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Historical SummaryWHEN the veterans of the American Revolution broke ranks there was no G.I. Bill of Rights to cushion the shock of readjustment to civilian life. Returning to plough or workbench, their pockets stuffed with worthless paper money, they were soon caught up in a post-war depression. Sheriffs were no respecters of service records and the erstwhile saviors of the country were soon regarded as public liabilities. Debtors were jailed, their goods attached, and they themselves often sold into servitude to pay off their creditors. By 1786 the situation had become so desperate in the western counties of Massachusetts that public protest meetings demanded action for the relief of debtors. Armed farmers, mostly former servicemen, broke up sittings of the courts to prevent distraint for debts or taxes. The leader of the armed veterans, a former serviceman himself, was Daniel Shays. His name became anathema to the men of property. General Henry Knox, spokesman for the extreme nationalists, viewed the activities of these veterans as a calamity justifying military intervention. General von Steuben, the renowned drillmaster, who tried to have Prince Henry of Prussia placed on an American throne, was actually backing the ex-veteran insurgents in the hope of serving as their leader. Meanwhile his closest friend, Major "Billy" North, was sent by Knox to recruit troops to put down the uprising. Wrote Mercy Warren to John Adams: "Time will make curious disclosures, and you, Sir, may be astonished to find the incendiaries who have fomented the discontents among the miserable insurgents of the Massachusetts, in a class of men least suspected." At Mount Vernon, Washington, constantly needled by the conservatives, declared: "For God’s sake, tell me, what is the cause of these commotions. If they have real grievances, redress them if possible. If they have not, employ the force of government against them at once." Jefferson in Paris, physically remote from the clash, was cool and collected. "I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing," he commented. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." The high point of the revolt was the attack on the Springfield arsenal. As its defender, General Shepard, reports, a whiff of grapeshot was sufficient to rout the attackers. Then General Lincoln, who had raised money at a swank Boston club by warning its members that it would be best to loan part of their wealth to save the rest, relieved Shepard with some 4,400 troops. The morale of the insurgents weakened, and Shays retreated. At Petersham, after a forced thirty-mile march through a blinding snowstorm, the militia surprised the rebels, captured 150 of their number, and scattered the rest. Shays himself fled to Vermont, and the revolt, save for a few guerilla incursions, came to an end. Lincoln’s was hardly a great military achievement. It was on a par with MacArthur’s dispersal of the Bonus Army, one of the saddest boners of the Hoover regime. The popularity of the insurgents was clearly demonstrated by the fact that Governor Bowdoin, who had called out the state troops, was swept out of office by Hancock in a landslide which elected a number of the erstwhile rebels to the legislature. The traditional reporter of the insurgency was the old New England historian, George Minot, whose hostile attitude toward the "malcontents" biased historical writing for many generations. It remained for progressive-minded Edward Bellamy, later author of Looking Backward, to redress the balance in his historical novel, The Duke of Stockbridge. In preference to the swivel-chair reporting of Minot, we have chosen the gunsight view recorded by the two chief actors in the drama. The contrast illustrates the fact that the greatest rancor is generally reserved for those who are far from the scene of battle. Your soldier-reporter is likely to be more compassionate and conciliatory toward his antagonist. In this revolt both generals went out of their way to avoid firing on their former comrades-in-arms. Of the two accounts Shepard’s is the more tensely dramatic, with some vivid dialogue. Lincoln’s is written with the confidence which comes from a superior military position and a profound assurance of the outcome.
Key QuoteGeneral Shepard: "The unhappy time is come in which we have been obliged to shed blood."
Shays Leads the Veterans to Disaster
[1787]
I
GENERAL SHEPARD TO GOVERNOR BOWDOIN
The unhappy time is come in which we have been obliged to shed blood. Shays, who was at the head of about twelve hundred men, marched yesterday afternoon about four o’clock, towards the public buildings in battle array. He marched his men in an open column by platoons. I sent several times by one of my aids, and two other gentlemen, Captains Buffington and Woodbridge, to him to know what he was after, or what he wanted. His reply was, he wanted barracks, and barracks he would have and stores. The answer returned was he must purchase them dear, if he had them.
He still proceeded on his march until he approached within two hundred and fifty yards of the arsenal. He then made a halt. I immediately sent Major Lyman, one of my aids, and Capt. Buffington to inform him not to
march his troops any nearer the arsenal on his peril, as I was stationed here by order of your Excellency and the Secretary at War, for the defence of the public property; in case he did I should surely fire on him and his men. A Mr. Wheeler, who appeared to be one of Shays’ aids, met Mr. Lyman, after be had delivered my orders in the most peremptory manner, and made answer, that that was all he wanted. Mr. Lyman returned with his answer.
Shays immediately put his troops in motion, and marched on rapidly near one hundred yards. I then ordered Major Stephens, who commanded the artillery, to fire upon them. He accordingly did. The two first shots he endeavored to overshoot them, in hopes they would have taken warning without firing among them, but it had no effect on them. Major Stephens then directed his shot through the center of his column. The fourth or fifth shot put their whole column into the utmost confusion. Shays made an attempt to display the column, but in vain. We had one howitz which was loaded with grapeshot, which when fired, gave them great uneasiness.
Had I been disposed to destroy them, I might have charged upon their rear and flanks with my infantry and the two field pieces, and could have killed the greater part of his whole army within twenty-five minutes. There was not a single musket fired on either side. I found three men dead on the spot, and one wounded, who is since dead. One of our artillery men by inattention was badly wounded. Three muskets were taken up with the dead, which were all deeply loaded.
I have received no reinforcement yet, and expect to be attacked this day by their whole force combined.
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Chicago: William Shepard, "Shays Leads the Veterans to Disaster," Works in History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, ed. Louis Leo Snyder and Richard B. Morris (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Co., 1951), Original Sources, accessed November 21, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=DIS2H231FGRB9TB.
MLA: Shepard, William. "Shays Leads the Veterans to Disaster." Works, in History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, edited by Louis Leo Snyder and Richard B. Morris, Harrisburg, Pa., Stackpole Co., 1951, Original Sources. 21 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=DIS2H231FGRB9TB.
Harvard: Shepard, W, 'Shays Leads the Veterans to Disaster' in Works. cited in 1951, History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, ed. , Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, Pa.. Original Sources, retrieved 21 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=DIS2H231FGRB9TB.
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