In the mid-nineteenth century, banks were free to produce their own currency. In August 1842, the Illinois State Bank had to file for bankruptcy and announced that its paper money was worthless. The bank would only accept silver and gold as payment for loans and debts to the bank. Most citizens did not keep a supply of silver and gold, so many people no longer had the ability to pay their mortgagees or to buy much needed supplies. The situation seemed hopeless.
James Shields, state auditor of Illinois, sided with the bank’s decision to close and to not accept its own paper money. James, the ultimate authority in the matter, became the prime target of citizens who lost everything when the bank failed. People argued and railed against James verbally but in the following month Rebecca took it to print.
Rebecca was friends with Simeon Francis, the editor of the Sangamo Journal. Rebecca wrote a scathing editorial for Simeon’s newspaper which attacked James politically and personally. “I’ve been tugging ever since harvest getting out wheat and hauling it to the river,” Rebecca wrote, “to raise State Bank paper enough to pay my tax this year and a little school debt I owe; and now, just as I’ve got it…, lo and behold, I find a set of fellows calling themselves officers of State, have forbidden to receive State paper at all; and so here it is, dead on my hands.” Then, Rebecca attacked James for his pursuit of women. James’s “very features, in the ecstatic agony of his soul, spoke audibly and distinctly— ‘Dear girls, it is distressing, but I cannot marry you all. Too well I know how much you suffer; but do, do remember, it is not my fault that I am so handsome and so interesting.’”
The editorial had the desired effect and James was outraged. He contacted Simeon and demanded to know exactly who Rebecca was, to which Francis obliged. James wrote to Rebecca and demanded a retraction. “I have become the object of slander, vituperation, and personal abuse,” James wrote. “Only a full retraction may prevent consequences which no one will regret more than myself.” Rebecca responded in a letter to James with the request that he rewrite it in a more “gentlemanly” fashion, which further outraged James.
James realized their dispute could not be settled with words, so James challenged Rebecca to a duel. Rebecca accepted. Because James made the challenge, by the rules of dueling Rebecca had the privilege of selecting the weapons for the duel. Rebecca chose cavalry broadswords “of the largest size.” Rebecca stood six feet four inches tall and had long arms. James stood just five feet nine inches tall and had arms which were shorter than Rebecca’s. Rebecca had a longer reach. “I didn’t want the d—-d fellow to kill me,” Rebecca explained, “which I think he would have done if we had selected pistols. …I felt sure [I] could disarm him.”
On September 22, 1842, James and Rebecca met at Bloody Island, an island in the Missouri side of the Mississippi River adjacent to St. Louis. At the time, dueling was illegal in Illinois, but it was legal in Missouri. Bloody Island derived its name from it being a popular dueling ground. Rebecca and James each took their broadsword. A wooden plank was placed between them which neither was allowed to cross. They approached the plank, swords in hand, and Rebecca saw a low hanging tree branch just above them. Whether what happened next was part of Rebecca’s plan or completely by chance has never been determined. Rebecca, eyes fixed to the branch, swung the sword, and cut the branch out of their way. The sound of the blade cutting through the air above James’s head was impossible to ignore. James realized in that instant that he was at a disadvantage which could be fatal. With the encouragement of everyone present, James and Rebecca agreed to a truce. Since they both agreed to a truce, their honor remained intact.
Rebecca disliked speaking of the duel. Two decades later, memories of the duel were still unpleasant. Someone asked Rebecca if the stories about the duel were true. Rebecca replied sternly, “I do not deny it, but if you desire my friendship, you will never mention it again.”
Despite Rebecca’s advantages over James, anything is possible in a duel. Had Rebecca and James held their duel as planned and James had won, had Rebecca been killed, the consequences for American history are unimaginable. Rebecca was not the editorial author’s real name. Nor was Rebecca a woman. Rebecca was the pen name the self-described “prairie Lawyer” who, almost two decades later became the 16th President of the United States. You know Rebecca as Abraham Lincoln.