SHIELDS, JOSEPH C.

SHIELDS, JOSEPH C. (10 May 1827-21 Dec. 1898), CIVIL WAR artillery officer, businessman, and politician, was born in New Alexandria, Westmoreland County, Pa., son of John Shields. He was a tanner and furrier by trade, but between 1845-52 worked as a mechanic in Pittsburgh before moving to Cleveland in 1852. Shields was employed by Cleveland Transfer Co. (1852-53) and Cleveland & Toledo Railroad (1853-58). For 2 years, working for future Confederate leader Judah Benjamin, he superintended the building of a stage line across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Nicaragua. In 1860 he worked for Adams Express Co. in New Orleans, La. By Apr. 1861, he was back in Cleveland with Cleveland & Toledo Railroad. During the first 3 months of the Civil War, Shields served in Battery D, FIRST OHIO VOLUNTEER LIGHT ARTILLERY. In July 1862, he recruited the 19TH OHIO INDEPENDENT BATTERY, achieving the rank of captain on 28 July 1862. Shields resigned his commission on 15 Sept. 1864 to attend to business matters in Cleveland, becoming a passenger conductor on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, owning a grocery store, and running a paving contracting business. He was Cleveland city councilman (1867-68), deputy treasurer, Cuyahoga County (1886), and county treasurer (1889-94). Shields married Ellen S. Crawford in 1862. They had no children. Shields is buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.