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Connecticut Nervously Watches Progression of Shays' Rebellion in Neighboring Massachusetts
Connecticut Nervously Watches Progression of Shays' Rebellion in Neighboring Massachusetts
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Connecticut Nervously Watches Progression of Shays' Rebellion in Neighboring Massachusetts

[SHAYS' REBELLION]. The New-Haven Gazette, and the Connecticut Magazine, March 29, 1787. New Haven, CT: Josiah Meigs. 8 pp. (41-48), 8.75" x 10.375". Disbound; some separation on central fold; tape repair to horizontal tear on first sheet; reinforcement to central fold between pp 4-5; some staining and light, scattered spots throughout.

This issue includes excerpts from several letters from Massachusetts regarding the aftermath of Shays' Rebellion and the possibility that it would continue.

Excerpts
"several towns in Vermont, which lie near the line of Hampshire county, give asylum and protection to the rebels, who continue assembled therein, and threaten to return and burn and destroy the property of the friends to government, as soon as the warm weather will admit their taking the field in force. That the Days are the principal leaders of these rebels, that the disasters and defeats they have met with, have served only to whet their appetites for revenge, and that it is the opinion of those who have been steadily attached to government, and who have made the most astonishing exertions for its support, that nothing but the operation of strict justice on a number of the principals, will ever bring the rebels to a sense of their duty."

"Extract of letters from two women at Pelham to their friends in Chesterfield, dated Pelham, March 3, 1787.
"'Dear Sally, I would inform you that last Sunday there was a party of Lincoln's troops marched through Pelham, which put me in mind of Mary Rowlandson's speech in her journal, for they began to fire off guns soon after they left our house at Burd's and rejoicing over their dead bodies, signifying that they had gained some victory. So heathenish was these inhuman wretches as to fire at General Shays's house, so that the bullets lay thick on the floor. O Sally, if this is the way they take to gain their point, I think their rain is short, for God will be avenged of such murderous wretched wicked creatures as break his holy Sabbath-Day.. .. We had great news from New-London last week, that there was 30 sail of the British in sight for our relief. Pray write to me. Here is a health to General Shays, General Shays, General Shays.... our gentlemen officers has arrived safe at Canada, that there was such and such gentlemen come, and they met them with 600 men, and received them joyfully.'" (p6/c1-2)

Historical Background
Daniel Shays of central Massachusetts and other veterans of the American Revolutionary War left the army unpaid and returned home to face court actions for non-payment of debts, especially taxes. After the war's end in 1783, many other veterans could not pay their taxes or money they owed on land purchased before the war.

In August 1786, protests in rural Massachusetts turned to direct action to prevent courts from sitting and were successful in Northampton. Governor James Bowdoin (1726-1790) issued a proclamation condemning such mob action. Shays had participated in the Northampton protest and took on a larger role as the movement grew. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts indicted eleven leaders of the rebellion, including Shays. The court was scheduled to meet in Springfield on September 26. Local militia commander William Shepard organized a militia to defend the court, and Luke Day led the protestors, who demonstrated but made no attempt to seize the court building. The court adjourned two days later without hearing any cases. Protestors also successfully prevented courts from sitting in Great Barrington, Concord, and Taunton, though courts met in larger towns and cities with militia protection.

Bowdoin suspended habeas corpus, and the legislature passed a Riot Act and other legislation against the insurgents. The arrest of some rebellion leaders in eastern Massachusetts led those in the western part of the state to speak of overthrowing the state government by mid-January 1787. Bowdoin created a privately funded militia under the leadership of former Continental Army General Benjamin Lincoln. Shays, Day, and other rebel leaders in western Massachusetts organized their forces with the idea of seizing the federal arsenal in Springfield, with its supplies of weapons and ammunition. General William Shepard took possession of the armory under orders from the governor but without the permission of Secretary of War Henry Knox.

The rebels executed an uncoordinated attack on the armory on January 25, 1787, and Shepard's cannon fired grape shot, killing four rebels and wounding twenty more. The rebel advance collapsed, and the rebel forces retreated north and regrouped at Amherst. General Lincoln marched west from Worcester with his force of three thousand militia, while the rebels retreated north and west to Petersham. On February 4, Lincoln's forces surprised the rebel camp there and scattered them.

Most of the rebel leaders fled north into New Hampshire and Vermont, where they found shelter, despite several demands that they be returned to Massachusetts for trial. The Massachusetts government offered a reward of $750 for the capture of Daniel Shays, and $500 each for Luke Day, Adam Wheeler, and Eli Parsons. Ultimately, four thousand Massachusetts men signed confessions acknowledging participation in the rebellion in exchange for amnesty.

Eighteen leaders were convicted and sentenced to death, but most of these sentences were overturned on appeal or commuted, or the prisoners were pardoned. On December 6, 1787, two leaders, John Bly and Charles Rose, were hanged. His handling of the rebellion made Bowdoin unpopular, and John Hancock easily defeated him in the gubernatorial election of 1787.

Daniel Shays (c. 1747-1825) received a pardon in 1788 and returned briefly from Vermont to Massachusetts before moving to New York. Authorities captured Luke Day (1743-1801) in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, in February 1787 and imprisoned him in Boston. He was released and granted a pardon in March 1788. Adam Wheeler (1732-1802), a veteran of both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, fled to Canada and remained there until 1791, when he returned to Massachusetts after the town of Hubbardston settled his debt. Eli Parsons (1748-1830) was also a veteran of the Revolutionary War and also fled to Canada. He eventually received amnesty and settled in New York.

Additional Content
This issue also includes the conclusion of "An Essay on Christian Morality" (p1/c1-p2/c2); a letter "To the Freemen of the State of Connecticut" by "A Freeman," opposing the reduction in the number of representatives in the General Assembly (p3/c1-p4/c2); a list of acts recently passed by the Massachusetts legislature (p4/c2-p5/c2); and a variety of notices and advertisements

The New Haven Gazette, and the Connecticut Magazine (1784-1789) was a weekly newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut. It began as the New Haven Gazette, published by Josiah Meigs (1757-1822), Daniel Bowen, and Eleutheros Dana (1761-1788). In April 1786, Bowen left the partnership to publish the New Haven Chronicle. Dana left the partnership in August 1787, and Meigs continued to edit the newspaper alone.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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