The Assassination of President Garfield: A Washington DC Tour

In the summer of 1881, a hopeful nation welcomed a new president - until gunfire in Washington shattered that promise. On this walking tour, you'll follow President James A. Garfield from his unexpected nomination to his tragic assassination and agonizing death. You'll also meet the delusional gunman who pulled the trigger, and the doctor whose incompetence may have sealed his fate.

The tour starts at the Smithsonian Arts and Industry Building, where 7,000 guests celebrated Garfield's inaugural ball in March 1881, just months before everything unraveled. You'll walk the National Mall, climb Capitol Hill to the East Front, where Garfield took the oath of office. I'll guide you to the Baltimore and Potomac Train Station, now the site of the National Gallery of Art, where Charles Guiteau fired two shots that set off 80 days of national anguish.

You'll follow the aftermath: the bungled medical care, Alexander Graham Bell's experimental metal detector, and the trial that gripped the country. The tour ends at the DC Courthouse, where Guiteau (who insisted God directed the shooting) was found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang.

On this 45-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

• Stand at the Garfield Memorial and notice a small detail most people don't see, a deliberate illusion of movement
• Hear how Guiteau survived a deadly steamship collision and took it as a sign of divine destiny
• Learn why Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert, was present at the presidential shooting
• Discover how Dr. Willard Bliss, banned from the DC Medical Society, took charge of Garfield's care with catastrophic results
• Follow Guiteau's unraveling path from the Oneida Community sex cult to the steps of the gallows
• Explore the connection between the Oneida cult and a flatware company you almost certainly have heard of

This tour brings one of America's most overlooked tragedies back into focus – a good man, a broken system, and a killer who sang a poem before the trap door opened.

This tour includes mature themes, including assassination, bungled medical procedures, and discussions of a free love cult with a leader much like Jeffrey Epstein. We recommend this only for mature audiences.