Charles Guiteau Writes A Letter To His Jailer

On December 31, 1881, Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President James Garfield, wrote a New Year's greeting to his jailer.

Charles Julius Guiteau shot President James A. Garfield in the back on July 2, 1881. Guiteau was captured at the Washington, D.C. railway depot, the scene of the assassination. President Garfield died seventy-nine days later.

Guiteau's trial was not only a national sensation but, as one of the first insanity pleas, an important legal case. Guiteau's attorney argued that his client was insane at the time he shot the President and thirty-six doctors testified as expert witnesses. Nevertheless, the jury rendered a guilty verdict in January 1882, and Guiteau was executed the following June.

Charles Julius Guiteau (September 8, 1841 – June 30, 1882) was an American lawyer who assassinated U.S. President James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881. He was executed by hanging.