Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-06-20
Some "reminiscences of the Late General
Shields.

%
gives the following incidents;
Shields became Auditor of the State |
of Illinois in 1889. While he occupied |
this important Office he was involved |
in an " affair of honor with Spring |
field lawyer-no less a parsonage than
Abraham Lincoln. At this time |
"James Shields, Auditor" was the |
pride of the young Democracy, and was |
considered dashing fellow by all, the |
ladies included. In the summer of 1912
the Springfield Journal contained some
letters from the "Lost Townships" by
a contributor whose nom dc PLANE was
"Aunt Becca," which held up the gall
lant young Auditor as "a ballroom
dandy, tloatin' about on the earth
without heft or substance, just like
lot of cat-fur where cats had been
fghtin'." These letters caused intense
excitement in the town. Nobody knew
or guessed their authorship. Shields
swore it would be coffee and pistols for
two if he should find out who had been
lampooning him so numerically. There
upon "Aunt Becca" wrote another let
ter which made the furnace of his
wrath seven times hotter than before,
in which she made very humble apol-
ogy and offered to let him squeeze her
hand for satisfaction, adding: eff
this should not answer, there is one
thing more l would do rather than get
a lickin'. have all along expected to
die a widow; but as Mr.. Shields is
rather good looking than otherwise, l
must say don't care if we compro-
mise the matter by-really, Mr.. Printer,
l can't t help blushin' must come
out-I-but widowed modestY-well,
if must, must-wouldn't he-maybe
sorter let the old grudge drap if L was
to consent to be-be-his wifeP l know
he is fighting man and would rather
fight than eat; but isn't marryin' better
than fightin', though it does sometimes
run into itP And l don't think, upon
the whole, I'd be sich bad match,
neither; Pm not over sixty, and am
Jest four feet three in my bare feet and
not much more round the girth; and for
color, l wouldn't turn my back to
nary a girl in the Lost Townships.
But, after all, maybe I'm counun' my
chickens before they're hatched and
dreamin' of matrimonial bliss when
the only alternative reserved for me
maybe lickin'. JEFF tells me the
way these fire-eaters do is to give the
challenged party the choice of weapons,
which, being, the case, l tell you in
confidence that never fight with any
thing but broomsticks or hot water, or
a shovelful of Goals or some such things;
the former of which, being somewhat
like a shillelah, may not be so very OBJ
iectionable to him. 1 will give him
choice, however, in one thing, and that
is whether, when we fight, shall wear
breeches or he petticoats, for presume
this change is sufficient to place us on
an equality" OF course some one had
to shoulder the responsibility of these
letters after such a shot. The real au-
thor was none other than Miss Mary
Todd, afterward the wife of Abraham
Lincoln, to whom she was engaged,
and who was in honor bound to assume,
for belligerent purposes, the response
bility of her sharp pen-thrusts. Mr..
Lincoln accepted the situation. Not
long after the two men with their sec
onds were on their way to the field of
honor. But the affair was fixed up
without any fighting, and thus ended
, in a fizzle the Lincoln-Shields duel of
the Lost Townships.
When Shields was member of the
State Legislature he roomed with
Stephen A. Douglas at Vandalia, ILL.,,
, in a boarding. house kept by certain
Colonel Flack. The landlord, by the
way, also kept a grocery. Shields and
} Douglas, as the custom then was, al
ways kept pitcher of Bourbon whisky
on the table. They had plenty of
friends, and the pitcher was replenish-
: ed-just how many times they could
not tell, but Flack, who had to carry
the liquor around, got tired of it, and
/, said some other way of dispensing the
J liquor must be provided. There was a
partition between their room and the
grocery, and Douglas suggested that a
hole should be cut in the partition and
two faucets placed in the barrel, one on
the grocery side and one inside the par
tition. The landlord was to sell on his
side, Douglas and Shields were to drink
on the other, and the cost of the barrel
, of whisky was to be equally shared.
} The proposition was accepted. The
first day Flack came out ahead, the
] second day they were even, but on the
= third day Shields and his chum were
away ahead of the proprietor. Flack
couldn't stand it; saw they were selling
whisky cheaper than he was and COM
promised the contract, which otherwise
was to have lasted all winter, by pay
ment of five-gallon keg.
, At Cerro Gordo General Shields was
= severely wounded while leading his
men, but he refused to quit the field.
He advanced to the charge, when he
was struck in the chest by copper
grapeshot that passed through his
lungs. He fell into the arms of Ogles-
by, at present United States Senator
J from Illinois, and was carried from the
battlefield to all appearances lifeless.
+, Obituary notices appeared afterward in
,, nearly all the papers of the country, so
= convinced were his brother officers of
! the impossibility of his surviving such
6 a terrible wound. For weeks he lay at
: the brink of death in the neighborhood
: of the battlefield, and his cure seems
little short of miracle. The army
surgeons had given him over for death
when Mexican doctor said he would
live if he would let him remove the
; coagulated blood from the wound.
Shields, as kill or cure remedy, told
him to try, and fine silk handkerchief
,, was worked in and finally drawn
through the wound, removing the ex-
travasated blood, when daylight could
! be seen through the hole. He lived to
, be hale and hearty man, free from
, disease or any inconvenience from his
! wound, which was considered at that
=. time mortal.
On the 18th of September he was in
, the thick of the fight at Chapultepec.
His horse having been shot under him
General Shields fought on foot, bare
headed and in his shirt sleeves, leading
: his brigade, sword in hand, with a
bravery that has made his name i'm
perishable in American history. In
reply to question asked him in Wash
ington last spring, whether the paint
ing of the battle of Chapultepec over