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James A.

Garfield
• James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was
the 20th President of the United States.
• An assassin's bullet cut his time in office to a mere 200 days .
• Garfield served as a major general in the United States Army, as a
member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a member of the
highly controversialElectoral Commission of 1876.
• He was the second U.S. President to be assassinated.
• Garfield was the only sitting member of the House of Representatives
to have been elected President.
• With the start of the Civil War, Garfield enlisted in the Union Army,
[14]
and was assigned to command the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
• General Don Carlos Buell assigned Colonel Garfield the task of
driving Confederate forces out of eastern Kentucky in November 1861,
giving him the 18th Brigade for the campaign.
• In December, he departed Catlettsburg, Kentucky, with the 40th Ohio
Infantry, the 42nd Ohio Infantry, the 14th Kentucky Infantry, and
the 22nd Kentucky Infantry, as well as the 2nd (West) Virginia Cavalry
and McLoughlin's Squadron of Cavalry.
• The march was uneventful until Union forces reached Paintsville,
Kentucky, where Garfield's cavalry engaged the Confederate cavalry at
Jenny's Creek on January 6, 1862.
• The Confederates, under Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall, withdrew to
the forks of Middle Creek, two miles (3 km) from Prestonsburg,
Kentucky, on the road toVirginia.
• Garfield attacked on January 9, 1862. At the end of the day's fighting,
the Confederates withdrew from the field, but Garfield did not pursue
them.
• He ordered a withdrawal to Prestonsburg so he could resupply his men.
• His victory brought him early recognition and a promotion to the rank
of brigadier general on January 11.
• Garfield served as a brigade commander under Buell at the Battle of
Shiloh.
• He then served under Thomas J. Wood in the subsequent Siege of
Corinth.
• His health deteriorated and he was inactive until autumn, when he
served on the commission investigating the conduct of Fitz John Porter.
• In the spring of 1863, Garfield returned to the field as Chief of Staff
for William S. Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cumberland.
• President Garfield had only 4 months to establish his presidency before
being fatally shot by Charles J. Guiteau; a deranged political office
seeker on July 2, 1881
• During his limited time in office he was able to reestablish the
independance of the presidency by defying the Republican Stalwart
boss, Senator Roscoe Conkling.
• His inaugural address set the agenda for his presidency; however, he
was unable to live long enough to implement these policies.
• Garfield's call for civil service reform, however, was fullfilled in
the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act passed by Congress and signed
by President Chester A. Arthur in 1883.
• Garfield's assassination was the primary motivation for the reform bill's
passage.
• In October 1862, while serving in the field, he was elected by the
Republicans to the United States House of Representatives for Ohio's
19th Congressional District in the 38th Congress.

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