfield's presidency so short?
He was shot after only four months in office on July 2, 1881, by Charles J. Guiteau and died 79 days later on September 19, 1881, serving the second-shortest presidency in US history.
Did Alexander Graham Bell try to save President Garfield?
Yes, Bell invented an early electromagnetic metal detector to locate the bullet inside Garfield's body, but the device was disrupted by the steel springs in Garfield's bed.
What was Garfield's intellectual achievement in mathematics?
Garfield was an accomplished mathematician who developed an original geometric proof of the Pythagorean Theorem using a trapezoid, published in 1876.
Where can I learn more about all other US Presidents?
Explore our complete chronological guide to all 45 commanders-in-chief in our master directory: Complete List of All US Presidents (1st to 47th).