USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September, 1836 : with various notices relating to the history of Worcester County > Part 16
USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September, 1836 : with various notices relating to the history of Worcester County > Part 16
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
The jurisdiction of the sessions was principally over criminal of- fences, and its powers were exercised for the preservation of social order. No opposition had been anticipated to its session, on the 21st of November, and no defensive preparations were made. On that day, about sixty armed men, under Abraham Gale of Prince- ton, entered the north part of the town. During the evening, and on Wednesday morning, about one hundred more arrived, from Hubbardston, Shrewsbury, and some adjacent towns. A commit- tee presented a petition to the court, at the United States Arms
140
COUNTY CONVENTION. [1786.
tavern, for their adjournment until a new choice of representatives, which was not received. The insurgents then took possession of the ground around the Court House. When the Justices approach- ed, the armed men made way, and they passed through the opening ranks to the steps. There, triple rows of bayonets presented to their breasts, opposed farther advance. The Sheriff, Col. William Green- leaf of Lancaster, addressed the assembled crowd, stating the dan- ger to themselves and the public from their lawless measures. Rea- soning and warning were ineffectual, and the proclamation in the riot act was read for their dispersion. Amid the grave solemnity of the scene, some incidents were interposed of lighter character. Col. Greenleaf remarked with great severity, on the conduct of the arm- ed party around him. One of the leaders replied, they sought re- lief from grievances : that among the most intolerable of them was the Sheriff himself : and next to his person were his fees, which were exorbitant and excessive, particularly on criminal executions. 'If you consider fees for executions oppressive,' replied the sheriff, irri- tated by the attack, ' you need not wait long for redress; for I will hang you all, Gentlemen, for nothing, with the greatest pleasure.' Some hand among the crowd, which pressed close, placed a pine branch on his hat, and the county officer retired, with the Justices, decorated with the evergreen badge of rebellion. The clerk enter- ed on his records, that the court was prevented from being held by an armed force, the only notice contained on their pages that our soil has ever been dishonored by resistance of the laws.
To this period, the indulgence of government had dealt with its revolted subjects as misguided citizens, seduced to acts of violence from misconception of the sources of their distress. Conciliatory policy had applied remedial statutes wherever practicable, and prof- fered full pardon and indemnity for past misconduct. Reasonable hopes were entertained that disaffection, quieted by lenient meas- ures, would lay down the arms assumed under strong excitement, and that reviving order would rise from the confusion. But the in- surgents, animated by temporary success, and mistaking the mild- ness of forbearance for weakness or fear, had extended their designs from present relief to permanent change. Their early movements were without further object than to stay that flood of executions which wasted their property and made their homes desolate. That portion of the community, who condemned the violence of the ac- tors in the scenes we have described, sympathized in their sufferings, and were disposed to consider the offences venial, while the profess-
141
1786.]
PREPARATIONS OF GOVERNMENT.
ed purpose of their commission was merely to obtain the delay ne- cessary for seeking constitutional redress. All implicated, stood on safe and honorable ground, until the renewal, on the 21st of No- vember, of the opposition to the administration of justice. Defi- ance of the authority of the state, could no longer be tolerated with- out the prostration of its institutions. The crisis had arrived, when government, driven to the utmost limit of concession, must appeal to the sword for preservation, even though its destroying edge, turn- ed on the citizen, might be crimsoned with civil slaughter. Infor- ination was communicated to the executive of extensive levies of troops for the suppression of the judiciary, and the coercion of the legislature. Great exertions were making to prevent the approach- ing session of the Court of Common Pleas, in Worcester, in the first week of December. Gov. Bowdoin and the council, resolved to adopt vigorous measures to overawe the insurgents. Orders were issued to Major General Warner, to call out the militia of his division, and five regiments were directed to hold themselves in in- stant readiness to march. Doubts, however, arose, how far reliance could be placed on the troops of an infected district. The sheriff reported, that a sufficient force could not be collected. The first instructions were therefore countermanded, a plan having been set- tled to raise an army whose power might effectually crush resistance, and the Judges were advised to adjourn to the 23d of January fol- lowing, when the contemplated arrangements could be matured to terminate the unhappy troubles.
The insurgents, unapprised of the change of operations, began to concentrate their whole strength to interrupt the courts at Worces- ter and Concord. They had fixed on Shrewsbury as the place of rendezvous. On the 29th of November, a party of forty from Barre, Spencer, and Leicester, joined Capt. Wheeler, who had established his head quarters in that town during the preceding week, and succeeded in enlisting about thirty men. Daniel Shays, the reputed commander in chief, and nominal head of the rebellion, made his first public appearance in the county soon after, with troops from Hampshire. Reenforcements came in, till the number at the post ex- ceeded four hundred. Sentinels stopped and examined travellers, and patrols were sent out towards Concord, Cambridge, and Worcester. On Thursday, November 30, information was received, that the Light Horse, under Col. Hitchborn, had captured Shattuck, Parker and Paige, and that a detachment of cavalry was marching against themselves. This intelligence disconcerted their arrangements for
142
FORCES OF THE INSURGENTS COLLECT.
[1786.
an expedition into Middlesex, and they retreated, in great alarm, to Holden. On Friday, Wheeler was in a house passed by the horse- meu, and only escaped from being captured by accident. Another person, supposed to be commander, was pursued, and received a sa- bre cut in the hand. The blow was slight, but afforded sufficient foundation for raising the cry that blood had been shed, and rous- ing passion to vengeance. The wounded insurgent was exhibited and bewailed as the martyr of their cause. As the light horse retir- ed, it was discovered they did not exceed twenty. About an hun- dred of Shays's men rallied, and returned to Shrewsbury, following a foe whose celerity of movement left no cause to fear they could be brought to an encounter. Search was made for the town stock of powder, removed by the vigilance of one of the selectmen, Col. Cushing, whose house they surrounded, and whose person they en- deavored to seize, but he escaped. Consultation was held on the expediency of marching directly to Worcester, and encamping be- fore the Court House. Without clothing to protect them from cold, without money, or food to supply the wants of hunger, it was con- sidered impracticable to maintain themselves there, and on Satur- day, they marched to Grafton, and went into quarters with their friends.
The party left at Holden, found one object of their meeting, the junction with the insurgents at Concord, frustrated. Those who belonged to the neighboring towns were therefore dismissed, with orders to assemble in Worcester on Monday following. Shays re- tired to the barracks in Rutland, and sent messengers to hasten on the parties from Berkshire and Hampshire, in anticipation of meet- ing the militia of government at Worcester.
On Sunday evening, the detachment from Grafton entered the town, under the command of Abraham Gale of Princeton, Adam Wheeler of Hubbardston, Simeon Hazeltine of Hardwick, and John Williams, reputed to be a deserter from the British army, and once a serjeant of the continental line. They halted before the Court House, and having obtained the keys, placed a strong guard around the building, and posted sentinels on all the streets and avenues of the town to prevent surprise. Those who were off duty, rolling themselves in their blankets, rested on their arms, on the floor of the Court room.
However the fidelity of Worcester might have wavered, its citi- zens had now become aware of the peril of their rights, when the mustering power of rebellion was attempting to upheave the foun-
143
MILITIA. CAPT. HOWE.
1786.]
dations of government. 'The whole military strength of the town rallied to its support. Two full companies of our militia, enrolling one hundred and seventy rank and file, paraded on Monday, at the South Meeting House, under the senior captain, Joel Howe. In the afternoon, they formed in column, and marched down Main street. On approaching the United States Arms tavern, the head quarters of the insurgents, the drums beat to arms, and their lines were formed across the road. Capt. Howe, advancing in slow time, sent forward an adjutant to demand by what authority the highways were obstructed. A contemptuous answer was returned, that he might come and see. Another officer was detached, to order them to remove, as the militia intended to pass over the ground they oc- cupied : the reply was, they might pass if they could. Capt. Howe then halted, and addressed his men in an animating tone, expressing his determination to proceed, and his reliance on their intrepidity. The bayonets were fixed and the company then advanced : in a few paces they came to the position for a charge. The front rank of the insurgents stood in readiness to use their muskets, while the band of Captain Howe moved steadily down upon their line. For a moment, civil war seemed about to drench our streets in blood. Vet- erans of the revolution were arrayed on both sides, who had been too often amid the shot of battle, to shrink from danger in any form. Fortunately, the insurgents were not prepared to stain their cause by the slaughter of their brethren. Their line wavered, and break- ing, by a rapid wheel, gained a new position on the hill. The mili- tia went by their post, to the Hancock Arms,1 beyond the north square. It is doing no injustice to their gallantry to believe, their congratulations were sincere on the innocent result of appearances so menacing. After brief rest, they returned, and were dismissed, until the next morning, with merited commendations. Their spirit- ed conduct was productive of salutary effects. It ascertained, that their opponents were too apprehensive of consequences to support their demands by force, and the dread their formidable array might have inspired, was changed to contempt and derision of their pre- tensions.
As the evening closed in, one of the most furious snow storms of a severe winter commenced. One division of the insurgents occu- pied the Court House : another sought shelter at the Hancock Arms. The sentinels, chilled by the tempest, and imagining them-
1 This building was afterwards the Brown & Butman Tavern, and destroyed by fire, Dec. 24, 1824.
14-4
INSURGENTS OCCUPY THE TOWN.
[1786.
selves secured by its violence from attack, joined their comrades around the fire of the guard room. The young men of the town, in the spirit of sportive mischief, contrived to carry away their muskets, incautiously stacked in the entryway, and having secreted them at a distance, raised the alarm that the light horse were upon them. The party sallied out in confusion, and panic struck at the silent dis- appearance of their arms, fled through the fast falling snow to the Court House, where their associates had paraded. The guns were discovered, at length, and the whole force remained, ready for ac- tion, several hours, frequently disturbed by the fresh outcries of their vexatious persecutors.
The increasing fury of the storm, and the almost impassible con- dition of the roads, did not prevent the arrival of many from Hol- den, and the vicinity, on Tuesday, swelling the numerical force of malcontents to five hundred. The Court was opened at the Sun Tavern,1 and in conformity with the instructions of the Governor, adjourned to the 23d of January, withont attempting to transact business. Petitions from committees of Sutton and Douglas, that the next session might be postponed to March, were disregarded.
Worcester assumed the appearance of a garrisoned town. The citizens answered to the frequent challenges of military guards : the traveller was admonished to stay his steps by the voice and bayonet of the soldier. Sentries paced before the house of Mr. Allen, the clerk, where Judge Ward resided, and the former gentleman was threatened with violence on his own threshold. Mr. Justice Wash- burn of Leicester, was opposed on his way, and two of his friends, who seized the gun presented to his breast, were arrested and de- tained in custody. Justice Baker, on his return homeward, was apprehended in the road, and some of his captors suggested the propriety of sending him to prison, to experience the corrective dis- cipline, to which, as a magistrate, he had subjected others.
On Tuesday evening, a council of war was convened, and it was seriously determined to march to Boston, and effect the liberation of the state prisoners, as soon as sufficient strength could be collected. In anticipation of attack, the Governor gathered the means of de- fence around the metropolis. Guards were mounted at the prison, and at the entrances of the city : alarm posts were assigned ; and Ma- jor General Brooks held the militia of Middlesex contiguous to the road, in readiness for action, and watched the force at Worcester.
1 United States Hotel, 1836.
145
ALARM OF THE INSURGENTS.
1786.]
During the evening of Tuesday, an alarm broke out, more ter- rific to the party quartered at the Hancock Arms, than that which had disturbed the repose of the preceding night. Soon after parta- king the refreshment which was sometimes used by the military, be- fore the institution of temperance societies, several of the men were seized with violent sickness, and a rumor spread, that poison had been mingled with the fountain which supplied their water. Dr. Samuel Stearns of Paxton, astrologer, almanac manufacturer, and quack by profession, detected in the sediment of the cups they had drained, a substance, which he unhesitatingly pronounced to be a compound of arsenic and antimony, so deleterious, that a single grain would extinguish the lives of a thousand. The numbers of the afflicted increased with frightful rapidity, and the symtoms grew more fearful. It was suddenly recollected that the sugar used in their ber- erage, had been purchased from a respectable merchant of the town, 1 whose attachment to government was well known, and the sick- ness around was deemed proof conclusive that it had been adulterated for their destruction. A file of soldiers seized the seller, and brought him to answer for the supposed attempt to murder the levies of rebel- lion. As he entered the house, the cry of indignation rose strong. Fortunately for his safety, Dr. Green of Ward, an intelligent prac- titioner of medicine, arrived, and the execution of vengeance was deferred until his opinion of its propriety could be obtained. After careful inspection of the suspected substance, and subjecting it to the test of different senses, he declared, that to the best of his knowl- edge, it was genuine, yellow, scotch, snuff. The reputed dying rais- ed their heads from the floor : the slightly affected recovered : the gloom which had settled heavily on the supposed victims of mor- tal disease was dispelled, and the illness soon vanished. Strict in- quiry furnished a reasonable explanation : a clerk in the store of the merchant had opened a package of the fragrant commodity, in the vicinity of the sugar barrel, and a portion of the odoriferous leaf, had, inadvertently, been scattered from the counter into its un- covered head. A keg of spirit was accepted in full satisfaction for the panic occasioned by the decoction of tobacco so innocently ad- ministered.
Bodies of militia, anxious to testify their reviving zeal, were toil- ing through the deep snow drifts. Gen. Warner, finding that no be- nefit could be derived from their presence, sent orders for their return
1 The late Daniel Waldo, (sen.) Esq.
19
146
CONSULTATIONS OF THE INSURGENTS.
[1786.
to their homes, and the insurgents enjoyed the triumph of holding undisputed possession of the town.
On Wednesday, December 6, they went out to meet Shays, who arrived from Rutland, with 350 men. As they reentered the street, the appearance of the column of 830 was highly imposing. The com- panies included many who had learned their tactics from Steuben, and served an apprenticeship of discipline in the ranks of the revolu- tion : war worn veterans, who in a good cause, would have been in- vincible. The pine tuft supplied the place of plume in their hats. Shays, with his aid, mounted on white horses, led on the van. They displayed into line before the Court House, where they were reviewed and inspected. The men were then billeted on the inhab- itants. No compulsion was used : where admittance was peremp- torily refused, they quietly retired, and sought food and shelter else- where. Provision having been made for the soldiers, Shays joined the other leaders in council. At night, he was attended to his quar- ters, at the house of the late Col. Samuel Flagg, by a strong guard, preceded by the music of the army, with something of the state as- sumed by a general officer. Precautions against surprise were re- doubled. Chains of sentinels were stretched along the streets, plant- ed in every avenne of approach, and on the neighboring hills, ex- amining all who passed. The ery of ' all 's well,' rose on the watch- es of the night, from those whose presence brought danger to the Commonwealth.
Committees from some of the neighboring towns, and many of the prominent members of the conventions, assembled with the mil- itary leaders, on Thursday, the 6th of December. Their delibera- tions were perplexed and discordant The inclemency of the wea- ther had prevented the arrival of the large force expected. The impossibility of retaining the men who had assembled, without mn- nitions, subsistence, or stores, compelled them to abandon the medi- tated attack on Boston, then put in a posture of defence, and more pacific measures were finally adopted. A petition was prepared for circulation, remonstrating against the suspension of the habeas cor- pus writ ; asking for the pardon and release of the prisoners ; a new act of amnesty ; the adjournment of conrts until the session of the new Legislature in May ; and expressing their readiness to lay down their arms on compliance with these demands. In the afternoon, Shays's men and part of Wheeler's, to the number of 500, began their march for Paxton, on their way to the barracks in Rutland. About an hundred more retired to the north part of the town.
147
RETREAT OF THE INSURGENTS.
1786.]
Friday was spent in consultation. Aware that public sentiment was setting against them with strong reaction, the mercy which had been rejected was now supplicated. Letters were addressed to each town of the county, inviting the inhabitants to unite in their peti- tions. Shays himself, in a private conference with an acquaintance, made use of these expressions : 'For God's sake, have matters set- tled peaceably : it was against my inclinations I undertook this busi- ness ; importunity was used which I could not withstand; but I heartily wish it was well over.'
In the evening, the Court House was abandoned, but sentries were posted at almost every door of the outside and interior of the public house, where the leaders remained in consultation.
Another snow storm commenced on Saturday morning. Luke Day, with 150 men from Hampshire, reached Leicester, but was una- ble to proceed in the tempest. About noon, all the insurgents in Worcester paraded before their head quarters, and were dismissed. The companies of Ward, Holden, Spencer, Rutland, Barre, and Pe- tersham, after moving slowly through Main street in distinct bodies, took np the line of march for their respective homes, through roads choked with drifts.
The condition of these deluded men during their stay here, was such as to excite compassion rather than fear. Destitute of almost every necessary of life, in an inclement season, without money to purchase the food which their friends could not supply, unwelcome guests in the quarters they occupied, pride restrained the exposure of their wants. Many must have endured the gnawings of hunger in our streets : yet, standing with arms in their hands, enduring pri- vations in the midst of plenty, they took nothing by force, and tres- passed on no man's rights by violence : some declared they had not tasted bread for twenty four hours ; all who made known their sit- uation, were relieved by our citizens with liberal charity.
The forlorn condition of the insurgents was deepened by the dis- tresses of their retreat. Their course was amid the wildest revelry of storm and wind, in a night of intense cold. Some were frozen to death by the way : others, exhausted with struggling through the deep and drifted snow, sunk down, and would have perished but for the aid of their stouter comrades: when relief was sought among the farm houses, every door was opened at the call of misery, and the wrongs done by the rebel were forgotten in the sufferings of him who claimed hospitality as a stranger.
The whole number assembled at Worcester never exceeded a
148
GEN. LINCOLN'S ARMY. [1787.
thousand. The spirit animating the first movements had grown cold, and Shays expressed to an acquaintance here, the impression that the cause had become gloomy and hopeless. In conversation with an officer of government, he disclaimed being at the head of the re- bellion ; declared he had come to the resolution to have nothing more to do with stopping courts : that if he could not obtain pardon, he would gather the whole force he could command, and fight to the last extremity, rather than be hanged. When asked if he would accept pardon were it offered, and abandon the insurgents, he re- plied, ' Yes, in a moment.'1
The delay of government, while it afforded time to circulate cor- rect information among the people, left the insurgents at liberty to pursue their measures. The Court at Springfield, on the 26th of December, was resisted, and intelligence was received of active exer- tions to prevent the session of the Common Pleas, at Worcester, on the 23d of January. Longer forbearance would have been weak- ness, and vigorous measures were adopted for sustaining the judi- ciary. An army of 4400 men was raised from the counties of Suf- folk, Essex, Middlesex, Hampshire, and Worcester, for thirty days service. General Benjamin Lincoln, whose prudence, and milita- ry skill peculiarly qualified him for the important trust, received the command. Voluntary loans were made by individuals for the armament, pay, and subsistence of the troops.
On the 21st of January, the army took up the line of march from Roxbury. The inclemency of the weather, and the condition of the roads rendered a halt necessary at Marlborough. The next day, the troops reached Worcester, notwithstanding the effects of sudden thaw on the deep snow, and were quartered on the inhabi- tants, the houses being thrown open for their shelter and com- fort. Here they were joined by the regiments of the county. The town contributed its quota liberally. In the company under Capt. Joel Howe, were 27 non commissioned officers and privates. In the
1 The retreal of Shays not only afforded the friends of order occasion for triumph, but sport for wit. An Epigram, from one of the prints, affords a specimen of the poe- try and jest of the time. The name of the common carriage, the chaise, and that of the insurgent leader, had then the same spelling as well as sound.
'Says sober Will, well Shays has fled, And peace returns to bless our days. Indeed! cries Ned, I always said, He'd prove at last a fall back Shays ;
And those turned over and undone, Call him a worthless Shays to run.'
149
AFFAIR AT NEW BRAINTREE.
1787.]
artillery, under Capt. William Treadwell, were enrolled 43 of our citizens. Nineteen served under Capt. Phinehas Jones. Seven dra- goons were embodied in a legionary corps. Lt. Daniel Goulding was at the head of a troop of cavalry. The late judge Edward Bangs, Timothy Bigelow, afterwards Speaker of the house of Rep- resentatives of Massachusetts, and Theophilus Wheeler, Esq. serv- ed as volunteers.
Detachments of insurgents collected at Rutland, New Braintree, Princeton, Sterling, and Sutton, but, intimidated by the military, hovered at a distance, while the courts proceeded. On the 25th of January, Gen. Lincoln hastened westward for the relief of Shep- ard, and of the arsenal at Springfield, invested by Shays and Day.
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