Then & Now: A History of Rice County, Faribault & Communities

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Henry M. Rice (1817-1894)
U.S. Representative from Minnesota
Territory (1853-57), U.S. Senator from
Minnesota and the man for whom Rice
County was named.
effect the sale and removal were the ruin of the
Winnebagoes. They became idle, dissolute,
mischievous. The white settlers could not endure them,
and the Indians themselves tired of their confinement
to a narrow area.
"Accordingly in 1846 a treaty was effected for
exchange of the neutral ground for a reservation of
800,000 acres in Northern Minnesota. A tract lying
between the Watab and Long Prair,fe Rivers, west of
the Mississippi, was obtained from the Chippeways for
this purpose. But this plan did not work out, the
Winnebagoes were disgruntled and unwelcomed by
others and the tribe eventually disintegrated.
Elected Congressman
' ' Rice continued his fur trading, Indian
commissioner and political activities. Henry Sibley
served through the Thirty First and Thirty Second
Congresses with admirable efficiency, and Rice, a
Democrat, did not oppose him. Mr. Sibley was
permitted to return to private life at the close of his
second term and devote himself to closing up . his
relations with the American Fur Company, of which he
had remained the head. Mr. Rice was elected to
succeed him by a three-fourths majority vote over
Alexander Wilking, his Whig opponent.
"The Minnesota legislature met December 2, 1857,
and in joint convention, by a close vote of 59 to 49
decided to recognize Samuel Medary, formerly of
Ohio, as Governor. In his message he recognized the
body as a state legislature. Still there was doubt about
the legal status of the houses, and there was little
desire to undertake business which might turn out to be
illegitimate.
''The Republican members entered formal
protests against any legislation. There was, however,
one bit of business which the Democratic majority felt
could not be postponed and that was the election of two
United States Senators. That was virtually settled in
caucus. Henry M. Rice, as everybody expected, was
nominated without opposition. The second place, for
the short term, went, after several ballotings, to
General James Shields of Shieldsville, Rice County,
who was a newcomer and little known in Minnesota.
"He had served with distinction in the Mexican
War, filled many offices in his former State of Illinois,
and served a term in the Senate of the United States. It
was a bitter pill for such Democratic wheelhorses as
Sibley, Brown and Gorman to swallow. Franklin
Steele, one of the first University of Minnesota Regents
and a donor of Minneapolis real estate to the
University, never forgave Rice for failing, as he
claimed, to throw the election to him. Shields was
everybody's second choice and the expectation was
that his personal influence would procure many good
things for the state.''
Shields - triple senator
By CATHE RINE E. SPARTZ
General James Shields, who left his name on Rice
County in the early days, was one of the most colorful
men in all of American history. Usually remembered
as the only man ever to be a senator from three states,
he had a much more brilliant and exciting career than
that special achievement.
He was born the son of Charles and Katherine
McConnel Shields in County Tyrone, Ireland, in May
1806 or 1810 (there is some controversy over the exact
date) in County Tyrone, Ireland.
Education, even of the most rudimentary sort, was
impossible for hundreds of families in Ireland at that
time, but James was ambitious and lucky. He received
his education (and it was an excellent one) from those
of knowledge with whom he came in contact: old
veterans of the Napoleonic wars; a retired priest from
Maynooth College; an uncle, Patrick Shields, who had
taught in America, fought in the American Revolution
and in the War of 1812. And Patrick Shields, the soldier,
encouraged James to seek his fortune in America.
He left Ireland (some historians say at age 16)
sailing from Liverpool, destination Quebec, but during
a violent storm off the Scottish Coast the ship sank with
all hands lost except the captain of the ship, a sailor
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