James Shields (politician, born 1806)

Shields was born in Altmore, County Tyrone, Ireland, to parents, Charles Shields and Anne McDonnell, the first of three children. As his father died when Shields was six, his uncle, also named James Shields and also born in Ireland, played a large role in his life.[5]^:711–2 The elder Shields was a professor of Greek and Latin, and served as a Congressman from Ohio.[6]

The younger Shields obtained early schooling at a hedge school near his home, later at a school run by a clergyman from Maynooth College, and subsequently his uncle. He was educated in military science, fencing, and the French language by a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, of which there were many in Ireland at the time.[5]^:712[7][8]^:26 Shields attempted to emigrate to the United States in 1822, but failed when his ship was driven aground off the coast of Scotland, leaving him one of only either three or four survivors.[lower-alpha 2] He successfully made it to America around 1826, although his uncle whom he had sailed to meet had died.[5]^:712–3[lower-alpha 3]

Shields took a job as a sailor, becoming a purser on a merchant ship. However, after a time, an accident left Shields disabled, and in the hospital with both legs broken for three months.[lower-alpha 4][5]^:713 After the accident, he volunteered and fought in the Second Seminole War, reaching the rank of lieutenant.

He spent some time in Quebec, founding a fencing school. Eventually, Shields settled in Kaskaskia, Randolph County, Illinois where he studied and began practicing law in 1832, supplementing his income by teaching French.[5]^:712–3[8]^:26[10] He served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, beginning in 1836, and in 1839 was elected as State Auditor.[5]^:714 As auditor, Shields was involved in correcting the state's finances following the Panic of 1837. This was done, at times, through practices that proved unpopular.[8]^:45[11]

Subsequent career

Shields was appointed as an Illinois Supreme Court justice on February 18, 1845, to take the seat vacated by Stephen A. Douglas.[8]^:50[lower-alpha 11] His term was relatively unremarkable, and he soon resigned to become Commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office. While at the Land Office, Shields spent much effort boring, testing, surveying and examining land in Iowa, as he planned to establish a colony for Irish immigrants there. He resigned from the position to assume command as a brigadier general following the outbreak of the Mexican–American War.[8]^{:51–2, 55}

James Shields, photograph by Mathew Brady, c. 1863

On July 1, 1846, Shields was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers to fight in the Mexican–American War. He served under Zachary Taylor, then also a brigadier general, and later under Brigadier General John E. Wool and Major General Winfield Scott.[19]^:606

In 1846, Shields left for war with two brigades under his command.[8]^:87 In February 1847, when Tampico was abandoned, his men assumed control of the city. He commanded the 3rd Brigade, Volunteer Division, at the battles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo, where he was severely wounded by grapeshot, and spent nine weeks recuperating.[lower-alpha 12] He returned to fight in a single day, at both the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. His command that day was criticized as clumsy by some,[19]^:606 and praised as skillful by others.[8]^:75 He required reinforcements to overcome strong enemy resistance, but his brigade took over 800 prisoners.[19]^:606

Shields was again wounded, receiving a fractured arm in the Battle of Chapultepec, after his horse was shot out from underneath him, and he continued fighting on foot, and leading his troops with sword.[5]^:716[19]^:606 He remained on the field until the conclusion of the battle,[5]^:716–7 but was then forced to spend several months recuperating, where he remained until after the final battles of the war.[19]^:606

Shields returned to America, where he was mustered out and his brigade disbanded on July 28, 1848. Shields returned to his law practice in Illinois. He was brevetted to major general, and received two honorary swords from the states South Carolina and Illinois.[5]^:716–7[19]^:606[lower-alpha 13]

Following the war, on August 14, 1848, he was nominated by President Polk, and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as governor of Oregon Territory, which had been created that same day.[20] However, he declined the position and Joseph Lane was nominated and became the first governor of the new territory.[21]^{:6–7, 10}

Shields declined the governorship to run for the Senate from Illinois. He won, but the election was voided by on the grounds that he had not been a U.S. citizen for the nine years required by the United States Constitution; having been naturalized October 21, 1840, and elected on January 13, 1849.[22] He therefore resigned from the Senate on March 14, returned to Illinois, campaigned once again for the seat he had resigned, and won a special election held by the governor in December (after nine years had passed), in order to replace himself as senator.[5]^:717[9]^:118[21]^:79

As senator, he opposed slavery, and supported land grants to agricultural colleges, to railroads, to soldiers, and to settlers under a homestead act.[5]^:717

Shields published the 1854 book, A History of Illinois, from its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847, originally written by Illinois Governor Thomas Ford. According to the foreword by Shields, Ford gave him the manuscript on his death bed, so that Shields might publish it, and use the proceeds to benefit Ford's then orphaned children.[23] In 1854, a military company in Chicago was named "The Shields Guards" in his honor. The Guards would come to make up companies I and K in the 23rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment.[17]

In 1855, Shields was defeated for re-election in Illinois in a three way runoff between himself, Lincoln, and Lyman Trumbull, with Trumbull eventually winning the seat after several ballots.[9]^:119 Shields then moved to Minnesota, to inspect lands he had been awarded there in return for his military service. He arranged for Irish immigrants to move from the East Coast to Minnesota, settling in Rice and Le Sueur counties. Shields himself founded Shieldsville, Minnesota, and was also involved in the early settlement of Faribault, Minnesota. In 1857, Native Americans massacred settlers in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Shields led a group of about 100 people from Minnesota to fight the tribes; however, by the time he arrived, the tribes had been beaten by troops under the control of Judson Bishop.[5]^:719–21

When Minnesota achieved statehood in 1858, and the legislature convened in December, Shields was put forward as a compromise candidate for U.S. Senator along with Henry Mower Rice. The two drew straws to determine who would serve out the longer and shorter terms.[lower-alpha 14] Shields drew the short straw and thus served until only March 1859, losing his re-election bid to Morton S. Wilkinson.[5]^:719

Shields then moved to California, and married Mary Carr in 1861. He was engaged in a mining venture in Mexico, and it was there that Shields was when he was appointed as brigadier general of volunteers from that state following the outbreak of the American Civil War, succeeding the late Frederick W. Lander. He commanded the 2nd Division of the V Corps, Army of the Potomac (subsequently part of the Army of the Shenandoah), during the Valley Campaign of 1862.[5]^:721–4[9]^:120

Shields was wounded at the Battle of Kernstown on March 22, 1862, but his troops inflicted the only tactical defeat of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson during the campaign (or the war).[24] The day after Kernstown, he was promoted to major general, but the promotion was withdrawn, reconsidered, and then finally rejected. Largely a result of his promotion being rejected, Shields resigned from the army.[5]^:721–4[9]^:120[25][26] Shields was informally offered command of the Army of the Potomac by Abraham Lincoln. Shields declined owing to a poor relationship with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.[5]^:721–724[7]

Statue of Shields in the Minnesota State Capitol, 2008

Statue of Shields in the United States Capitol, 2011

In 1863, Shields moved to San Francisco, where he would serve as the state railroad commissioner,[27] and then to the Mississippi Valley, and to Wisconsin. In 1866 he settled in Carrollton, Missouri, which remained his home, and where he tended to his farm, lectured, and continued public involvement until his death 13 years later.[5]^:724–5

He ran for Congress unwillingly in 1868, and, in a contested election, lost. The result was disputed, and Congress awarded a year's salary to Shields. A member of Congress, Benjamin Butler, proposed him as Doorkeeper of the United States House of Representatives in 1876, but Shields, viewing it as an indignity, declined. Shields was involved in fundraising to provide aid to the yellow fever stricken Southern US. He served as member of the Missouri State House of Representatives, and as railroad commissioner was involved in establishing the State Railroad Commission.[5]^:725–6 In 1879, he was elected to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Senator Lewis V. Bogy. He served only three months and declined to run for re-election, but this made Shields the only person to have ever served as senator from three different states.[5]^:726–7[7]

Shields died unexpectedly in Ottumwa, Iowa on June 1, 1879, while on a lecture tour, after reportedly complaining of chest pains.[8]^:329 His body was transferred to Carrollton, Missouri by train,[9]^:121–2 where a funeral was held at the Catholic church, and his body escorted to St. Mary's Cemetery by two companies of the Nineteenth Infantry, the Craig Rifles, and a twenty-piece brass band.[8]^:330–1 His grave remained unmarked for 30 years, until the local government and the U.S. Congress funded a granite and bronze monument there in his honor.[5]^:729

Shields was not a wealthy man in later life,[5]^:725 and upon his death the most valuable possessions he had to leave his family were his ceremonial swords, given to him following the end of the Mexican–American War.[5]^:717 After his death, Mary Shields remained in Carrollton, with their daughter and two sons, until eventually moving to New York to live with their son Daniel.[5]^:728–9

A bronze statue of Shields was given by the State of Illinois in 1893, to the U.S. Capitol, and represents the state in the National Statuary Hall. The statue was sculpted by Leonard Volk, and dedicated in December 1893.[3][7] A statue of Shields stands in front of the Carroll County Courthouse in Carrollton, Missouri.[28] Dedicated on November 12, 1910, newspapers reported "hundreds of visitors from several states" that were present at the unveiling. Congress allocated $5,000 for the monument.[29] A third statue stands on the grounds of the state capitol in Saint Paul, Minnesota, dedicated in 1914.[7][30]

• List of American Civil War generals (Union)
• List of duels
• List of sculptures in the National Statuary Hall Collection
• List of United States Senators born outside the United States

• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Shields.

• Works related to James Shields at Wikisource
• Works by or about James Shields at Internet Archive
• James Shields at Find a Grave