Historedia
Episode 1 of 3

Assassination

When
July 2, 1881
Where
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station
Part of
Assassination of James A. Garfield: shot by Charles J. Guiteau in Washington, D.C.

Guiteau shot Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2, 1881, as the president prepared for vacation.

Guiteau, a delusional office seeker, waited at the station after learning Garfield's schedule from newspapers. He shot the president, then arranged a cab to turn himself in. The incident occurred in Washington, D.C., leading to Garfield's eventual death from infection.

Sources

  1. Assassination of James A. Garfield Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-04
  2. Charles J. Guiteau Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.