Page:General James Shields, Soldier, Orator, Statesman.djvu/12

 At Cerro Gordo he was severely wounded while leading his men, but he refused to quit the field. He advanced to the charge, when he was struck in the chest by an iron grapeshot, an inch in diameter, that passed through his lungs. He fell into the arms of Oglesby, afterward United States senator from Illinois, and was carried from the battlefield to all appearances lifeless. The wound was skillfully treated by a French surgeon, who had been captured with the Mexicans, and in nine weeks he was again in the saddle.

For his gallant conduct on this occasion, he was brevetted Major General, and his commanding officers, Generals Twiggs and Scott, both mentioned him in most laudatory terms in their official reports. Four months afterwards, he led the celebrated charge of the "Palmettos" of South Carolina and the New York volunteers at the battle of Cherubusco, where the Mexicans, according to the official account of Santa Anna, lost one-third of their army. On the 13th of September, he was in the thick of the fight at Chapultepec. His horse having been shot under him, General Shields fought on foot, bareheaded and in his shirt sleeves, leading his brigade, sword in hand. His command led the van into the City of Mexico and first planted the stars and stripes on the halls of the Montezumas. Here Shields received another severe wound, a fractured arm, but remained with his brigade until the goal was reached. Among the young subordinates and subalterns in the regular service, who participated in this victory and won early distinction, were U. S. Grant, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, George E. Pickett, and "Stonewall" Jackson.

One of the notable battle-pictures of the world, hanging in the corridors of the capitol at Washington, is that of the assault on Chapultepec, the citadel of the City of Mexico. It shows General Shields, easily distinguishable, in the thick of the fight, where he always loved to be. It thus, on the outer walls of the Senate, where ten years later he shed glory on Minnesota, certifies to his imperishable renown.

After the conquest of Mexico, and on July 28, 1848, General Shields' brigade was disbanded, and he returned, still feeble from his wound, to Illinois and resumed his law practice. His