Shays's Rebellion Chapter 10

 

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.