USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Greenfield > History of Greenfield : shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 23
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tOn the 17th of January, 1787, Governor Bowdoin issued a warrant for the apprehen- sion of Captain Obed Foote, of Greenfield, Captain Matthew Clark, of Colrain, Cap- tain Abel Dinsmore, of Conway, Captain Samuel Hill, of Charlemont, and Captain John Powers, of Shutesbury, requiring their commitment to the jail in Northampton, as persons inimicable to the public safety. Sheriff Elisha Porter made his return April 4th, " that of the persons above named he has been able to find only Matthew Clark, whom he has in the Northampton jail,"
275
DANIEL SHAYS AT SPRINGFIELD
the court met sent in a petition (which was in effect an order) asking the court not to transact any business, which the court understood, and granted the petition, and retired from the scene. Then fully realizing the situation the Governor and Council determined to protect the holding of the court at Worcester, which was to meet the 23d of January, 1787, and immediately ordered the raising of forty-four hundred men and two companies of artillery, and placed the whole under the command of Major General Lincoln. The army reached Worcester the day before the time fixed for the sitting of the court, and under its protection the court held its session with- out interruption. General Shepard had collected eleven hun- dred militia at Springfield and so placed them as to fully cover the Continental Arsenal.
At this time the situation of General Shepard (who was greatly outnumbered by the insurgent force) was indeed perilous. About 4o'clock P. M. January 25th, Shays's troops appeared marching up the Boston road towards the Arsenal. Shepard had posted his troops in open column. As the insurgents approached, Shepard sent one of his aids and two other gentlemen several times to inquire of the insurgents their intentions, and warn them to desist in their approach. The meaning of the answer was that they would have the barracks, and they continued their march to within two hun- dred and fifty yards of Shepard's line. Then he sent a final message that the militia were there by order of the state and national governments, and that if they moved any nearer they would certainly be fired upon. One of the insurgent officers replied that that was just what they wanted, and they ad- vanced at once one hundred yards nearer. General Shepard then ordered two cannon shots fired over the heads of the approaching insurgents, which only caused them to press for- ward with quicker step, when seeing no other means of check- ing the advance the cannon were pointed directly into the center of the approaching column and three shots were fired.
276
THE REBELS DISPERSED
A cry of murder came from the rear ranks, and the whole body of the insurgents was thrown into the utmost confusion.
Shays and his officers attempted to rally their men, but they fled in confusion to Ludlow, ten miles away. Three of their number were found dead on the field, and another badly wounded.
General Shepard, in a letter describing the scene, says that he had guns in reserve charged with grapeshot which if he fired into the mob in their confusion, would have killed im- mense numbers, and that if he had attacked the rebels in their rout, he could have almost annihilated them. (Mass. Archives, Vol. 190, p. 317.)
Captain Agrippa Wells, of Greenfield, with his company of insurgents, was at the very front of the opposing forces, and upon his men fell the losses of the day ; Ezekiel Root and Ariel Webster from Greenfield ; Jacob Spicer from Leyden, and John Hunter from Shelburne. A government soldier by the name of Chaloner, also from this town, had both arms blown off by the premature discharge of a cannon. Willard says : " When Chaloner was disabled by losing his arms, the swab was also blown away and destroyed. Nothing daunted by this dreadful disaster, Deacon Harroun of Colrain imme- diately took his place and thrust his mitten into the cannon, the length of his arm, and thus supplied the place of the lost swab, exclaiming at the same time, "Never mind, boys, they haven't killed us all yet."
The main body of the insurgents fled to Pelham ; many, however, abandoned the cause then and there and returned to their homes. Two days after the rout, General Lincoln and the main army arrived at Springfield and marched to Hadley. Two thousand men of the Middlesex militia marched through the towns for the seat of war, and their presence had a most quieting effect upon the people of the central Massachusetts towns; but their services not being needed, they were soon ordered home. Fifty-nine men and
277
A WINTER CAMPAIGN
nine sleigh loads of provisions were captured by the militia at Middlefield.
About two thousand malcontents were gathered at Pelham. The snow was waist deep on the Pelham hills, and they thought themselves secure from any attack from the army at Hadley. They sent a messenger with a petition to the Governor and Legislature. General Lincoln learned on Feb- ruary 3d, that the enemy was in motion, marching eastward, and immediately set out in pursuit. The Shays men had reached Petersham, and were warmly quartered in houses, while the army under Lincoln breasted a terrible snow and wind storm. The snow was so deep that General Lincoln knew that he could only be attacked in front, and his cannon, being on sleds in advance, he commanded the road for a long distance ahead. His front reached Petersham at nine o'clock in the morning of February 4th, his rear being five miles away. The insurgents were terribly surprised, and fled to- wards Athol, scarcely firing a gun. The militia pursued about two miles, and captured one hundred and fifty men. Many of the deluded men retired to their own homes ; others and most of the officers fled to Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. From their places of retreat in the border- ing states, they made predatory warfare upon government sympathizers, especially in Berkshire county. A large body under Captain Hamlin, from the state of New York, en- tered Berkshire county, and pillaged the inhabitants of Stock- bridge. They were overtaken at Sheffield by a party of eighty militia, under Colonel John Ashley and attacked. They fled leaving two dead and thirty wounded, among the latter, their commander, Captain Hamlin. Two of the mi- litia were killed and one wounded. The militia took about fifty prisoners.
The General Court passed an act providing a commission of three eminent persons, who should grant pardons to repent-
278
BENJAMIN WALKER KILLED
ant rebels, Shays, Wheeler, Parsons, Luke Day,* and all persons who had fired upon, or killed any of the citizens in the peace of the Commonwealth, and the commander of the party to which such persons belonged, as well as the members of the rebel council of war, and all persons against whom the Governor and Council had issued a warrant, unless liberated on bail, were excepted from the protection of the commission. Seven hundred and ninety persons took the benefit of the commission. Fourteen persons were tried for treason and convicted, and sentenced to be hung. Many others were convicted of sedition ; among others was a member of the House of Representatives upon whom was passed the sen- tence, which was executed, that he sit upon the gallows with a rope about his neck, pay a fine of fifty pounds, and furnish bonds to keep the peace for five years.
In Bernardston, a party was sent to arrest one Jason Par- menter, a captain in the insurgent force. One of the arrest- ing posse was Benjamin Walker. Overtaking Parmenter and several others in a sleigh, in the night, they ran into each other, and no answer being given to Parmenter's hail, he or- dered his party to fire. The guns missed fire and Parmenter and Walker both raised their pieces and fired at the same time. Walker was shot through the body and died in half an hour. Parmenter and his party escaped to Vermont, but were taken the next day by a detail of militia.
At a session of the Supreme Judicial Court at Northamp- ton, held April 9, 1787, James White of Colrain, Jason Par- menter of Bernardston, John Wheeler of Hardwick, Alpheus Colton of Longmeadow, Daniel Luddington of Southampton, and Henry McCullock of Pelham were all convicted of trea-
* Captain Luke Day was a West Springfield man, and a veteran of revolutionary service. He was a good soldier, but a great talker. His definition of the word "liberty" was as follows: " If you wish to know what liberty is, I will tell you. It is for every man to do what he pleases, to make other folks do as you please to have them, and to keep folks from serving the devil." Josiah Day and the wife of Dea- con Guy C. Munsell, former residents of Greenfield, were his descendants.
279
REPRIEVED WHILE ON THE GALLOWS
son and were all sentenced to be hung. Warrants were issued for the execution of Parmenter and McCullock on the 24th day of May. The other convicted men were pardoned. May 23d a reprieve to June 2Ist was granted to Parmenter and McCullock. That day Northampton was full of ex- cited people gathered to witness the execution of these poor victims of an outraged government. Under the safe conduct of a large military escort the prisoners were marched to the meetinghouse where, as was customary, a sermon was to be preached. It was found that the crowd largely outnumbered the church accommodations, and the prisoners were ranged in front of that edifice, under guard, and Reverend Enoch Hale delivered his sermon from one of the windows to the gathered multitude of people. After the sermon the pris- oners were marched in solemn procession to the gallows, and when all was ready for the final scene in the awful tragedy, Sheriff Porter produced a reprieve from the Governor. The reaction was so intense that Parmenter fainted away.
The government had offered £150 for the apprehension of Daniel Shays, and £100 each for Luke Day, Adam Wheeler and Eli Parsons. Captain Day was arrested and spent some time in the Northampton jail.
In the spring of 1788, the Legistature restored Captain Day to the rights of citizenship, and Governor Hancock is- sued his proclamation withdrawing the offer of reward for the arrest of the others, " as the reasons which operated for such reward do not now exist."
Shays and Parsons had united in a petition to the General Court, in which they acknowledged their great errors and the leniency and moderation of the government, and "they humbly beleave to supplicate the mercy of the Legislature in their behalf."
Five hundred men were for a time stationed in this town, under Colonel Buffington,* who had its headquarters at the
* Major Samuel Buffington died at Worthington, March 2, 1830, aged seventy. He
280
CAPTAIN MOSES ARMS' COMPANY
tavern of Reuben Wells (the old Goodman place in the mead- ows). The fine white horse, which Shays rode at the Spring- field fight, Mr. Willard says, " was again pressed into service, willing or unwilling, and went through the campaign over all this part of the country, to bring in the mobbers to take the oaths."
Captain Agrippa Wells, sturdy patriot though he was, led a full company of Colrain, Leyden and Bernardston men to the aid of Shays, and another company, mostly men from that part of the town now Gill, with Captain Foote in com- mand, was also a part of Shays's force at the Springfield fiasco. Greenfield was fairly loyal : seventy men under Captain Moses Arms were among the finest commands, on the side of the government upon the hill. Major Nash of Shelburne and Tubal Nash of this town were officers in this company. A party consisting in part of Solomon Smead, Ezekiel Bas- com and Lemuel Hastings, started from Greenfield to rein- force Captain Arms's command, and stopping at Hadley over night were surrounded by Captain Foote's company and robbed of all their provisions. Their horses and other prop- erty were taken from them, and afterward Captain Foote was
was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary army. When Shays marched to attack General Shepard at the Arsenal, Buffington was General Shepard's aid and was sent by Shep- ard to Shays to demand what he wanted. Buffington's account of what took place is as follows: "General Shays advanced with his drawn sword in his left hand, and a pistol in his right hand, and familiarly asked me, 'How are you, Buffington?' I re- plied, ' You see I am here in defence of that country you are endeavoring to destroy ?' He rejoined, ' If you are in defence of the country, we are both defending the same cause.' I added, ' I suspect we shall take different parts before night !' He said the part he should take would be the hill, on which the Arsenal and public buildings stood. I told him that if he attempted it, he would meet a very warm reception. He asked, ' Will they fire?' I replied they undoubtedly would. He answered that was all he wanted. When the insurgents had advanced within one hundred rods of our line, I was sent again in company with Major William Lyman, an aid to General Shepard. I told them General Shepard bid me tell Shays he was posted not only by the authority of this state, but by Congress, and that he should defend the post at all hazards. I was again sent with Mr. Lyman to observe their motions, and to tell them if they advanced five feet, they would be fired on. They said it was all they wanted, and immediately gave orders, 'March on! March on !'"
281
COL. HUGH MCCLALLEN'S COMMAND
sued for this forcible conversion of private property, and com- pelled to make restitution.
Nearly all the men of Colrain, with the notable exception of Colonel Hugh McClallen and Major William Stevens, were sympathizers with the Shays men, and when the news of the death of three men at Springfield became known, large numbers soon collected, and even talked of lynching Colonel Hugh McClallen, Major Stevans, and other prominent govern- ment men. Major Stevans and some others who had gone out with him thought it prudent to remain in Greenfield for some time.
Resistance to the government gradually died out, the con- demned men were eventually all pardoned, the rank and file crowded the offices of the magistrates to deliver up their arms and take the oath of allegiance and " peace once more reigned in Warsaw."
Roll of the company commanded by Captain Moses Arms, mustered January 17, 1787, in the regiment of Colonel Joseph Stebbins, by command of Colonel Hugh McClallen, dated January 13, 1787.
Arms, Moses, Captain
Hastings, Joseph
Smead, Lemuel, Lieut.
Hastings, Lemuel
Nash, Benjamin, Lieut.
Hitchcock, Gaius
Smead, Solomon, Clerk
Hinman, Burrer
Nash, Tubal, Sergeant
Kellogg, Juli
Nims, Hull, Sergeant
Kellogg, Noadiah
Bascom, Ezekiel, Sergeant
Lamb, Elijah
Graves, Job, Sergeant
Lester, Francis
Hall, Timothy, Corporal
McHard, William
Arms, Ebenezer, Corporal
Mitchell, Elijah
Wells, Daniel, Corporal
Mitchell, Miller
Parmalee, James, Drummer
Moores, William
Doty, Moses, Fifer. Abbet, Eli, Private Allen, Elihu Allen, Elijah
Munn, Simeon Newton, John
Nichols, Ebenezer
Smead, Abner
Smead, Daniel
Smead, David
Alvord, Elijah Arms, Jesse Arms, Seth Atherton, Asaiel
Smead, Eli
Smead, Jonathan
4
282
LIEUT. LEMUEL SMEAD'S DETACHMENT
Billings, Ebenezer
Severance, Joseph, G'fd.
Billings, Ezekiel
Severance, Joseph, Shel.
Barnard, David
Severance, Matthew
Bass, Abraham
Skinner, Amasa
Chaloner, John
Smith, Joel
Coleman, Elijah
Stevens, Abiel
Cook, Noah,
Torry, Jacob
Denio, Frederick
Wells, Elisha
Denio, Seth
Wells, John, G'fd.
Denio, Solomon
Wells, John, Shel.
Ellis, Lucius
Wells, Joseph
Ellis, Samuel
Wells, Obed
Fisher, Eleazer
Wells, Roswell
Foster, William
Wells, Samuel
Gilbert, Eliel
Wing, Enoch
Goodman, Elihu
Worthington, David
Graves, John
Wright, Daniel
Hall, Jonathan
The next day after the skirmish at Springfield, Lieutenant Lemuel Smead with sixteen men was detached and marched to South Hadley in pursuit of the insurgents. The most of the men were out twenty-four days. February 22d, Captain Arms's command were called out to serve as guard over cap- tured insurgents, at Greenfield.
Among the Greenfield men who took the oath of allegiance are found the names of Edward Allen, Dan Corss, Sylvanus Nash, Andrew Putnam, Jr., Moses Bascom, Jr., and George Goodrich.
Nothing ever occurred in the valley to cause more poetic effusions than the Shays rebellion. They are numerous, and the following is a fair sample :
" Says sober Will, well Shays has fled, And peace returned to bless our days ; Indeed ! cries Ned, I always said, He'd prove at last a fall back Shays."
For a season during and after the close of the Revolutionary War, to be in debt and unable to pay was the normal condi- tion, and as the law permitted imprisonment for debt, to be incarcerated in jail for that cause, came not to be considered
283
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT
an overwhelming disgrace, and the county boarding house never lacked patronage to its fullest extent. As the jailor was also a tavern keeper, prisoners who had the means, and those who had kind and indulgent friends, had no lack of creature comforts to make the long period of waiting pass with rea- sonable comfort.
Major John C. Williams of Hadley was the Register of the Probate Court, appointed in 1776. He held his office for eleven years, and during the latter part of his term, he became very intemperate, and spent the greater portion of his time in the county jail. He was the person of whom Samuel Ely said, " that Major John C. Williams should be made a sacri- fice of and his body should be given to the Fowls of the air and to the Beasts of the Field."
His residence at the jail was so constant that he had his sign fixed in front of the jail, and issued notices that " the next Probate Court would be held at the office of the subscriber, nearly fronting the Jail House, Northampton." "While it might not be derogatory to the Register to be an inmate of the jail, it must have been a new experience for persons hav- ing business with the court to be compelled to go to jail for its accomplishment. Considering the determined raid then in progress against the courts, the Probate Court seems for a time to have been in a safe place." t
At this period the survival of the government under the Articles of Confederation was in great peril. The country was impoverished by the war, burdened by immense debts with no power under the Articles of Confederation to raise a penny to pay them if it had the ability. It was the Nation's darkest hour, but Washington again came to its rescue, by proposing a convention to consult as to the best means of remedying the defects of the Federal Government. From this convention, held at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786, came the
* Trumbull's History of Northampton.
t Ibid.
284
THE UNITED STATES ORGANIZED
one held in May, 1787, at Philadelphia, at which Washington presided, which drafted the Constitution of the United States. On the 4th of March, 1789, the old Continental Congress expired, and the United States of America came into being. Congress assumed the war debts of the several states and a great burden was lifted from the people of Massachusetts, and peace and prosperity reigned in place of distrust and re- bellion.
1
CHAPTER XXV
TOWN LEGISLATION
" Whate'er of good the old time had Remains to make our own time glad."
I N following to a logical conclusion the events leading to Shays's rebellion we have diverged from the chrono- logical order of reviewing matters of less importance. Be- fore 1781, for the transaction of any business requiring the presence of a magistrate, the people of Greenfield had been obliged to repair to Deerfield for relief, and the town, May 14th of that year, voted, " That (it) is the minds of the town to have a Justice of the Peace in town." David Smead was the per- son selected to fill that office of trust, the appointment being the best evidence obtainable, that he was a man of merit, intel- ligence and worth, for that office in those days was conferred only upon the very foremost citizens.
Agitation for the division of the county of Hampshire (a territory fifty miles in length and averaging about forty miles in breadth) began in 1784, and was continued intermittently until 1811, when Franklin county was set off. The leading men of Greenfield were much interested in the scheme for the division of the county.
The town was slowly increasing in population, the young men as they started in life, taking portions of the home farm, instead of emigrating to distant parts of the country, as has been the custom in later days. The town was liberal in the building of new roads and bridges, and in providing school privileges.
" For a long period after the war, as the military spirit did not pass away with the occasion which had roused it to action,
285
286
OLD TIME MUSTERS
the annual reviews or musters of the troops in the county, one of which was generally held here or in the immediate vicinity, drew together great numbers from all the surrounding country, and the border towns of Vermont.
" On these days there was and still is, a great deal going forward. The female sex formerly did not hesitate to attend these displays in liberal numbers. To be a soldier then, was a distinction by no means sought to be avoided, as now. The Revolutionary soldiers and officers usually attended the train- ing and review days, and encouraged the young aspirants for military honor, and at times excited their ambition with oft told stories of the recent war, of hair breadth 'scapes, and how the fields were won." (Willard's History.)
It is interesting to notice what a considerable share of the town business related to the seating of the meetinghouse. At every annual meeting a committee of from five. to eight of the principal men of the town were elected to " seat the meeting- house," and report their doings to the town at a subsequent meeting. Oftentimes a town meeting was called for the single purpose of hearing the report of the seating committee, and taking action thereon.
March 1, 1784. Voted " That the Fore Seat in the Meet- ing House be appropriated to the singers if needed."
" That the rest of the Gallery be not seated."
" That the lower part of the Meeting House be seated ac- cording to the judgment of the Committee."
" That Mr. Newton go every fourth Sabbath the ensuing year to the North East Part of the Town (Gill) to Preach."
" That Mr. Newton begin to Preach in the North East Part of the Town the 2nd Sabbath of March."
April 5, 1784. Voted, " that seats be put into such Pews in the Meeting House as need them."
Voted "that the 'Liberty of Enjoying a Pew built at their own Expense over one pair of the Gallery stairs until the next time the House is Seated & if the cost be not then paid
287
REV. MR. NEWTON'S WOOD
by the Town, till they see fit to pay for it, be granted to Simeon Wells and others."
" The Committee chose to Seat the Meeting House de- clared in Town Meeting the Seat they had appointed for each Inhabitant."
October 12, 1784. Voted, " that they would join with the neighboring Towns in petitioning the General Court for a Division of the County of Hampshire."
" That they would not provide Grave stones for the Revd Edward Billing." (Mr. Billing left four sons whom the people of the town thought might provide them. A hundred years later the town erected stones in his honor.)
March 6, 1786. Voted "To Choose a Committee of three men to Confer with the Revd Mr. Newton with Respect to the exact quantity of Wood he is willing to except of from the Town and to make Report at the Next Town Meeting.'
May 8, 1786. Voted " David Smead Esq. chosen to at- tend the Convention to be held at Hatfield on the Ioth In- stant."
This convention was held for the purpose of inducing the General Court to make division of the County.
December 4, 1786. Voted "To give the Revd Mr New- ton Forty fore Cords annually, of Good Merchantable wood. Chestnut Pine & Hemlock to be Excepted Provided he will Except it."
" GREENFIELD Decr. 4, 1786.
" I hereby signify my satisfaction in the vote of the Town this day passed respecting my wood & that I will receive forty four Cords of wood of Good quality excepting Chestnut Pine & Hemlock in particular annually as the Compliment Voted me by the Town previous to my settlement.
" As witness my Hand,
ROGER NEWTON."
October 11, 1788. Voted " To assist the Northeast (Gill) part of this Town in materials for building a Meetinghouse
288
A LOTTERY ASKED FOR
in proportion to their part of the present meetinghouse agree- able to their proportion in the Last State List provided that part of the Town East of the Center of Fallriver git set off as a town."
Before the next meeting the amount offered to aid the eastern part of the town towards building a meetinghouse was found to be forty pounds, which amount was voted, " provided they get set off as a town." It was also voted, October 27, 1788, "That part of the Town East of the Center of Fall river be set off as a Town, and that They pay there proportion of all Town and State taxes that are or may be on the Town before they git incorporated into a town, and all State taxes that may hereafter be assest on the Town before a New Valuation be taken."
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