page_title: 1881 in the United States
section_title: July–September
hierarchical_section_title: 1881 in the United States / Events / July–September
caption_attribution_description: English: The death of President Garfield--Judge Brady administering the Presidential oath to Vice-President Arthur, at his residence in New York, September 20th. Summary: Justice John R. Brady, Justice of New York State Supreme Court, administering the oath of office to Vice President Arthur in a private ceremony in Arthur's residence at 123 Lexington Avenue, New York.
context_page_description: Events from the year 1881 in the United States. For the second time in history, the country had three different presidents in one calendar year: Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur.
context_section_description: July 2 – Assassination of James A. Garfield: James A. Garfield, President of the United States, is shot by lawyer Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. He survives the shooting but suffers from infection of his wound, dying on September 19.
  July 4 – The Tuskegee Institute opens in Alabama.
  July 14 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
  July 20 – Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.
  Summer – First ever summer camp held, on Chocorua Island in Grafton County, New Hampshire.
  August 27 – The fifth hurricane of the 1881 Atlantic hurricane season hits Florida and the Carolinas, killing about 700.
  September 5 – The Thumb Fire in the U.S. state of Michigan destroys over a million acres (4,000 km²) and kills 282 people.
  September 12 – Francis Howell High School (Howell Institute) in St. Charles, Missouri, and Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas open on the same day, putting them in a tie for the title of the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River.
  September 19 – President James A. Garfield dies weeks after being shot. Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States.
caption: September 19: Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes President after the death of Garfield
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