William McKinley was the last American president to serve in the American Civil War. He enlisted as a private in the United States Army, and would rise to the rank of brevet major by war’s end. He was fatally shot in Buffalo in 1901. Like President James Garfield, President McKinley would live a short time beyond the initial shooting (Unlike Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy). President McKinley forgave his assassin as he fell to the floor that day in New York.

President McKinley was devoutly Methodist—the influence of Methodist missionaries greatly impacted his expansionist policies in the Philippines, leading to an onslaught of continued missionary activity there. To this day, United Methodists in the Philippines remain a strong block represented in the United Methodist Church.