Then he went to California for
a year. August 19, 1861, President Lincoln, his old-time enemy,
presented him with a brigadier-general's commission; but two years
later he gave this up, and settled on a farm in Missouri. He remained
in retirement for a while, but eventually emerged to become a
member of the legislature, a defeated candidate for Congress,
adjutant-general of the State, and finally, in 1879, once more a
United States Senator, serving about six weeks of an unexpired term.
He thus had the rare distinction to be a United States Senator from
three States. In his later years he delivered lectures--"Reminiscences
of the Mexican War" and "Recollections of Eminent Statesmen and
Soldiers." He died suddenly at Ottumwa, Iowa, June 1, 1879. General
Shields has been variously rated by his contemporaries. That he was a
man of considerable ability is conceded, and he possessed the warmth
and generosity common to his race.--_J. McCan Davis_.]
[Illustration: MRS. NINIAN W. EDWARDS.
From a painting by Healy, owned by her son, Mr. A.S. Edwards,
Springfield, Illinois. Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards was a sister of Mrs.
Lincoln. Her maiden name was Elizabeth P. Todd. She was born at
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1813, and died at Springfield, Illinois, her
home since 1835, February 22, 1888.
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