Lincoln-Shields Duel

Abraham Lincoln rode up just after dawn, his legs dangling against his horse's flanks. He dismounted, stood back to back with James Shields. Both had muskets. They walked 20 paces, turned toward each other and took aim. Shields fired first, but his arm quivered. Lincoln remained upright, drawing a meticulous bead. Then his gun startled the silent morning.

Shields' face whitened, a spurt of scarlet doused his shirtfront, he tumbled to the ground. The onlookers were men of stone. Suddenly they all laughed loudly. Chagrined and crestfallen. Shields got to his feet. The laughter was hectic and cruel. Abraham Lincoln had loaded his musket with squashy, scarlet-juiced pokeberries.

In this fashion, last fortnight, did Nicholas B. Jones. 87, Civil War veteran of Enid, Okla.. describe a Lincoln-Shields duel near Springfield, Ill. He said it took place in 1861, when Shields, later Civil War general and Senator from Illinois and Missouri, was state auditor. Letters deriding him appeared in the Springfield Journal. He accused Lincoln, who refused to retract. According to the accepted ver sion of the Lincoln-Shields affair, broadswords were chosen and a site on the Missouri shore some 50 miles away. But friends interceded, prevented the duel.

Since the actual date of the Lincoln-Shields affair was 1842, when Veteran Jones was not more than one year old, historians felt convinced that Veteran Jones was more of a Munchausen than an eyewitness.