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James A. Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in Orange, Ohio, to Abram and Eliza Garfield.
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Garfield graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
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On November 11, 1858, Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph. They would have seven children: Eliza, Harry, James, Mary, Irvin, Abram, and Edward.
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Garfield was elected as a Ohio state Senator, serving until 1861. During his time in office, he was a strong advocate of forcing succeeded southern states to rejoin the union.
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Garfield joined the Union Army at the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, and served as a lieutenant colonel with the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He would eventually achieve the rank of major general.
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Garfield began representing his home state of Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives in December of 1863. He would remain in Congress until 1881.
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In 1872, Garfield was accused of accepting bribes in the Credit Mobilier scandal of 1872. He was not found guilty.
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Garfield was elected to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate in 1880. However, he did not take office because of the Presidential election of the same year.
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During the 1880 presidential convention, Garfield was surprisingly nominated as the Republican nominee. He would go on to defeat the Democratic nominee, Winfield Scott Hancock.
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Garfield was inaugurated as the 20th President of the United States on March 4, 1881.
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On July 2, 1881, President Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau. Guiteau was later convicted of Garfield's murder and executed by hanging.
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After laying mortally wounded for three months, President Garfield died on September 19, 1881. Doctors tried to locate the bullet in Garfield's back, and even inventor Alexander Graham Bell tried to locate the bullet with a metal detector.
