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Title: Shays' Rebellion
Author: Chicago Solidarity
Date: October, 1973
Language: en
Topics: history, rebellion
Source: Scanned from original
Notes: Published by: Solidarity, 713 Armitage Ave. Chicago, Ill. 60614, October, 1973

Chicago Solidarity

Shays' Rebellion

Preface

For an anarchist the real history of any country is the history of those

people who find themselves in conflict with the government, a conflict

which is often unexpressed except in the acts of those who are fed up to

the point of rebellion. There is no period in the history of any land

when many of the people haven't found their interests different from

those of the state. There is no period in the history of any country

where some of the people are not in outright revolt for the right to

control their own lives. It is true that sometimes it seems to be only a

trickle but at other times it reaches floodtide proportions.

United States history as presented in textbooks is aimed at government

funded high schools and universities. In the history they present, full

accounts of those who have opposed the government are generally

repressed. Many incidents of real peoples' history are omitted. Others

are treated briefly and summarily dismissed. Those involved in genuine

protest or rebellion are often referred to as misled, misfits, or

madmen.

In most history books there is an elitist bias which romanticizes

leaders, kings, generals, politicians and dramatizes their role without

mentioning the struggles of the common people for the necessities of

life and control over their own existence. Most history books, whether

of a liberal bourgeois or "Marxist" bent, ignore the real struggles of

the people and instead glorify this or that government and its leaders.

There is a great need for good anti-establishment history, for the

return of that which has been repressed. This is not to say we need to

view history as a spectacle for our entertainment, or as an escape from

reality into the glories of the past.

If history has any use it is for the living, for examples and

encouragement, to show us what is possible. In history can be found

models of the way things might be done to change the future, and models

of what has failed; and errors not to be repeated. The resurgence of the

repressed in history can give strength to the anarchist, the radical,

and those who would struggle for control of their day-to—day lives. If

we learn well from history we know we are not alone, we have never been

alone, and the future is ours if we make it so. It is for the living

generation to fulfill the repressed and forgotten attempts at rebellion,

at revolution, at taking possession of our own lives.

In issuing this pamphlet on Shays' Rebellion, we at Solidarity Books

hope we are issuing the first of what will be many pamphlets bringing

forth the repressed in history in the United States. We hope those

living elsewhere will take possession of the repressed in history where

they live and share that with us.

The time is particularly ripe for anarchist accounts of the American

Revolutionary period and afterward. Nixon has already set researchers,

paid by the government, to the task of preparing for the Bi-Centennial

of the American Revolution, 1776-1976. In the works are a

pro-nationalist, pro-patriotic, pro-government propaganda campaign

distorting the events of the American Revolution to government purposes.

An organization called the People's Bi-Centennial Commission is planning

opposition to this move by the government, by making plans for what

amounts to a counter-propaganda campaign by radicals. This seems to us a

good idea, worth serious consideration. How-ever, from what little is

known about the People's Bi-Centennial Commission, a lot of their

material is likely to be nationalistic, and at worst authoritarian

Marxist-Leninism wrapped in the flag to make it palatable.

The repressed is surfacing, people's history is needed, but who shall

write it? Here's hoping that many anarchist brothers and sisters attempt

it!

As to the account of Shays' Rebellion that follows, Shays' Rebellion is

but one incident in a historic current. In the western regions of the

coastal states, on the frontier, lived farmers who were in great debt

and burdened by distant and unresponsive governments during the

depressions preceding and following the War of the Revolution. Under

British or American government there was little relief for those

suffering under heavy taxes and excessive rents. There was a period of

about fifty years of economic exploitation and discrimination by East

Coast rulers. The farmers participated in many disorders and upheavals

from the 1740's, when the Jerseyites refused to pay rents and

Massachusetts men marched in Boston in support of a land bank law, until

the 1790's, when the Fries Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion were

fomented by Pennsylvania mountain men. In 1781 there was a mutiny of the

Pennsylvania line of the Continental Army against exploiting "gentry"

officers, some of whom were executed by their own men. These

revolutionary soldiers elected officers from the ranks and continued to

fight for the revolution. There were other mutinies at this time.

There were waves of revolts 'known by such names as The Wars of the

Carolina Regulators in North and South Carolina, The Wars of the New

Hampshire Grants in New York and Vermont, Shays' Rebellion in

Massachusetts, and the Fries and Whiskey Rebellions in Pennsylvania and

neighboring states. In many states the western counties were in rebel

hands for a number of years. No taxes could be collected and the courts

were closed to prevent mortgage foreclosures. In reading the following

account, we ask that you see it not as an isolated incident or an

aberration, but as a small part of a continuous stream of action by

people to wrest control of their lives from the state.

—D.B.

Shays' Rebellion

Mention of Shays' Rebellion brings to mind a vague memory of a textbook

reference to irate farmers with pitchforks. Among the countless

instances of suppressed history, Shays' Rebellion is one of importance,

as it reveals much of the true nature of the American Revolution, or at

least of the aims and ideals of the "Embattled Farmer," who provided the

backbone of the resistance to England; as one of the people involved put

it, "We have lately emerged from a bloody war in which liberty was the

glorious prize aimed at. I earnestly stepped forth in defense of this

country, and cheerfully fought to gain this prize, and liberty is still

the object I have in view." The rebellion was a defense of the

revolution by the people who had made and won the revolution in

opposition to the counter-revolution of the merchants, which has gone

down in the history books as the real revolution. As a result,

suppression of knowledge about the rebellion is necessary in order to

cover up the greater falsification of history regarding the revolution

as a whole. Nor was the rebellion in any way a localized affair:

resistance to the counter-revolution was widespread throughout the

country; Massachusetts was merely the place where it was the strongest.

The first thing that must be realized is that the rebellion was not

"Shays'." Shays was the leader only in a purely military sense; despite

government attempts to label him a dictator (and English agent), he did

not want and was not offered political leadership. His rank in the

rebellion was the same as he had held in the Continental Army—Captain.

Shays had become a Captain in the army over the objection of the more

aristocratic officers only after his Company (consisting of his

neighbors) refused to serve under anyone else; he was later forced to

resign after committing an exceedingly practical but scandalously

ungentlemanly act. At the time of the rebellion he was the poorest man

in his town, living in a run-down shack on a tiny farm. **

In each town the rebels elected a Captain to handle their military

problems (one Captain, Moses Sash, a private in the Continental Army,

was Black); all political matters were handled by the people themselves.

At the height of the rebellion, the three western counties were divided

into 17 military districts, each under a Captain, whose job was to

co-ordinate military activities in his area. The only person to rise to

prominence as a political leader was Eli Parsons.

The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 required possession of greater

wealth as a voting requirement than had the last Royal Charter. Greater

amounts of wealth were required as qualifications for each public office

of higher importance; some towns did not have a single inhabitant rich

enough to be sent to the General Court (state legislature). The

Constitution could not be amended for 15 years.

During the years after the revolution, the country was in a very bad

economic depression. Large numbers of farmers had their property seized

by creditors and were offered the choice between jail, where they would

be billed for room and board, or working for their creditors at whatever

wage they chose to pay. In a few years, the entire rural population

would have been forced into serfdom. A delegate to one of the county

conventions said, "I've labored hard all my days and fared hard. I have

been greatly abused, have been obliged to do more than my part in the

war; have been loaded with class rates, town rates, province rates,

Continental rates and all rates ... been pulled and hauled by sheriffs,

constables and collectors, and had my cattle sold for less than they

were worth. I have been obliged to pay and nobody will pay me. I have

lost a great deal by this man and that man and t'other man, and the

great men are going to get all we have, and I think it is time for us to

rise and put a stop to it, and have no more courts, nor sheriffs, nor

collectors, nor lawyers, and I know that we are the biggest party, let

them say what they will."

In western Massachusetts, the stronghold of the rebellion, the

government in Boston was felt to be virtually an oppressive foreign

government, 'no better than the one they had just gotten rid of. Half of

the western towns did not send representatives to the General Court.

Instead, they continued to operate in the same manner as during the

revolution, when there was no real government. Local matters were

decided at town meetings. When matters of common interest were involved,

county conventions were called; in each town delegates would be chosen

and given exact instructions as to what position to take on every

possible issue; on their return they would be questioned at great length

as to what took place. Among the resolutions passed by county

conventions were ones calling for immediate re-organization of the state

government, the issuance of paper money to be loaned to debtors (an

extremely popular plan to end the economic crisis), an end to

prosecution of debtors, and reduction in taxes and state spending.

On August 29, 1786, an act very common at the beginning of the

revolution was repeated at Northampton, in Hampshire County. The Court

of Common Pleas 'was scheduled to meet, with several debtors' cases

before it. During the morning, 1500 people came into town from the

surrounding countryside, more or less led by Luke Day. When the judges

arrived at the court house, they were confronted by ranks of men in

Continental uniform, armed with rifles and bayonets. The judges were

presented with a petition that claimed the People's right to protest

unconstitutional acts of the legislature and "entreated" the court to

adjourn until the "minds of the people can be obtained and the resolves

of the convention of this county can have an opportunity of having their

grievances redressed." The Court adjourned "without delay."

On September 5, the Court was forced to adjourn in Worcester County.

Several towns met together to create a court to settle debtors' cases in

a manner more favorable to the debtors.

At Concord, in Middlesex, the court was closed on September 12 by armed

men, now calling themselves Regulators, with some contingents coming

from the western end of the state. Most sinister about this event was

the arrival of Job Shattuck the day before at the head of a large number

of wagons containing provisions for several days and material for a camp

that was built on the Concord Green. The judges were given a statement:

"The voice of the People of this county is that [the Court] shall not

enter this courthouse until such time as the People shall have redress

of the grievances they labor under at present."

Berkshire County, at the western edge of the state, had been the first

to close its courts during the revolution and the last to re-open them;

it had threatened to secede from the rest of the state when the state

constitution was ratified. To the surprise of the officials, the militia

actually appeared when called to defend the Court, numbering about 1,000

men in all. Upon arriving on the scene, however, a violent dispute broke

out over which side to take. Judge Whiting, a rebel sympathizer who was

later jailed for "inciting," suggested they divide into two groups; they

did so, 800 opposing the Court, which then adjourned.

In Bristol County, in the southern part of the state, the Court was able

to meet but adjourned as a gesture of good will.

In Exeter, New Hampshire, several hundred armed men surrounded the state

capital on September 20, planning to keep the legislature inside until

it lowered taxes and issued paper money loans. They fled, though, on

hearing a rumor that a company of artillery was coming to attack them.

The Supreme Judicial Court indicted 11 people as "disorderly, riotous,

and seditious persons." On September 26, it was to meet in Springfield,

where a federal arsenal was located. Both were protected by General

Sheppard with 900 militia. On the morning of the 26th, 700 men came, led

by Shays, his first appearance in the rebellion. All day long, through

the night, and into the next day groups arrived from all over the state.

The court was unable to try any cases, as all its personnel, including

the judges, were needed to protect the courthouse. Finally, as the

rebels were preparing an attack, the Court adjourned. Soon thereafter,

Congress authorized the stationing of troops in Springfield to protect

against "Indians."

The General Court's reaction to all this was to suspend Habeas Corpus,

revoke the right to vote and serve on juries for people involved in the

rebellion, and pass a Riot Act giving the governor in-creased powers to

put down disturbances. An "Indemnity Act" pardoned all those who took an

oath of allegiance and did not commit acts of violence from the time the

act was passed. A few vague reforms were passed: the governor's salary

was cut, a few changes in the debtors' law, and taxes could be paid in

goods. Sam Adams, for strange reasons, was going through an

arch-reactionary phase at this time and led the forces of repression

(later, after the outbreak of the French Revolution, he would become a

revolutionary again).

On Nov. 21, the Worcester Court was again unable to meet. On the 28th,

the Middlesex Court was able to meet in Cambridge, across the bay from

Boston, with the help of 2000 militia. Job Shattuck tried,

unsuccessfully, to organize an attempt to stop the court, was hunted

down, wounded, locked up in Boston, and became the rebel-lion's first

martyr.

Shays, hearing of Shattuck's capture, sent out a call for aid: "The

seeds of war are now sown . I request ... you and every man to supply

men and provisions to relieve us with a reinforcement ... we are

determined here to carry our point. Our cause is yours. Don't give

yourself a rest and let us die here, for we are all brethren." He put

his men in old barracks left over from the revolution and began scouring

the countryside for guns and ammunition.

On December 5, the Worcester Court was again stopped. That evening the

rebels held an organizational meeting, at which the military districts

were formed. The most prominent members of the Committee of 17, which

consisted of the Captains of the 17 military districts, were Shays, Luke

Day, and Joseph Hinds of Greenwich. A "petition" was sent to the

governor, demanding the release of all prisoners, a new indemnity act,

and the adjournment of all courts until after the May elections, and

stating that they were not afraid of death, war, or "the injuries of

hunger, cold, nakedness and the infamous name of rebel, as under all

these disadvantages they once before engaged and ... came

off-victorious."

In January, the governor began assembling an army of 5000 militia, to be

commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln. In response the Committee of 17

sent out a call for men to assemble with 10 days provisions. The

objective was the arsenal at Springfield, the only possible source of

arms and ammunition to fight Lincoln.

On January 25, 1200 men, the majority veterans of the Continental Army,

marched into Springfield, where General Sheppard had 900 men to oppose

them. Due to bad weather, many contingents had not yet reached the

assembly point, but the attack could not be delayed, as Lincoln's army

was approaching,

The rebels stopped 250 yards from the arsenal, demanded Sheppard

surrender, and then began to advance. At 100 yards, Sheppard fired his

cannons over their heads, without stopping them, then directly into

them, killing four men. After a few more were fired, the rebels fled.

Until this time, each confrontation had resulted in one side backing

down at the last second; as both the militia and rebels came from the

same towns and were literally friends and relatives, neither side really

wanted to kill anybody, at least at this time. Aside from the cannon,

not a single shot was fired by either side.

The rebels retreated north to Pelham, Shays' home town, where they found

a large quantity of provisions sent from Berkshire. Lincoln's army

arrived a few days later and stopped about ten miles away—passing

through Amherst, they found hardly a man in the place, as they were all

with the rebels. Negotiations took place between the two armies, the

rebels offering to surrender if given a complete pardon.

On February 3, Shays retreated 20 miles to Petersham. Lincoln followed

that night and was caught in a blizzard; had the rebels been aware that

he was following, they could have destroyed his entire army. Instead,

they fled across the New Hampshire border at his arrival.

The rebels officially disbanded and Shays made his way with several

hundred others to Vermont, where the government was expected to be more

friendly. General Lincoln went west to clean out Berkshire, causing many

to flee into New York and Connecticut.

Although the rebels were now broken up, small groups kept up a

continuous guerrilla struggle, capturing weapons, freeing prisoners, and

destroying the property of government supporters. Across the border in

New Lebanon, New York, Eli Parsons began collecting men: "March all the

men in your power to New Lebanon without loss of time. Bring arms,

ammunition, four days provisions ... with snow-shoes, as many as you can

get."

In both Vermont and New York, the rebels were welcomed by the people.

The government of Vermont at first openly supported them, but later,

afraid of alienating the other states (it was not yet accepted as a

state and was claimed by New York), made official proclamations

forbidding the people to assist the rebels, without making any attempt

to enforce them. A group of Massachusetts militiamen, in Vermont looking

for "criminals," was stopped at gunpoint by the people of a town they

passed through, who stated, "No person shall be carried from this state!

You are in pursuit of the most virtuous of your citizens." In New York,

a group of militia that captured a rebel in a raid across the border was

overtaken by forty New Yorkers, who freed the captive.

On February 26, 130 men, led by Perez Hamlin of Stockbridge, left New

Lebanon to attack Pittsfield, where General Lincoln was. They had heard

that all but a few of his militia had left, their enlistments expired.

Unfortunately, Lincoln was reinforced before they reached Pittsfield, so

they turned south to Stockbridge, where they seized the town's military

supplies, captured several prominent government supporters, and

ransacked their homes. They then went ten miles further south to Great

Barrington, where they freed the in-mates of the jail, and started back

to NEW YORK with their prisoners.

On the way back, they fell into a militia ambush; In the ensuing battle,

the rebels lost three dead and several captured, including Hamlin, who

was badly wounded and eventually died in jail. Also among the captured

were Peter Wilcox, whose brother died in the battle, and Nathaniel

Austin, who had led a particularly active group of cavalry, both in

their early 20s, This is the only time both sides fought it out in an

actual battle.

A few days after Hamlin's raid, NEW YORK officials sent their militia to

clean out the towns on their side of the border, forcing the rebels to

move into Vermont and Connecticut. Activities began to die down, but the

situation remained volatile.

Elections for the new General Court were held in the Spring; due to the

disenfranchisement of the rebel supporters, there were towns with no

voters left, while in many others only a few government supporters were

left. Except in the places occupied by militia or with strong

pro-government factions, the disqualification was ignored: "they chose

with an air of insolence to the friends of government and a vindictive

triumph over authority the suspected and disaffected characters." In at

least one case, a man in jail was elected. For governor, John Hancock,

running on a vague program of reform and leniency, beat the incumbent

almost 3 to 1; he was, aside from his platform, also preferred because

he had made his money before the revolution and thus was not considered

a profiteer. Statewide, only one-fourth of the old legislators were

re-elected.

In April, after the elections, the Supreme Court, able to meet by virtue

of military protection, began trying the captured rebels. In Great

Barrington, six persons, captured in Hamlin's raid were sentenced to

death. In Northampton, another six, most for the attack on the

Springfield arsenal. Two others were to be hung in other counties. The

High Sheriff of Berkshire County found a note on his door: "I understand

that there is a number of my countrymen condemned to die because they

fought for justice. I pray have a care that you assist not in the

execution of so horrid a crime, for by all that is above, he that

condemns and he that executes shall share alike ..

Prepare for death with speed, for your life or mine is short. When the

woods are covered with leaves, I shall return and pay you a short visit.

So no more at present, but I remain your inveterate ENEMY."

A Commission of Clemency, appointed by Hancock, decided to hang only

five people: Peter Wilcox and Nathaniel Austin in Berkshire, Captain

Jason Parmenter (who killed a militiaman) and Henry McCullough (only

thought to be a leader because he was once seen at the head of several

hundred men) in Hampshire, Henry Gale (one of the few leaders captured)

in Worcester, and Job Shattuck in Middlesex. The date of execution was

set for May 24.

Throughout early May, frantic preparations were made to rescue the

condemned; guns were smuggled into the state and Several hostages

seized. Tremendous numbers of appeals from towns and individuals all

over the state were sent to the governor. Wilcox and Austin escaped,

were recaptured, escaped again, were recaptured again, escaped a third

time ... The executions were postponed to June, then to August.

In the new General Court, the House repealed the rewards offered for the

capture of prominent rebels; the bill was blocked by the Senate, a more

aristocratic body, not elected by the people. In the fall, it revised

the debtors' law to free persons who, in effect, declared bankruptcy.

The right to serve on juries was restored to the rebels, a necessity, as

many towns were incapable of producing a jury. A general pardon was

defeated by the House, 100 to 94.

Throughout the summer things remained fairly quiet. On September 12, the

militia was sent home, a new pardon offered, and all prisoners pardoned,

except Wilcox and Austin, who were no longer pursued.

In December, however, two men, Charles Rose and John Bly, age 22, were

hung. Bly had recruited men for Shays, was captured during Hamlin's

raid; released by the Court, he went back to NEW YORK, led two raids,

and finally took advantage of the new pardon and returned. During the

winter raids, he and Rose, of whom nothing is known, took some clothes

for a comrade in need. They were charged with burglary and hung. Murder

and rebellion were excusable crimes, but not burglary.

In March of 1788, Shays, Luke Day, Eli Parsons, and a few others, who

had been excluded from the previous pardon offers, were given pardons.

Shays went back to farming, was arrested for debts in 1792, and moved to

NEW YORK state, where he died in 1825 and was buried in an unmarked

grave,

—F.G.