“Ambushed! The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield” by Gail Jarrow.
Calkins Creek, New York, 2021, Grades 5-8.
In the history of the United States, four presidents have been assassinated. They are Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. President Ronald Reagan is badly wounded in an assassination attempt, but later recovers from his attack.
James Garfield from Ohio is elected the 20th president of the United States. Everything about Garfield bodes well for the United States. He is talented, learned and leads a virtuous life as a loving father and husband. Achieving the rank of Major General in the Civil War, Garfield demonstrates courage and political foresight.
Lincoln asks him to resign from the army and serve in the House of Representatives in 1863, because the president feels Garfield can sway wavering politicians to back Lincoln’s war policies. After the Civil War, he is repeatedly elected to the House of Representatives and serves with distinction.
Because of his high intellect and outstanding moral qualities, Garfield is elected president of the United States. He takes the Oath of Office March 4, 1881. He will be assassinated July 2, 1881 and will linger in pain until his death September 19, 1881.
Famous nonfiction writer Gail Jarrow tells the complicated story of the events leading to the assassination and the almost unbelievable treatment by famous doctors of the time. The name of this compelling book is “Ambushed! The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield.”
No novice to American politics, Garfield realizes that the office of the president comes with many heavy responsibilities. First among them is the number of people flocking to Washington D.C. to get a rich job with the government. The Civil Service Examination has not yet been passed, so cronyism and duplicity can get a high-paying job. Among these leeches is Charles Guiteau, an unstable, incompetent con man.
With visions of grandeur, Guiteau believes he will be appointed to the diplomatic mission in Paris. Repeatedly rebuffed, Guiteau carefully plans an assassination of the president. Somewhat absentmindedly, the Federal Government does not appoint bodyguards for the president. This allows Guiteau to walk up behind Garfield and shoot him in the back. The assassin believes that God has told him to shoot Garfield and he believes the people of the USA will congratulate him. As Garfield is surrounded by doctors, Guiteau is taken to a nearby jail.
Jarrow tells the grueling saga of the medical profession’s attempt to treat the stricken president. Unaware that germs exist, the physicians poke their unwashed fingers into Garfield’s wound in an attempt to find the bullet. They follow this with the insertion of unhygienic probes. Soon, pus began leaking out of the wound. The doctors assured the family that this was normal and healthy as the body was trying to rid itself of poisons.
Other doctors, having read that Europeans believed that the body had microbes that could cause disease, argued that sanitary practices should be used when treating Garfield. But this is simply false science for doctors accustomed to holding a scalpel between their teeth as they pick up medical instruments dropped on the floor. Garfield bravely endures this medical treatment for 80 days. How does he do it?
What is it like to be wounded before the advent of antibiotics? When do the doctors learn that germs rather than bad air create infections? What happens to Charles Guiteau? How does Garfield’s heroic suffering inspire a nation recently divided by a civil war? Gail Jarrow gives us the answers to many of these questions in this exceptionally well written account of James Garfield’s life and death.
This book was awarded the Young Adult Library Service Association Award for the outstanding nonfiction book for adolescents in 2022. Jarrow is an outstanding writer and I hope you read this book and encourage your middle grade students and family members to do the same. Highly recommended.
