Page:General James Shields, Soldier, Orator, Statesman.djvu/11

 stated. Existing files of the Springfield newspapers contain all the correspondence, no material part of which has ever been controverted.

In 1843, Auditor Shields was appointed by the Governor as Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois to succeed Stephen A. Douglas, who had been elected to Congress. He heard and decided many difficult cases. Among the great lawyers who practiced at the bar when Judge Shields was on the supreme bench, were Abraham Lincoln, John M. Palmer, Lyman Trumbull, O. H. Browning, E. B. Washburn, E. D. Baker, J. J. Hardin, Stephen T. Logan, J. C. Conkling, W. Bushnell, and Archibald Williams. All of these men afterward acquired distinction, many of them becoming United States senators, congressmen, and judges. That Shields, who was still a young man, sustained himself in such exalted company, and afterward, in war and in peace, fully maintained his position with them and others of nation-wide renown, is conclusive tribute to his ability and energy. An eminent Minnesota lawyer of a later generation has carefully studied the decisions of Judge Shields, as recorded in the Illinois Supreme Court Reports, and testifies that they bear conclusive evidence of a legal erudition and discrimination, rare in that period, and little to be expected of one so seemingly immersed in non-professional interests.

In 1845, President James K. Polk appointed Judge Shields Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington. He was deeply interested in the important matters coming before this great bureau, and was solicitously preparing for such an energetic administration as the exigencies then demanded, when the outbreak of the Mexican War gave him a new opportunity of proving his devotion to his adopted country. President Polk, recognizing in him the qualities that constitute a great soldier, appointed him a brigadier general of United States volunteers. His commission was dated July 1, 1846.

At the siege of Vera Cruz General Shields distinguished himself, and gave good promise of other valiant service. This promise was amply fulfilled at the battle of Cerro Gordo and at the storming of Chapultepec. At the former battle his deeds of valor seem like those of Roland at Roncesvalles or Ney at Borodino.