Joshua Shields is listed as a soldier who was a Corporal under Capt. John Tipton's Company, Harrison Co., Ind., in the War of 1812. In the Battle of Tippecanoe he is listed as a Private under Capt Spencer's Co., Mountain Rifleman, Ind. Records indicate he married Indiana pioneer and public servant John Tipton's sister, Rhoda.

Trigger warning: biographies are taken verbatim from family history books with uncensored original language.

The following event befell Joshua Shields and his brother, who were sons of Thomas Shields of the "Ten Brothers," born in 1763. "Three Kansas Pioneer Families" contradicts "The Shields Family" as to Joshua's birthplace, and being the later volume, "Three Kansas Pioneer Families" is probably more accurate.

In "The Shields Family," privately published December, 1917, reprinted March 1, 2017, John A. Shields states that Birch Creek is "about ten miles southeast of Sevierville, Tennessee" and that at the time their father was killed the two boys "were eight and ten years old."

[Thomas]'s son, Joshua, was the first white child born in what is now Sevier County, Tenn., in 1785. In 1793 Thomas and his two small sons were boiling sap in the sugar-tree orchard on Birch Creek when he was shot from ambush and mortally wounded. Ordering his sons to run, he rolled behind a log within reach of his rifle. A marauding party of 12 Cherokees rushed into the clearing and he shot one of them. While they parleyed, the boys escaped.* They saw the savages tomahawk, mutilate and scalp their father. Thomas was the only one of the "Ten Brothers" killed by Indians, a most remarkable fact considering that half the male settlers of Tennessee between 1780 and 1795 were killed by savages.

* Dr. John Alwin Paul Shields, of Sevierville, contributes the following about this incident: "Thomas had brought the boys on a sled drawn by an old blind horse, which was left in a ravine near the orchard. While the Indians hesitated, after one had been killed, the children unhitched the horse, mounted it and started for Shields Fort, six miles away. They had a fair start but were near enough to see the savages scalp their father. Spying them, the Indians pursued. On they sped, down the creek, across the river, through the valley. For two miles the Indians were within sight. Then the boys crossed the river again and made a final dash over the hills and hollows for two miles to the Fort. The Indians made a desperate effort to catch them, but the old blind horse successfully made this perilous run over some of the roughest country in Tennessee. I have traversed every foot of the ground they passed over. Only the Omnipotent kept the horse from falling and saved the lives of the two boys."

From "Three Kansas Pioneer Families: Stalker-Shields-Martin" by John A. Shields, privately published in a limited edition of 200 copies, May, 1949.

Joshua Shields, one of these lads, was born in Knox County, Tennessee. He was married to his cousin, Rhoda Tipton, a daughter of Janet Shields Tipton. He died in Clay township, Cass County, Indiana. Upon settling in Indiana, in Harrison County, he enrolled in the militia, and served in the war of 1812; he was with General Harrison at Tippecanoe where he was wounded in the arm. He died Jan. 22, 1852, and his wife died July 7, 1837. They had five children: John T., Nancy, Thomas, Arnet, and Jane. All of them died young except Arnet. He was born in Harrison County, Ind., Jan. 28, 1816, and was married to Jane Irvin on May 11, 1837. His children were John T., Rhoda, Joshua, Edwin, Rebecca, Matilda, Robert, Isabella, and George W. Rebecca married R. J. May.

From "The Shields Family" by John A. Shields, privately published December, 1917, reprinted March 1, 2017.