# Garfield Assassination President [[James A. Garfield]] was shot on July 2, 1881, by Charles Guiteau, a disappointed and mentally unstable office-seeker who declared himself a "Stalwart" — the patronage faction led by [[Roscoe Conkling]]. Garfield died of his wounds (and poor medical care) on September 19, 1881. The assassination dramatized the corruption of the spoils system and directly catalyzed the [[Pendleton Act of 1883]], which established the federal merit-based civil service. > [!note] Stub > Minimum-viable page created to resolve inbound wikilinks. Expand with Guiteau's trial and the civil-service-reform aftermath.