1877 DATED GEN. JAMES SHIELDS ALS – MEXICAN WAR HERO; SERVED AS US SENATOR FROM THREE SEPARATE STATES; ONCE CHALLENGED ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO A DUEL

1877 DATED GEN. JAMES SHIELDS ALS – MEXICAN WAR HERO; SERVED AS US SENATOR FROM THREE SEPARATE STATES; ONCE CHALLENGED ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO A DUEL

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Item Code: L12060

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Autograph Letter Signed, two pages in ink on a folded sheet of blue-lined letter paper, each page approximately 8 x 5 inches. Written from St. Mary's Church, Norfolk Street, Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, December 18, 1877, and addressed to James E. McDonald, Esq., of Springfield, Massachusetts.

A candid and content-rich letter from one of the most colorful figures of nineteenth-century America. James Shields (1806–1879), born in County Tyrone, Ireland, was a Mexican War hero brevetted major general for his charge at Cerro Gordo — where he was shot through the lung — a Civil War general whose troops dealt Stonewall Jackson his only tactical defeat of the 1862 Valley Campaign at Kernstown, the only person ever to serve as United States Senator from three different states (Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri), and the man who once challenged a young Abraham Lincoln to a duel before the two became friends. In his final years Shields supported himself and his causes through lecturing, and this letter catches him squarely in that role.

Replying to an invitation from the "Young Catholic Friend Society," Shields consults his memorandum book, works through a crowded engagement calendar running into the new year, and lays out the lecture subjects from which the society may choose: his reminiscences "as a soldier," recollections of the Know-Nothing era, of Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Association, and his set piece "Fond Reminiscences of Military Life." He speaks without notes, he explains, and with characteristic wit allows that his manner lets him speak "almost equally well — or I should rather say equally ill — on any subject."

Then the heart of the letter, in his own hand: "The times are hard, and I speak more to help my race and Church than to make money." His fee is $50 and expenses, with a request that the expenses be kept as low as possible and that he be lodged in a private house if one can be had — "then I want to see you all." He closes asking McDonald to write at once if the terms suit.

A rare survival uniting in one document the great currents of Shields's life — Irish Catholic emigration, the living memory of O'Connell, the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing movement he fought against, his celebrated military career, and the post-war lecture circuit on which he spent his last years. Letters of Shields carrying this much personal and biographical content are uncommon on the market.

CONDITION: Old mailing folds; light overall toning with scattered foxing; a small ink blot to the first page and minor chipping at the sheet corners. Ink remains dark and the text is fully legible throughout.  [ss][ph:L]

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