The Abraham Lincoln - James Shields Duel, September 22, 1842
Madison County ILGenWeb Coordinator - Beverly Bauser
LINCOLN MAIN PAGE | LINCOLN - DOUGLAS DEBATE
ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND JAMES SHIELDS DUEL
September 22, 1842
Under the pen name of “Aunt Rebecca,” Abraham Lincoln, then
an attorney, wrote a series of letters to the Sangamon Journal
keenly satirizing young James Shields, auditor of the State of
Illinois on the Democrat ticket. Shields’ dress, his "dudeish"
manners, and his self-proclaimed status as a "ladies’ man," drew
down ridicule from others. In his first letter to the newspaper,
Lincoln wrote the following, referring to “Jeff,” a farmer:
“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.”
When
“Rebecca” identifies Shields as one of the “officers of state”
and reads aloud from his declaration against accepting state
money, Jeff explodes. “I say–it-is-a-lie…. It grins out like a
copper dollar. Shields is a fool as well as a liar. With him
truth is out of the question.”
Lincoln went on to deride
Shields on the social scene, with “Jeff” recalling Shields at a
recent fair attended by the eligible women of Springfield:
“His very features, in the ecstatic agony of his soul, spoke
audibly and distinctly – ‘Dear girls, it is distressing, but I
cannot marry you all. Too well I know how much you suffer; but
do, do remember, it is not my fault that I am so handsome and so
interesting.’”
The letter ended with an appeal to the editor:
“Let your readers know who and what these officers of State are.
It may help to send the present hypocritical set to where they
belong and to fill the places they now disgrace with men who
will do more for less pay….” Lincoln signed the letter,
“Rebecca.”
After reading the letters in the newspaper,
Shields fumed, which only encouraged their continuance. Mary
Todd (future wife of Abraham Lincoln) and Julia Jayne (future
wife of Lyman Trumbull) sent a poem under the pen name of
“Cathleen” to the Sangamon Journal, which pictured Shields as
receiving a proposal of marriage from "Aunt Rebecca." Another
poem followed, which celebrated the wedding. Shields went to the
editor of the Journal in a rage, demanding to know the name of
his tormentor. The editor went to Lincoln, who was unwilling
that Misses Todd and Jayne be revealed. Lincoln ordered that his
name be given as the author. Shortly after, Lincoln received a
letter from Shields, demanding an apology.
Shields
wrote, “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
replied that he could give the note no attention, because
Shields had not first asked if he really was the author of the
poem. Shields wrote again, but Lincoln replied he would receive
nothing but a withdrawal of the first note, or a challenge. The
challenge came, and was accepted. Lincoln chose broadswords as
the weapon, and the place of the duel - Sunflower Island,
directly across from Alton – was selected. The islands in the
Mississippi River at that time were in a “no man’s land,” and
were out of the jurisdiction of both Missouri and Illinois.
Contrary to what you may read on different websites, the island
where the Lincoln – Shields duel was held was not “Bloody
Island,” which was directly across from St. Louis (and now a
part of Illinois), and has its own history of duels
(Benton-Lucas, August 12, 1817; Barton-Rector, June 30, 1823;
Biddle-Pettis, August 26, 1831; and Brown-Reynolds, August 26,
1856). To read more on “Bloody Island,” please visit this
website:
https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/education/dueling/political-duels.asp
Shields was only five feet, nine inches tall, while
Lincoln stood at six feet, four inches. But Shields was
stubborn, ambitious, perseverant, and had served in the Black
Hawk War. Later in the Mexican War, he would take a bullet in
the chest at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. After surgery and nine
weeks of recuperation, he returned to his command. This was
clearly a man who would not run from a fight.
On the
morning of September 22, 1842, Shields and Lincoln arrived in
Alton. The party took breakfast at the Franklin House at 206
State Street in Alton (now the Lincoln Lofts apartments), and at
about 10:30 a.m., proceeded to a ferry boat which was owned and
run by a Mr. Chapman. The boat was propelled by two horses,
which worked around a windless at one end of the boat deck. A
Telegraph reporter by the name of Mr. Southers (the owner and
editor of the newspaper, John Bailhache, was out of town), a man
by the name of John Broughton, and Dr. Thomas Hope accompanied
Lincoln and Shields and their party to Sunflower Island,
directly across from Alton. A spot was cleared by the party, and
Shields took a seat upon a fallen log on one side, with Lincoln
on the other. Their “seconds” proceeded to cut a pole about
twelve feet long, and placed it in two stakes with crotches in
the end, about three feet above the ground. The men were to
stand on either side of the pole, and fight across it. A line
was drawn on the ground on both sides, three feet from the pole,
with the understanding that if either stepped back across the
line, it was to be considered a concession and an end to the
duel.
Lincoln remained firm, and said that Shields must
withdraw his first note. Shields was inflexible. Lincoln’s face
was grave and serious. He stood up, reached over and picked up
one of the swords, and felt along the edge of the weapon with
his thumb. He stretched himself to his full height, and with his
long arm he clipped off a twig from the tree above his head with
the sword. There wasn’t another man there who could have reached
that twig, and some of the men came near to howling with
laughter. Lincoln returned the sword to its scabbard and sat
down once again with a gleam in his eye.
Finally, Dr.
Hope sprang to his feet and faced Shields. He blurted out,
“Jimmie, you G—D--- little whippersnapper, if you don’t settle
this, I will take you across my knee and spank you!” This was
too much for Shields, and he yielded. A note was prepared by
Shields and sent across the line to Lincoln, which inquired if
he was the author of the poem in question. Lincoln replied that
he was not, and mutual explanations and apologies followed.
The men returned to the boat, chatting in a friendly manner.
John Broughton took a log and put it at one end of the boat, and
covered it with a red shirt to make it look like the figure of a
man covered with blood. As the boat reached Alton, the landing
was crowded with people who were waiting to learn the result of
the duel. When they saw the dummy at the end of the boat, some
almost stepped into the water to see who it was that had been
slain.
News of the “duel” spread among the Alton
community. The editor of the Alton Telegraph, John Bailhache,
who had recently returned from a trip, wrote a scathing article
regarding the action of the two men. Both Lincoln and Shields
were personal friends of his, and he called their action
disgraceful and unfortunate. Bailhache further stated that a
friendless, penniless, and obscure person would be placed in
jail and then sentenced to the penitentiary for the same action.
He called upon Attorney General Lamboro to exercise zeal in
bringing the two men to justice. However, Bailhache was happy
the two men were returned to their family and friends unscathed,
and hoped the citizens of Springfield would select some other
town rather than Alton, if they intended to take each other’s
life in the future.
Later, Lincoln and Shields rarely
spoke of the duel. Once when asked about it, Lincoln brushed the
subject aside and spoke no further on the matter.
In
later years, Sunflower Island - where the duel was held - took
on the name of Smallpox Island, after the Confederate soldiers
were housed in a hospital there during the smallpox epidemic.
Later, it was known as McPike Island, Ellis Island, and Bayless
Island. The Lincoln – Shields Recreation Area in Missouri was
named after the event. There a monument stands in memory of the
soldiers who were housed in the hospital on the island during
the Civil War. Most of the island was destroyed by flooding
during the construction of the bridges and dam
*********************
TWO DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMEN OF SPRINGFIELD ATTEMPT TO
ASSASSINATE EACH OTHER
Source: Alton Telegraph, October 1,
1842, published by J. Bailhache & Co.
Our city was the site
of an unusual scene of excitement during the last week, arising
from a visit of two distinguished gentlemen of the city of
Springfield, who, it was understood, had come here with a view
of crossing the river to answer the "requisitions of the code of
honor," by brutally attempting to assassinate each other in cold
blood.
We recur to this matter with pain and the deepest
regret. Both are, and have been, for a long time, our personal
friends. Both we have ever
esteemed in all the private relations
of life, and consequently regret that what we consider an
imperative sense of duty we owe to the public, compels us to
recur to the disgraceful and unfortunate occurrence at all. We,
however, consider that these gentlemen have both violated the
laws of the country, and insist that neither their influence,
their respectability, nor their private worth should save them
from being made a menable [sic] to those laws they have
violated. Both of them are lawyers - both have been Legislators
of this State, and aided in the construction of laws for the
protection of society - both exercise on small influence in
community - all of which, in our estimation, aggravates instead
of mitigating their offense. Why, therefore, they should be
permitted to escape punishment, while a friendless, penniless,
and obscure person, for a much less offense, is hurried to the
cells of our county jail, forced through a trial, with scarcely
the forms of law, and finally immured within the dreary walls of
a Penitentiary, we are at a loss to conjecture. It is a partial
and disreputable administration of justice, which, though in
accordance with the spirit of the age, we must solemnly protest
against. Wealth, influence, and rank can trample upon the laws
with impunity; while poverty is scarcely permitted to utter a
word in its defense if charged with crime in our miscalled
temples of justice.
Among the catalogue of crime that
disgraces the land, we look upon none to be more aggravated and
less excusable than that of dueling. It is the calmest, most
deliberate, and malicious species of murder - a relict of the
most cruel barbarism that ever disgraced the darkest period of
the world - and one which every principle of religion, virtue
and good order, loudly demands should be put a stop to. This can
be done only by a firm and unwavering enforcement of the law, in
regard to dueling, towards all those who so far forget the
obligations they are under to society and the laws which protect
them, as to violate its provisions. And until this is done,
until the civil authorities have the moral courage to discharge
their duty and enforce the law in this respect, we may
frequently expect to witness the same disgraceful scenes that
were meted in our city last week.
Upon a former occasion,
when under somewhat similar circumstances our city was visited,
we called upon the Attorney General to enforce the law and bring
the offenders to justice. Bills of indictment were preferred
against the guilty; but there the matter was permitted to rest
unnoticed and unexamined. The offenders in this instance, as in
the former, committed the violation of the law in Springfield;
and we again call upon Mr. Attorney General Lamboro, to exercise
a little of that zeal which he is continually putting in
requisition against less favored but no less guilty offenders,
and bring all who have been concerned in the late attempt at
assassination to justice. Unless he does it, he will prove
himself unworthy the high trust that has been reposed in him.
How the affair finally terminated, not having taken the
trouble to inquire, we are unable to say. The friends of Mr.
Shields and Mr. Lincoln claim it to have been settled upon terms
alike, honorable to both, notwithstanding the hundred rumors -
many of which border upon the ridiculous - that are in
circulation. We are rejoiced that both were permitted to return
to the bosom of their friends, and trust that they will now
consider, if they did not do it before, that rushing unprepared
upon the untried scenes of Eternity is a step too fearful in its
consequences to be undertaken without preparation.
We are
astonished to hear that large numbers of our citizens crossed
the river to witness a scene of cold-blooded assassination
between two of their fellow beings. It was no less disgraceful
than the conduct of those who were to have been the actors in
the drama. Hereafter, we hope the citizens of Springfield will
select some other point to make public their intention of
crossing the Mississippi to take each other's life than Alton.
Such visits cannot but be attended not only with regret, but
with unwelcome feelings; and the fewer we have, the better. We
should have alluded to this matter last week, but for our
absence at Court. ~Signed John Bailhache,
Editor, Alton Telegraph
STORY BY AN EYE WITNESS - THE CHALLENGE - THE BATTLE
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, February 25, 1902
There has
been so many versions of the incidents of the duel, mostly for
the purpose simply to produce a sensational article, it becomes
a duty to history to give a simple and correct statement by an
eye-witness of what actually took place. There are several
citizens here in Alton now who were on the river bank or on the
horse ferry which carried the excited company over the
Mississippi river from the foot of State street to the island in
sight and opposite to the city of Alton - which is now much
larger than then - Mr. Edward Levis of Alton; also a Mr. George
Booth of Chicago; and James E. Starr of Portland, Oregon, still
living; and the late Captain Joseph Brown, ex-mayor of Alton and
ex-mayor of St. Louis; and Mr. W. H. Souther, now deceased, who
was also on the old houseboat among the crowd, have given us the
Alton end correctly. The writer of this, though four years too
late to witness this exciting and most humorous termination of
what promised to be a bloody affair, became acquainted
personally with all the individuals connected with it, and
obtained the facts as herein detailed, also from the late Judge
John Bailhache, the editor of the Alton Daily Telegraph. The
Springfield end is given as I received it there. The Miss Mary
Todd, named, became later Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, and Miss Julia
Jayne, the wife of Judge Lyman Trumbull - both of whom have sons
now residing in Chicago. The Inter-Ocean of Chicago, a few days
since, gave an illustrated article of the duel in which not a
single reference was correctly stated.
~Henry Guest McPike.
Here is an exact copy of the
statement of Mr. Southers, who was a reporter on the Telegraph
at the time:
James Shields was
Auditor of State, elected on the
Democratic ticket, and from his swagger in dress, his dudish
manners, and his evident self-satisfaction with himself as a
ladies man, quickly drew down on himself the ridicule of the
Whips. Lincoln wrote a series of letters to the Sangamon
Journal, after the fashion of the "Bigelow Papers," keenly
satirizing young Shields. He fumed under these assaults, which
only encouraged their continuance. Finally a poem was sent to
the Journal by Mary Todd and Julia Jayne, in which Shields was
pictured as receiving a proposal of marriage from "Aunt
Rebecca," and later another rhyme followed, celebrating the
wedding. In the words of the bounding west, these mischievous
girls made life exceedingly wearisome for the dudish young State
auditor. At the appearance of the last poem, Shields went to the
editor of the Journal in a towering rage and demanded the name
of his tormentor. The editor, in a quandary, went to Lincoln,
who unwilling that Miss Todd and Miss Jayne should figure in the
affair, ordered that his own name be given as the author.
Mr. Lincoln Challenged
Shortly after, Lincoln received a
letter from Shields demanding an apology. To this Lincoln
replied that he could give the note no attention because Shields
had not first inquired whether he really was the author of the
poem. Shields wrote again, but Lincoln replied that he would
receive nothing but a withdrawal of the first note or a
challenge. The challenge came, was accepted, and Lincoln named
broadswords as the weapons to be used, the place selected being
the Mississippi riverbank opposite Alton.
It was on the
morning of September 22, 1842 that Shields and Lincoln arrived
in Alton. I was then a printer and reported on the Alton
Telegraph, and had received an intimation of the coming duel,
which made me resolve to see it, if possible. The dueling party
took breakfast at the Franklin house, and about half past 10 in
the forenoon, proceeded to the ferry boat, which was owned and
run by a man by the name of Chapman. The boat was propelled by
two horses, which worked around a windless at one end of the
boat deck, and I made arrangements with Chapman to drive these
horses. A young fellow by the name of Broughton also smuggled
himself aboard as a horse driver, making just ten of us in all,
as I remember.
Lincoln and his party sat at one side of
the boat, and Shields and his party at the other. The only thing
which looked belligerent about the equipment were six long
cavalry sabers which lay on the deck, in charge of Lincoln's
seconds. There was no talking between the opposite sides, and
everything proceeded as solemnly and decorously as at a funeral.
On the Battleground
Arriving on the opposite shore, which
was a wilderness of timber, a spot partially cleared was
selected as the battleground. Shields took a seat upon a fallen
log on one side of the little clearing, and Lincoln ensconced
himself on another at the opposite side. The seconds then
proceeded to cut a pole about twelve feet long, and two stakes
with crotches in the end. The stakes were driven in the ground
and the pole laid across the crotches, so that it rested about
three feet above the ground. The men were to stand one on either
side of the pole and fight across it. A line was drawn on the
ground on both sides, three feet from the pole, with the
understanding that if either combatant stepped back across his
own line it was to be considered a giving up of the fight. This,
you see, would keep the fighters within range of each other all
the time, as neither could get more than three feet away from
the pole, and the swords seemed to me to be at least five feet
long. After all these arrangements had been completed, the
seconds rejoined their principals at the different sides
Shields Backs down
Lincoln remained firm, and said that
Shields must withdraw his first note and ask him whether or not
he was author of the poem in the
Journal. When that was done, he
said, he was ready to treat with the other side. Shields was
inflexible and finally Dr. Hope got made at him. He said Shields
was bringing the Democratic party of Illinois into ridicule and
contempt by his folly. Finally, he sprang to his feet, faced the
stubborn little Irishman and blurted out: "Jimmie, you G--- D---
little whippersnapper, if you don't settle this, I will take you
across my knee and spank you." This was too much for Shields,
and he yielded. I believe Dr. Hope would have carried his threat
into execution if he hadn't. A note was solemnly prepared and
sent across to Lincoln, which inquired if he was the author of
the poem in question. Lincoln wrote a formal reply in which he
said that he was not, and then mutual explanations and apologies
followed.
I watched Lincoln while he sat on his log,
waiting the signal to fight. His face was grave and serious. I
could discern nothing of 'Old Abe,' as we knew him. I never knew
him to go so long before without making some sort of a joke, and
I began to believe he was getting frightened. But presently he
reached over and picked up one of the swords, which he drew from
its scabbard. Then he felt along the edge of the weapon with his
thumb like a barber feels of the edge of his razor, stretched
himself to his full height, stretched out his long arm and
clipped off a twig from a tree above his head with the sword.
There wasn't another man of us who could have reached anywhere
near the twig, and the absurdity of that long-reaching fellow
fighting with cavalry sabers with little Shields, who could walk
under his arm, came pretty near making me howl with laughter.
After Lincoln had cut off the twig, he returned the sword to its
scabbard with a sigh, and sat down, but I detected the gleam in
his eye, which was always the forerunner of one of his
inimitable yarns, and I fully expected him to tell a side
splitter right there in the shadow of the grave.
After
things had been adjusted at the dueling ground, we returned to
the ferry boat, everybody chatting in the most friendly manner
possible. But it must have been an awful trial to Lincoln to
hold in and not 'josh the life out of Shields.' Before we
started back, John Broughton got a log and put it at one end of
the ferry boat and covered it with a red shirt in such a manner
that it looked like the recumbent figure of a man covered with
blood. When we reached Alton, the landing was crowded with
people who were there to learn the result of the duel. When they
saw the dummy at the end of the boat, they almost crowded into
the water to see who it was that had been slain. I enjoyed this
scene, although it was clearly offensive to Shields."