Benjamin Glover Shields: Politician, Inventor, and Advocate for Union (1811–1892)

Benjamin Glover Shields, politician, inventor, planter, and U.S. collector of customs at Galveston, was born on his family’s plantation in Abbeville, South Carolina, on January 9, 1811, and was the second of six children to his parents Samuel Bayard Shields and Milley (also listed as Willie) Harris (Glover) Shields. Shields moved with his father to Jackson, Clarke County, Alabama, in 1819 and entered Franklin College in Athens, Georgia, in the fall of 1827 but later was forced to withdraw due to the illness of his father. He then continued his studies at South Carolina College in Columbia, South Carolina, but withdrew during his sophomore year in 1830 after his father’s death to manage the family plantation.

In 1832 Benjamin G. Shields married Sarah Thomas Harwell and lived in Marengo County, Alabama. The couple had four children, two of whom died in infancy while another died in childhood. His wife died in 1852 during childbirth. Their surviving son, Samuel Robert Shields, died of yellow fever in Galveston during the epidemic of 1864 while he was serving in the Confederate Army.

Shields, representing Marengo County, was elected to the Alabama legislature in 1834. He served consecutive terms in this position and stepped down in 1839. From 1841 to 1843, Shields served as a Democrat representing Alabama’s at-large district in the Twenty-seventh U.S. Congress. He then served as a delegate to the 1844 National Democratic Convention at Baltimore, where he worked for the nomination of James K. Polk who went on to win the election for president of the United States. Shields subsequently was appointed to the position of chargé d'affaires at Caraccas, Venezuela, by President James K. Polk on March 14, 1845.  He served in this position until 1850.

Upon his return from Venezuela, Shields developed “the firm conviction that slavery was not only wrong from a moral standpoint, but a curse and a blight on the section that maintained it.”  His opposition to secession and his public stance against slavery was detrimental to his political career. Despite his opinions, his friends urged him to run for Alabama governor as a “Union” Democrat. Shields declined the support and in December 1851 moved to Falls County, Texas, where he engaged in cotton planting. He remained a staunch supporter of the Union and opposed secession in a county that voted almost unanimously to secede. Leading up to the Civil War, Shields became one of the few Republicans in Texas.

On August 4, 1853, B. G. Shields married Elmira A. Hall in Baldwin County, Alabama. No children were born to this union, and she died in 1907.

In September 1856 Shields filed for a patent (No. 15746) on a device to make improvements to a handheld machine for gathering cotton in the field. It is unknown if this invention became a commercial success. He was a member of the convention assembled at Austin in 1866 under President Andrew Johnson’s administration for the formation of a new Texas state constitution.  It was reported that during the Constitutional Convention of 1866, Shields’s motive was to “harmonize public sentiment by restoration of the lost confidence and loyalty of the people” in their government.

President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Shields to the position of collector of customs for the Galveston District in 1874. Shields served in this position until 1879. While serving in this office, he began to lose his eyesight. He retired from public life and returned to his home in Marlin near the present-day town of Lott in Falls County. Throughout his adult life, Shields used the title “General” although he never served in the U.S. military.

Benjamin Glover Shields died at his home on November 15, 1892. Later in his life, the Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas described: “General Shield’s public life had been remarkable for usefulness beyond the common lot of mankind. He has maintained a place in the affections and confidence of his countrymen, which but few, comparatively enjoy. He has discharged the duties of the various offices which have been conferred upon him, with unassuming dignity and ability….”

Shields was a member of the Cambellite Church. He was interred at the Calvary Cemetery in Marlin. Shields was survived by his wife Elmira and Shields Key, an adopted nephew.