Jefferson Shields, Former Body Servant and Confederate Veteran, Lexington. Va.
Date:
ca. 1911
Description:
Shields was the body servant of Colonel James Kerr Edmondson, Company H, 27th Virginia Infantry, "Stonewall Brigade" during the Civil War. Shields, shown here wearing several medals awarded to him by Confederate Veterans Groups, claimed to have also cooked for General Thomas "Stonewall " Jackson.
The Black Hand was an underworld society of Italians that thrived in Sicily in the late 19th century. After the great migration, immigrants of the group settled in West Virginia and sought to extort money from other Italian immigrants to the area. Several members of the Black Hand were successfully prosecuted for murder and extortion in the early 20th century.