The National tribune., 1909-04-08
GEN. JAMES SHIELDS.
His Brief Career i'm Command of Lam
der's D;.isieH.

| der 5 Et.fsfvh'
| Editor National Tribune: Ii your ar
ticle on Abraham Lincoln, in the issue
of Feb. IS. you have Wedged in few
excellent remarks concerning James
| Shields as a Brigadier-Generaa succeed
| ing Gen. Lander, a striking one being:
Tho Shields had never seen a days
service. and knew nothing OF military
| organizations. he was commissioned a
Brigadier-G etc BIT is true that
| in the battle of Cerro GbTdo The rushed
to the front and received a Mexican
bullet thru his chest" as you say; but
I will stop here and tell what 1 know
about James Shields duringn the civil
war.
In the first part of January, 1862, the
9th Ohio left Columbus o., for West
| Virginia, and about 80 hours later land
ed at New Creek. where we Joined Gen.
Lander's Division, and week after
| this went to Pawpaw Tunnel. where
Gen. Lander had established his head
quarters. Upon Gen. Lander's death
James Shields became our commander
and a Brigadier-General.
March %, 1862, at about 4:30 p. M,
Gen. Jackson's advance drove in our
pickets at Kernstown. The long roll
sounded, and our forces went thru Win
chester, meeting the COnfederates half
way between that place and Kernstown.
and was the first man wounded by a
piece of shell, which broke his left arm.
This laid him out, and the command
fell to Col. Nathaniel Kimball, of the
18th Ind, capable officer, who had
served thru the Mexican War as the
Captain of an Indiana regiment. Our
army forced the enemy to KernstOwn.
both armies resting on the field where
night overlook them. The next day,
March %, Jackson began the offensive,
lining UP his forces on Kernstown
Hights, Col. Kimball lining up his
against Jackson's.
About o'clock p. m. both sides were
close up to each other, and work began
in earnest, which lasted until nearly 5
o'clock, when the right of our line over
came the left of the Confederates. and
the engagement terminated in COM
plete defeat for Jackson's army.
From early morning, while Col KIM
ball was watching and manuvering his
forces to check Jackson's, Gen. James
Shields kept sending staff officers and
Orderlies with orders to Col. Kimball,
to which the latter paid no attention.
One order, sent about noon, was as fol-
lows:
Mass your forces at Kernstown in
the valley, break thru the line, swing
around to the rear of the Confederates
and take them prisoners"
suited in a more disastrous defeat of
our forces than Bull Run. Jackson
would have moved his army down into
the valley between us and Winchester
and our camp, and our only salvation
would have been to find a way to Har-
per's Ferry, leaving camp equipment,
transportation and our personal belong
ings in the hands of the enemy.
Two months later we were at the
Rappahannock River, below Fredericks-
burg, having left the Shenandoah VAL
ley in the hands of Gen. Banks. Jack
son made his mad raid down the Valley,
and drove Banks back across the Po-
tomac. -Il. Oh
In place of joining Mcclellan, Nc
DowelPs Corps was ordered to assist in
the capture of Jackson. j
Back toward the Shenandoah Valley
by the way of Port Royal, up/the Luray
Valley to Columbia Bridge, where we
were forced to come to a. halt, the
burning of the bridge preventing us
from crossing and from getting on the
rear of Jackson. On the 18th or 18th
the Third and Fourth Brigades were
sent to Port Royal to- intercept Jack
son. The First and Second Brigades
were not started for some Is hours
later, and were not within IL miles of
Port Republic when We received the
word that Jackson had defeated our
was responsible for this delay in NOV
ing our force in body, instead of scat
tering us by moving a brigade at
time? Twenty years afterward I learned
from member of the 7th Ohio that
after the Third and Fourth Brigades
had gotten In motion James Shields be-
came unconscious, and that none of his
staff knew what was to be done next
nor what orders to give.
On June 20, when we got back to
Alexandria, the several brigade COM
manders informed the Secretary Of War
that they would resign rather than
serve under Gen. Shields. In order to
get rid of him the division was split in
two. The First and Second Brigades
went to Mcclellan and the Third and
Fourth to Gen. Pope. Thus we got rid
of an incompetent, political Brigadier-
General.-Chas. P. Schaefer. 9th Ohio,
2235 Vermont avenue, Toledo. o.