THE SHAYS REBELLION 151
and a line of policy urged upon the government, as to be worthy
of quotation in full:
Westfield, 17 Decemr. 1786.
Sir, — I am now to acknowledge the honor of your Excellency's letter
ot the fourteenth instant by Majr Shepard just come to hand. I am aware
of the policy of some persons to let the insurgents proceed, presuming that
they will undeceive themselves, or precipitate with their own rashness,
or that they might be reclaimed with moderate and lenient measures, and
in support of such an hypothesis advance that in government as much
judgement is necessary to know when to recede as in merchants when
to loose, which hypothesis, altho I do not fully admit, I shall not wholly
reject.
But I would beg to leave to suggest that it appears unseasonable and
ill-timed to either procrastinate or introduce lenient measures untill the
government have given proofs of their force and ability, otherwise clemency
appears to proceed from inabilit)'' or pusillanimity, and comes with an ill
grace.
It now appears absolutely expedient to enforce the laws since neither
the rashness of the insurgents or the mitigating steps of assembly have
been productive of the tranquility that many expected.
To begin with supporting the Worcester Court, as Your Excellency
mentions, it will be necessary to save the risk of blood that two thousand
should march from the lower counties, I should presume, under the com-
mand of General Lincoln, whose high reputation would avail greatly in
such an expedition.
From this county and Berkshire I can march one thousand; what number
can be raised in Worcester County I am uncertain, but should suppose
one thousand, which constitutes in all four thousand which under the com-
mand of General Lincoln would be amply sufficient to restore order and
peace in a very short time. Respecting supplies I believe provisions can
easily be furnished from this county, but spirits and some other articles
must be sent from Boston; however, it appears that the bussiness would
not require a very long time.
I shall take early opportunity to transmitt your Excellency further
information and more particular plans if coercion takes place, which, should
it be the case, a system for supplying the whole ought previously to be
concerted, tho I can furnish provisions for the troops of my division if
it is best.
I have mentioned Berkshire above, altho it may not be worth while
for them to march, as I can raise one thousand in this county willing
to tarry one or perhaps two months in case they should be wanted; how-
ever your Excellency will have the opinions of the Generals Lincoln,
Brooks, and Cobb capable of better plan than I can be at present, especially
at this distance and so little time to weigh the affair.
I am yr Excellency's most obedt hum. servant,
Wm. Shepard, Majr Genii.
His Excellency James Bowdoin.
(Massachusetts Historical Collections, Seventh Series, Vol. VI, pp.
119-20.)
152 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
The Boston Chronicle of December 27, 1786, published the fol-
lowing letter from Springfield relative to the exploit of Shays and
his rabble :
There is a stagnation of almost every kind of business among us by-
reason of the tumults which are so prevalent here. Yesterday we had an-
other visit from the mobility; about 350 men marched in hostile array,
with drums beating and took possession of the Court House, commanded
by Shays, Day and Grover, in order to prevent the sitting of the court of
common pleas, which by law was to have been held here at that time. This
they effected as there was no opposition on the part of the government.
It was not possible for the court (as they were surrounded by an armed
force and a guard placed at the door of the room in which the judges were
met) to proceed to do business. They therefore informed a committee who
were chosen by the insurgents to wait on them that they would not at-
tempt to open the court. After which, about dark, the insurgents left
town.
The citizens of Springfield were greatly amazed by this act of
the insurgents, as the authorities at Boston must have been, since
no preparation had been made to forestall it. The indignation
was so intense and widespread that a local organization was im-
mediately afterward formed to resist further aggression and main-
tain public order.
It was while Shays had his headquarters at Worcester that his
cause began to seem to him hopeless. The attempt to overthrow
the government, to make revolutionary changes in the whole civil
fabric, substituting for the Constitution which had been adopted
a few years before an entirely different one, of just wdiat pattern
he himself had but the vaguest idea, in all probability, his lieu-
tenants and rank and file being even more befogged than he, all
that seemed more than could be accomplished by any forces which
he could feel confident of commanding, and certainly beyond the
reach of such as he had already mustered. His despondent atti-
tude is indicated by the result of an interview which it is said
that a confidential agent of the government secured with him.
The officer asked him, "Whether, if he had an opportunity,
he would accept of a pardon, and leave his people to themselves?"
It was left optional with him to answer the question or remain
silent. But he promptly replied, "Yes, in a moment." The officer
having reported this answer to the Governor and Council, they
empowered him to assure Shays that if he would immediately
leave the insurgents, retire to his home, and conduct himself in
the future as a law-abiding citizen, he might be sure of pro-
THE SHAYS REBELLION 153
tection; and in case he should be convicted he should be pardoned
by the Governor and Council. But the commission thus intrusted
was afterward returned, there having been found no opportunity
to execute it. How different would have been the course of sub-
sequent events had the plan succeeded !
The insurgents were in such need of arms and equipment that
they naturally turned covetous eyes toward the arsenal in Spring-
field, for the protection of which the Continental authorities dur-
ing the later Revolutionary period had maintained a guard. Fear-
ing for the safety of the valuable munitions there stored, a
correspondence was entered into by General Knox, Secretary of
War, who appealed for the help of the militia.
A letter from General Shepard to him sets forth the danger
of conditions then existing, and shows as well the fiery indigna-,
tion against traducers and traitors which stirred his righteous
soul:
Westfield, December 20, 1786.
Dear Sir, I addressed a letter to you of the 7th inst. since which time
I have had information which alarms me. Our insurgents say that they
have a letter in their hands, which they give out they found, subscribed
by you and directed to me containing directions for me to remove the
artillery arms and ammunition from the arsenal and magazine at Spring-
field. This or something else has given a new alarm in this town and they
have sent out already expresses to every quarter.
What their intentions are I cannot determine but the report now in
circulation is that they do not mean that the arms and military stores should
be moved as they intend to keep them under their own command. I would
be much obliged to you to give me the earliest intelligence whether yon
have directed any letter to me since I saw you at Springfield the 3d of
October last. If you have sent any letter no doubt it has fallen into their
hands, and I shall at least be able to determine whether this new devil
is originated by this accident. If you have wrote none since that date I
must suppose this alarm has arisen from their own consciences. You are
sensible, Sir, that the insurgents are in a desperate situation, they must
either carry their point or lose their lives. They have and will no doubt
adopt the most desperate measures to defend and support themselves.
I am surprised that they have not seized the arsenal long before this
time and erected their standard at Springfield. I cannot be answerable
for those stores, situated as I am without men, money or provisions. I
have spent my whole time for three months past opposing mobs and at-
tending the General Court and sending expresses on every occasion when
I found it necessary, until I have spent all my money and have no im-
mediate prospect of receiving any reward. In addition to this I have lost
eight years hard service to support the lives and property of a set of
damned rascals who are daily threatening to cut my throat. I am told
154 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
they talk of retaliating on me for the captivity of Shattuck and that I am
to be sent to the gaol in Great Harrington in the county of Berkshire. Till
which time I have the honor to be with much esteem.
Your most obedient
humble servant
Wm. Shepard.
He has already made application to the Secretary of War for
the use of such national property stored in Springfield as might
be necessary to equip adequately the militia under his command,
and written later to Governor Bowdoin relative to the Secretary's
reply and to appeal to the state for supplies denied by the nation.
A final convention in the county was held at Hadley, January
2, 1787, but under a very illiterate president and differing widely
in spirit from the long line of its predecessors. Its temper was
so mild as to recommend the people to lay down their arms and
depend upon the more praiseworthy procedure of seeking redress
by petition. To the bolder spirits it seemed so feeble and timorous
that they lampooned it in the public prints, and in one instance
represented it as the "Robin Hood Club" which had died at Had-
ley, followed by an elaborate description of its obsequies, the whole
a labored and lame attempt at scathing sarcasm.
The Governor and Council, in the absence of the legislature,
having been informed of the latest exploit of Shays at Spring-
field, though lacking some overt features which might have marked
it, were thoroughly aroused to the crisis which was upon the Com-
monwealth. More vigorous and decisive measures than had yet been
employed were brought to the maintenance of exisiting institutions.
Anarchy stalked grimly across the public domain. The fabric
which had been reared at such immense cost of blood and treas-
ure was undermined and threatened with collapse. Only the bold-
est and sternest policy could save it, and deliver the old Bay
State from a doom that would make it a hissing and a by-word
throughout the Confederacy.
It was imperative that forces of law and order, which weeks
before had been ordered to complete preparations for action, should
actually grapple with the great undertaking of repairing the ma-
chinery of justice and scattering the hosts which had lifted unholy
and treasonable hands for its destruction.
Court was due to convene at Worcester on January 23, and
there was danger that the lawless regulators would attempt to
interfere with it. As Minot says, "This was to stride over the
lines which the government had distinctly marked out for their
THE SHAYS REBELLION 155
defence. It might be said to be passing the Rubicon in this con-
test, and to involve one or other of these consequences, that the
whole constitutional powers of the Commonwealth were to be
prostrated at the feet of usurpation and conquest, or that the lives
and fortunes of the adventurers were to be forfeited for a treason-
able attempt against their country."
It would no longer be sane and justifiable to depend on strictly
local forces, civil or military, to preserve the peace and maintain
governmental functions. The militia, as the ultimate dependence
of the Commonwealth, must be employed in strenuous wrestle
with the hosts of disorder and directed to any district that should
be threatened. The Council therefore resolved, that 700 men
should be raised in Suffolk, 500 in Essex, 800 in Middlesex, 1,200
in Hampshire, and 1,200 in Worcester, the whole amounting to
4,400 rank and file, a formidable army in those days and circum-
stances. Four companies of artillery from Suffolk and Middle-
sex were to form a part of the force. The several contingents
were to rendezvous at three different points, Boston, Worcester
and Springfield, according to the districts wherein they were
mustered. Major General Lincoln, who was appointed to supreme
command, had two special qualifications for the responsible and
delicate service demanded ; he had an honorable military reputa-
tion and a mild and humane temper, in both those respects resemb-
ling his capable subordinate. General William Shepard. It was
extremely fortunate that the latter was thus endowed, because
upon him fell the necessity of bearing the brunt of the conflict
and making the crucial decisions of the short campaign. The ex-
ecution of the government program, as has been seen, required
men, and men required a commissariat, for the best soldiers in
the world are no better than fresh conscripts if doomed to fight
on empty stomachs. Furthermore, in those days rations consisted
of food and grog, as General Shepard insisted in one of his urgent
dispatches.
But neither men nor rations could be supplied without money,
and there was no Legislature in session to vote it. In the general
impoverishment of the State and the great bulk of its citizenship
then pressing, the problem of ways and means was emergent. In-
deed, the question of raising funds instantly needed seemed as
staggering as that of the disciples on the lake shore relative to
feeding a multitude about the size of the militia force here re-
quired. The place of the resourceful Master was in this exigency
156 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
taken by some noble and broad minded citizens of Boston who,
"from a conviction of the necessity of maintaining good order,
and from a consideration of the exigencies of government, volun-
tarily offered a loan to support the publick cause."
The Commissary General and Quartermaster General v^ere dir-
ected by the authorities to use from this loan an amount not ex-
ceeding £6000 in meeting necessary expenses. It is pleasing to
be assured that the Legislature at its next session provided for
the full payment of this timely loan.
While the forces of the militia were gathering, on the 12th of
January, Governor Bowdoin issued an address to the people of the
Commonwealth setting forth with considerable fullness existing
conditions, the reasons for recent decisions, and the plans of action
put into operation.
"Men of principle, the friends of justice and the constitution,
were enjoined to unite, and by their union, if it should be as firm
as the insurgents had been obstinate in trampling justice and the
constitution under their feet, it was observed, a regular administra-
tion of law and justice would be established without the horrors
of a civil war, which were ardently deprecated, and which the ut-
most endeavours would be used to prevent. But unless the force
appeared, the greatest calamaties seemed inevitable." (Minot, In-
surrections in Massachusetts, pp. 96-7.)
The decisive action of the authorities, when once thoroughly
aroused to the critical state of public afiFairs, disturbed the in-
surgents and filled them with concern for the immediate future.
Without relaxing military preparations, they sent a petition to
the authorities at Boston, stating conditions upon which they
would preserve the peace, namely, that state prisoners should
be liberated, that the Courts of Common Pleas might be adjourned
to the next election, and that a general pardon should be granted
to all insurgents. They protested that the petition was devised
and presented, not from any fear of death or penalties which might
be inflicted for lawlessness, but moved solely by a desire "to
prevent the cruelties and devastations of civil war." It was, of
course, rejected.
Three days later, January 15, Shays and four other leaders dis-
patched a document to their various officers throughout Hamp-
shire pressing them to muster their respective commands, fully
armed and equipped, with ten days' rations, and that they should
rendezvous near Dr. Hind's in Pelham by Friday the 19th inst.
THE SHAYS REBELLION 157
It contained also the declaration that "the Governor and his ad-
herents" were resolved to support the Courts "by the point of
the sword" and besides "to crush the power of the people at one
bold stroke, and render them incapable of ever opposing the cruel
power, Tyranny, by bringing- those who have steped forth to ward
off the evil that threatens the people with immediate ruin, to an
unconditional submission, and their leaders with an infamous pun-
ishment." (Hampshire Gazette, January 24, 1787.)
Dr. Nehemiah Hinds kept a tavern on Pelham east hill, where
the insurgents were summoned to gather by the call of Shays,
and there many of them were quartered before the retreat to Peters-
ham. The tavern stood on the site of the present parsonage of the
Congregational church in Prescott. The sign of the tavern con-
tained a painting of a horse held by a groom, and was hung on
a post set into the bed-rock in front of the building. The hole
into which the post was set may still be seen, about six inches in
diameter and two feet in depth.
Two plans were earnestly considered by the insurgent leaders,
one involving a movement upon Boston for the release of Shat-
tuck, Parker and Page from confinement there ; the other an at-
tempt to seize the arsenal at Springfield and the valuable military
stores which it contained as preliminary to the attack on the
Capital. It will be recalled that it was on account of the pre-
vision of General Shepard that such a plan was frustrated in the
previous occupancy of the city by the Shays mob. Meantime the
General had not been unmindful of the danger to that property of
the national government which at any moment might become
imminent, and had secured orders for its protection from the Sec-
retary of War.
Four days after the Shays manifesto was dispatched to his sub-
ordinates, looking forward to a concentrated movement upon
Springfield, the following orders were issued to General Lincoln :
Boston, January 19, 1787.
Sir, You will take command of the militia, detached in obedience to
my orders of the 4th instant. The great objects to be effected are, to pro-
tect the Judicial Courts, particularly those next to be holden in the county
of Worcester, if the Justices of said courts should request your aid; — to
assist the civil magistrates in executing the laws; or in repelling or appre-
hending all and every such person and persons, as shall in a hostile manner,
attempt or enterprise the destruction, detriment or annoyance of this Con-
monwealth; and also to aid them in apprehending the disturbers of the
publick peace, as well as all such persons as may be named in the state
158 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
warrants, that have been, or shall be committed to any civil officer or
officers, or to any other person to execute. * * * On these attempts to
restore system and order I wish the smiles of heaven, and that you may
have an agreeable command, the most perfect success, and a speedy and
safe return; and am with much esteem.
Sir, your most obedient servant,
James Bowdoin.
Hon. Major General Lincoln.
Two days later he wrote to General Shepard expressing sat-
isfaction that he had taken possession of the arsenal with so re-
spectable a force, and referring him to General Lincoln to learn
about "supplies of beef, bread, rum, forage and fuel." He explains
that the money advanced by the merchants of Boston and vicinity
was to be used solely for supplies, not for the pay of the militia,
and suggests that in case of necessity the gentlemen of fortune
and ability in these parts would be equally ready to advance
money for the same patriotic purpose, but he reckoned without
his host as the later desperate appeals of General Shepard, based
on his inability to raise either funds or rum hereabouts, show.
The Governor concludes, "As to the arsenal at Springfield it is
expected that you defend it at all hazards ; the particular meas-
ures for that important purpose must be left with you as exigencies
require."
In response to letters from General Lincoln and General Shepard
to the Governor, the Council advised him to give such further
orders as should enable him to apprehend all persons dangerous
to the public peace and welfare, particularly in the Counties of
Worcester, Hampshire and Berkshire where the disturbances were
most general and the danger was most imminent.
Just at this point, immediately preceding the engagement which
proved to be the crucial point of the widespread and long-con-
tinued conflict between the established order and the forces of
discontent and revolt, it is natural to attempt an analysis of the
elements which constituted the lawless force.
It was a strange and heterogeneous combination of diversified
factors. Many people united against the government who differed
widely among themselves in their attitude toward specific questions
at issue and specific ends sought. The apparently intimate rela-
tionship between particular grievances rankling in many breasts,
and the various courts which purported to administer justice and
correct abuses, led many to wink at high-handed outrages against
the duly authorized mechanism of legal procedure, who, but for the
THE SHAYS REBELLION 159
aggrieved state of their minds at that epoch, would have abhorred
such anarchistic attacks. "The discontented of every class, there-
fore, united at this important stage of the contest, without much
attention to the difference between their several complaints, or
their proposed systems of reform. Many who only wished for an
alteration in the Judicial Courts were entangled with others who
intended, if possible, to prevent the administration of justice in
any way."
So those moderate reformers, who wished for some changes in
statutes and methods which would relieve undue burdens from the
backs of citizens overwhelmed with debt and incapacitated by
poverty, were swept away by the tide of insurgency with the
extreme radicals who demanded wholesale repudiation of financial
obligations and a desperate overthrow of the very Constitution
itself.
Tories who had intrigued against, insulted and exasperated the
self-sacrificing patriots, now drilled shoulder to shoulder with
them under Shays in Pelham and Day in West Springfield with
sprigs of hemlock in their hats and bludgeons or muskets in their
hands. Verily, "misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows."
"Thus," Minot concluded, "was formed a chequered but numer-
ous body, some have supposed a third part of the Commonwealth,
to aid, or at least not to contend against, the resistance made to
the sitting of the courts." He estimated that another third of
the population was neutral. If his conclusions were substantially
correct it is readily seen that the existing state of affairs was
momentously serious, demanding a large amount of wisdom and
power in dealing with the menacing forces of disintegration. The
times were seriously out of joint, and a skillful hand was needed
to articulate them again and restore their functional utility.
On the 10th of January, 1787, warrants were issued by Governor
Bowdoin to the Sheriff of Hampshire County for the arrest of
the following ringleaders of the insurgents in that county, declar-
ing "that the enlargement of the above named persons is dangerous
to the Commonwealth, its peace and safety."
Captain Asa Fisk of South Brimfield, Alpheus Colton of Long-
meadow, Luke Day of West Springfield, Captain Gad Sacket of
Westfield, Captain Aaron Jewett of Chesterfield, Captain John
Brown of Whately, Samuel Morse of Worthington, Captain Daniel
Shays of Pelham, Joseph Hinds of Greenwich, Captain Joel Billings
of Amherst, Obed Foot of Greenfield, Captain Abel Dinsmore of
160 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Conway, Captain Matthew Clark of Colrain, Samuel Hill of Charle-
mont, Captain Thomas Grover of Montague, John Powers of
Shutesbury.
Sheriff Elisha Porter announced in his report to the Governor,
"Day, Colton, Clark and Brown, jailed, — the others not found."
Evidently, Day at least managed to secure his freedom within the
fortnight succeeding, wherever he had been incarcerated.
It is a noteworthy fact that the list of names in the schedule
above corresponds exactly, name for name, with the Committee
appointed some time previously to raise and organize a body of
troops composed of six regiments.
Captain Gad Sacket of Westfield, included in the list, was a
son of Daniel and Mary (Weller) Sacket, born April 13, 1748,
and married to Lucy Williams, February 11, 1773, by whom he
had eight children, six of them born before this date.
His brother. Captain Daniel Sacket, was one of the prominent
citizens and patriots of the town, who had represented the town
as delegate to several of the county conventions called to consider
grievances. Gad served several months during 1775 in the defense
of his country.
Notorious as Shays became as the chief promoter of insurgency
and open rebellion, it is perplexing to study carefully his attitude
toward the whole movement revealed by his replies to General
Rufus Putnam as fully reported by the latter to Governor Bowdoin,
January 8, 1787. They were given in Rutland, and at that time,
only about a fortnight before his bold approach to the Springfield
arsenal, he insisted that his earnest effort had been to restrain
the insurgents from bloodshed ; that his name had been signed in
his absence by Grover to the order to the Justices at Springfield;
that the Committee had ordered forces to march against his wishes ;
and that he was not nearly as prominent in the general movement
as was commonly supposed. It may have been that he wished to
mitigate the bitterness of the prejudice against him of the man
who had been captain of the company in which he first enlisted
and fought at Bunker Hill and elsewhere.
In the early part of Januar}^ General Shepard did not realize
how serious the situation was to become within a fortnight. In-
deed, he wrote from Northampton as late as the 12th assuring
General Lincoln that two or three hundred men would be ample
for the defense of the arsenal, and that he himself with the balance
of his command might be spared to march to Worcester to aid in
THE SHAYS REBELLION 161
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