Abraham Lincoln, Duelist

I’m reading a biography of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. In setting the stage for discussion of the Battle of Kernstown – Jackson’s only defeat – the author gives a brief description of Jackson’s opposite number: hero of the Mexican War, Union Brigadier General James Shields. In that short synopsis he drops the following nugget… that prior to the war, while a public official in Illinois, Shields was the subject of some “scurrilous” newspaper articles. Though published anonymously, they were widely believed to have been penned by Abraham Lincoln. Shields was so incensed that he challenged Lincoln to a duel.

“What?”

“Abraham Lincoln?”

“A duel?!?!”

“C’mon, man! You can’t drop that tidbit and move along to Kernstown like nothing just happened. Tell me about the duel!!! What’s the story??" (See note below.)

I had to dig out the details myself, but here is “the rest of the story.” (Thanks, Paul Harvey.)

It seems that in August of 1842, the Illinois State Bank went bankrupt. They announced that they would no longer accept the paper currencies – that they themselves had issued – from private citizens trying to pay off debts. Henceforth, only gold and silver were acceptable currency. Most citizens did not have gold and silver. There was a firestorm. Shields was the Illinois State Auditor and at the center of the crisis. Shields, a Democrat, sided with his party and their support for a decision to close the bank. Shields became a target for Whig opposition to the financial plan, and Lincoln, a self-described “prairie lawyer,” added fuel to the fire with a blistering editorial.

He was friendly with the editor of The Sangamo Journal and was allowed to submit the piece under a pen name – “Rebecca.”

As “Rebecca,” Lincoln attacked Shields for his politics and personal failings:

“’I’ve been tugging ever since harvest getting out wheat and hauling it to the river, to raise State Bank paper enough to pay my tax this year, and a little school debt I owe; and now just as I’ve got it…, lo and behold, I find a set of fellows calling themselves officers of State, have forbidden to receive State paper at all; and so here it is, dead on my hands.’”

Lincoln showed the letter to Mary Todd. A few days later, without Lincoln’s knowledge, Mary Todd submitted her own critique to the Journal under the pen name “Cathleen.”

Shields was irate. He contacted the editor of the Journal demanding to know “Rebecca’s” true identity. He apparently spilled the beans because Shields sent a note in his own hand to Lincoln at the Tremont County courthouse…

“I have become the object of slander, vituperation and personal abuse. Only a full retraction may prevent consequences which no one will regret more than myself.”

Lincoln declined. Shields then issued the challenge. A duel. It was to take place in Missouri where such things were still legal. And Lincoln accepted!

Since Lincoln was challenged by Shields he had the privilege of choosing the weapon of the duel. He chose cavalry broadswords “of the largest size.” “I didn’t want the d—-d fellow to kill me, which I think he would have done if we had selected pistols,” he later explained. For his own part, he did not want to kill Shields, but “felt sure [he] could disarm him” with a blade. At six feet, four inches tall, Lincoln planned to use his height to his advantage against Shields, who stood at a mere five feet, nine inches tall.

The day of the duel, September 22, arrived and the combatants met at Bloody Island, Missouri to face death or victory. As the two men faced each other, with a plank between them that neither was allowed to cross, Lincoln swung his sword high above Shields to cut through a nearby tree branch. This act demonstrated the immensity of Lincoln’s reach and strength and was enough to show Shields that he was at a fatal disadvantage. With the encouragement of bystanders, the two men called a truce.

Eventually they would become friends. Shields would go on to be appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court and a Brigadier General in the Union Army. He was wounded by one of the first artillery shells fired at Kernstown and played little role in its outcome. He went on to serve in the US Senate, becoming the only person in US history to serve in the Senate for three different states.

Note: One of my favorite examples of this is in a baseball book (60 Feet 6 Inches) where the author casually mentions that Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson passed up a career with the Harlem Globetrotters to play baseball. “What? Gibson? The Globetrotters?!?!?”