***"\... unwilling to stain the land . .."\****

(\*Capt. Daniel Shays to General Benjamin Lincoln, January 30th, 1787)

**Conflict and ambivalence in Shays's Rebellion**

by Richard Colton, Historian, US NPS

Springfield Armory NHS

One Armory Sq., Ste. 2

Springfield, MA 01105-1299

January 25^th^, 2007

The militia, about 800 in ranks and well-armed, stood their ground
awaiting the advance of the insurgents, of like number, under the
command of Captain Daniel Shays nearly three-quarters of a mile up the
road leading into Springfield. Massachusetts militia Major General
William Shepherd, described by those who saw him that day as "an active,
cool, brave, and deserving officer,"[^1] commanded and held a field
piece at the ready before him in full view should the rebels advance in
earnest. The Regulators, known as rebels, insurgents, or disaffected by
those who opposed them, were poorly armed with no artillery to match the
militia's. Nearly half the insurgents, according to one observer, were
"armed with muskets, but very few of them with bayonets, the rest with
clubs, billets of wood, etc."[^2]

Three days passed before the Supreme Judicial Court adjourned and the
insurgents dissipated that Thursday, September 22^nd^, 1786. General
Shepherd had, the previous Saturday, crafted a warning note to
Massachusetts Governor Bowdoin concerning rumors of possible rebel
interest in the unguarded Federal arsenal on nearby Continental
Hill.[^3] Four months later, January 26^th^, on another Thursday,
Shepherd's fears were be realized when he would report to Governor
Bowdoin that "\[T\]he unhappy time is come in which we have been obliged
to shed blood."[^4]

Much has been written (and recently portrayed in film!) that describe
that January 25^th^ incident as a clash of arms. Such descriptions,
though in conformity with the justifications given by state leaders for
the bloody price paid by the rebels on January 25th, 1787, are, however,
at variance with the testimonies and accounts of witnesses and
participants. The only gunfire was that of the defending militia\'s
artillery tearing into the rebel column - a column of men that never
fired a musket or deployed for battle. The rebels, it appears,
anticipated overrunning the Arsenal without serious conflict as they had
the court houses in earlier protests, i.e., through a combination
protest/military march and show of force empowered by a righteous cause.
Their ambivalence to the likelihood of battle was matched, in turn, by
that of many in the defending militia.

Accounts by participants of that day were later made in an effort to
rationalize and explain the tragedy of bloodshed among neighbors and
within communities . . . most often recorded by the victors in their
reports to state and federal officials. Few such accounts by the rebels,
scattered and defeated as they were, have survived. Secondary and
tertiary descriptions, including George Richards Minot's 1788 [History
of the Insurrections in Massachusetts]{.underline} written shortly after
the event, continue to form our own lens into the past. As well, the
central role of the rebellion in the formation of opinion supporting a
strengthened federal constitution just a few months later continues to
echo among us today who live in a nation looking to that same
well-thumbed document for some sense of our present order . . . and
feared disorder.

**A Clash of Arms**

About Noon, Thursday, January 25^th^, 1787, marching west on Boston Road
toward Springfield, the 1,200 to 1,400 armed rebels formed a column
broken into separate platoons of eight men across as they came within
sight of the defending militia at a distance of between 500 and 1,000
yards.[^5] The weather was described as cold with about three feet of
snow on the ground to the north.[^6] Two months earlier, a blizzard, one
of several, had covered the land.[^7] About that time, Shays and more
than 1,000 fellow Regulators had left Worcester and marched to Rutland,
seeking the old barracks there that saw use during the Revolutionary
War. Joined by Luke Day, of West Springfield, with about 200 men, the
rebels found they were forced to billet some men among nearby
inhabitants. Clearly, the rebels needed shelter for so large a force. To
that end, Shays marched his men to Springfield's Continental Hill, as
Springfield Arsenal was sometimes referred to, with its large stores of
military equipment and unused barracks. Meeting Joshua Woodbridge of
Northfield, as the column approached Springfield that morning; Captain
Shays enquired whether Woodbridge knew if there was enough room in the
barracks for all his men.[^8] Woodbridge confirmed that there likely was
room, to which Shays stated that it was his intention to lodge there
that night. Woodbridge, who had just come from Springfield, then warned
of the danger posed by the defending militia. But Shays was confident in
his troops. The Regulator's desire for barracks seems to have been
understood, as well, by no less than Major General William Shepherd,
himself, as he awaited the rebel column.[^9]

The new moon was less than a week old.[^10] For several hours the
insurgent column halted while several militia officers rode out from
their defensive positions to parlay with the rebel leaders. Warned that
they would be fired upon if they advanced, the rebel leaders rejected
the defenders' warning and prepared to advance. The time of waiting
passed for reinforcements of about 700 more men from West Springfield,
under the command of Capt. Luke Day, to support the attack. Unknown to
Shays's Regulators, Day's message informing them that the West
Springfield force had no expectation of action this day was intercepted
by the militia standing before them.[^11] Luke Day also sent Shepherd a
letter earlier in the day demanding the militia's immediate
surrender.[^12] Duty-bound as the senior Massachusetts military officer
present, Shepherd remained unmoved.

Among the rebel leaders supporting Capt. Luke Day was Moses Sash of
Worthington and Cummington, described in his indictment two months later
as "a Captain & one of Shaizes Councill"[^13] and an African American.
Sash likely experienced the rebellion with hopes of righting social
inequities beyond economic and class issues to include historical racial
oppression. And, like so many of his comrades, he has served as a
Continental Army soldier in the Revolutionary War. Sash, 27 years old,
described as 5' 8" tall with black skin and eyes and wooly black hair,
was a farmer who had moved to Cummington from Stoughton.[^14]

At about 4 in the afternoon, with the sun low over the western hills one
hour before sunset, the rebels saw little of the defending militia to
the west who revealed their mounted troops and sentinels drawn up
between the arsenal, the low-lying workshops, and barracks to the north
of the artillery. A company of hastily-gathered infantry, "the General's
Guard -- composed of lawyers students merchants and scholars"[^15] - was
placed somewhere close to the right of the artillery. From here, Major
General William Shepherd of Westfield, standing by the field pieces and
the Guard, directed the defense. Nearby, under the command of Capt.
Isaac Williams, another infantry company was posted to the right of the
two guns.

Captain Williams and Daniel Shays had known each other during the
Revolutionary War. Four months before, when Shays and his men shut down
the Court House in Springfield, Williams and the company he commanded
fell in and was, in turn, saluted by Shays and his column as they passed
before the defending militia. The gulf that separated them on this cold
January day, tragically, would permit no such generous formalities.

A meeting of militia Captain Buffington, accompanied by Captain William
Lyman, Aide de Camp to Maj. Gen. William Shepherd, and rebel commanders
without Shays, occurred just before the final rebel advance. Warned of
what lay ahead, the rebel officers at first doubted that Shepherd was in
command since they could not see him on either of the two horses in
view. The rebel officers, offering to provide a meeting between Shays
and Shepherd, were then rebuffed by Buffington and Lyman who immediately
returned to the militia lines minutes before the column marched.[^16]

Riding again to within seventy-five yards of the rebel column to observe
whether the rebel force would move left or right, possibly to form a
battle front, Lyman and Buffington were soon approached by another
mounted Regulator officer named Wheeler. Warned of the danger ahead,
Wheeler, as had the rebel officers Buffington met earlier, responded
angrily to the threat. At that point, the column began its final charge
and the officers, militia and rebel alike, returned to their own
lines.[^17]

Captain Adam Wheeler, of Hubbardston, was not a man to be trifled with.
A fifty-five year old veteran of the French and Indian War, he was a
Captain in the Revolutionary War serving at Lexington, Bunker Hill
(alongside Daniel Shays) and at White Plains. Two and a half months
earlier, he stood up to be counted, defending the Worcester County
convention petition and the memory of the Revolutionary War in a letter
to ***The Worcester Magazine*** when he wrote:

> "We have lately emerged from a bloody war, in which liberty was the
> glorious prize aimed at: - I early stepped forth in the defence of
> this country, and cheerfully fought to gain this prize; and liberty is
> still the object I have in view . . . in this glorious cause I am
> determined to stand with firmness and resolution."[^18]

Unknown to the Regulators, the mounted militia forming a single line
across their path masked the presence of the two field pieces and a
howitzer.[^19] The two guns, loaded with a single iron cannon ball each,
soon made their presence felt by the time the rebel column had marched
only a hundred yards.[^20] As the militia light cavalry turned right and
left away from these guns, called "Government Puppies"[^21] by the
rebels, the muzzle of each recoiling field piece barked and flashed as
solid shot ripped the air, alarming a number of mounted rebels in the
rear of the column as the projectiles roared by them in succession. The
column, spurred by this, advanced rapidly now, accelerating to a trot
with the boom of the guns. Efforts by Shays to redeploy into battle
front at this point proved to be fruitless in the noise and rush of the
moment. The rebel column, in fact, never deployed for battle, but
marched directly into the fire of the defending guns in column formation
-- in much the same formation they had often assumed in their successful
court house seizures. Within seconds, death would come to the rebels for
the first time since the rebellion had begun.

In the front ranks of the rebels were about four hundred seasoned
veterans of the Revolutionary War who, upon seeing the guns fire, threw
themselves to the ground allowing the killing shot to pass overhead
before quickly rising to their feet in an attempt to rush and overwhelm
the gun emplacements. The first two defending shots had been
intentionally aimed to fall wide of the column as a warning.[^22]

Such kind mercies were not thereafter forthcoming as the guns, ordered
by General Shepherd to strike the rebels "at waistband height,"[^23]
tore into the center of the column.[^24] These next two solid shots from
the field pieces hit the advancing rebels at the point just east of
Federal Square where Boston Road (present-day State Street) makes a
shallow turn to the westward. This was the mid-point of the column, with
those in the front ranks allowed to rapidly advance momentarily
unmolested. The fourth shot was especially damaging, killing two
outright and mortally wounding a third. About this time, in the rush to
fire this shot or the next, one of the defending militiamen, Sergeant
Chaloner,[^25] tasked with sponging hi gun to extinguish any burning
embers within the bores after each was fired, [^26] became confused by
the discharge of the gun next to his and, thrusting the fleece-covered
wooden plug on its long wooden shaft into his loaded gun's bore instead
of into the discharged gun, lost both his arms as the gun was
fired.[^27]

Both guns and howitzer now threw grape shot -- a shotgun-like spray of
dozens of inch-wide iron balls. At this point, the discipline of the
advancing column failed just as the front of the column came within
close range of the defenders' guns and long seconds from overrunning the
artillery positions. Eight to ten blasts of grape shot were quickly laid
upon the charging front ranks until the howitzer, positioned south of
Boston Road and just southwest of today's State Street and Walnut Street
intersection, was firing across the road hitting the tall sandstone
marker, known as the Wait Marker. The field pieces, which had done most
of the firing up to that point, lay somewhere to the northwest of the
intersection of today's Federal and State Streets. The Wait Marker to
this day bears pock marks from the grape shot fusillade on its western
face (from the field pieces) and southern face (from the howitzer).

The desperate rebels had gotten very close, indeed, before the deadly
crossfire ceased. As the veterans in the front ranks broke, they joined
those from the rear who were already fleeing eastward on Ludlow Road. So
rapid was the flight of the forward wave of rebels that their commander,
Captain White, was left standing alone in the forefront of the
dissolving column. Stopping, he looked behind and then angrily glanced
toward the militia before quickly laying his musket on the ground and
jumping over nearby bushes to rejoin his comrades. On the ground lay
three slain rebels with a fourth, named Spicer from the town of Leyden,
mortally wounded. Many more rebels were wounded but survived.[^28]

The militia's mounted troops then attempted to ride after the scattered
rebels, but were restrained from doing so by General William Shepherd
until such time as the Regulators should mount a counter-attack.
Shepherd, fearing a continuation of the action, remained on his guard
throughout the darkness of the night and all the next day until
reinforced at mid-day on the 27^th^ by General Lincoln's militia column
from Boston. By all accounts, not a musket had been fired on either side
except for a few harmless passing shots by rebels at mounted militiamen
in the hours before the final rebel advance earlier that day. General
Shepherd, in his report to Governor Bowdoin the day following the
action, described finding three loaded rebel weapons on the field.[^29]

**A Clash of Dreams**

The War of American Independence created twin offspring that,
Janus-faced, embraced both past and future. One sought to preserve
itself amid pressure to change, and the other, altered by that very
experience, was drawn willingly into a new future. Shays's Rebellion was
the time and place when the external "enemy" had been pushed aside and
the twin natures of the Revolution came, painfully, face to face.

Those who marched with Daniel Shays, Eli Parsons, Adam Wheeler and Luke
Day on January 25^th^, 1787, felt they had the weight of law and
tradition on their side. It was with such righteous determination that
they challenged the legislature and governor who had clearly forfeited,
in the Regulators' eyes, any authority to govern. To Shays's followers,
the rebel column was not outside the system - it was the system. The
rebels had not taken the law into their own hands. Rather, the law had
never left their hands. They were not rebels but, rather, Regulators of
a government that required correction.

This ethos was clearly stated in the Hatfield Convention address "to the
PEOPLE \[of\] this County," January 4^th^, 1787, three weeks before the
clash on Continental hill in Springfield:

> "We are a republick -- government rests upon the shoulders of the
> people; therefore why should any be inactive in such a day as this,
> when perhaps their happiness and that of generations yet unborn,
> depend upon their exertions. Furthermore, we may do well to consider,
> that ***a kingdom or house divided against itself, cannot
> stand***."[^30]

This last phrase, from Matthew's gospel, resonated powerfully among such
God-fearing people as these!

Such values also governed the actions and thoughts of many who stood
among the militia on Continental Hill, as the Arsenal site was known.
They, however, were held in their ranks through ties to the emerging
nation state. Daniel Stebbins of Springfield, a sophomore at Yale with
growing attachment to the elite, joined what he later described as the
"Feather Bed Company" - a group of lawyers, students, merchants, and
scholars including 16-year old James Byers, Jr.,[^31] son of James
Byers, an employee of the federal arsenal. They were typical of the
'better sort' seen turning out across the state in support of government
and against the 'disaffected' lower orders.[^32] Stebbins was ". . .
placed in the rear rank, leaving Elias Hitchcock in the front rank who
had been an Old Soldier & at this time had in his Knapsack his blanket &
three days provision - . Never watched the cat the mouse more
attentively than I did the Insurgents over Hitchcock's shoulders. .
\...\..."[^33]

Other militiamen clearly expressed their ambivalence toward their
military obligation by not reporting for duty at all. Certainly, nearly
all the rebels were listed as militiamen in their own communities.
Regulators, however, fulfilled this duty to protect their community
against the usurpations of state leaders whose policies, they felt, were
destroying their families and communities.[^34] Among those who did
appear as militiamen were many who failed, in turn, to come prepared
that day with sufficient arms, accoutrements, and ammunition as they
would have for even a routine monthly training day.[^35] To alleviate
this deficiency, Gen. Shepherd asked for and received, in the nick of
time, tacit permission from federal Gen. Henry Knox to use the
federally-owned arms and ammunition stored at the Springfield Arsenal
"to be returned the instant the danger should subside. But . . . related
solely to an attack on the arsenal, and on the principle, that it could
not otherwise be defended."[^36] These weapons consisted mostly of
thousands of Revolutionary War-era flintlock muskets, principally
French, and light field artillery including 3 or 6-pounder guns and five
and a half inch bore howitzers.

As members of the elite, the militia's senior officers clearly accepted
and supported the ascendancy of the nation state over that of any sense
of governance so rooted in the people at large. Officers who didn't were
likely to be found in the ranks of the Regulators. The commander of the
militia at the Arsenal, Major General William Shepherd, expressed the
elite's viewpoint succinctly in a letter to Knox that events would
determine "the decision of the question whether we are to have the
satisfaction of living under a Constitution and fixed, permanent and
known laws, or under the misrule of Anarchy."[^37] Both Captains William
Lyman and Samuel Buffington, militia officers, understood this when they
rode out to the Regulator column warning rebel officers in no uncertain
terms "that General Shepherd was posted not only by the authority of the
state, but by Congress, and that the Post would be defended at all
hazards."[^38] This was something of an exaggeration since, as Shepherd
well knew. Congress had not met to respond to the crisis and Gen. Knox
had made this clear when he wrote Shepherd during the final preparations
for the anticipated rebel advance:

> "There has not been any Congress which could proceed to business, . .
> . it is entirely out of my power to appropriate any of the public Arms
> or Stores without an order of Congress. This want of power applies
> equally to the sale or loan of the Arms or Stores- I feel for your
> situation . . . yet in case the insurgents should demonstrate an
> intention of seizing the arsenal or any of the Stores contained
> therein and it could not otherwise be successfully defended, - I am of
> the opinion that property & necessity would justify the action of
> taking part of the arms and ammunition for the defense of the
> remainder, . . .."[^39]

That the militia officers had misgivings is likely, however. Even Gen.
Shepherd, in his first post-action report to his superior, Governor
Bowdoin, wrote immediately that "\[T\]he unhappy time is come in which
we have been obliged to shed blood."[^40] Such regret would likely not
have been expressed if the fight was against British forces of hardly
half a dozen years earlier. Rather, these men knew each other on many
levels and shared a common past. Such bonds brought forth muffled
efforts aimed at conciliation and compromise which, in the end, failed.
Shepherd, himself a debtor[^41], bore the heaviest burden this day.
Though hailed as a hero by the authorities in the months following, he
was never financially compensated by the state for his out-of-pocket
expenses in supplying the defending militia with foodstuffs, rum, and
supplies. Writing to his friend, General Henry Knox, a few years after
the Rebellion, he described how "\[m\]y Duty at that distressing Time --
which excited against me the keenest Resentments of the disappointed
Insurgents . . . Those Loses and Disappointments, added to other
Complexities, sett heavily upon me."[^42] Called by many within his
community of Westfield "Murderer of our Brethren," he was increasingly
isolated and, in an age when truly no man was an island, impoverished in
the years remaining to him.

Captain Samuel Buffington, commanding the militia's light cavalry that
day, held these feelings and thoughts within him as he rode out alone in
the mid-morning of January 25^th^ to meet and to report on the
approaching rebel column. After riding east five miles on Boston Road,
he viewed the halted rebel column before he was, in turn, recognized by
mounted officers who called him by name. These men spoke to him in terms
strongly expressive of their determination to have Continental Hill
before sunset. Meeting the rebel column again closer to the Arsenal,
Buffington was greeted this time by Capt. Daniel Shays who, armed with a
sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, "familiarly asked, "How are
you Buffington?" I \[Buffington\] replied, "You see I am here, in
defense of that country you are endeavoring to destroy." He \[Shays\]
rejoined, "If you are in defense of this country, we are both defending
the same cause." . . . I \[Buffington\] then observed to him, if he
advanced, he must meet those men we both had once been accustomed to
obey." [^43]

Such shared memory of the War of Independence pervaded Massachusetts
political and social relations. Most of the population then living had
experienced and witnessed the achievement of independence from Britain.
This new rebellion, however, coming so soon after the realization of
independence, resurrected unresolved tensions defining the meaning of
democracy in this new republic. A member of a western Massachusetts
county convention in the fall of 1786 expressed the increasingly popular
sentiment that the Revolution was incomplete and "we undertook to fight
for liberty, and some people pretend to say we have got it . .
\...."[^44] The use of county conventions to give voice to public
grievances offended others, however, who considered such actions
extralegal, calling them treasonous and subversive to the state
constitution - revered as a "work of labour and blood."[^45] It was
described by them as ". . . an insult on the good sense of this people,
as to compare their present movements with those of 1775, and the
infamous suggestions of cruelties that never existed."[^46] Clearly,
what had appeared to be common ground was looking increasingly like a
battleground.

That same memory precipitated action when, on November 30^th^, 1786,
rebel leader, Captain Job Shattuck, and others were seized by a
government posse and held prisoner in Boston.[^47] Responding to
exaggerated rumors of outrages during the arrest, the Regulators
mobilized within a few days much as they had in April 1775.[^48] Shays
immediately wrote a military mobilization order to his unit commanders,
stating that "the seeds of war are now sown . . ., I request you to let
this letter be read, and for you and every man to supply men and
provisions, and relieve us with a reinforcement."[^49]

A week later, December 9^th^, written orders from Pelham went to
seventeen rebel captains throughout Hampshire County "that the several
companies and regiments in the said county be properly organized and
officered . . . agreeable to martial order."[^50] This escalation was
soon to turn deadly as muskets, military formations, fifes and drums
increasingly became instruments of war rather than the provocative props
of organized protest they had been up to that point. Ten days before
marching on Springfield Arsenal, Shays and his fellow officers,
recognizing the object of Gen. Lincoln's march from Boston, issued
orders to the companies of armed Regulators throughout the region "to
assemble the company under your command, well armed and equipped, with
ten days provision, and march . . . by Friday the 19^th^ instant, there
to receive further orders."[^51]

**Whose Republic?**

Captain Williams's militia company watched as bystanders joined the
ranks of Shays's Regulators marching past on their way to Continental
Hill following the adjournment of the Court that September of 1786. The
Revolutionary War had reawakened class divisions and tensions that the
difficult years since the end of the war had only aggravated. Members of
county conventions challenged the power elite head-on, defending the
yeoman in the press and with petitions to the state government. Those of
the middling sort, like William Williams of Dalton, also held little
sympathy with the government's heavy hand, writing that "\[T\]he
treatment people of my character & sentiments have recd from the present
government does not make it their duty to expose themselves to abuse and
insult from a disappointed and enraged populace in support of it."[^52]

Analogies to ancient republican Rome were recalled by both the elite and
insurgents to buttress their right to either distrust the voices of the
county conventions or, as righteously, by the conventioneers to support
them.[^53] And, if that wasn't reason enough to demonstrate the validity
of the conventioneer's argument, the grace of God was more often cited
by the Regulators, i.e., ". . . ***the voice of the people is the voice
of God***, it is as true now as it was twelve years ago."[^54]

The classical Roman ideals central to the Society of the Cincinnati, the
elite society of Revolutionary War officers, were articulated by General
Benjamin Lincoln at Boston in October, 1786, condemning "these dangerous
and disgraceful proceedings" while, in the same breath, recalling to the
conventioneers "the honour they have acquired in the field, by their
regard for the feelings and reputation of their brethren, and above all
by the love they bear their country and posterity,. .."[^55] This was
thin gruel, indeed, to the conventioneer who responded "that freedom,
which has been purchased by the blood of thousands, has vanished like
the empty delusions of an hour."[^56] Another conventioneer pointedly
retorted to "let those who have taken upon them the name of Cincinnatus,
imitate his virtues," as he who "returned to his plough: And asked no
other reward. . . . a conduct very different from some of your silver
headed modern patriots."[^57]

Finally, in December, the bonds of obligation that held long pent-up
resentments of the elite Revolutionary War officer class boiled over in
the form of a declaration from "Massachusetts Soldiery" representing
"the voice of the late Soldiery of the Continental Army." -- apparently
a number of Regulators.[^58] For them, the role of the former officers
in suppressing their ***vox populi*** had destroyed the fiction that
memory of shared sacrifice could somehow bridge the class divide. These
six "resolves" were eventually published in the popular press several
months later stating the terms of a new social contract. Pointedly
countering "some resolves of a society of Continental Officers, who
assume the appellation of Cincinnati, we, the Continental Soldiers of
Massachusetts, in imitation of their example, beg leave to address the
publick for ourselves, . .." Stating that their sacrifices for freedom
are "as costly and unsullied as those of our officers," they boldly
declared "that we will never serve under our former officers on any
occasion whatever."[^59] Of such things are revolutions made!

**Ambivalence and Mercy**

Many years after standing in the ranks of the militia defending the
Springfield Arsenal, Daniel Stebbins would conclude that "it had been
resolved by the Insurgents, that it was necessary that the Continental
Stores of arms & ammunition at Springfield should be obtained "peaceably
if they could.'"[^60] He recounted how Shays had led the armed rebels in
military formation during the closing of the Springfield Court of Common
Pleas the previous September with little sense of hostility to the
militia. In fact, clear indications of personal friendship were
displayed by both Shays, leading the armed Regulators in formation, and
Capt. Williams of the militia company. Marching up Continental Hill from
the Court House with colors flying to fifes and drums, the growing ranks
of Shays's rebels approached the unguarded Springfield Arsenal with its
stores, twice marched around it, and left.[^61] If Shays and his men had
wanted the federal arsenal and barracks then, they could have had it
without firing so much as a shot. They would not have such an
opportunity the next time they came to Continental Hill.

The question remains, then, why Shays and his force did not mount a
sustained attack on January 25^th^, 1787. Observers noted that only when
his column came under artillery fire did Shays attempt to deploy in
battle front -- the only formation from which all the muskets of the
attackers could be brought into action. Perhaps Shays assumed, as did
many of his officers and men, that they would take the site by storm in
the same manner that had proved so successful since the first court
closing the previous summer. A column's military use is chiefly to
facilitate movement of large numbers of soldiers. Under attack, it is a
sitting duck! There's no evidence that Shays's force ever drilled in
battle formation for such an eventuality. The snow on the ground would
certainly not have presented a sufficient obstacle to such a maneuver.
Though the column officers lacked much experience at rank higher than
company commander during the Revolutionary War, many had taken part in
redeployments from column into line. They knew how to make battle!
However, that lack of command experience may have proved crucial to the
Regulator's loss. Certainly, command experience wasn't a problem for the
defending militia's commanders. In the end, it may have been simply
inconceivable to the Regulators that the militia should be subjected to
the same level of contempt and hostility they had once reserved for the
British forces a dozen years earlier. Shepherd, by contrast, knew what
his duty was.

The shock of the repulse at Springfield shattered the confidence of the
Regulators' leadership as well as that of the rank and file. Shays
seemed stunned and the fight taken out of him. Not long after the sun
had set behind the retreating force of Regulators, when writing to
General Shepherd for liberty to bury the dead and gather the
wounded,[^62] Daniel Shays penned a message to Gen. Benjamin Lincoln.
Lincoln's advancing militia column, more than twice the size of the one
that had just repulsed Shays's men, was hardly a day's march east in
Brookfield. In his message, Shays proposed a general truce allowing
rebels as well as militia to return to their homes, "patiently waiting
and hoping for constitutional relief, from the insupportable burdens
they now labour under."[^63] As if hoping that somehow he could turn
back the clock a day, he wrote that he was "unwilling to be any way
accessory to the shedding of blood, and greatly desirous of restoring
peace and harmony to this convulsed Commonwealth, . .."[^64]

The rebel force went through Wilbraham as far as Ludlow before turning
back to Chicopee where they blocked the road north. The core of the
Regulators then moved north to South Hadley, Amherst and thence to
Pelham. Along the way, they shed soldiers. Lieutenant Bullen of the Ware
militia company left at Chicopee. His Captain, Joseph Bellow, wounded at
South Hadley, remained behind. The Ware Company's sole remaining
officer, Ensign Judah Marsh, then dismissed the rest of the company as
they reached Amherst before he, too, returned home.[^65]

Five days later, from his encampment at Pelham, Shays responded to a
flag of truce from Lincoln and reiterated his plea for peace with a
pardon for all "as they are unwilling to stain the land, which we in the
late war purchased at so dear a rate, with the blood of our brethren and
neighbors."[^66] After approaching Lincoln's camp in Hadley under a flag
of truce, Capt. Adam Wheeler, like many others, walked away from further
involvement in the rebellion. The same day that Shays addressed his
letter to Lincoln from Pelham, a petition (rejected by the legislature a
week later) was forwarded from the officers of all rebel units to
Boston, seeking redress of grievances stating "that we have been in
errour in having recourse to arms. . ."[^67]

Others, however, such as Captain Eli Parsons, of Adams, were not ready
for a truce but, instead, resolved to continue the struggle more
intensely. From the Berkshires, hardly a week after the February 5^th^
scattering of the Regulator army at Petersham by Lincoln's surprise 9 am
assault, Capt. Parsons attempted to rally his comrades with a call "to
destroy Shepard's army . . ." and "to Burgoyne Lincoln and his
army."[^68] In the months ahead, the armed Regulators in the Berkshires,
relatively untouched by Shays's defeat at Springfield and pursuit to
Petersham, would increasingly become engaged in bitter small-scale
conflict until the final clash at Sheffield.

In contrast to General Shepherd, it was General Lincoln who seems to
have most successfully balanced his obligations to his fellow elites
with those traditional community values and ties consistent with memory
of the Revolutionary War among the lower ranks. Lincoln led many
thousands of Massachusetts soldiers in the fight for independence,
suffered the pain of defeat and surrender with them at Charleston, and
received Cornwallis's surrender, in turn, with Washington at Yorktown.
Unlike so many of those in the seat of power in Boston and elsewhere who
had not shared in the veterans' experience of war, Lincoln's public
expressions of authority in the press were consistently rooted in
reverence toward the state's constitution, the sacrifice to gain it, and
"the honour they have acquired in the field, by their regard for the
feelings and reputation of their brethren."[^69]

Four days before Shays's men advanced on Continental Hill, Benjamin
Lincoln spoke to his troops at Marlborough. In his GENERAL ORDERS, he
required his soldiers to protect the citizenry regardless of their
political stripe under pain of "the most exemplary punishment."[^70] In
the difficult days ahead, he maneuvered his large military force in such
a way that few on either side were seriously hurt and none were killed
in action, all the while skillfully maneuvering his army to the point at
which quick decisive action broke the Regulator force at Petersham
without a shot fired in anger.

Lincoln's slow progress to Worcester and then to Springfield, after
Shays's deadly march on Continental Hill, forced Shays's hand. Once in
the Connecticut River valley, Lincoln moved steadily and deliberately,
sometimes outflanking rebel road blocks, such as the one at Chicopee
when Lincoln's entire army marched up the frozen Connecticut River,
without firing a shot, all the while giving the Regulators ample
opportunity to escape or retire from harm's way. Simultaneously, he kept
open communications with them and the communities in his path even as he
reaffirmed the law of the land. When he did move quickly and decisively,
it was with the element of surprise on his side and under darkness.[^71]

In the end, Lincoln could report to the Governor, from Petersham within
the overrun rebel camp, "that this has been effected, and bloodshed
avoided, . . .. A different line of conduct . . . would have given them
support, and led them to acts of violence, . . .."[^72] His conciliatory
tone seemed to be reflected, for a moment, in the relieved response of
the Senate and House of Representative in a message to Governor Bowdoin
two days later. Upon receiving word from Lincoln, Senator Samuel
Phillips and Representative Artemas Ward brought the legislature
together in urging that military reinforcements be reduced or stopped
"as a measure well calculated to restore peace and order to this
Commonwealth, without hazarding the effusion of much blood."[^73]

Such hopeful sentiments, however, soon fell victim to fear and anger as
harsh punitive measures were promulgated. Within three days, the
Governor ignored Lincoln's advice and placed a price upon the heads of
Shays, Day, Wheeler, and Parsons, declaring them "the principals in, and
abettors and supporters of this unnatural, unprovoked, and wicked
Rebellion, against the dignity, authority and government of the said
Commonwealth."[^74] Such actions were far from the Roman republican
model of Cincinnatus, an ideal that bore fruit for a moment in the
person of Benjamin Lincoln.

[^1]: ***County of Hampshire Supreme Court***, p. 327; ***Particulars of
    the Proceedings at Springfield, communicated by a gentleman of
    veracity,* [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXIX, v. II,
    p. 340, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, October, 1786.

[^2]: ***Particulars of the Proceedings at Springfield, communicated by
    a gentleman of veracity,* [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**,
    no. XXIX, v. II, p. 340, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas,
    October, 1786.

[^3]: ***[Copy of a letter to Gov. Bowdoin]{.underline}, [Sept 17^th^,
    1786]{.underline}, [Westfield]{.underline}***, William Shepard
    papers: Memorial Libraries, P.O. Box 53, Deerfield, MA 01342.

    Westfield

[^4]: ***Copy of a letter from the Hon. General Shephard, to his
    Excellency the Governour, dated*, . *Springfield, January 26, 1787*,
    . . *William Shephard. ****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVI, v. II, p. 558, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^5]: ***General Shepard to Governor Bowdoin**,* Springfield, January
    26, 1787, Henry Knox Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society,
    Boston.

[^6]: ***From a late Northampton paper, . . .,* [The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLIX, v. II, p. 605, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^7]: **[The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXXVII, v. II, pp.
    452-3, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, December, 1786.

[^8]: ***Declaration of JOSHUA WOODBRIDGE, of Northfield***, **[The
    Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVI, v. II, p. 562,
    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February 1st, 1787.

[^9]: ***General Shepard to Governor Bowdoin**,* Springfield, January
    26, 1787, Henry Knox Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society,
    Boston.

[^10]: Low, Nathaniel, **[An Astronomical Diary or ALMANACK For the Year
    of Christian Era 1787]{.underline}**, T.&J. Fleet, Boston.

[^11]: ***Insurgent Papers*, . . . *Luke Day to Capt Shays,
    West-Springfield, January 25, 1787****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLV, v. II, p. 544, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, Febuary, 1787.

[^12]: ***From a late Northampton paper, . . .,* [The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**,no. XLIX, v. II, p. 605, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^13]: **Suffolk Court Files, *Hampshire***, April, 1787, Nos. 159059,
    159060, reprinted in the **[Journal of the American Antiquarian
    Society]{.underline}**, *A few Notes on the Shays Rebellion*, Oct.,
    1902, pp. 211-2.

[^14]: **[Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the
    Revolution]{.underline}**, Vol. XIII, Boston: Wright and Potter
    Printing Co., 1896, p. 826.

[^15]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Dan Stebbins
    reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 48, Forbes Library, Northampton,
    MA

[^16]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Testimony of Samuel
    Buffington***, Feb. 1st, 1787, and ***Recollection of January
    25^th^, 1787: Testimony of William Lyman**,* Feb. 6^th^, 1787, Caleb
    Strong Papers, Stephen Strong Collection, Forbes Lib., Northampton,
    MA.

[^17]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Testimony of William
    Lyman**,* Feb. 6^th^, 1787, Caleb Strong Papers, Stephen Strong
    Collection, Forbes Lib., Northampton, MA.

[^18]: ***Friends and Countrymen*, . . . *Adam Wheeler, Hubbardston,
    Nov. 7^th^, 1786,* [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no.
    XXXIX, v. II, pp. 473-5, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas,
    December, 1786.

[^19]: ***Son David to Father David***, Hoyt papers, Box 1 Folder 3,

    Memorial Libraries, Deerfield, MA \[January 25, 1787\].

[^20]: ***General Shepard to Governor Bowdoin**,* Springfield, January
    26, 1787, Henry Knox Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society,
    Boston.

[^21]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787:Dan Stebbins
    reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 48, Forbes Library, Northampton,
    MA

[^22]: ***Summons from Luke Day, at West-Springfield, to the Commanding
    Officer at Springfield, January 25^th^, 1787*, . . . *Luke Day*,
    [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLIV, v. II, p. 535,
    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^23]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787:***

    ***Dan Stebbins reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 48, Forbes
    Library, Northampton, MA

[^24]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787:***

    ***Dan Stebbins reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 48, Forbes
    Library, Northampton, MA

[^25]: ***Anecdote of Sergeant Chaloner,* [The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, No. XLVIII, Vol. II, p. 596,

    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^26]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787:***

    ***Dan Stebbins reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 48, Forbes
    Library, Northampton, MA

[^27]: ***John Chaloner to the Massachusetts Senate and House of
    Representatives, Feb. 21^st^, 1787.***

    **The WORCESTER MAGAZINE,** vol. II, no. LII, Fourth week of March,
    1787, p. 648.

[^28]: ***Letter of son David to father David Hoyt***, January 25, 1787,
    Hoyt papers, Box 1 Folder 3,

    Memorial Libraries, Deerfield, MA.

[^29]: ***General Shepard to Governor Bowdoin**,* Springfield, January
    26, 1787, Henry Knox Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society,
    Boston.

[^30]: ***An Address from the Convention at Hatfield, . . John Billings,
    Chairman, Isaac Pepper, Clerk, Hatfield, Jan. 4^th^, 1787***, no.
    XLII, v. II, p. 511, **[The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**,
    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, January, 1787.

[^31]: Chapin, Charles Wells, [**Sketches of the old inhabitants and
    other citizens of old Springfield of the present century: And its
    historic mansions of \"ye olden
    tyme\"**](http://www.amazon.com/Sketches-inhabitants-citizens-Springfield-present/dp/B00087BG1W/sr=1-1/qid=1170946001/ref=sr_1_1/102-8449833-4220915?ie=UTF8&s=books),
    Springfield Printing and Binding Co., Springfield, Mass., 1893, pp.
    91-4.

[^32]: ***Worcester***, **[The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no.
    XLIII, v. II, p. 526, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas,
    February, 1787.

[^33]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Dan Stebbins
    reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 49, Forbes Library, Northampton,
    MA

[^34]: ***The Confession of Judah Marsh, jun. of Ware*, . . . *February
    14, 1787****,* **[The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVIII,
    v. II, p. 596, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February,
    1787.

[^35]: ***Copy letter to his Excellency Gov. Bowdoin from Wm. Shepard,
    Jan'y 19^th^, 1787***; ***Copy of letter to Gen'l Knox from Wm.
    Shepard, Jan'y 12^th^, 1787***, William Shepard papers: Memorial
    Libraries, P.O. Box 53, Deerfield, MA 01342.

[^36]: ***Copy of a letter to Major General Shepard from Henry Knox*,**
    New York, 21 January, 1787, Henry Knox Papers, Massachusetts
    Historical Society, Boston.

[^37]: ***Copy of letter to General Knox, Dec, 17, 1786***, Westfield,
    Dec. 17th, 1786, William Shepard papers:

    Memorial Libraries, P.O. Box 53, Deerfield, MA 01342

[^38]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Testimony of Samuel
    Buffington***, Feb. 1st, 1787, Caleb Strong Papers, Stephen Strong
    Collection, Forbes Lib., Northampton, MA

[^39]: ***Copy of a letter to Major General Shepard from Henry Knox*,**
    New York, 21 January, 1787, Henry Knox Papers, Massachusetts
    Historical Society, Boston.

[^40]: ***General Shepard to Governor Bowdoin**,* Springfield, January
    26, 1787, Henry Knox Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society,
    Boston.

[^41]: ***To William Shepard Esquire of Westfield, . . . Rob Breck
    Clerk, . . .** Jan. 31, 1786*, William Shepard papers: Memorial
    Libraries, P.O. Box 53, Deerfield, MA 01342.

[^42]: ***Letter from William Sheppard to Henry Knox***, *1790 or
    later*, William Shepard papers: Memorial Libraries, P.O. Box 53,
    Deerfield, MA 01342.

[^43]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Testimony of Samuel
    Buffington***, Feb. 21, 1787, Caleb Strong Papers, Stephen Strong
    Collection, Forbes Lib., Northampton, MA.

[^44]: ***Mr. Editor*. ., *A Conventioner,*** no. XXIII, v. I, pp.
    273-6; ***To the Inhabitants of Massachusetts, ... From the humble
    Cell of Consideration . ..***, no. XXVI, v. I, pp. 291-2; ***Mr.
    Editor***, no. XXIX, v. II, pp. 347-9; ***Report of Society of the
    Cincinnati . . ..Boston, Oct. 11, 1786***, no. XXIX, v. II, pp.
    353-4, , October, 1786; ***Mr. Editor*. ., *An Impartial
    Yeoman****,* no. XXXIX, v. II**,** pp. 471-3, December, 1786, **[The
    Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I.
    Thomas.

[^45]: ***On Conventions*. ., *An Other Citizen,* [The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXIX, v. II, pp. 349-50,

    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, October, 1786.

[^46]: ***Mr. Editor*. ., *A Son of Freedom,* [The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXXIX, v. II**,** pp. 473-5,

    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, December, 1786.

[^47]: ***From the INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE*. . ., *Boston, Jan. 4^th^,
    1787,* [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLI, v. II, p.
    500, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, January, 1787.

[^48]: ***Mr. Editor*. ., *One of the People,* [The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXXVIII, v. II, pp. 461-2,

    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, December, 1786.

[^49]: ***Copy of a letter from Capt. Thomas Grover, and Lieut. Elisha
    Pondell-to Capt. Harvey, a member of the General Court, from
    Montague.***, Shrewsbury, Dec. 2, 1786, **[Hampshire
    Gazette]{.underline}**, Feb 21, 1787, Memorial Libraries, Deerfield,
    MA, #L04.090

[^50]: ***To the good People of the Town of Deerfield. . . Done in
    Committee, at Pelham, 9th\
    December, 1786, John Powers, Chairman***, **[Hampshire
    Gazette]{.underline}**, Jan 3, 1787, Memorial Libraries, Deerfield,
    MA, #L04.074

[^51]: ***D. Shays to Capt. John Brown, Whately*. ., *Pelham, January
    15^th^, 1787,* [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLIV, v.
    II, p. 535, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^52]: ***Letter of William Williams***, Jan. 15, 1787, Memorial
    Libraries, Deerfield, MA, #L04.026.

[^53]: ***Mr. Editor*, . . . *A Freeman****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXVIII, v. II, pp. 336-8, Worcester,
    Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, September, 1786.

[^54]: ***Mr. Editor*, . . . *A Freeman****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXVIII, v. II, pp. 336-8, Worcester,
    Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, September, 1786.

[^55]: ***At a meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati of the
    Commonwealth of Massachusetts, holden at Boston, on the 11^th^
    October, 1786, the following resolves were passed unanimously*, . .
    . *B. Lincoln, President****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXIX, v. II, pp. 353-4, Worcester,
    Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, September, 1786.

[^56]: ***Mr. Editor, . . the following Address of the Convention of the
    County of Worcester to the People**,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXXIV, v. II, pp. 404-6, Worcester,
    Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, November, 1786.

[^57]: ***Mr. Editor*, . . . *A Member of Convention****,* **[The
    Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXVII, v. II, pp. 320-3,
    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, September, 1786.

[^58]: ***Mr. Editor*, . . . *A Peaceable Citizen, Rutland, Dec. 20^th^,
    1787*** (sic.)*,* **[The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLV,
    v. II, p. 546, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February,
    1787.

[^59]: ***Mr. Editor*, . . . *Massachusetts Soldiery****,* **[The
    Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLV, v. II, pp. 545-6,
    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^60]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Dan Stebbins
    reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 45, Forbes Library, Northampton,
    MA

[^61]: ***Recollection of January 25^th^, 1787: Dan Stebbins
    reminisces***, (1845) vol. I, pp. 45, Forbes Library, Northampton,
    MA

[^62]: ***To Gen'l Shepherd of the Commanding Officer in Springfield, .
    . . Daniel Shays Capt***, \[Jan. 26, 1787\], **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLV, v. II, p. 544, Worcester, Mass,
    printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787; ***Capt. Shays to Gen.
    Shepard***, Jan. 27th, 1787, **[Hampshire Gazette]{.underline}**,
    Feb. 14th, 1787, #L04.088, Memorial Libraries, Deerfield, MA.

[^63]: ***To the Honorable Major General Lincoln*, . . . *Daniel Shays,
    Wilbraham, January 25^th^, 1787****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLIV, v. II, pp. 534-5, Worcester,
    Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^64]: ***To the Honorable Major General Lincoln*, . . . *Daniel Shays,
    Wilbraham, January 25^th^, 1787****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLIV, v. II, pp. 534-5, Worcester,
    Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^65]: ***From the Hon. General Lincoln, to his Excellency the
    Governor*, *Head-Quarters, Springfield, January 28^th^, 1787, ***no.
    XLV, v. II, pp. 548-9; ***The Confession of Judah Marsh, jun. of
    Ware*, . . . *February 14, 1787****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVIII, v. II, p. 596, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^66]: ***To General Lincoln*, . , *Pelham, January 30^th^, 1787,*. .
    *Daniel Shays, Capt., ****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLV, v. II, pp. 544-5, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^67]: ***To the Honourable the Senate, and the Massachusetts House of
    Representatives*, . *A Petition of the Officers*, . . . *Francis
    Stone, Chairman of the Committee, . . Read and accepted by the
    Officers,* *Pelham, January 30^th^, 1787, ****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVII, v. II, p. 574, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^68]: ***Friends and Fellow Sufferers*, . , *Berkshire, February
    13^th^, 1787,*. . *Eli Parsons. ****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVIII, v. II, p. 596, Worcester, Mass,
    Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^69]: ***At a meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati of the
    Commonwealth of Massachusetts, holden at Boston, on the 11^th^
    October, 1786, the following resolves were passed unanimously*, . .
    . *B. Lincoln, President****,* **[The Worcester
    Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XXIX, v. II, pp. 353-4, Worcester,
    Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, September, 1786.

[^70]: ***GENERAL ORDERS*, . , *Marlborough, January 21^st^, 1787 ****,*
    **[The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLIII, v. II, p. 526
    opposite page, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February,
    1787.

[^71]: ***From the Hon. General Lincoln, to his Excellency the
    Governor*, *Head-Quarters, Springfield, January 28^th^, 1787,* [The
    Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLV, v. II, pp. 548-9,
    Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^72]: ***Letter from General Lincoln, . . ., Petersham, February 4^th^,
    1787,* [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVI, v. II, pp.
    563-4, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.

[^73]: ***To his Excellency James Bowdoin, Esq., the Governour . . ., In
    Senate, February 6, 1787, . ., In the House of Representatives, Feb.
    6, 1787***, **[The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVI, v.
    II, pp. 564-5, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February,
    1787.

[^74]: ***Reward for apprehending Shays, Day, Wheeler and Parsons, . .
    .By his Excellency James Bowdoin, Esq.; Governour, . . .Feb. 6^th^,
    1 787,* [The Worcester Magazine]{.underline}**, no. XLVI, v. II, p.
    568, Worcester, Mass, Printed by I. Thomas, February, 1787.