James Shields was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, May 12, 1806. Many authorities place this date four years later, but the original family records, now in the hands of St. Paul relatives, confirm much collateral evidence of the correctness of this statement. He was of notable ancestry. In the paternal line it was distinctly Irish and Catholic, but a great-grandmother was English, and his mother was Scottish. For generations the Shields family were people of property, education, and consideration, living at Cranfield, County Antrim, Province of Ulster. At the battle of the Boyne, in 1690, Daniel Shields and four sons fought on the losing side, that of King James II. There the father and one son were killed. Two of the surviving sons went to Spain, where one of them became a general and finally Captain General of Cuba. Daniel, the youngest son, remained in Ireland, but suffered from the confiscations and banishment visited on the Catholic soldiers of the dethroned king by William of Orange, the victor.
This Daniel married an English girl, whom he had romantically rescued from drowning, and settled on mountain land at Altmore, County Tyrone. He was the direct ancestor of the future American general and senator. Charles Shields, a grandson of Daniel, married Katherine McDonnell, of Glencoe, Scotland, lineage, a woman of education and refinement. To them were born James, the subject of this memoir, Daniel, and Patrick, who thus inherited an infusion of the Scotch-Irish blood which has been manifest in many distinguished Americans. Daniel was the father of Lytton E. Shields and the grandfather of James Shields and Lytton J. Shields, all of whom have long resided in Saint Paul.
Charles Shields died when his son James was only six years old, but the mother, with her Scottish industry and thrift, raised her three boys well, giving them the best of existing educational facilities. James received some special attention, having early developed a taste for books which remained with him during his long and active career, and which was of great value in fitting him for the high positions that he occupied. Soon after his father's death, his uncle and namesake came from America, where he had lived for many years. The elder James had fought in the War for Independence, and in the War of 1812, on the American side, having been wounded in the Battle of New Orleans. He remained in Ireland for a few years, during which time he acted as schoolmaster to young James and laid the foundation for his military bent. This uncle had been professor of Latin and Greek in Charleston, S. C. The boy made rapid progress, and the uncle promised that when he grew older he would bring him to America and make him his heir. At that period also Ireland was full of old soldiers who had served in the British army in long campaigns against Bonaparte. From one of these young Shields learned fencing or sword exercise and became expert in that line. His early lessons in the military drill were from the same source, and the rudiments of a military education were acquired from books presented to him by one of these veterans. Supplementing the education received from his uncle, was a classical training from a relative of his mother, a clergyman from Maynooth College. One of the old soldiers also taught him French, so that when he migrated to America he was unusually well educated for a boy of that period.
Young Shields was a soldier by instinct. He drilled his school mates and led them in local battles with opposing clans. His shrewd devices, bold strategies, and firm discipline, made his force invincible.
In 1822, at the age of sixteen, James Shields, mindful of his uncle's alluring offer, sailed from Liverpool for America. But vicissitudes followed him. His ship was driven a wreck on the coast of Scotland, and he was one of only three survivors. He remained several months in Scotland as tutor in a wealthy family. Then he embarked under better auspices. Arrived in America and failing to find his uncle, who had died in the interim, James adopted, for the time, a sailor's life, was purser on a merchantman, and became so expert in seamanship that many years later he was placed in command of a sailing vessel on the Pacific, whose officers were disabled, and brought her safely into port. His career as purser terminated in an accident, which left him with both legs broken and sent him to a New York hospital for three months.
He interrupted or supplemented this seafaring with service as volunteer in a campaign against the Seminole Indians. Authentic details of this episode are lacking, but he is said to have been a lieutenant and to have been wounded in battle, where he displayed marked gallantry. On this service rests his title of a soldier in three wars.
Having now reached years of discretion, through varied experiences, young Shields chose the law as his profession, and the old French town of Kaskaskia in Illinois as his field of labor. This town, the Territorial capital of Illinois, being also the county seat of Randolph county, had been founded by La Salle in 1682; was garrisoned by the King of France in 1710 with troops who in 1755 helped defeat Braddock at Fort Duquesne; and was captured by George Rogers Clark in 1777.
He supported himself by teaching school in and near Kaskaskia, his knowledge of the French language being of great value then and afterward. He was admitted to the bar in 1832, and opened an office. He gained so rapidly in acquaintance and popularity, that in 1835 he was elected a representative in the State Legislature, as a Democrat from Randolph county, then overwhelmingly Whig in sentiment. He took his seat at Vandalia, the state capital, in January, 1836. Here he met, as fellow representatives, Douglas, Lincoln, Browning, Hardin, Baker, McClernand, and other young athletes of politics. Shields easily took his place on terms of equality in this distinguished company. His personal appearance and manners were engaging. He was five feet nine inches tall, of fine figure and graceful bearing. His voice was well modulated; his speech frank, clear and resolute. He was prominent in debate and influential in council. It was a critical time in the affairs of Illinois, the inauguration of a policy of extensive public improvements, in which the youthful legislator bore a progressive part.
Shields served four years in the Legislature, gaining so much prominence that in 1839 he was elected State Auditor. Meantime, Springfield had become the state capital, and in 1840 he began his residence there, which continued for fifteen years. His administration was so successful that in 1841 he was re-elected without opposition.
While he occupied this important office he was involved in an "affair of honor" with a Springfield lawyerno less a personage than Abraham Lincoln. At this time "James Shields, Auditor," was the pride of the young Democracy. In the summer of 1842 the Springfield Journal contained some letters from the "Lost Townships," by a contributor whose nom de plume was "Aunt Becca," which held up the gallant young Auditor to ridicule. These letters caused intense excitement in the town. Nobody knew their authorship except the editor of the paper, of whom Shields demanded the name. The real author was Miss Mary Todd, afterward the wife of Abraham Lincoln, to whom she was engaged, and who felt bound to assume the responsibility for her sharp pen thrusts. Mr. Lincoln accepted the situation. Not long after, the two men with their seconds were on their way to the field of honor. But the affair was adjusted without any fighting, and thus ended the Lincoln-Shields duel of the Lost Townships. The antagonists were ever afterward firm friends.
