The 20th president of the United States, James Abram Garfield was also the 20th president of The Ohio State University. He was born in Orange, Ohio on November 19, 1831. He graduated from Williams College in 1853 and began his career as a teacher. In 1861 he joined the Union Army as a colonel and saw action in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee
Read more
He rose to the rank of brigadier general, but was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. After recovering, he was given command of several defenses along the Mississippi River. Later he served as a major general.
In 1864 he resigned his commission to run for Congress, which he won. He served two terms before running again for Congress, this time winning his seat for Ohio's 1st District. After that term expired, Garfield ran for governor of the state and won the election in 1881.
That same year he was sworn into office as governor of Ohio. During his first year as governor, Garfield served as commander-in-chief during the Civil War's Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. On July 2, 1881 he was shot by an assassin while attending a speaking engagement in Washington D.C., leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.
He died shortly after on September 19, 1881 at age 52 and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.