- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Location
- Mt. Jackson, Va
In 1842, a young Abraham Lincoln publicly chastised State Auditor James Shields in the course of a debate about banking in Illinois. The ridicule pushed Shields to challenge Lincoln to a duel in which the victor took both the life and the pride of his opponent. The affair was to be held in Missouri where dueling was still legal. And since Lincoln was the one challenged, he had the choice of weapons. He chose swords believing with pistols that one of them would've stood a greater chance of being killed and Lincoln did not want to kill Shields or himself be killed. 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.
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.
As fate would have it, the two adversaries crossed paths again due to the Civil War. Shields was a brigadier general and Lincoln the Commander in Chief. After the Battle of Kernstown in which General Shields bested Stonewall Jackson ( which was Jackson's only defeat ) , Shields was seriously wounded. A grateful Lincoln nominated Shields for promotion to major - general.
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/lincoln-hub/abraham-lincolns-duel.html
James Shields
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.
As fate would have it, the two adversaries crossed paths again due to the Civil War. Shields was a brigadier general and Lincoln the Commander in Chief. After the Battle of Kernstown in which General Shields bested Stonewall Jackson ( which was Jackson's only defeat ) , Shields was seriously wounded. A grateful Lincoln nominated Shields for promotion to major - general.
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/lincoln-hub/abraham-lincolns-duel.html
James Shields