Susan Ann Edson attention. Edson became a familiar presence in the White House, as she cared for the First Lady during a bout of malaria in May 1881. Just months later, in July 1881, President Garfield was shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau. A team of physicians was called to help the president, led by Doctor Willard Bliss. Lucretia insisted that Dr. Edson should assist in Garfield's care. Bliss allowed Edson to participate in a nursing capacity only, not as a consulting physician. Edson was said to have been at Garfield's side more than any other attending physician. Congress voted to pay Edson
Charles J. Guiteau months later from infections related to the wounds. In January 1882, Guiteau was sentenced to death for the crime, and was hanged five months later. Guiteau was born in Freeport, Illinois, the fourth of six children of Jane August (née Howe) and Luther Wilson Guiteau, whose family was of French Huguenot ancestry. He moved with his family to Ulao, Wisconsin (near current-day Grafton), in 1850 and lived there until 1855, when his mother died. Soon after, Guiteau and his father moved back to Freeport. He inherited $1,000 ($ today) from his grandfather as a young man and went to Ann