Garfield, James Abram

Garfield, James Abram (1831–81) 20th president of the United States (1881), born in Orange Township (now Moreland Hills), Ohio. Garfield was active in politics (Republican representative in the state legislature, 1859) before the Civil War, during which he achieved a modest triumph by gaining control of eastern Kentucky and was then given a brigade command at Shiloh (1862). In 1862 he was elected to Congress, the first of nine consecutive victories, but before assuming his legislative duties Garfield planned the Tullahoma campaign and earned his major general's stars at the stand at Chickamauga (1863). He resigned his commission to take his seat in the House of Representatives, where he became a part of the inner leadership circle through his eloquence, amiability, and judiciousness. In 1880 he was elected to the Senate by the Ohio legislature, but that same year a deadlocked Republican National Convention made him its surprise presidential candidate, though he had not even been nominated. He defeated the Democratic candidate and Gettysburg hero Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock and was inaugurated in March 1881. His brief tenure focused primarily on attempts to bring harmony to the many factions of the Republican party. In July 1881 Garfield was shot by an assassin (Charles J. Guiteau). He died two months later.