Thomas Shields

b 1763, , Augusta, Virginia			James Shields	>
d 04 Mar 1797, Sevierville, , Tennessee		William Shields
	John Shields	b 1668	Thomas Parker
	\| b 1709	Mary Parker	Eliza
Robert Shields	d 1772	b 1668
\|b 09 Nov 1749	\|	Robert Perry
\|d 18 Jan 1802	Margarette Perry	b 02 Feb 1676
\|	b 21 Oct 1710	Leah Morris
Thomas Shields		b 10 Feb 1679
\|Rhonda		Davis Stockton
\|m 1783	Richard Stockton	d 1769
\|, Sevier, Tennessee	\|	Sarah
Nancy Stockton
b 1749	\|
	A. Agnes

Children

1		Joshua Shields
2		John Tipton Shields

Notes

Thomas Shields enlisted in the Revolutionary War under General John Sevier. On 7 October 1780, he fought at the Battle of King's Mountain. After being mustered out he spent a year hunting and exploring in what is now the Great Smoky Mouintains National Park. For nearly two years more he wandered through the area of the mountains returning to his father's home in Sevier County, Tennessee.

In 1795, Thomas and his two small sons were boiling sap in the sugar maple orchard on Birch Creek when he was shot from ambush. Ordering his sons to run, he rolled behind a log within reach of his rifle. He shot one of the Indians before he was killed. Thomas was the only Shields son killed by Indians. His death can be fixed fairly accurately by a newspaper clipping found in the Knox Gazette dated 6 March 1797.

'Just as this paper was going to press we received information that Thos. Shields was killed by Indians in Sevier County, They cut his head nearly off, took out his bowells, otherwise shockingly cut and mangled him. The youth lived with his parents Robert Shields and Nancy Shields at Upper Middle Creek section of the County.'

Source: 'Kin of my Grandchildren, Vol III', Judge Noble K. Littell, 1992, p 15, 18. 'Shields Family', Christine B. Brown, 6 February 1980, p 58. 'Sevier County, Tennessee and Its Heritage', 1994, p 340.

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