| September 22 |  |
Editor says, what if the Abraham Lincoln vs. James Shields Duel had gone ahead? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the July 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1842, on this day the State Auditor for Illinois James Shields (pictured) was tragically killed in a duel fought on Sunflower Island across the border in Missouri.
The Sunflower Island AffairHis controversial decisions had been satirised by a fellow member of the state legislature in a Illinois newspaper, the Sagamon Journal. Taking offense at the mean spirited words used in these articles, Shields had demanded "satisfaction" by challenging the author to a participate in a duel near Alton. But his error immediately soon became apparent because his taller adversary got to decide the terms of the duel: broadswords in a twelve feet deep pit separated by a piece of plywood where they could not cross onto the opponents side.
Being six feet four, the much longer arms of this lanky Kentuckian chap, a fellow Abraham Lincoln would easily disarm his irate shorter opponent. And as Lincoln menacingly sweep away brush from above Shield's head, intermediaries attempted to wrest an apology for the letters that might have peacefully resolved the dispute, but Shields stubbornly refused to back down, falling into the pit where he broke his neck and died.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: James Shields, Abraham Lincoln, Missouri, Illinois, Duel. Editor says, in authoring this post we have repurposed content from Wikipedia, Alternate History Discussion Groups and also Top 10 Universities Online which concludes ~ just prior to engaging in combat, Lincoln made it a point to demonstrate his advantage by easily cutting a branch just above Shields' head, the two participants' seconds intervened and were able to convince the two men to cease hostilities, on the grounds that Lincoln had not written the letters.
~ This has some scary implications for the Civil War....
~ If nothing else, it might have kept Lincoln from being the Republican nominee for president in 1860, meaning the presidency would have gone to . . . who knows?
~ Seward could've gotten the nomination, but he would've had to start making friends among those he alienated (not one of his strong suits).
~ Would Lincoln's reputation have been hurt? IIRC at that time, duelling was widely practiced. And maybe if he was known to have "killed his man," as the phrase went at the time, he'd get more respect from the press during the Civil War.
~ Yes,one of many twists history could have taken.
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© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
