 Garfield was raised in humble circumstances on an Ohio farm by his widowed mother . He worked at various jobs , including on a canal boat , in his youth . Beginning at age 17 , he attended several Ohio schools , then studied at Williams College in Williamstown , Massachusetts , from which he graduated in 1856 . A year later , Garfield entered politics as a Republican . He married Lucretia Rudolph in 1858 , and served as a member of the Ohio State Senate ( 1859 – 1861 ) . Garfield opposed Confederate secession , served as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War , and fought in the battles of Middle Creek , Shiloh , and Chickamauga . He was first elected to Congress in 1862 to represent Ohio 's 19th District . Throughout Garfield 's extended congressional service after the Civil War , he firmly supported the gold standard and gained a reputation as a skilled orator . Garfield initially agreed with Radical Republican views regarding Reconstruction , but later favored a moderate approach for civil rights enforcement for freedmen . 
