USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Pelham > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 34
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Prescott > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 34
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" Whether you are convinced or not of your error in flying to arms, I am fully pursuaded that before this hour, you must have the fullest conviction upon your mind that you are not able to execute your original purposes.
Your resources are few, your force is inconsiderable, and hourly decreas- ing from the disaffection of your men ; you are in a post where you have neither cover nor supplies, and in a situation in which you can neither give aid to your friends nor discomfort to the supporters of good order and gov- ernment. Under these circumstances you cannot hesitate a moment to dis- band your deluded followers. If you should not, I must approach, and apprehend the most influential characters among you.
Should you attempt to fire upon the troops of the government, the conse- quences must be fatal to many of your men, the least guilty. To prevent bloodshed, you will communicate to your privates, that if they will instantly lay down their arms, surrender themselves to government, and take and sub- scribe the oath of allegience to this Commonwealth, they shall be recom- mended for mercy. If you should either withhold this information from them, or suffer your people to fire upon our approach, you must be answer- able for all the ills which may exist in consequence thereof."
To this letter General Lincoln received the following reply :
" PELHAM, JANUARY 30TH, 1787.
TO GENERAL LINCOLN, COMMANDING THE GOVERNMENT TROOPS AT HADLEY, Sir .- The people assembled in arms from the counties of Middle- sex, Worcester, Hampshire and Berkshire, taking into serious consideration the purport of the flag just received, return for answer, that however unjust- ifiable the measures may be which the people have adopted, in having recourse to arms, various circumstances have induced them thereto.
We are sensible of the embarrassments the people are under; but that virtue which truly characterizes the citizens of a republican government, hath hitherto marked our paths with a degree of innocence ; and we wish and trust it will still be the case. At the same time, the people are willing to lay down their arms, on the condition of a general pardon, and return to
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
their respective homes, as they are unwilling to stain the land, which we in the late war purchased at so dear a rate, with the blood of our brethren and neighbors.
Therefore, we pray that hostilities may cease, on your part, until our united prayers may be presented to the General Court, and we receive an answer, as a person is gone for that purpose. If this request may be com- piled with, government shall meet with no interruption from the people ; but let each army occupy the post where they now are.
DANIEL SHAYS, Captain."
On the following day three of the insurgents from the camp at Pelham appeared at General Lincoln's headquarters at Hadley with the following communination :
THE HONORABLE GENERAL LINCOLN, Sir .- As the officers of the people now convened in defence of their rights and privileges, have sent a petition to the General Court, for the sole purpose of accommodating our present unhappy affairs, we justly expect that hostilities may cease on both sides, until we have a return from our legislature. Your Honour will therefore be pleased to give us an answer.
Per order of the committee for recconcilliation,
FRANCIS STONE, Chairman, DANIEL SHAYS, Captain, ADAM WHEELER.
Pelham, January 31, 1787."
General Lincoln sent answer to the foregoing letter as follows :
" HADLEY, JANUARY 31, 1787.
GENTLEMEN .- Your request is totally inadmissible, as no powers are dele- gated to me which would justify a delay of my operations. Hostilities I have not commenced. I have again to warn the people in arms against the government, immediately to disband, as they would avoid the ill conse- quences which may ensue, should they be inattentive to this caution.
B. LINCOLN.
To FRANCIS STONE, DANIEL SHAYS, ADAM WHEELER."
It was while this correspondence was going on that the time for the assembling of the General Court arrived according to adjourn- ment, but owing to the unsettled state of the people the legislators did not arrive at Boston in sufficient numbers until the 3d of Febru- ary. On the 4th a declaration of rebellion was passed by the Senate and concurred in by the House. When General Shepard and Gen- eral Lincoln dispersed the rebels at Springfield the latter discharged 2000 militia becaused he believed they would not be wanted, but when Captain Shays posted his men at Pelham, the rebellion began to assume more importance, and Governor Bowdoin issued orders for 2600 of the militia in the middle counties to take the field.
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THE SHAYS REBELLION.
The petition, which Shays and his associates of the committee of reconcilliation referred to as having been sent to the General Court, reached Boston and was duly presented to the honorable body. It was in language as follows :
"PETITION OF THE OFFICERS OF THE COUNTIES OF WORCESTER, HAMP- SHIRE, MIDDLESEX AND BERKSHIRE NOW AT ARMS.
Humbly Sheweth :- That your petitioners being sensible that we have been in error, in having recourse to arms, and not seeking redress in a Con- stitutional way; we therefore heartily pray your honours, to overlook our failing, in respect to our rising in Arms, as your honors must be sensible we had great cause of uneasiness, as will appear by your redressing many grievances, the last session; yet we declare, that it is our hearts desire, that good government may be kept in a constitutional way ; and as it appears to us, that the time is near approaching, when much human blood will be spilt, unless a recconcilliation can immediately take place, which scene strikes us with horror, let the foundation cause be what it may.
We therefore solemnly promise, that we will lay down our arms, and repair to our respective homes, in a peaceable and quiet manner; and so remain, provided your honours will grant to your petitioners, and all those our breth- ren who have recouse to arms, or otherwise aided or assisted our cause, a general pardon for their past offences. All of which we humbly submit to the wisdom, candour and benevolence of your honours, as we in duty bound shall ever pray. FRANCIS STONE,
Chairman of the Committee for the above Counties.
Read and accepted by the Officers. Pelham, January 30, 1787."
The General Court took the petition in hand and at once " Voted that the said paper cannot be sustained," and gave seven distinct reasons for their action, a few of them we copy. "First, because those concerned therein openly avow themselves in arms, and in a state of hostility against the government, and for this reason alone, the said paper would be unsustainable, even if the tenor of the appli- cation had discovered a spirit suitable to the object of it. Fourthly, The said applicants appear to view themselves on equal, if not better standing than the legislature, by proposing 'a reconcilliation.' Fifthly, They appear to threaten the authority and Government of the Commonwealth, with great effusion of blood, unless this 'recon- cilliation can immediately take place.'"
In a letter written by General Lincoln to Governor Bowdoin dated at Hadley, Feb. 1, 1787, he says :
" I have just been honored with the receipt of your Excellency's favor of the 25 ult. * * I wait with a degree of impatience for such weather as will
26
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
permit my reconnoitering Shays' post, which as I have advised you before is a very strong one. Every exertion will be made to bring this matter to a happy close. B. LINCOLN."
It is probably true that there was a reconnoisance of Capt. Shays' position by order of Gen. Lincoln and it doubtless caused the rebel leader to set his forces in motion towards Petersham.
The terse answer of General Lincoln Jan. 31, 1787, did not satisfy the committee of insurgents of which Capt. Shays was one, and a private conference was sought by one of the leading rebels to further consider the subject of promise of pardon. It was granted and the conference was held at Hadley, Feb. 3, 1787, the day the General Court assembled. While the conference was in session Capt. Shays, who seems to have forgotten the petition that had been sent to the legislature, concluded not to wait for the result of the conference, at Hadley, but while it was going on the wily Captain started his men on the march across the hills and through the valleys towards Petersham.
Dr. Nehemiah Hinds kept a tavern at that time on Pelham East Hill, where a part of Capt. Shays' men were gathered while in Pelham. It stood on the site of the present Congregational parsonage in Pres- cott, and Landlord Hinds had for a sign the painting of a horse held by a groom. The board on which this sign was painted was hung on a post or pole set in a solid rock in front of the tavern. The tavern and the sign are gone but the rock with the hole six inches in diameter and about two feet deep remains. The rains in summer keep the hole filled with water and the children of all generations from 1787 to this day have made mud pies on that rock.
It was by this rock with the tavern sign above it that Capt. Shays is said to have treated his men, (probably the officers of his insurgent force) as they were leaving the town by the snowy highway, contin- uing their flight from the larger and stronger body of State Militia under General Lincoln encamped at Hadley, that Capt. Shays knew would continue the pursuit just as soon as General Lincoln became aware that the private conference was sought only for the purpose of gaining time, and the General should learn of his leaving Pelham.
This march of the rebels to Petersham was the last move in any considerable numbers of the insurgent forces. There was trouble from small bodies of rebels afterwards for some time in various parts of the state, but it is not thought best to follow up this sort of guerrilla war that was kept up for several months.
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THE SHAYS REBELLION.
The march of General Lincoln's army from Hadley to Petersham, as given in Minot's History of the insurrection :
" Information that Shays had put his forces in motion and left Pel- ham was carried to Gen. Lincoln at Hadley at noon of the same day (Feb. 3, 1787) but it was first thought that he had only marched the men on the West Hill to join those on the East Hill of Pelham.
Gen. Lincoln issued orders to his army to be ready to march at a moments notice and to have three days provisions ready. At 6 o'clock that day news came that Shays had really left his position at Pelham and gone eastward. In two hours from the time or at eight o'clock in that winter night Lincoln and his army were on the march after the rebels. Through Amherst, Shutesbury and New Salem they marched as fast as the deep snows would permit, hour after hour without any unusual incident of note save the bitter cold. At two o'clock in morning they were in New Salem. By this time a violent snow storm had begun, accompanied by a fierce north wind, which sharpened the cold to an extreme degree. The route lay across high lands, and the falling snow filled the road. The soldiers were exposed to the full effect of these circumstances, and the country being thinly settled did not afford a covering for them within the distance of eight miles. Being thus deprived of shelter by want of buildings, and of refreshment by the intenseness of the cold, which prevented their taking any in the road, their only safety lay in closely pursuing a march, which was to terminate at the quarters of the enemy. They therefore advanced the whole distance of thirty miles subject to all these inclemencies without halting for any length of time. Their front reached Petersham by nine o'clock in the morning, (Feb. 4) their rear being five miles distant."
Shays and his men had been comfortably housed during the cold and storm, while Lincoln and his army were greatly worn by the fatigue of the march and suffering from the intense cold. It would seem that Shays had the advantage, but he did not seem to know it, or Gen. Lincoln didn't give him an opportunity to use it, for the latter
advanced into the town with some artillery in front. Shays was taken by surprise,-he had not the least suspicion that any danger of attack was possible ; and in his fear the only thought seemed to be his own personal safety, and he and his men immediately evac- uated the houses where they had been quartered and thronging into a back road, fled towards Athol, without scarcely stopping to fire a
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
gun. Many of the privates retired to their own homes,-others including officers fled to Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.
After the breaking up the main body of the rebels under Capt. Shays at Petersham, Gen. Lincoln marched his forces back to the Western part of the state to look after and disperse other small bands that still kept up a noisy but not a very dangerous campaign.
As some may ask whether any of these rebels were ever punished, it may be best to say right here that the state government had no desire to execute the extreme penalties of the law against these rebels, but they wished to show that it was dangerous business to rebel. A commission was appointed consisting of Gen. B. Lincoln, Hon. Samuel Phillips and Hon. Samuel Allen Otis for granting indemnity to some persons concerned in rebellion, and 790 persons came under its benefits, of whom 12 were convicted of treason in the western part of the state and sentenced to death. Seven or eight of these were extended a free pardon by the governor on the 30th of April, 1787, and a reprieve granted to the others on the 2 1 st of June follow- ing, but the sheriff of Hampshire Co., was directed not to open his orders until the criminals had arrived at the gallows and all arrangements for the execution attended to. Among these was one man from Pelham and his name was Henry McCulloch.
A member of the House of Representatives was arrested by a state warrant for sedition and sentenced to sit upon the gallows for a time, to pay a fine of £50 and give bonds to keep the peace for five years and the sentence was executed.
Those who had been guilty of favoring the rebellion were exclu- ded from the jury box for three years. Unless they could get a vote of the town to restore them. In some towns there were hardly men enough in town not tinctured with rebellious sentiments for town officers, and all town officers were required to take and subscribe to the oath of allegiance for some years.
Shays and Parsons and others of the leaders sued for pardon in February 1788 and it was granted to Shays in the following June.
Although Capt. Daniel Shays was the acknowledged leader of the insurrection, and the disturbance received its name as the Shays rebel- lion from the fact of his leadership, he escaped the notoriety of being sentenced to death for his crime against the state, and the honor or disgrace fell upon Henry McCulloch, being the only man from Pel- ham who had the death penalty passed upon him.
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THE SHAYS REBELLION.
Henry McCulloch was a farmer and his farm was the whole or a part of home lot 48 originally drawn by John Stinson on the middle range road about a mile west of the Old Meeting House and now occupied by Mr. C. P. Hanson a soldier of the Civil War. The site of the residence of McCulloch is back from the highway and north- east of the farm house of Mr. Hanson. Some stones of the founda- tion remain and the well with its moss covered stones and abundance of pure water can be seen by the visitor interested in tracing such lines of history.
Henry McCulloch of Pelham, Jason Parmenter of Bernardston, David Luddington of Southampton, James White of Colraine and Alpheus Colton of Longmeadow, were tried in April 1787 and found guilty. McCulloch was sentenced to death by hanging on the gal- lows for participating in the insurrection, the date was fixed and he was confined in jail at Northampton awaiting the fatal day.
Petitions numerously signed for a reprieve were forwarded to Gov. Bowdoin and the following order for delay in the execution of the sentence was forwarded to High Sheriff Porter.
" BOSTON, MAY 17, 1787.
ELISHA PORTER, EsQ., Sheriff of the County of Hampshire.
Warrant deferring the execution of Henry McCulloch and Jason Par- menter. We therefore by and with the advice of the Council do hereby direct you to suspend and delay the sentence aforesaid until Thursday the twenty-first day of June next, and hereby require you then, between the hours of 12 and three o'clock in the daytime to execute the said sentence of death in execution against them and cause them to be hanged up by the neck until they be dead as directed in the warrant. JAMES BOWDOIN."
After the reprieve petitions for his pardon and release were circu- lated. There was a petition from Hatfield signed by 73 people of that town : one from Hadley having 44 names : one from Colraine and from other towns. Pelham people were greatly interested for the release and pardon of McCulloch and the following petition with appended list of names shows that almost all of the male inhabitants must have signed it.
" PETITION TO HIS EXCELLENCY, JAMES BOWDOIN, ESQ.
Govenor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Honorable Council. The Subscribers, Petitioners, Inhabitants of the town of Pelham, in the County of Hampshire, in behalf of Henry McCulloch of said Pelham, now a prisoner within the goal in Northampton under a sentence of death for treason against the Government most humbly shews :- That, very
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
deeply affected with the unhappy condition of the said Henry McCulloch and anxiously desirious to do everything within their power and to use every proper and regular method in order to avert if possible his impending Fate, they have presumed to approach your Excellency & Honors with their most Honorable petition in favour of the said Henry begging the clemency and mercy of the government to spare his forefited Life and Pardon his offences for which he is sentenced to die .- They beg Leave to assure your Excellency and Honors that although he stands convicted of so high and aggravated an offence, yet he is by no means in other respects of an abandoned Character but has been in the vicinity where he dwells considered as benevolent and useful citizen, and that it is the opinion of your Petitioners that in case his Life might be saved he would be induced from his past errors, misfortunes and Dangers to yield due submission to the Laws of the Government and make all possible atonement for Past Offenses, by future obedience ;- your Petitioners further beg leave to suggest to your Merciful and compassionate consideration the distresses of an aged and impotent Parent, and all the ten- der agencies of surrounding Neighbors and Friends, and likewise to spare your Excellencie's and Honor's in case the said unhappy Prisoner would receive a pardon it would be considered by your Humble Petitioners and by the Inhabitance of their town in general, as such an act of clemency as would lay them under the most particular obligations to use their utmost influ- ence in future in order to promote and secure a due submission to Govern- ment and obedience to the Laws : your Petitioners therefore Most Humbly Pray that the said Prisoners life may be spared, and he may receive a full pardon for his offences, and as in duty bound shall ever pray, May 1787.
Ebenezer Liscom,
(Blotted) Peebles,
Hugh Johnson,
John Hood,
John Crawford,
John Harkness 2d,
John Bruce,
Ebenezer Gray,
Ephriam Church,
Adam Johnson,
Adam Clark,
William Dunlap,
Orles Keith,
Reuben Lothridge,
Wm Johnston
Robert Crossett,
Joseph Thompson,
James McMilleon,
Nathn'l Sampson,
Mathew Brown,
James McMillan,
Barnabas Blackmer,
James Thomson,
John McCulloch,
John Rinken,
James Taylor,
Jacob Gray,
Jonathan Hood,
Andrew Conkey, Thompson,
David Conkey, Levi Packard, Robert Houston,
James Abercrombie,
Isaac Conkey,
Jonathan Leach,
James Thompson,
Elihu Billings,
Stephen Fish,
Thomas Dick,
Daniel Tyler,
Eliakim Barlow,
Jonathan Engram,
Joseph Tinkham, M Clark, James King,
Alase Crosther, Hugh Holland, Ezekiel Baker,
Joseph Packard,
Starling King,
Wm Wells,
Jonathan Gray,
Thomas McMillan,
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THE SHAYS REBELLION.
John Peebles, John Hamilton, Samuel Hyde, Thomas Harlow,
James Kim, Wm Hays,
Savanna Hays,
David Harkness,
Ezekiel Conkey,
John Harkness,
David Houston,
Timothy Engram,
Alexander Conkey,
James Hyde,
Alexander Conkey, Jr.
Timothy Clapp,
John Coal, Levi Arms,
Thomas Fuller,
Isaac Barlow,
Clement Marshal,
Joel Crawford,
Daniel Harkness,
John Thompson,
John Barber,
Mathew Gray,
James Rinken,
Isaac Abercrombie,
Jonathan Snow,
Robert McCulloch,
Alexander Torrence,
Wm Baldwin,
Ebenezer Sarls,
Robert Abercrombie,
Samuel Rhods,
Peter King,
Thomas Conkey,
Joseph Rinken,
Robert Maklam,
Mathew Rinken,
Wm Conkey, Jr.
Isaac Dodge,
Robert Young Peebles,
Gideon Hacket,
Ebenezer Wood,
George Hacket,
James Hunter,
John Abbott,
Lewis Baker,
Andrew Abercrombie,
Elam Brown,
Samuel Holley,
David Sloan,
Samuel Stevenson,
Samuel Fenton,
John Johnson,
Aaron Gray,
Stephen Andrews,
Mathew Gray, Jr.
James Cowden,
Eliot Gray,
Uriah Southworth, Abner Amsdill,
Patrick Gray,
Robert Sekell,
Joel Gray,
Elisha Conkey,
Thomas Gray,
James Latham,
Jeremiah Gray,
William Choate, Jr.
James Conkey,
James Cowan, Jr,
James Baker,
James Cowan,
James Conkey, Jr.
Joseph Hamilton,
Patrick McMillan,
George Eliot,
Jonathan McMillan."
Jeremiah McMillan,
The above petition was forwarded to Gov Bowdoin, at Boston.
Gen. Ebenezer Mattoon, who it is said counted McCulloch among his personal friends, wrote to Lieut. Gov. Thomas Cushing in which he said.
" I am fearful McCulloch will suffer for want of proper knowledge of his character. He is rash and bad in many of his expressions, exceedingly so, yet when he is out of bad company and himself, I declare I know not of a person of more honesty and fidelity, nor a person more generous according to his ability ; surely less guilty than either of the four who are pardoned. I am certain of it, from my own knowledge,-He is forward : had a good
387
Ichahod Hayward,
Isaac Baker,
Thomas Montgomery,
Wm Ashley,
Barber Gray,
Nathan Perkins,
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
horse and was frequently called upon by Shays, Gray and other leaders in Pelham .- He frequently told me he wished he were out of it, but he could not live in Pelham unless he joined them. Have been acquainted with him a number of years and knew him in private life. I should have been happy while at Springfield with the Government troops, and Shays in Amherst, If I had known that my family were protected by McCulloch.
I have suffered much in person and property by these people,-I have been obliged to move my family to a Neighboring town for Shelter .- Not- withstanding all this I must beg for McCulloch. I cannot express my feel- ings on this subject, but am sure McCulloch is not the person to make an example of. EBENEZER MATTOON, JUN.
TO MAJOR THOMAS CUSHING, Boston. Northampton, May 8, 1787."
The earnestness and feeling displayed in the above letter shows that Gen. Mattoon had more than an ordinary interest in McCulloch and a story that has come down from the time of the insurrection touching Gen. Mattoon's relations with McCulloch may explain to some extent this peculiar interest.
McCulloch and Mattoon were said to have been associated together in years previous to the Shays rebellion when they were young men and they made a compact or agreement each with the other that in after life should one become well to do and the other be poor and in need, he should have the privilege of making his wants known and receive needed assistance. Later in life McCulloch was in rather straightened circumstances, and it is said, used to come to Gen. Mat- toon's home at Amherst and say to the General, " Dost thou remem- ber the compact ?" and in response McCulloch's bags were at once filled with grain from the General's well filled granary, which the for- mer would take home to his family in Pelham.
As Henry McCulloch and Jason Parmenter were associated together in the warrant for execution and in the reprieve it may not be out of place to state that active measures were taken by Parmenter's friends for his pardon.
A petition for the reprieve of Jason Parmenter was sent to the Govenor dated at Sudbury, May, 11, 1787, signed by,
RUTH PARMENTER, (mother.)
Brothers of Jason
MICAH PARMENTER,
DELIVERANCE PARMENTER,
ISRAEL PARMENTER,
SILAS PARMENTER.
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THE SHAYS REBELLION.
There was also a petition sent to the governor by the condemned Jason and signed by himself alone, in which he pled earnestly for pardon. The result of the various petitions and letters poured in upon Govenor Bowdoin seemed to have the desired effect and not only reprieve for a few weeks but a "full, free and ample pardon " was granted. Whether there was any real purpose to hang these men, on the part of the state authorities may be questioned, but the men under sentence of death were led to believe that the state would punish rebels by death.
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