Shields, James
Shields, James
Military officer, b. in Dungannon County Tyrone, Ireland, 12 Dec., 1810; d. at Ottumwa, Iowa, 1 June, 1879. He emigrated to the United States in 1826 where he at one proceeded to study law and began practicing at Kaskaskia, Ill., in 1832. He was elected to the state Legislature in 1836; became state auditor in 1839 and judge of the state supreme court in 1843. He was fulfilling his duties as commissioner of the general land-office when war with Mexico was declared, and he was commissioned brigadier general by President Polk, 1 July 1846. General Shields served with distinction under Taylor, Wool, and Scott, and gained the brevet of major-general at Cerro Gordo, where he was shot through the lung. He was again severely wounded at Chapultepec, and was mustered out in 1848. The same year he was appointed Governor of the Territory of Oregon, which office he soon resigned to represent Illinois in the United States Senate as a democrat. After the expiration of his term he removed to Minnesota and was United States senator from that state from 1858 to 1860, when he removed to California. On the breaking out of the Civil War, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 19 August, 1861. He fought gallantly in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, opening hostilities at Winchester, though severely wounded the preceding day in a preliminary engagement. While in command at Port Republic he was decisively beaten by General Jackson and resigned his commission, 28 March, 1863. He returned to California whence he removed to Carrollton, Mo., where he continued the practice of law. He subsequently served his state as a railroad commissioner and was a member of the Legislature from 1874-79. He was United States senator from Missouri at the time of his death. A monument was erected to him in St. Mary’s Cemetery at Carrollton, which was unveiled by Archbishop Glennon on 12 Nov., 1910.
———————————–
JARVIS KEILEY Transcribed by Joseph E. O’Connor
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Shields, James
a Presbyterian minister, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Dec. 11, 1812. He graduated at the Western University of Pennsylvania, at Pittsburgh, in 1830, studied theology four years under the instruction of Revs. Mungo Dick and John Pressly, D.D., was licensed April 2, 1834, by the Associate Reformed Presbytery of Monongahela, and ordained in 1835 as pastor of the congregations of Fermanagh and Tuscarora, Juniata County, Pa. Here he labored with varied success until the spring of 1859, when, on account of failing health, he ceased to preach in the Tuscarora branch of his charge, and gave all his time to the Fermanagh congregation. He died Aug. 19, 1862. Mr. Shields possessed a mind of more than ordinary power, and his exercises were always of a high order. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1864, p. 354. (J.L.S.)