Fun Fact of the Week: The Life and Times of James Shield
The story of James Shield initially piqued my interest when I began researching a Fun Fact article of an entirely separate nature. His name came up, along with a certain intriguing U.S. record, which all but dictated that I had to research more. What follows is more or less the life story of one James Shield, and how, countless times, he brushed up with noteworthiness and history.
Our story begins in Altmore, Country Tyrone, Ireland, in 1806. There, a baby was born to the well-to-do family Shiell, and given the name James. The young James’s father, Charles, died when he was six, however, his mother, “with her Scottish industry and thrift, raised her three boys well.”1 His father’s brother James, a veteran of the American War of Independence and the War of 1812, made sure that he was educated at a secret ‘Hedge School,’ which was held to provide Catholics with education under their faith, which was illegal at the time in Ireland. He learned French and military strategy from a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, as well as rounded out his education with teaching from his uncle, as a local clergyman. At 18, as was much the trend at the time, he emigrated to America, but narrowly escaped death along with a scant few other survivors when the ship sank near Scotland. He completed his journey 4 years later and made it to America
With a fresh start in America, he became an experienced sailor and was successful until an accident left him hospitalized for three months with both his legs broken. Not letting this minor setback stop the indomitable James Shield, he enrolled in the U.S. Military to fight in the Seminole War. Having had enough military for the time being, he moved to Quebec and founded a fencing school, as you do.
After fencing with the Quebecers for a few years, he hopped over to Illinois and was so charismatic he found himself being elected Senator in 1836. He was popular enough in this role to be appointed to State Auditor in 1839, although he found himself in an unfortunate position as the financial Panic of 1837 made the tasks he executed in his position very distasteful to much of the populace. So much so, that an anonymous scathing letter in the newspaper 1842 under the pen name of “Aunt Rebecca,” was written. This letter detailed Shield’s supposed foul odor; “If I was deaf and blind I could tell him by the smell,”2 and propensity for party and married women who were “tied as tight in the middle, and puffed out at both ends like bundles of fodder.”2 He was (fictitiously) quoted as saying, “Dear girls, it is distressing, but I cannot marry you all. . . it is not my fault that I am so handsome and so interesting.”2 After Shield demanded to know who the author of these “sharp pen thrusts”1 were, he learned that they were the work of Miss Mary Todd, the then fiance of Abraham Lincoln. The honorable Lincoln felt he had to take responsibility for the writings of his wife, and accepted Shield’s challenge to a duel. Shield arrived at the field with the future president, and perhaps in an alternate universe, the two did not come to an arrangement, Lincoln was killed before his time, and the Civil War ended differently. However, Shield was kind, and the two worked it out peacefully, and of course, became fast friends.
After this brush with history, Shield was appointed to the position of Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois, and then in 1845, James. K. Polk appointed him to Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington. Shield did not get to spend long in this position, however, as Polk quickly shipped him off to Mexico when the U.S. invaded and the Mexican-American war began. He served in the army as best he could when his battalion stormed Vera Cruz. At Cerro Gordo, his lung was skewered clean through by a piece of grapeshot 1 inch in diameter. He was carried from the front lines, apparently dead, but was saved by a French surgeon. Nine weeks later he was back on the front lines, wiping out 1/3rd of the Mexican army at Cherubusco, and in Chapultepec, swinging his sword on the front lines without a horse, helmet, or jacket. His troops were the first into Mexico City and planted the banner of U.S. imperialism where Montezuma had once reigned. His prize from the fighting was a gift from the U.S. government: A pair of jewel-encrusted swords collectively worth $8,000 ($310,000 in 2024).
With the war won, James Shield calmly returned to his law practice in Illinois.
That is where we will leave James Shield for now. However, more tales from his life remain, and the legend will be complete. Part II Coming Next Week.
- Castle, Henry Anson (1915). General James Shields: Soldier, Orator, Statesman. Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
- White, Ronald C. (2009). A. Lincoln: A Biography. Random House Digital, Inc. ISBN 9781588367754. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
Image Courtesy of U.S.Senate.