Daniel Shays Daniel Shays ( c . 1747 – September 29 , 1825 ) was an American soldier , revolutionary , and farmer famous for being one of the leaders of Shays ' Rebellion , a populist uprising against oppressive debt collection and tax policies in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787 . Early life . Daniel Shays was born in 1747 in Hopkinton , Massachusetts , the son of two Irish immigrants , Patrick and Margaret ( Dempsey ) Shays . Daniel was the second of six siblings . He spent his early years as a landless farm laborer . In 1772 , he married Abigail Gilbert , with whom he settled in Brookfield , Massachusetts . Revolutionary War . Shays joined the local militia during the American Revolution , rising to the rank of captain in the 5th Massachusetts Regiment by 1777 . He was involved in the Boston campaign , and fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill . He also fought in the Battle of Lexington and the Battle of Saratoga . He was wounded during the war and resigned from the military , unpaid , in 1780 . Upon returning home , he discovered he was summoned to court for unpaid debts , which he still could not pay because he was not paid for military service . In 1780 , Shays was presented with an ornamental sword by General Lafayette , in honor of his military service . Shays later sold the sword for a few dollars to pay off his debts — an act which was frowned upon by his peers . Shays ' Rebellion . Debt and tax burdens . After returning from the war , Daniel Shays was alarmed to discover that many of his fellow veterans and farmers were in the same financial situation as he . Commoners ' meetings revealed that veterans were treated unfairly upon release , and businessmen were trying to squeeze money out of smallholders in order to pay their own debts to European war investors . Many Massachusetts rural communities first tried to petition the legislature in Boston , but the legislature was dominated by eastern merchant interests and did not respond substantively to those petitions . The petitions and proposals often included a request to issue paper currency . Such inflationary issues would depreciate the currency , making it possible to meet obligations made at high values with lower - valued paper . The merchants , among them James Bowdoin , were opposed , because they were generally lenders who stood to lose by such proposals . As a result these proposals were repeatedly rejected . Governor John Hancock , accused by some of anticipating trouble , abruptly resigned in early 1785 . When Bowdoin ( a perennial loser to Hancock in earlier elections ) was elected governor that year , matters became more severe . Bowdoin stepped up civil actions to collect back taxes , and the legislature exacerbated the situation by levying an additional property tax to raise funds for the state ' s portion of foreign debt payments . Even comparatively conservative commentators like John Adams observed that these levies were " heavier than the People could bear . " Protests against the courts . Protests in the rural Massachusetts turned into direct action in August 1786 , after the state legislature adjourned without considering the many petitions that had been sent to Boston . On August 29 a well - organized force of protestors , Shays among them , marched on Northampton and successfully prevented the county court from sitting . The leaders of this and later forces proclaimed that they were seeking relief from the burdensome judicial processes that were depriving the people of their land and possessions . They called themselves " Regulators " , a reference to the Regulator movement of North Carolina that sought to reform corrupt practices in the late 1760s . On September 2 Governor Bowdoin issued a proclamation denouncing such mob action , but took no military measures in response beyond planning militia response to future actions . When the court in Worcester was shut down by similar action on September 5 , the county militia ( composed mainly of men sympathetic to the protestors ) refused to turn out , much to Bowdoin ' s amazement . Shays , who had participated in the Northampton action , began to take a more active leadership role in the uprising in November . On September 19 , the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts indicted eleven leaders of the rebellion as " disorderly , riotous , and seditious persons . " When the supreme judicial court was next scheduled to meet in Springfield on September 26 , Shays in Hampshire County and Luke Day in what is now Hampden County ( but was then part of Hampshire County ) organized an attempt to shut it down . They were anticipated by William Shepard , the local militia commander , who began gathering government - supporting militia the Saturday before the court was to sit . By the time the court was ready to open , Shepard had 300 men protecting the Springfield courthouse . Shays and Day were able to recruit a similar number , but chose only to demonstrate , exercising their troops outside Shepard ' s lines , rather than attempt to seize the building . The judges first postponed the hearings , and then adjourned on the 28th without hearing any cases . Shepard withdrew his force , which had grown to some 800 men ( to the Regulators ' 1 , 200 ) , to the federal armory , which was then only rumored to be the target of seizure by the activists . Plan to seize the Springfield Armory . On November 28 a posse of some 300 men rode to Groton to arrest Job Shattuck and other protest leaders in the area . Shattuck was chased down and arrested on the 30th , and was wounded by a sword slash in the process . This action and the arrest of other protest leaders in the eastern parts of the state radicalized those in the west , and they began to organize an overthrow of the state government . " The seeds of war are now sown " , wrote one correspondent in Shrewsbury , and by mid - January rebel leaders spoke of smashing the " tyrannical government of Massachusetts . " While government forces organized in the east , Shays , Day , and other rebel leaders in the west organized their forces , establishing regional regimental organizations that were run by democratically elected committees . Their first major target was the federal armory in Springfield . General Shepard had however , pursuant to orders from Governor Bowdoin , taken possession of the armory and used its arsenal to arm a force of some 1 , 200 militia . Attack and collapse . The insurgents were organized into three major groups , and intended to surround and simultaneously attack the armory . Shays led one group east of Springfield near Palmer , Luke Day had a second force across the Connecticut River in West Springfield , and the third force , under Eli Parsons , was to the north at Chicopee . The rebels had planned their assault for January 25 , but Luke Day changed this at the last minute , sending Shays a message indicating he would not be ready to attack until the 26th . Day ' s message was intercepted by Shepard ' s men , so the militia of Shays and Parsons , some 1 , 500 men , approached the armory on the 25th not knowing they would have no support from the west . When Shays and his forces neared the armory , they found Shepard ' s militia waiting for them . Shepard first ordered warning shots fired over the approaching Shaysites ' heads , and then ordered two cannons to fire grape shot at Shays ' s men . Four Shaysites were killed and twenty wounded . There was no musket fire from either side , and the rebel advance collapsed . Most of the rebel force fled north , eventually regrouping at Amherst . On the opposite side of the river , Day ' s forces also fled north , also eventually reaching Amherst . General Benjamin Lincoln had mustered 3 , 000 men at Worcester to deal with the rebels . When he heard of the Springfield incident , they immediately began marching west . Shays led the rebel force generally north and east to avoid Lincoln , eventually establishing a camp at Petersham ; along the way they raided the shops of local merchants for supplies , taking some of them hostage . Lincoln pursued them , reaching Pelham , some from Petersham , on February 2 . On the night of February 3 – 4 , he led his militia on a forced march to Petersham through a bitter snowstorm . Arriving early in the morning , they surprised the rebel camp so thoroughly that they scattered " without time to call in their out parties or even their guards . " Although Lincoln claimed to capture 150 men , none of them were officers , leading historian Leonard Richards to suspect the veracity of the report . Shays and some of the other leaders escaped north into New Hampshire and Vermont . Some four thousand people signed confessions acknowledging participation in the events of the rebellion ( in exchange for amnesty ) ; several hundred participants were eventually indicted on charges relating to the rebellion . Most of these were pardoned under a general amnesty that only excluded a few ringleaders . Eighteen men , including Shays , were convicted and sentenced to death . Most of these were either overturned on appeal , pardoned , or had their sentences commuted . Two of the condemned men , John Bly and Charles Rose , were hanged on December 6 , 1787 . Shays was pardoned in 1788 and he returned to Massachusetts from hiding in the Vermont woods . He was , however , vilified by the Boston press , who painted him as an archetypal anarchist opposed to the government . Later life . Shays was later granted a pension by the federal government for the five years he served in the Continental Army without pay . Shays lived the last few years of his life in poverty , a heavy drinker . He supported himself on his pension , and by working a small parcel of land . Shays died at age 78 in Sparta , New York .