In July 1881 , James Garfield was shot and mortally wounded by Charles Guiteau . He lingered for two and half months before dying , during which his wife stayed at his bedside and received much public sympathy . Lucretia Garfield returned to her former residence in Ohio after being widowed , living in what is now the James A. Garfield National Historic Site . She spent much of the rest of her life preserving her husband 's papers and other materials , establishing what was effectively the first presidential library
was shot and mortally wounded
Assassination of James A. Garfield
Lucretia Garfield