Shays's Rebellion Chapter 10
THE SHAYS REBELLION 191
Westfield, numbering somewhat less than a hundred. They pro-
ceeded in sleighs to look for the rebels, and for a time mistook
the road along which they were advancing. Deserting their
sleighs as the evening finally appeared they attempted a company
formation. There was a hot but brief skirmish, in which two
of the rebels were killed, more than thirty wounded, Captain
Hamlin among the number, one of whom died sometime after-
ward, and fifty were made prisoners by the co-operation of Capt.
William Walker and a body of troops arriving late from Lenox.
The loss to the militia was two killed, Mr. Porter of Great Bar-
rington, and Mr. Solomon Gleazen, schoolmaster at Stockbridge,
who had been taken prisoner there and was brutally thrust for-
ward by the rebels as a shield from the rain of bullets when the
firing began. The wounded man was Hugo Burghardt, afterward
a physician in Richmond. He had been seeking recovery from
illness at his home on the Stockbridge road, and on that morning
had started back to resume his studies at Yale College, but joined
the Lenox Company under Captain Walker and took part in the
pursuit of the rebels. That engagement between the two forces
is now marked by a monument on the road between Suffteld plain
and Egremont, across the highway from the road leading to the
Goodale quarries. It bears this inscription: "Last Battle of
Shays Rebellion was here Feb. 27, 1787"
Several amusing incidents of the raid have been sedulously
cherished by tradition.
A party of rebels visited the jail at Great Barrington for the
purpose of liberating the prisoners. The keeper, Ebenezer
Bement, had gone with the company to Sheffield, and the keys
were demanded of Mrs. Bement, "a bright black-eyed little
woman" who, having unlocked the door, sang to them while they
crossed the threshold :
"Hark, from the tomb a doleful sound,
My ears attend a cry,
Ye living men, come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie."
adding in explanatory warning, which proved well grounded, "for
we will have you all in here before tomorrow morning." A party
of the insurgents called at the house of Gen. Thomas Ives, who
likewise had gone to Sheffield, leaving his wife ill in bed and the
house in charge of a spinster neighbor. He charged her that
when the expected visit to his house was made by the rebels she
192 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
should treat them civilly, keep close watch upon them, and try
to ascertain who they were. Finding a large haircovered trunk con-
taining his papers, they insisted upon opening it to search for
arms, but the plucky custodian having finally convinced them
that it did not contain any, by prevailing upon them to measure
its length with one of their own muskets, they committed no
further depredations than to satisfy themselves with such
viands as the larder afforded, and copious potations of cider
which a boy brought up by the pailful from the cellar. The Gen-
eral returned late in the day, and having learned from his tempo-
rary housekeeper the identity of some of his visitors repaired to
the jail to look them up. Inspecting the crowd of prisoners he
asked who of them had been at his house that day, but every one
of them denied the implication. Then the General declared that
he knew that many of them had been there, and that in view of
the respect which they had shown his property and family he
had come to express his appreciation by treating them. Instantly
they plead guilty to a man, and he treated them as proposed.
At the session of the Supreme Judicial Court at Great Barring-
ton, held in March, 1787, many of the most prominent rebels were
tried, and Nathaniel Austin of Sheffield, Peter Wilcox of Lee,
Aaron Knapp of West Stockbridge, Enoch Tyler of Egremont,
Joseph Williams of New Marlboro and Samuel Rust of Pittsfield
were sentenced to death for high treason ; and the first five for
the aggravation of murder. For seditious words and practices
a citizen of Great Barrington was sentenced to pay a fine of £100,
to suffer imprisonment for seven months, and to give bonds of
£300 for his good behavior for five years. The death sentence
was in no case inflicted.
The ease with which the rebels could elude the pursuit of the
militia by taking refuge across the border line of the Common-
wealth in neighboring states, and the frequency wherewith such
a course was pursued, had a twofold result, the habit not only
exasperated the authorities here, but it also spread broadcast the
seeds of discontent and sedition. The name of Shays became a
slogan of the disaffected in each of the bordering states, north,
south and west, and what had hitherto been a local disturbance
threatened to become a general uprising of the people against
their several governments, with an outreach toward vague and
indefinable regions of the Confederacy. It was, therefore, not
alone to vindicate the honor and restore fully the authority of
THE SHAYS REBELLION 193
this Commonwealth, that the Governor was directed by the Gen-
eral Court to appeal to the Governors of adjoining States for
their co-operation in apprehending the fugitive criminals ; it had,
besides, a wider purpose, no less than the protection of those
neighboring governments from the distressing conditions of de-
fiant rebellion and civil strife which had been prevailing so long
within our borders.
But in spite of the manifest force of these considerations, re-
plies to neighborly appeals were in some instances gravely de-
layed, even after several communications had been dispatched by
General Bowdoin.
The incursion of Hamlin into Berkshire from beyond its west-
ern border was such an overt breach of interstate comity and so
defiant of the articles of confederation as to spur the General
Court to demand that the Governor take instant and decisive
action in the matter. But General Lincoln had already acted, as
is evidenced by the following letter published in the Hampshire
Chronicle of March 20, 1787, and to good effect:
New York, 4th March, 1787.
Sir — Mr. Williams of Pittsfield arrived in this city on the evening of
the 2d inst. with a dispatch from Gen. Lincoln, representing to the Gov-
ernor of this State the continuance and support which had been afforded
to the fugitives from Massachusetts by the people inhabiting a district
within this jurisdiction and adjacent to the county of Berkshire, and giving
information of the incursion made from this state into that county on the
26th ult. As your excellency will undoubtedly have received ofificial in-
formation of this event before this reaches you, we forbear the communi-
cation of any particulars on that subject. The intelligence received from
Gen. Lincoln was by the Governor laid before the Legislature yesterday
morning; and it is with real satisfaction that we now have the honour
to inclose to your Excellency a resolution which they adopted in consequence
thereof. * * *
We have the honour to be your Excellency's obedient and very humble
servants.
Rufus King
Nathan Dane.
His Excellency Governor Bowdoin.
A copy of the action of the Legislature follows :
State of New York. In senate. March 3, 1787.
Whereas it appears from undoubted information communicated to the
Legislature by his Excellency the Governour, that a number of Insurg-
ents from the State of Massachusetts have fled to the adjacent parts of this
state and are there embodied in arms — Therefore,
Resolved, if the Hon. the Assembly concur therein, that it be rec-
W. Mass. — 13
194 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
ommended to his Excellency the Governour to repair as soon as possible
to the place or places within this State where the said Insurgents shall
be, and to call out such military force from the militia of this State, and to
take under his command and direction within this State any of the militia
or other troops of the State of Massachusetts, and to take such other legal
measures as he shall deem necessary and proper for apprehending and
securing such of the said Insurgents as shall be found within this State,
and for preserving the peace of this State against the designs and attempts
of the said Insurgents, their aiders and abettors; and that the Legislature
will provide the expense. A>nd further, that the legislature do consent
that his Excellency may on this occasion be out of this State, from time
to time, as exigencies may require.
In Assembly, March 3d, 1787.
Resolved that the House do concur with the Honourable the Senate
in the said Resolution.
An extract from the journals of the Assembly.
John McKesson-Clerk.
Copy of a letter from General Lincoln to Governor Bowdoin :
Pittsfield, March 9th, 1787.
Dear Sir — I have the honor to inform your Excellency that as a result of
the inclosed resolve of the Legislature of New York, his Excellency Gov.
Clinton commenced his journey for New Lebanon on the 4th inst. On the
7th I met him there; he took lodgings with us at Pittsfield that night; the
next morning I accompanied him to New Concord, where were assembled
a number of his officers, both civil and military. In a masterly, spirited
and animated manner he stated their duty respectively, and urged them to
a faithful and punctual discharge of it; his sentiments I think were per-
fectly just, and many of them may be read in his General Orders.
Prior to his Excellency's arrival the insurgents were dispersing; his
approach increased their alarm, and there does not now remain in that state
any considerable bodies of them. The civil officers are directed to call
on the militia of that state, or on our officers for such militia force as
they may need in apprehending or dispersing the Insurgents.
The state of New York are perfectly disposed to serve us, and no person
is better qualified or better inclined, to execute their friendly intentions than
his Excellency the Governour. The insurgents are making their way into
'Vermont. I hope that State will adopt such a system as shall prevent any
111 consequences from the insurgents finding an asylum within their borders.
I have the honour of being, dear sir, with the highest esteem, your
Excellency's most obedient servant.
B. Lincoln.
His Excellency Governour Bowdoin.
Decisive action had been taken also across the northern border,
as shown by a letter from Governor Chittenden of Vermont to
Governor Bowdoin under date of Bennington, March 3, 1787, ex-
pressing deep regret that a State for which his own had such high
THE SHAYS REBELLION 195
regard should have had "its constitution and form of government
struck at and deeply wounded by some of her wicked and un-
grateful citizens, and it adds much to the uneasiness that we feel
on this occasion to know that the frenzy for insurrection is rapidly
spreading in other states, threatening a general introduction of
anarchy." He adds assurance that the civil and military authori-
ties of Vermont will co-operate in every possible way with those
of Massachusetts to restore and maintain order and preserve duly
constituted authority.
On the 11th of March Governor Bowdoin issued a proclamation
warning against the purchase of "any real estate from such per-
sons as are or have been concerned in the present Rebellion ; ex-
cept from such of them as are or shall be entitled to the benefit
of an Act passed by the said General Court, on the sixteenth day
of February last, describing the disqualifications of certain per-
sons ; and except to those to whom indemnity shall have been
promised in behalf of the General Court; Inasmuch as such con-
veyances, if the person conveying such estate should be convicted
of Treason, are, and will by law, be considered fraudulent and
illegal."
The Proclamation thus proceeds :
"And in further pursuance of the said Resolve, I do hereby
direct the Commanding Officers of the Government troops, in the
counties of Worcester, Hampshire and Berkshire, respectively, to
arrest all persons concerned in the present Rebellion, who shall
be moving out of this State with their property and effects, ex-
cept those who are entitled to the benefits of the Act aforesaid,
untill such persons shall be acquitted of the imputation of Treason
by a due course of law; or until they shall receive in behalf of
the General Court, a promise of indemnity by the Commissioners
appointed for that purpose."
The Proclamation of Governor Chittenden to which reference
has been made strictly commanded and enjoined all citizens of
Vermont "not to harbor, entertain or conceal the rebels. Shays,
Day, Wheeler and Parsons, or to take arms in support of insur-
rection."
That they had been guilty of affording to notorious fugitives
such countenance and support is evident not only from the official
report of General Shepard under date of Feb. 27, already quoted,
but also from the following item in the Hampshire Chronicle of
a date two days earlier: "We learn that the noted Daniel Shays,
196 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
commonly called General Shays, recently at the head of the 'gov-
ernment regulators' in this State, is now confined in the common
gaol at Bennington, for a debt under ten pounds to a farmer of
that State."
His incarceration was based, not on any crime in Massachusetts,
but on one committed while granted refuge in Vermont from the
clutch of officers of his own State.
Such co-operation having finally been secured from neighboring
States, the Governor was directed to inform Congress officially
that a rebellion existed in Massachusetts, for the purpose of se-
curing federal troops to guard the arsenal at Springfield, in order
that the local guard might be relieved. A further request was
made to secure the aid of federal troops raised in New York and
the States eastward of it in apprehending, and if necessary in de-
stroying, the rebels in any part of the United States. It was still
further asked that Congress should commission General Lincoln
under the authority of the United States, to employ the Massa-
chusetts forces in any region of the national domain, for the pur-
pose of arresting and bringing to justice the leaders of the
rebellion.
This series of official negotiations with authorities outside of
the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth is here cited in order to
indicate the magnitude and the seriousness of the movement
which bears the name of Shays' Rebellion, which is so vaguely
understood and so indifferently considered by the generality of
people of the present day.
After the most startling menace of organized resistance had
been averted by the shattering of its armed battalions the prob-
lem of allotting and administering penalties due to its ringleaders
and most violent abettors remained a long and perplexing one.
Great numbers of captured insurgents were held in prison charged
with varying degrees of criminality. Special sessions of the
Supreme Judicial Court were called for the counties of Berkshire,
Hampshire and Middlesex, and a regular session was due in Wor-
cester the latter part of April. In order to secure fair and un-
prejudiced juries a law was passed with a preamble relating to
the condition in which many rebels had been pardoned, which
forbade their service on juries for three years, and also declaring
the reasonableness of providing for the relief of any such as
might be unwilling to confess their criminality though they had
been guilty thereof, but who wished to avail themselves of the
THE SHAYS REBELLION 197
pardon which might be granted : Therefore it was enacted,
"that the selection of the various towns to which the venires
should be issued for jurors within one year, should withdraw
from the jury boxes the names of all such persons as they might
judge had been guilty of favoring the rebellion or of giving aid
or support thereto prior to their drawing out the names of the
jurors that might be called for by the venires. Provided, how-
ever, that if such persons should make application to the town to
restore their names to the jury box, and could obtain a vote of
the town at any town meeting afterwards to be called for that
purpose, to have their names so restored again, the names of
such persons should be so restored accordingly."
And in order to prevent those who had been guilty of insurg-
ency from serving as jurors in trials for treason or misprision of
treason, it was further enacted that if the attorney for the Com-
monwealth in any such trial should suspect that any jurors had
been involved in rebellion he might call the attention of the court
to the fact and secure its opinion respecting the disqualification
of such persons.
These sweeping enactments proved so eflfective as to impede
the process of law in some towns because so many of their citi-
zens had been concerned in rebellion as to leave too few to fill
necessary offices and perform necessary civil functions. It really
became expedient to shield from legal penalty many even of
those whose conduct had been very obnoxious. The General
Court, therefore, appointed three Commissioners early in March
to receive applications from any not already indemnified, and
after due inquiry as to their character, penitence and loyalty of
purpose, to exercise their discretion in granting to them in-
demnity, "with or without the further condition of the oflFender's
being bound to keep the peace, and to be of good behavior for a
term not exceeding three years."
Four offenders, however, were excluded from the scope of this
commission. Shays, Wheeler, Parsons and Luke Day together
with any persons who had killed or fired upon any citizens in
the peace of the Commonwealth, the commander of any party
guilty of such outrage, the members of the rebel council of war,
and any unliberated prisoners against whom the Governor and
Council had issued warrants.
The commission thus provided for, consisted of the Hon, Ben-
jamin Lincoln, Esq., commander of the army; the Hon. Samuel
198 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Phillips, Jr., Esq., President of the Senate ; and the Hon. Samuel
Allyne Otis, Esq., Speaker of the late House of Representatives.
While thus liberal with those who had not yet been willing to
accept of profifered offers of mercy, the General Court purposed
to make the execution of justice in cases of extreme heinousness
swift and impressive.
That the widespread disaffection and its violent expressions
had not been without effect upon existing statutory conditions is
evident in changes actually accomplished, in addition to what had
been done at the preceding session of the General Court. In
response to the widespread popular demand this session was
marked by a reduction in the number of terms holding the Courts
of Common Pleas and general Sessions of the Peace in the sev-
eral counties; a new fee bill lessening considerably allowances
to public officers ; and the appointment of a committee to inquire
whether there were any real public grievances under which the
people of the Commonwealth labored, which reported three such
grievances. The subjects concerned the seasonable and prompt
payment of interest due on public securities, the need of greater
restriction upon the Treasurer in drawing orders and the exces-
sive salary of the Governor.
In the attempt to put down the Shays Rebellion and punish
those who aided and abetted it, a case of local interest was that
of Abner Fowler of Southwick, the oldest brother of the Hon.
famuel Fowler. The following court record indicates the penal-
ties which he incurred as an opposer of the established order:
Hampshire s.s. Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
At the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth at Massachusetts
begun and holden at Northampton within and for the County of Hamp-
shire, on the Ninth Day of April in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred
and eighty seven by adjournment to that time from the first Tuesday of
the same April by writ in Virtue of an Act by the General Court made in
February last past —
Commonwealth vs. Abner Fowler Seditious misdemeanor.
The said Abner Fowler is set to the Bar and has his Indictment read
to him, he says that thereof he is not guilty, and thereof for Tryal puts
&c. A Jury is therefore impanneled and sworn to try the Issue vgt. Lemll
Pomeroy, Foreman and Fellow Namely, Jona Clark, Martin Clark, Aaron
Fisher, Benjamin Tappan, Joseph Lyman, Simeon Clark, Moses Kingsley,
Timothy Mather, Gideon Searl, Leml Coleman, and Josiah White, who
after hearing all matters and things concerning the same return their
Verdict, and upon their Oath say that the said Abner Fowler is Guilty.
It is therefore considered by the Court that the said Abner pay a fine
to the use of the Commonwealth of Fifty Pounds, suffer Imprisonment
THE SHAYS REBELLION 199
for Twelve months, Recognize in £150, with sufficient Surety of Sureties
in the like sum for keeping the Peace and being of good Behavior for
Five years, pay Cost of Prosecution and committed until Sureties be per-
formed.
Extracts from the Courts Minute Book.
Att. Chas. Cushing, Cler.
There follows in the Archives the
Petition of Abner Fowler —
To his Excellency John Hancock Esq., Governour and Commander
in Chief in and over the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to the
Honourable the Council of said Commonwealth.
Abner Fowler of Southwick in the County of Hampshire, now an
unhappy Prisoner in Gaol at Northampton —
Humbly Showeth
That your Petitioner was convicted at the Supreme Judicial Court
holden at Northampton in the County aforesaid in the month of April
last post of aiding and abetting in the late unhappy Rebellion tho never
in arms against the Government of this Commonwealth, and was sentenced
by the said Court to pay a Fine of Fifty Pounds, to be imprisoned for
one year and to find Sureties for Good behaviour for Five Years. Your
Petitioner is now duly sensable of his unjustifiable Conduct, and is sincerely
sorry for the same and hopes & believes his conduct for the future will
be that of a peaceable member of Society, That he has Suffered a part of
said confinement vigt. for about two months, in a loathsome Gaol; Your
Petitioner therefore most humbly prays Yours Excellency & Honours
interposition to exercise those powers vested in you by the Constitution
and Grant your unhappy Prisoner a Discharge from imprisonment with a
Remission of the Fine aforesaid, and the injoyment of a Free Citizen
altho' Justly Forfeited his right thereto; or otherwise order as shall seem
most Just and reasonable and your Petitioner as in duty Bound will ever
pray.
Abner Fowler.
Northampton, June 4th, 1787.
(Mass. Archives, The Shays Rebellion, Vol. I, pp. 392-4.)
The clemency of the authorities toward those who had offended
thus was shown in this as in many another case. The prisoner
was released from confinement, but there was no response to that
part of his petition which related to the fine of fifty pounds, which
probably had to be paid. There is a tradition in the family that
Abner and his brother Silas, who was also involved in trouble
due to resistance of governmental authority, were assisted by
their loyal brother Samuel to migrate to the Western Reserve and
make trial of life in that virgin territory.
The following letter written nine and a half years before the
skirmish at the arsenal gives a defininte impression of the extreme
200 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
illiteracy of Shays. It was sent to his old friend at the familiar
lounging place :
Putnam Heighth's, June 2Sth, 1778.
Mr. Conkey, Sir — After my Kind Requist to you I wish to inform
that I am well & in good health, hoping that these will find you & your
family as well as these leave me. I have wrote to you once before but
hearing you have not Rec'd my Letter from me & understand that you
have been Drafted with these last men I write to you now for you to
inform] the selectmen of the town by showing them this Letter that
you have hired Jacob Toorell for to do eighteen months service for you
on consideration of your paying him ten pounds for that space of time
which I saw you pay him the money.
Thinking that these few lines will be sufficient for to clear you for
the present time I thought I would embrace this opportunity to write to
you for your Security. Having nothing Remarkable for news & hoping
these will find you and yours well I must Conclude.
Your Friend and Servant,
Daniel Shays.
To Mr. William Conkey, Tavern Keeper in Pelham.
The grave of Shays was discovered not long since at Sparta,
Livingstone Co., N. Y., with a small slate marker rudely inscribed
"D. Shays," the work of a late-day friend of his, Samuel Craig,
a blacksmith. He died at Sparta, Sept. 25, 1825, aged 85, eight
years after General Shepard died. Millard Fillmore, afterward
President, visited him late in life, when Shays was old and feeble,
and expressed surprise that he should have been able to secure
such a following. Shays was a farm hand at Hopkinton, where
he was born, and entered the army when he was thirty years old.
During the recess of the Legislature seven hundred and ninety
persons accepted the benefit of the commission, and the Supreme
Judicial Court convicted of treason six persons in Berkshire, six
in Hampden, one in Worcester county and later, one in Middle-
sex, all of whom were sentenced to death. Many besides were
convicted of seditious words and practices, among them a con-
siderable number of "persons of consequences, and some of them
in office."
Holland in his History of Western Massachusetts gives a de-
tailed account of the persons convicted of the most serious
offenses, from which citations will here be freely made :
Those who were condemned to death in Berkshire were Samuel
Rust of Pittsfield, Peter Williams, Jr., of Lee, Nathaniel Austin
of Sheffield, Aaron King of West Stockbridge, Enoch Tyler of
Egremont and Joseph Williams of New Marlboro. Several others
THE SHAYS REBELLION 201
were condemned to pay fines and to give recognizance in various
sums to keep the peace for from three to five years.
At the session of the Supreme Judicial Court held at North-
ampton from April 9 to 21, Jason Parmenter of Bernardston,
Daniel Luddington of Southampton, Alpheus Colton of Long-
meadow, James White of Colerain, John Wheeler of Hardwick
and Henry McCullock of Pelham were sentenced to death.
Seven others were sentenced to suflfer various penalties for "ex-
citing and stirring up sedition and insurrection in this Common-
wealth." ' Moses Harvey, a member of the Legislature, was con-
demned to pay a fine of £50 and to sit on the gallows for one
hour with a rope around his neck. Silas Hamilton, Esq., of
Whittingham, Vt., for stirring up sedition in this Commonwealth,
was sentenced to stand for one hour in the pillory and be publicly
whipped with twenty stripes on the naked back. Samuel Rose
received a similar sentence. The one condemned to death in
Worcester county was Henry Gale of Princeton, and the one in
Middlesex was Job Shattuck of Groton, who had resisted arrest
so fiercely and been so severely wounded in the previous autumn.
Holland notes the fact that of all the sentences thus passed the
only one actually inflicted to the full in its original form was that
imposed upon Moses Harvey.
Death warrants were issued early in May in the case of
Parmenter and McCullock respectively, which fixed the 24th of
that month as the date of their execution. Earnest eflforts were
made to secure a pardon for McCullock, and he, with Parmenter,
was reprieved by the Governor to June 21. Petitions for his par-
don were signed by many citizens, including 7Z from Hatfield and
44 from Hadley.
A large majority of those from Pelham in their petition dated
May, 1787, had been active insurgents and had taken the oath of
allegiance during March and April preceding.
Gen. Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr., of Amherst sent an earnest appeal
to Lieut. Gov. Thomas Gushing for the pardon of McCullock.
The condemned man himself also sent a petition to the Governor
in which he pressed an earnest plea for pardon.
On the day before that set for their execution, McCullock and
Parmenter were reprieved for four weeks, and as the expiration
of that period drew near formal preparations were made for a
most impressive execution of their sentences. Great crowds of
spectators from all the surrounding country were naturally ex-
202 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
pected to gather, and to preserve order and prevent any mad
attempt of the crowds to interfere with the legal proceedings the
volunteer companies of the town were strengthened and a detach-
ment of militia under command of General Shepard was ordered
down from Northfield. Early in the morning of June 21, the day
appointed for the execution, the expected multitudes began to
pour into town. The usual religious services had been arranged.
The prisoners, under a strong guard, were marched from the jail
to the meeting house but the multitude being far too large to be
accommodated within its walls, the prisoners and their guard were
drawn up in front of it and the officiating clergymen stood in one
of its windows. The opening prayer was made by Rev. Enoch
Hale of Westhampton, and the sermon was preached by Rev. Mr.
Baldwin of Palmer from the text, Rom. 7:21, "I find then a law,
that when I would do good, evil is present with me," suggesting
a more forbearing and charitable treatment of the case of the pris-
oners than was often shown. Trumbull, in his "History of North-
ampton," thus described the scenes which followed :
Then the procession with the sheriff and his deputies escorted by the
soldiers, resumed its mournful way through the ever increasing crowd to
the scaffold. At the foot of the gallows, where all was in readiness for
the closing scene, and when everybody was waiting in anxious expecta-
tion of their final taking off, the high sheriff produced the reprieve and
the criminals were remanded to their former quarters in the jail. The
government had shown its hand, had proved its power to carry out the
decrees of the courts, but, at the last moment had also established the
fact that its justice was tempered with mercy.
In the Hampshire Gazette of May 30, it was intimated that
such clemency on the part of the government might have been due
to its fear of a threat of the insurgents to take the lives of two
reputable citizens of Worcester County held by them, in reprisal
for the death of these prisoners.
Judd, in his Diary, thought the proceeding "unaccountable,"
and added, "People are much chagrined at the Prisoners being
reprieved." The date then set for their execution was Aug. 2,
subsequently postponed to Sept. 20, and finally they were par-
doned, as were the dozen .^ther offenders under capital sentence.
An interesting sidelight on the sturdy character of one of the
insurgents is recorded in a local history of western New York :
William Hencher of Brookfield had been a sergeant in Capt.
Daniel Gilbert's company of Col. Job Cushing's regiment, and was
in active service from July 30 to Sept. 2, 1777, one month and three
THE SHAYS REBELLION 203
days. The company marched from Brookfield to Bennington and
Half Moon on the Hudson, July 30, 1777.
In "Phelps & Gorham's Purchase" (Orasmus Turner, pp. 41)
it is recorded that Hencher became one of Shays' men and while
transporting provisions to the insurgents he was called to account
by the military forces of the government. Forsaking his team
he fled to western New York and was there joined by his family
a year later. In February, 1792, he moved upon ox sleds by way
of Seneca Lake. Late in March they occupied a hut at the
mouth of Genesee River, the first habitation of a white man on
the shore of Lake Ontario between that river and Fort Niagara.
He purchased 600 acres of land, prospered by trading, reared a
family of children, one son and seven daughters, all of whom
married and settled in the neighborhood before his death soon
after the war of 1812.
Although the collective assaults upon the existing order had
well-nigh ceased, still some of the leaders of the insurrectionary
movement were very busy trying to secure help outside the
borders of the Commonwealth, in neighboring States, and even
in Canada, whither some of them went and made strenuous
efforts to gain that end but without success. They represented
there that the predatory outbreaks which had already occurred
were but preliminary to a general uprising, and were loud in their
threats of disaster to all who should oppose them. It was to an
extra session of the General Court, the fourth of the year, that
the Commissioners presented their report, and it was from that
session that Governor Bowdoin took formal leave, expressing the
best wishes for the welfare of the Commonwealth and the hope
"that the people might have just ideas of liberty, and not lose it
in licentiousness, and in despotism its natural consequences."
John Hancock had already been elected to succeed him by the
preponderating vote of the rebels and their sympathizers. They
had also changed very materially the complexion of the new Leg-
islature which was about to convene, and upon these results of
the election they based ardent hopes that their cause would reap
decisive benefits. But in his opening speech Governor Hancock,
expressing full acquaintance with the disturbed condition of
aflfairs, submitted the question whether it would not be expedient
and necessary to continue in the field an adequate force of militia
until all opposition had been overcome and all disorders had been
quelled in Hampshire and Berkshire. It was finally decided that
204 WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
not less than 500 and not more than 800 men should be kept in
the field in the western counties, and that all excepting nine men,
who should take the oath of allegiance before Sept. 12 ensuing,
should be pardoned. A vote on a general pardon in the House
was defeated by a majority of 26, standing 120 to 94. Nor was
the question of a repeal of the bill to suspend the writ of Habeas
Corpus carried through though vigorously supported.
"Thus did the Governor and Legislature condemn the policy
and the sentiments which had placed them in office, and thus did
they indorse and confirm the policy of Gov. Bowdoin." (Holland,
History of Western Massachusetts, Vol. I, p. 289.)
Hancock, the newly elected Governor, at an early date met the
demands of the insurgents for a decrease in the salary of his office,
by sending to the General Court a message voluntarily offering
the Commonwealth for its use and benefit, £300 of his salary.
The gift was gratefully accepted with the statement of a deter-
mination to consider, at some future day, the question of the
constitutionality of the reduction of the Governor's salary by that
body. It was a further indorsement of the policy and attitude of
Governor Bowdoin and the General Court which had been con-
vened from time to time during the incumbency.
Instead of gratifying the radical desires of the dissatisfied
citizens who had secured the election of the new Legislature by
repealing previous acts and subverting previous policies, it aston-
ished the public and disappointed many constituents by ratifying
and repeating previous actions. It condemned the issue of paper
money, continued the tender act and coercive measures against
the insurgents, and voted supplies for the troops in the field.
According to Holland, "such a rebuke to the prejudices of a popu-
lar constituency has no parallel in the legislation of the State."
Affairs had become so settled that on Aug. 13 the Governor
reduced the number of troops in active service to 200, and that
remnant was finally discharged on Sept. 12, giving unquestionable
evidence that the authorities were convinced that the safety and
peace of the Commonwealth were no longer menaced by the forces
of disorder and treason.
In February, 1788, just beyond the first anniversary of the
attack upon the arsenal, Daniel Shays and Eli Parsons presented
a petition for pardon, making most humble and earnest asserva-
tions of penitence for their errors and misdeeds and assurances
of good behavior in the future. They had long realized their
THE SHAYS REBELLION 205
wrongdoing in not trusting for relief from grievances to the wis-
dom and integrity of governmental authorities. They claimed at
the same time that their previous course had been the result of
misapprehension and had not been due to abandoned principle.
The act of general amnesty finally passed by the Legislature
on June 13, 1788, justified all officers and others who had arrested
suspicious persons who had used property in the course of public
duty, who had entered or quartered troops in houses while at-
tempting to suppress rebellion and support the government. It
indemnified all gaolers and sheriffs from whom prisoners had es-
caped, or had been prevented by rebellious persons from serving
executions.
The resolution also granted immunity from punishment of all
citizens who had been concerned in the insurrections, not con-
victed thereof, except against private suits for damage done to
individuals, on condition of their subscribing to the oath of alle-
giance to the government within six months. The nine persons
excepted from the indemnity of the year before, June 13, 1787,
were bound besides by the condition that they should never hold
any civil or military office in the Commonwealth.
In no better way could the care and accuracy of account-
making by the military officials of those days or their reasonable-
ness in claiming pay for public service be illustrated than by
quoting from the pay-roll, now in the archives :
Pay Roll of the General and Staff Officers of the 4th Division of the
Militia of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, For Services Done From
August, 1786 to March, 1787.
William Shepard, Major General £96.
Robert Oliver, Deputy Adjutant General 15.
William Lyman, Aid de Camp 25. 6 8
Abel Whitney, Aid de Camp 27. 13 4
Samuel Mather, Junr, Aid de Camp 6. 13 4
William Smith, Deputy Quartermaster General 18.
Samuel Mather, Esq., Surgeon General 8. 14
Warham Mather, Surgeons' Mate 3 17
£200. lis. 8d
N. B. The Original Sworn To Before William Shepard,
Mr. Justice Spponer. Majr. Genii.
(Massachusetts Archives, Shays Rebellion, Vol. 4, p. 82.)
Hannah Adams' quaint little school book published 1807, called
"Abridgement Of History Of New England," gives a most inter-
esting composite of her own shrewd opinions and those of the
206
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
historian Minot, under the chapter-heading "Difficulties After
The Peace."
The spirited conduct of General Shepard, with the prudent firmness
of General Lincoln drove the leaders from the State and restored tran-
quillity. Even the leaders who were held responsible afterwards petitioned
for and obtained pardon on condition that they should never accept or
hold any office, civil or military under the Commonwealth. These events
were overruled for great national good. For, from the obvious defects
in the Articles of Confederation, the people were induced to see the neces-
sity of establishing a form of government equal to all the exigencies of
the Union.
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