Life of Major-General James Shields, hero of three wars and senator from three states

Front matter

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Dedication

TO THE RACE HE SPRUNG FROM AND THE NATION HE FOUGHT FOR IN MEXICO AND IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, AS WELL AS THE VOLUN- TEERS HE FOUGHT WITH.

I

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE THIS LIFE OF THE HERO OF THREE WARS AND THE SENA- TOR FROM THREE STATES

Chapter I

Ancestry — Birth — Celtic Name — Early Education — His Military Genius Shown When Ten Years of Age — How He Planned and Won His First Battle — Great Men of the Present Century. 9

CHAPTER H.

How Shields Planned and Won His First Battle — Shrewdness and Valor When Ten Years Old— How He Thrashed a Swell- Arrival of Uncle, a Veteran of the Revolutionary War and of the War of 1812 — His Influence on Shields' Career — ^The Youth's Taste for Books — ^Association with Wellington's Veterans — Taught Sword Exercise — Acquisition of Military Knowledge. 18

CHAPTER HI.

Shields' First Duel — Its Cause — As a Boy He Met at Dawn a Veteran of Napoleonic Wars in Deathly Conflict — His Opponent's Last Will— The Sequel. 22

CHAPTER IV.

His Mother's Desire to Prepare Him for the Bar Frustrated by His Uncle's Influence — Emigration to America — Arrival at Quebec — Failure to Find His Uncle — Shields* Experience as Mate of a Ship — Serious Injury by Fall While at Sea — ^Arrival in New York Unconscious — Shipwreck on Coast of Scotland — Experience as Teacher There — Value of Nautical Skill Forty Years Afterward — He Goes West — Teaches School — Studies Law in Illinois — Settles in Kaskaskia — the Quaint Old Town, and Its Decay — Elected to the Legislature, Where He Served with President Lincoln, Senator Douglas, General Hardin and Other Senators and Generals— Pen Pictures of Lincoln and Others — Lawyers the Greatest Patriots. 26

CHAPTER V.

State Auditor — How He Saved the State Credit and Made Political Enemies Thereby — How Lincoln Attacked Him Anonymously, and How Miss Todd, the Future Mrs, Lincoln, and Miss Jayne, the Future Mrs. Trumbull, Also Ridiculed Him Thjough the Press Anonymously — Lincoln's Espousal of the Paternity of the Articles in Question — His Refusal of a Retraction Upon Shields' Demand — Shields' Challenge of Lincoln — Actions of His and Lincoln's Seconds — Intervention of Friends — Start for the Place of Meeting, and the Sequel. 43

2 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

Shields Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois — His Illustrious Associates — Distinguished Practitioners and Leaders of the Bar of Illinois — Appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington by President Polk — His Plan for an Irish Colony in Iowa — Resignation as Land Commissioner. 50

CHAPTER VII.

Resignation as Land Commissioner — Commission as Brigadier-General — ^Assigned to Command the Illinois Regiments — Transfer from Taylor to Scott — At Cerro Gordo a Grapeshot Passes Through His Body — Extraordinary Means Adopted to Save His Life — Irish Surgeon and French Doctor Push a Silk Handkerchief on a Ramrod Through His Right Lung and Out of His Back Near the Spine. 55

CHAPTER Vm.

Contreras — Churubusco and Chapultepec — Key to Painting in Capitol at Washington, D. C. — Bravery Shown in Each Battle and Wounds Received— When Shields Was Nearest Death. 75

CHAPTER IX.

Noble Rescue of Women on the Eve of the Capture of the City of Mexico— Poem on His Noble Deed — Unparalleled in Any General's Career Under Similar Circumstances — Election to United States Senate. 117

CHAPTER X.

Army Disbanded — Elected United States Senator from Illinois for Term of Six Years — Appointed on Several Very Important Com* mittees — Favored Land Grants to Soldiers and Sailors, to Agricultural Colleges and Railroads to Develop the West — Homestead Law — ^Against Slavery. 122

CHAPTER XL

Shields* Welcome to Kossuth— Resolution and Speech Against British Interference in Central America — Sound Monroe Doctrine — Bounty Lands Not a Gratuity But a Reward for Honorable Services. 147

CHAPTER Xn.

Admission of California— Senator Shields* Greatest Speech— It Stamps Him as a Statesman as Well as a Prophet — Would Not Widen the Breach Between the North and South or Excite the Passions or Prejudices of One Section Against the Other — If a Republican Form of Government Fails Here, It Need Never Be Attempted Again — Where Compromise Ends Force Begins, and Where Force Begins War Begins — Gold the Cause of More Than Half the Evils of Civilized Society — No Southern Slave Owner Will

I

CONTENTS. 8

Ever Venture to Carry His Slaves to That Country— The Whole Country United Cannot Force Slavery on Californians, Who Will Carry Your Flag Some Day Into Asia and Through China — Slavery Was Never Intended l^ God to Be There and Will Not Be Permitted by Men— You Might as Well Attempt to Plant Orange Groves in Siberia as Establish Slavery in California or New' Mexico — It Is Inevitable That the Power of the Free States Will Preponderate Over the Power of the Slave States — You Can No More Equalize the States Then You Can Equalize Their Population— The North Will Never Consent to See One Foot of Free Soil Converted Into Slave Soil— As Well Attempt to Convert a Free Man Into a Slave — No Human Law Can Give Absolute Property in Man— An Attempt at Dissolution of the Union Would Be War of Extermination and Desolation of Which None But God Could Foresee the End— The Idea of Quietly and Peaceably Submitting to See a Separate Confederacy Is Preposterous—Very Little Short of Insanity. i6o

CHAPTER XIII.

Defeat of Stonewall Jackson Described in Leslie's Pictorial History of the War— General Shields' Official Report— Colonel Kimball's and Tyler's Reports— Captain Schriber's Report— Colonel Carroll Driven from Bridge by Jackson. 176

CHAPTER XIV.

How Shields Decoyed Stonewall Jackson Into the Battle of Winchester in Harper's Pictorial History of the Gvil War— Account of It in Woods' History of the Seventh Ohio— His Account of the Battle of Port Republic— General Taylor's Account in "Destruction and Reconstruction." 206

CHAPTER XV.

Typical Volunteers of 1861 — Small Acorns Then, Gigantic Oaks Now- Renowned for Virtue in Peace as They Were for Bravery in War — Clergyman — Merchant — ^Judge. 233

CHAPTER XVI.

Stanton Reviled Lincoln and Then Accepted Office from Him — His Injustice to Shields — ^Duplicity with McClellan and Unwarranted Reflections upon Sherman. 241

CHAPTER XVII.

Shields a Political Martyr — More Proof of Colonel Carroll's Failure at Port Republic — Colonel Haycock's Conclusive Evidence — General Jones an Unwilling Corroborator of Colonel Haycock — General Coppinger's Opinion — General Sheridan's Rank When General Shields Defeated Stonewall Jackson — Extract from General Oates' Speech — But for Carroll's Disobedience General Shields Would Have Been One of the Most Successful Generals in the Civil War. 260

4 CONTENTS.

• CHAPTER XVIII.

Senator Shields in Minnesota — One of the Founders of Faribault and Shieldsville — His Election as One of Its First Senators — Departure for California — Marriage There — His Children — Small Pension Until Just Before His Death. 267

CHAPTER XIX.

Celebration of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Organization of the Shields Guard at Auburn, N. Y., in 1877 — -Welcome by Colonel Kennedy — Response by General Shields — Procession — Flag of the Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina Carried Through the Mexican War^Speaker Pomeroy's Address — Governor Robinson's Welcome — Governor Wade Hampton's Response — General Shields' Enthusiastic Welcome and Brilliant Speech. 273

CHAPTER XX.

Speech at Banquet Given by Meagher's Irish Brigade on the Potomac — At the Tabernacle in Chicago— Great Political Address Delivered in Kansas City on Greeley and Brown — ^Letter on Home Rule in Ireland — Introduction of Jefferson Davis at Sisters of Charity Fair. . 283

CHAPTER XXI.

Lecture at St. Joseph, Mo., on St. Patrick's Day — Lecture in Steinway Hall, New York, on St. Patrick's Day — Speech at St. Joseph, Mo., on the Fourth of July. 292

CHAPTER XXn.

Lecture in Brookljrn in Behalf of Yellow Fever Sufferers — His Graphic Descriptions of Jackson, Webster, Clay and Calhoun — Eloquent Speeches by Other Prominent Citizens. 301

CHAPTER XXni.

General Butler, a True Friend of General Shields, One of America's Greatest Lawyers — Heroic Method Adopted to Reduce Hours of Labor in Factories — Splendid Address by a Brave Lawyer — His Efforts to Secure Justice for the Destruction of a Convent and to Wipe Out a Stain on the Escutcheon of Massachusetts- Senatorial Duplicity and Parsimony. 324

CHAPTER XXIV.

Death of General Shields on a Lecturing Tour, at Ottumwa, Iowa, on Sunday, June i, 1879 — Funeral at Carrollton, Mo., Attended by Prominent Citizens from St. Louis — Military Escort — Religious Services — His Unmarked Grave — Attempt to Induce Fellow Townsmen to Erect a Monument to His Memory. 329

CONTENTS. 5

CHAPTER XXV.

General Shields' Greatest Journalistic Friends — ^Their Struggles and Triumphs — ^Vast Influence for Good, for God, Race and Country — Glorious Records of Patrick Ford, of the Irish World, and Patrick Donahoe, of the Pilot. 332

CHAPTER XXVI.

Illinois Legislature Instructs Its Senators to Vote for the Purchase of Shields' Swords — Nine Thousand Dollars Appropriated for Shields' Statue — Who Obtained It — The Commissioners — Unveiling of Statue at Washington, p. C, December 6, 1893 — Speeches of Hon, William H. Condon, Governor Altgeld, John C. Tarnsey, M. C, and Senator Turpie — Poem, "Sword of Ccrro Gordo" — Over Twenty-nine Millions Represented at the Ceremony. 342

CHAPTER XXVII.

Banquet at National Hotel — Large Attendance — Poem, "The Shields Statue" — Long List of Toasts and Eloquent Responses — Donahoe's Magazine — Beattie, the Poet, a Mexican War Veteran. 360

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Striking Incidents in General Shields* Life — Eloquent Tributes Paid Him by Leading Statesmen, Bishops, Scholars and Journalist? — Interesting Sketch of His I ife by Dr. Onahan. 367

CHAPTER XXIX.

My Interesting Friend of the Confederate Army — Efforts to Erect Statues to General Shields and Frances E. Willard in Illinois — Appeal to the Ladies — Opposition of Some of the Press — Indifference of Judges and Opposition of South Park Commissioners — Manly Indorsement by Colonel John F. Finerty in The Citizen, and Favorable Notice by the Milwaukee Catholic Citizen — Hon. Wm. H. Harper's Broad Americanism. 379

Preface

PREFACE.

Doubting my ability to do justice to the career of such a triple crowned warrior, jurist and statesman as General James Shields, yet, as more than a score of years have passed since his death, and no one has published a record of his public services, civil and military, and since they cannot be appreciated unless they are known, I undertake the pleasant duty of presenting them to the world.

I had the honor of the hero's acquaintance, attended several of his lectures in Chicago, met him frequently, often corresponded with him and was one of his ardent admirers. After his death I assisted in securing congressional legislation which resulted in the sale of his swords to the nation, the money realized therefrom materially aiding his widow in the support and education of his sons and daughter.

Having conceived the idea of Illinois declaring Shields one of her immortals, and having prevailed upon its Legislature to appropriate nine thousand dollars for a bronze statue of him to perpetuate his heroic deeds, which stands in the Capitol at Washington, while engaged in this work I learned many interesting incidents in General Shields' life of his contemporaries and friends.

Believing that he was not treated justly when practically removed from command, after his victory over Stonewall Jackson at Winchester, and that his wisdom as a statesman is comparatively unknown, I resolved to

8 PREFACE.

place it and his military achievements before readers of all classes in a plain, economical form, convinced that a perusal of his record will tend to raise the General in the estimation of his countrymen and the world at large. I have spared neither time, labor nor expense in gathering material with which to weave a faithful narrative of his life and character. I make no claim to merit for this production. It will be found to be just and truthful as well as fearless in its criticism of those who wronged the hero of three wars and the Senator from three states.

I have no pride or ambition of authorship. If this work shall make the youth of our country emulate the example of this great American and induce them to adopt his high sense of honor, his nobility of purpose and to be ever ready like him to respond to their country's call, my object will be attained and I shall be amply rewarded.

WILLIAM H. CONDON:.

Chicago, August ii, 1900.

LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES SHIELDS.

CHAPTER I.

Ancestry — Birth — Celtic Name — Early Education — His Military Genius Shown When Ten Years of Age— How He Planned and Won His First Battle — Great Men of the Present Century.

James Shields was born in Ireland, a country renowned in song and story for the brilliancy and bravery of its sons and the beauty and purity of its daughters. Its hills and valleys have resounded with the shouts of armies contending for supremacy on many a sanguinary field. The wail of the disconsolate widow and the cry of the famished orphan have often been heard in the land. Famines caused by foreign legislation and prolonged by unfeeling landlords, whose fiendishness is without parallel among civilized people, have caused millions of the Irish to seek in other lands freemen's homes. Cattle now graze where cottagers once dwelt in peace and comparative plenty.

Irish poets, statesmen and warriors of renown have made their impress on the history of the world. Her Moores, Goldsmiths and Davises live wherever poesy is admired and love and patriotism have votaries. Her Burkes, Grattans, O'Connells and Parnells were statesmen seldom equaled and never excelled, while her Emmets and Tones stand in the front rank of martyrs for liberty wherever it is known and cherished.

In religious circles no race has shown more fervor or zeal than the Irish. Her saints, cardinals, archbishops^ bishops, priests, monks, ministers and last, but most beloved of all, her sisters have won the plaudits of sectarian and infidel, as well as Christian, by their heroism on tented field, amid the pestilential air of the hospital and in the highways and byways where want and woe lurk, as well as "beside the bed where parting life is laid/' Their students the world over bear the ineffaceable impress of the sisters' endeavors to "allure to brighter worlds and lead the way." In the salons of the learned and in the parlors of the cultured, the grace, refinement and purity taught by precept and example lend a charm above and beyond all other accomplishments to the graduates of their academies and convents.

But while some may question the superiority of the Irish race in all these walks of life, few will be found to contend that the Irishman can be outclassed as a soldier. His valor, his self-sacrificing bravery, in countless forlorn hopes, on land and sea, entitle the Irish soldier to a proud position among the "bravest of the brave." No proof is necessary to sustain this assertion. The historians of nearly every nation have adorned their brightest pages with sublime examples of the heroism of Irishmen in ancient and modern times. To recount their perilous feats of bravery, which the world knows by heart, would be a needless waste of time, while to call the roll of those who have written their names in letters of living light high upon the scroll of fame would transcend the limits of an introduction to the life of the greatest Irishman who ever trod American soil, whose name shines in the judicial, legislative and military records of Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and of the United States of America.

James Shields was born at Altmore, in a mountainous district of the County of Tyrone, Ireland, on May 6, 1806, of Catholic parents. His father was Charles Shields, and his mother was Anne McDonnell, who died in 1842, after her son James had won renown in Illinois. Her husband died in 181 2. There were but three children born to them — ^James, at the date aforesaid; Daniel, on April 2, 1808, and Patrick on March 17, 1810. Patrick died two years after the General's death and Daniel two or three years

LIFE OF GEN. SHIELDS.

later. General Shields' father is buried in an ancient graveyard at Canaghmore, in the County of Tyrone. His mother is buried at Galbally, in the same parish, and his brothers lie in one grave at the little chapel on Altmore Mountain. Tradition is to the effect that the McDonnells, Shields' mother's family, came from Limerick and settled in the County of Antrim. The General's father was t

The window lowered from the top is of the room In which James Shields first saw light.

being "waked" when the news of the battle of Waterloo Avas received.

Like causes produce like effects. There is much truth in the saying that *'blood will tell," and Shields' remarkable career is a verification of it. That his brothers followed peaceful avocations in their native country is much more strange than that James should have sought in other lands a chance to improve his condition in life, which was denied him on his native soil. No Catholic then could be a member of Parliament.

LIFE OF GEN. SHIELDS.

There is much in heredity. His paternal ancestors for many generations had been imbued with military spirit. They lived at Shanes Castle in the County of Antrim. The father and four sons of one of the earliest ancestors of which any record can be found and authenr ticated espoused the cause of King- James of England

PATRICK SHIELDS.

against William. At the battle of the Boyne the father and one son were killed. Daniel, the youngest son, found their bodies the night after the battle and buried them. He then rejoined the Irish army and fought at Aughrim, Athlone and at the siege of Limerick. After its surrender the surviving brothers separated never to meet again.

LIFE OF GEN, SHIELDS.

The two eldest went with some of the Irish soldiers to Spain, where one rose to a high grade as an officer and finally became governor-general of Cuba. The youngest, Daniel, returned to his home in the north of Ireland, amid the mountains of Tyrone, then about the only refuge for Catholic patriots, misnamed rebels. Secretly he visited

DANIBL SHIELDS the home of his childhood, to find all his father's estate confiscated and granted to a follower of King William. One son escaped to France and emigrated to Jamaica, where he died. Daniel found it no easy task to avoid arrest on his way home, and reached it in safety by hiding in the fields by day and traveling at night. From a hiding-place in a field near the historic banks of Lough Neagh he saw a boat capsize in which two young ladies were sailing; swam to their assistance and rescued them from a watery grave. They proved to, be daughters of Captain Morris, the military governor of Mount Joy fortress, a strong British garrison at Lough Neagh. The father gratefully thanked young Shields for his noble act and invited him to his family circle, where his bravery and gallantry were highly appreciated and eventually rewarded by the hand and heart of one of the accomplished young ladies he had saved from death.. She became his wife, and from such noble blood descended the warrior, jurist and statesman whose experiences will be found in the following pages. Well might the wise predict brave acts and heroic deeds of the children of such parents. The young lady who was rescued from a watery grave by the gallant soldier was the great-great-great-grandmother of General James Shields.

Of the plantations of Ulster, Sir Toby Caulfield had assigned to him the Castle Caulfield estate, on condition that he build a fortress on the Altmore Mountains to protect Scotch planters from disinherited Irish gentlemen, or Rapparee, who had organized and were intrenched in those mountains.

British soldiers for years occupied the fortress erected by Sir Toby Caulfield, and when at last those chiefs of the mountains and their gallant followers were exterminated in true English style, and "o'er their cold ashes upbraided" by the name of robbers, the soldiers were withdrawn to take part in the battle of Culloden Moor and the garrison finally abandoned.

Charles Shields, grandson of Daniel, leased the barracks, and it was in his portion of it that General Shields was born. The Shields have lived there over two hundred years. Many of Charles' forefathers repose in an old graveyard at Donaghmore, in the County of Tyrone. A tombstone therein records the death of his ancestor who was buried there in 1771. The ancient name appears to have been O'Shiel, anglicized into Shields.

The General's grandfather and father are also buried in that grave, it being the custom there to bury descendants in the graves of their forefathers. In 1770 the Shields family were four in number, James, Patrick, Daniel and Bessie. James, the eldest, was intended for the priesthood, and went to France to complete his studies, but finally abandoned them and emigrated to America. Daniel married, but died at Altmore without issue. Patrick also died there childless. Charles married Miss Katharine McDonnell, a lineal descendant of the Glencoe Mc- Donnells. She was a woman of superior education and varied accomplishments, who gave her sons all the educational advantages then allowed Catholics by English laws.

The present century saw the largest number of g^eat men ever living at one time. It is certain that there is no period to rival the first years of the nineteenth century in its number of great men, no period even to compare with it except the fifth century before the Christian era. In the year 1821, the year in which Napoleon died, the following were alive : In literature, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge, DeQuincey, Wordsworth, Lamb, Landor, Tennyson, the three Brontes, Victor Hugo, Heine, Goethe, Holmes, Dickens, Thackeray, Clough and Blake. Among soldiers were living the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon and Moltkc, besides a number of great generals who had either seen the Napoleonic wars or were to see the Crimea and the Indian mutiny. Among philosophers and men of science were Hegel, Darwin, the two Herschels, Owen, Cuvier, Daguerre, Wheatstone, Faraday and Simpson. The painters included Wilke, Landseer, Turner and Meissonier. Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Wagner represented music. Lesseps, Bnmel and the two Stephensons represented engineeering. Among statesmen or orators were Gladstone, Bright, Bismarck, Russell, Cavour, Garibaldi, Abraham Lincoln, Thiers and Victor Emmanuel. Among historians were Grote, Niebuhr, Mommsen and Guizot: and of a countless host of men who were famous in other directions were Sir Richard Burton, Speke, Le Verrier,

LIFE OF GEN. SHIELDS.

ut o n

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William E. Gladstone got into the year of great babies, 1809, only by a scratch. If he had been born three days later he would be a child of a year which was not so memorable for its births. Among the great personages who were bom in 1809 were Darwin, Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar A. Poe, the historian, Kinglake, Mendelssohn, Jules Favre, Lincoln, Hamlin, Oliver Wendell Holmes and ex-Speaker and ex-Governor Robert C. Winthrop.

Chapter II

How Shields Planned and Won His First Battle — Shrewdness and Valor When Ten Years Old— How He Thrashed a Swell- Arrival of Uncle, a Veteran of the Revolutionary War and of the War of 1812 — His Influence on Shields* Career — The Youth's Taste for Books — Association with Wellington's Veterans — Taught Sword Jixcrcise — Acquisition of Military Knowledge.

When the General was a boy about ten years old he, with his two brothers, attended a hedge school about two miles from his home. In those days it was not easy to acquire education, as there were only schools maintained by private subscription, the British government preferring to keep the people in ignorance. The school referred to was situated on the dividing line of two populous districts, and the boys attending formed themselves into rival factions representing each district. The General placed himself at the head of his schoolmates, and a boy about the same age, named McVeigh, was elected commander of the opposing forces. The rivalry arising from competition in the classes extended to rivalry in the plays and pastimes and finally developed into a strong rivalry in their quarrels. The teacher had frequently drawn the attention of their parents to the contests of the children. Several free fights on their account took place between the parents, one party getting worsted one day, the other getting badly beaten the next. Finally, James Shields proposed to the leader of the opposing faction to fight it out in a general pitched battle, and it was agreed that a Saturday afternoon should be fixed for the engagement.

Each commander was to select twelve of the best fighting boys of his party, who were to be armed with willows, or what are called there sally rods. The boys

.were not to take hold of each other or to strike with fists. The result of the battle was to be final, and the vanquished were in future to yield obedience to and acknowledge the superiority of the victors. For several evenings after this arrangement had been made James Shields shut himself up in his mother's barn. How he occupied his time is disclosed hereinafter. Finally the eventful day arrived, but as McVeigh's men were known to be the stronger, Shields found, when he mustered his forces, three of his soldiers had deserted. His antagonists were somewhat surprised to find Shields, notwithstanding the smallness of his forces, willing to go on with the engagement. The combatants mustered in a meadow, the word of command was given, and the battle opened vigorously. Both sides fought fiercely till their weapons were worn short or broken, but, as in most warfare, numbers were about to prevail and Shields' forces were supposed to be vanquished. Their opponents were calling upon them to surrender, when suddenly Shields in a loud voice commanded his men to charge bayonets. Then from underneath their little jackets each boy drew a short, sharp-pointed stick made of hardwood. In a minute those who had considered themselves victors were in full retreat. They could not stand the charge. The sharp-pointed spears were irresistible and soon Shields and his men were left in possession of the battlefield. Thus it transpired that Shield's preparations in the barn had gained his party the victory. He had spent his time pointing the sticks with which he secretly armed his men. He had his men well disciplined, they obeyed his orders and secured the victory. Truly, the boy is father of the man. Commander McVeigh, who led the opposing contingent, often took pride in pointing out the exact spot on which James Shields fought and won his first battle.

Another incident of Shields' boyhood is worthy of notice. About four miles from his home there was a very good school established by a landlord. The patron was a high dignitary of the Church of England who afterward became bishop. He had appointed a teacher who was a graduate of Trinity College and ranked high as a teacher. James Shields attended the school and made great progress in his studies. A son of the patron was a classmate, but not a very good boy. On one occasion he set two little boys fighting and enjoyed seeing them tearing each other's faces and bleeding profusely. Shields, as soon as he reached the scene of conflict, tried to separate the little fellows, but his classmate endeavored to prevent him from interfering until one of the boys would admit that he was beaten or give up. Shields, incensed at such brutality, pulled the boys apart, when the patron's son struck Shields in the face, whereupon a second fight began, which ended in Shields thrashing the young swell severely. When his classmate went home bleeding and much the worse in wear and tear, his father returned with him to the school and investigated the cause of the trouble. Shields stated the facts and circumstances truthfully, and the little boys corroborated his statements, whereupon the gentleman exonerated Shields from all blame, commended him for his interference and predicted that Shields would yet become a great man. Shields never attended that school again. Many years afterward the patron of the school purchased a commission in the British army for his son whom Shields had thrashed. His regiment went to India, and there the young officer was dismissed from the service for striking a brother officer at the mess table. He returned to his home in Ireland about the time that news reached there of Shields' glorious career in Mexico, and his father often contrasted the career of the two schoolboys and classmates.