After the special session of Congress had adjourned , Sherman returned home to Mansfield . He spoke on behalf of Ohio Governor Charles Foster 's effort for a second term and went to Kenyon College with ex-President Hayes , where he received an honorary degree . Sherman looked forward to staying with his wife at home for an extended period for the first time in years , when news arrived that Garfield had been shot in Washington . The assassin , Charles J. Guiteau , was a deranged office-seeker who believed that Garfield 's successor would appoint him to a patronage job . After lingering for several months , Garfield died , and Arthur became president . After completing a long-planned visit to Yellowstone National Park and other Western sites with his brother William , Sherman returned to a second special session of Congress in October 1881
Garfield had been shot
Assassination of James A. Garfield
John Sherman