Charles Burleigh Purvis Charles Burleigh Purvis Charles Burleigh Purvis (April 14, 1842 – December 14, 1929) was a physician in Washington, D.C. He was among the founders of the medical school at Howard University. He was the first black physician to attend a sitting president when he attended President James Garfield after he was shot by an assassin in 1881, he was the first black physician to head a hospital under civilian authority when he was made surgeon-in-charge of the Freedmen's Hospital that same year. He was first black person to serve on the D. C. Board of Medical Examiners and the second
1880 United States presidential election for months, eventually declining to return either man to the Senate. Before that result was known, however, tragedy struck as Charles Guiteau, a mentally unstable man disappointed at being unable to secure a patronage appointment, shot Garfield on July 2, 1881. Garfield lingered for two-and-a-half months before dying on September 19, 1881. Vice President Chester A. Arthur, the New York Stalwart, was sworn in as president that night. Garfield's murder by a spoilsman inspired the nation to reform the civil service—and Arthur, erstwhile member of the Conkling machine, joined the cause. In 1883, a bipartisan majority in Congress passed the