At a banquet given a few nights ago to Brig Gen. Meagher, in honor of his appointment, Gen. Shields made a speech, of which the following is the substance. It is a grand rebuke of the imputations that have been cast upon his patriotism:
Said he, “I was in New Mexico when I first heard of the battle of Bull Run. I read the account in a Spanish paper, and I wouldn’t believe it. I felt sure that it must be an invention of our enemies, for I knew that the Spaniards were most persistent haters of everything American. I had fought in Mexico alongside of Northern men and Southern men, and I knew that both were brave. I did not believe that either would run away and if any man then had dared to tell that the account was true, I would have knocked him down. But shortly after I read the account in our own papers and I felt humiliated. I determined at once to come and offer my services to the Government, to be employed in any way in which I could be the most useful. I had no desire again to enter the field of conflict. I had suffered great privations in a soldier’s life; and I desired to spend the short remainder of my life in peaceful associations, and had you been successful I should have done so. But when I saw that you were defeated – when I saw that the Government which had so long protected me, and mine had received such great kindness, was in danger of being overthrown by the hands of traitors, I determined at once to leave my home in the far west, and devote what little blood was left in me, and the few years that remained, to its defence and support. For the future, till this war is ended and the rebellion overcome, I have no political feelings or preferences. Let us, I beg of you, during this conflict, have no Democrats, no Republicans, - but one party, - and that for our country – our whole country in all its integrity.”
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, March 6, 1862, p. 2
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