USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of the county of Berkshire, Massachusetts, in two parts > Part 9
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To describe all the marches and services, privations and hardships of the soldiers, were the materials at hand for doing it correctly, would be impracticable in this work. A few facts, briefly stated, must suffice.
The regiment of Col. Patterson, after their organiza- tion at Cambridge, were employed in the erection of Fort No. 3, within the limits of Charlestown, the first erected on the lines about Boston. They manned and defended this, by the express command of Gen. Ward, on the memorable 17th of June, 1975, the day of the
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Wattle -of Bunker Hill, for the purpose of preventing the British from coming upon the rear of the Americans ac- tually engaged in the conflict. The regiment of Col. Fellows were employed in such services as circumstan- ces demanded, about Roxbury.
After the battle, the regiments remained generally about Boston until the British evacuated that place, in March, 1776, though some were detached in the course of the summer for the expedition under Colonel, after- wards Gen. Arnold, up Kennebec river, and across the vast wilderness between the settlements in Maine and Canada, to Quebec. These endured the most dread- ful sufferings from fatigue and hunger, in passing moun- tains and morasses, in that daring and perilous enter- prize.
When the evacuation took place, the troops were or- dered to New York ; and thence the regiment of Col., Patterson was ordered to Canada, to assist the forces which had gone on to join Arnold at Quebec. Though they heard on their way, at Lake Champlain, of the ill success of the Americans at that city, they proceeded as far as Montreal, where some of the men were dispatch- ed to the Cedars, and engaged in the disastrous battle fought at that place. In retreating from Canada, they spent a little time at Crown Point, then went to Ticon- deroga, then crossed the bay and fortified Mount Inde- pendence in Orwell ; where they remained until Nov- ember; when they were marched to Albany, took ship- ping. and sailed to Esopus. From this place they trav- elled through the Minisink country, through Nazareth and Bethlehem, and joined the army under Gen. Wash- ington at Newtown, Pennsylvania, just soon enough to cross the Delaware with him, and to take a part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. From Princeton they retired into winter quarters at Morristown. In 1777, this regiment was concerned in the capture of Burgoyne.
The regiment suffered exceedingly in the tour to Can- ada. When they left New York, they were more than 600 strong ; but when they arrived at Newtown, they had only 220 men, some having been killed, some hav- ing died with the small pox, some having been left as hostages in Canada, and others having been left sick on.
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the way. The brave. Capt. Williams, who had been advanced to a lieutenant-colonel, fell sick at Skenesbo- rough, (now Whitehall) and died July 10, 1776.
In the course of this year, Col. Fellows was made a Brigadier-General of militia, (as Col. Patterson was in the Continental service) and had the command of a brigade in the military operations about New York. Col. Mark Hopkins, of Great Barrington, who was bri- gade-major under him, fell sick and died at White Plains, Oct. 26. His Roxbury regiment took a part in the battle fought at this place two days after. Here the company of Stockbridge Indians had four men slain, and several died of sickness.
The Berkshire militia rendered important aid to Gen. Stark at Bennington battle, on the 16th of August, 1777.
Soon after this battle, Gen. Lincoln, who had remain- ed at Manchester to assemble recruits and forward them to the army, dispatched Col. Brown, of Pittsfield, with a body of men, many of whom belonged to this County, " to surprize the British posts at Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence. This officer without any difficulty made himself master of the British outworks; took several gun-boats, an armed sloop, 200 batteaux, near 300 pris- oners, arms, ammunition, &c., and retook an American standard and 100 prisoners. Then finding himself un- able to retake the forts, he returned with his booty to Gen. Lincoln. This successful effort was made on the 14th of September." This excellent man fell in an ambuscade of French and Indians, at Stone Arabia, in Palatine, New York, with a large part of his men, (some of whom also were from Berkshire) whom he was conducting to the relief of Gen. Schuyler, Oct. 19, 1780, some account of which will be given in the history of Pittsfield.
These facts are ample testimony that the people of this County bore an honorable part in achieving the in- dependence of their country. The declaration of a County Convention, held in Berkshire, Aug. 26, 1778, in a memorial to the Legislature, (and there were more reasons for making it when the war was over, ) is worthy to be inserted in this place. "Your memorialists have from the time of the Stamp Act to the present day," say
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they, "manifested a constant and uniform abhorrence and detestation (not only in sentiment but overt actions) of all the unconstitutional measures taken by the British Parliament to tax, depauperate, and subjugate these now united and independent States of America."
" That they can vie with any county in this State, not only in voluntarily appearing in arms upon the least no- tice, when their brethren in distress needed their assist- ance, as at the massacre at Lexington, the fight of Bun- ker Hill, &c. &c., but also in filling up their quotas of men from time to time demanded, either by this State, or by the commanding officer in these parts; although our situation has been such as might have justified the General Court had they called upon us for no such sup- plies : over and above which. our zeal in the common cause has carried us beyond our abilities, in the fre- quent excursions against the common enemy, as in the battle of Bennington, in assisting Col. Brown in the capture of so many hundreds at the carrying place at Ticonderoga, in the quelling the tories at divers times in a neighboring State, which otherwise might have suf- fered amazingly, and in instances of the like nature too many to enumerate."
After the lapse of almost half a century, a very con- siderable number of the officers and soldiers of the Rev- olution live among us, and are venerated for their ser- vices. Notwithstanding all the inroads which death has made upon them, as' many as forty or fifty, being reduced in their circumstances, are still on the pension list, receiving in consideration of their labors, the boun- ty of government.
Few advocated the cause of Great Britain at the be- ginning, and fewer still left the County and removed in- to the territories of the King. The amount of confisca- ted property was small, and much of that consisted of wild lands owned by persons at a distance.
It must be admitted, however, that some individuals were attached to the King; a very small number uni- ted themselves to the forces of Burgoyne when he was coming down from Canada Among these was a man of the name of Richard Jackson, belonging to Hancock, who was taken at the battle of Bennington, and whose imprisonment, condemnation and pardon, with the con-
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nected circumstances, have given rise to the popular story of the Twins, or of Stedman. See the real facts, as stated in President Dwight's Travels, vol. iii. pp. 226, 7, 8.
SHAYS INSURRECTION,-In 1783, a definitive treaty of peace was signed between the United States and Great Britain, and our glorious independence confirmed. But the blessing was acquired at an immense expense both of treasure and blood ; an expense which was by no means disregarded at the moment. The expense of blood filled the land with mourning, though it made the people the more sensible of their wrongs, and the more determined to redress them. The keenness of these sensations, from the nature of the human mind, gradually diminished. But the expense of treasure was much more fully realized when the war was over ; when the enemy being withdrawn, they had leisure calmly and thoroughly to survey their situation. This was particularly the fact in Massachusetts. Having been in actual service abroad, or preparing for it at home, during the long-continued contest, the people had neglected their private concerns; their buildings and farms had gone to decay, their business was deranged, and large debts, contracted by many for the support of their families, were continually increasing by interest. The towns were embarrassed by advances made to com- ply with repeated requisitions for men, and supplies to support them, done upon their own particular credit. The private consolidated debt of the State was &1,300,- 000, besides £250,000, due to the officers of their line of the army, while their proportion of the federal debt was not less than £1.500,000. How these individual, town, state, and national debts could be paid, and in the mean time their own families supported and the neces- sary institutions of society maintained, was a question difficult to be answered. It filled the timid with trem- bling, and those whose minds were of the firmest struc- ture, with deep solicitude. The paper currency which had been in circulation was rapidly depreciating, and little specie was in existence ; the markets for produce were closed or lessened ; the means for resuming for- eign trade, and even the fisheries, and prosecuting them
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extensively, now so long suspended, were, to a great degree, wanting.
In these distressing and embarrassing circumstances were concealed the remote causes of the insurrection. commonly called the Shays Insurrection, from Daniel Shays, its principal leader, the most unhappy and the most disgraceful transaction which ever occurred in Massachusetts, sundering the ties of brothers, neigh- bors and citizens, threatening not only the whole State with anarchy, but endangering the peace of the States lying on our borders. The proximate causes, thoughi almost every thing was made a subject of complaint, were the efforts of creditors to collect their debts, and of the State to collect taxes.
In Minot's History of the insurrections in Massachu- setts, in 1786, the reader will find a detailed and inter- esting account of these wretched proceedings, A brief and hasty sketch of them is all that will now be attempt- ed, and this must respect more especially that part of them which transpired in Berkshire ; much of which will be drawn from the work just mentioned, and when most convenient, will be given in the language of that respectable writer.
Two circumstances probably contributed to draw a portion of the people of this County into the insurrec- tions. One was, that when the revolutionary war be- gan, the people were laboring under the hardships of new settlers. The calamities, growing out of the war, therefore, were the more deeply felt. The other cir- cumstance was, that the inhabitants of this County were the " first to put a stop to courts" at the beginning of the Revolution, and were very backward afterwards in consenting to have them resume their functions. No " Probate Courts were held here from 1774 until 1778, and even deeds were not recorded from 1776 until the last year just mentioned. In the course of this year, the several towns were consulted, whether they would open and support the Courts of Common Pleas and of Quarter Sessions, until a new Constitution should be framed, and adopted by the people, and the point was decided in the negative by large majorities ; as appears from the minutes of the County Convention which sat on the 26th of August. This convention drew up a pe- 11 *
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tition to the General Court to call a convention of dele- gates from all the towns and places liable to taxation, to form a bill of rights and a constitution of government. In 1779, it is understood, that the County assented by a small majority of their delegates in convnetion, after debating more than two days, that the courts might be opened, though no judicial proceedings were actually had until after the adoption of the constitution in 1780. This suspension of the courts, however desirable the constitution was, besides occasioning a vast accumula- tion of causes for future adjudication, was unfriendly in its influence to order and good government.
After the constitution was adopted, courts were held according to the provisions which it contained, and jus- tice again began to take its direct course. But in 1782 an act was passed, usually denominated the Tender Act, providing that executions issued for private demands might be satisfied by neat cattle and other articles par- ticularly enumerated, at an appraisement of impartial men under oath, which caused a multitude of lawsuits to be postponed, until the year's existence of the law expired. This law furnished the first signal for hostili- ties between creditors and debtors, between the rich and the poor, the few and the many. The increase of civil actions gave employment to the practitioners at the bar, and induced an unusual number to enter into the profession. These became odious to debtors as the legal instruments of their distresses, and were held up at length as the proper objects of proscription by the disaffected generally. From the bar, ill will was ex- tended to the courts and to the Senate, to the laws of the State and the provisions of the Constitution. No mild measures were sufficient to satisfy the discontent- ed. An evil spirit continued and spread, until the sum- mer and autumn of 1786, when events rapidly hastened the crisis which took place the succeeding winter.
During the revolutionary war, county conventions had been held for the purpose of devising measures for pro- moting the public welfare, and were instrumental of much good. They were now held to consider grievan- ces, and became, in some instances, the instruments of unspeakable mischief. On the 22d of August, a con- vention sat at Hatfield, composed of delegates from fif-
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ty towns in the county of Hampshire, which drew up a catalogue of grievances, and sent them into the counties of Worcester and Berkshire. The effect of this was soon visible, though the precise effect that followed may not have been intended by the convention. On the last Tuesday in this month, a large number of insurgents, supposed to be near 1500, assembled under arms at. at Northampton ; took possession of the Court House, and effectually prevented the sitting of the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace there at that time, as prescribed by law.
Upon this violence, a proclamation was issued by the Governor, calling in strong and spirited language, upon all the officers and citizens of the State, to suppress such treasonable proceedings.
Notwithstanding this, more than 300 insurgents ap- peared the next week at the Court House in Worcester, where the Courts of Common Pleas and General Ses- sions of the Peace were to be holden, and by a line of bayonets prevented the judges from entering the door. Though the judges went to a neighboring house, open -- ed court and adjourned until morning, the violence of the mob soon obliged the Court of Common Pleas to adjourn without day, and the Court of Sessions to ad- journ until the 21st of November.
On the last week in August, a county convention was held at Lenox, which took a much more justifiable course than the convention in Hampshire. Though a a rage for reformation was conspicuous in it, yet they passed many judicious resolutions, and among others, that they would use their influence to suprort the courts in the exercise of their legal powers, and en- deavor to quiet the agitated spirits of the people. The insurgents, however, assembled in force to the number of eight hundred at Great Barrington soon after, and not only prevented the sitting of the courts, which were so obnoxious to them, but broke open the gaol and lib- erated the prisoners. They also compelled three of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas to sign an obli- gation, that they would not act under their commissions until grievances were redressed. It ought, however, in justice to the insurgents, to be mentioned, that the Holl .. Elijah Dwight, then too a member of the Senate, upon
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a proper resistance, was not compelled to subscribe the obligation.
Hitherto the insurgents had directed their efforts a- gainst the inferior courts, but they were now determined to prevent the sitting of the Supreme Judicial Court, that they might not be indicted for obstructing the adminis- tration of justice. This court was about to sit at Spring- field ; and the Governor ordered Maj. Gen. Wm. Shep- ard to pre-occupy the Court House with six hundred men ; which was accordingly done. But on the day of the court's sitting, Shays appeared with a body of men equally numerous, greatly incensed that the Court House was taken possession of by the government. The insurgents sent a request to the judges that none of the late rioters should be indicted, who returned a firin reply, purporting that they should execute the laws of the country agreeably to their oaths. But such was the confusion attending the presence of so many armed men, who were continually increasing, and the panel of jurors not being filled, that the court adjourned on the third day, after resolving that it was inexpedient to proceed to the county of Berkshire.
When the time arrived for holding this court in Great Barrington, the malcontents, pretending that the reso- lution of the court was merely intended to deceive them, assembled there in considerable numbers, became ex- tremely riotous, and obliged several persons, who were obnoxious to them, to fly. One gentleman, who sus- tained a very honorable office, was pursued by armed men in various directions, houses were searched, and in some instances, citizens fired upon.
Some time after this, and while the House of Repre- sentatives (for the Legislature had been convened) was debating respecting the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, some of the insurgents, alarmed by the circum- stance, sent a circular letter to the Selectmen of many towns in the county of Hampshire, requiring them im- mediately to assemble their inhabitants, to see that they were furnished with arms and ammunition according to law. They also ordered the militia, in some instances, to be furnished with sixty rounds of powder, and to stand ready to march at a moment's warning.
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On the 21st of November, when the Court of Gen- eral Sessions were to meet according to adjournment at Worcester, the seat of justice was filled with armed men ; the justices were obliged to open at a tavern, and all the exertions of the sheriff were insufficient to pro- cure them entrance into the Court House.
Immediately on receiving news of this procedure, the Governor issued his orders as commander-in-chief, call- ed upon the Major-Generals of the militia, immediately to see that their several divisions were completely or- ganized and equipped, and ready to take the field at the shortest notice.
In the early part of December, some hundreds of the insurgents collected at Worcester ; and on the 26th of the month, Shays assembled 300 malcontents at Springfield, took possession of the Court House, and prevented the court, which was to sit then at that place, from proceeding to business.
On the first of January, the Governor and Council, in view of this transaction, determined to raise a body of men from different counties, to suppress the insurrec- tions which were now taking place with alarming fre- quency ; 700 from the county of Suffolk, 500 from Es- sex, 800 from Middlesex, 1200 from Hampshire, and 1200 from Worcester; the whole amounting to 4,400 rank and file. Two companies of artillery were order- ed to be detached from Suffolk, and a like number from Middlesex. The troops of the three first named coun- ties were ordered to rendezvous in the vicinity of Bos- ton, on the 19th of January ; those from Hampshire at, Springfield, on the 18th ; those from Worcester were to join the troops from the eastern counties at the town of Worcester, and the whole were to be raised for thirty days, unless sooner discharged.
On the 19th of January, 1787, his Excellency direct- ed Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, of Hingham, (whose military reputation and mildness of temper admirably fitted him for the delicate and important trust,) to take command of this respectable force. In his instructions, the Governor informed him, that the great objects to be effected were, to protect the Judicial Courts, particular- ly those which were about to be holden in the county of Worcester, should the justices of these courts request
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his aid ; to assist the civil magistrates in executing the laws; and in repelling or apprehending all and every such person and persons as should in a hostile manner attempt and enterprize the destruction, detriment, or an- noyance of the Commonwealth ; and also to aid them in apprehending the disturbers of the public peace, as well as all such persons, as might be named in the state warrants, that had been or might be committed to any civil officer or officers, or to any other person to exe- cute.
In case he should judge it necessary, the Governor authorized him to call upon the Major-Generals for fur- ther aud effectual aid ; and while he confided much to his discretion, suggested that it might be necessary to march a respectable force into the western counties.
The raising and movement of these troops produced strong sensations among the malcontents, and prompted them to various expedients and efforts, in hope of secur- ing themselves from punishment, and of distressing and weakening the friends of government.
Before the troops under Gen. Lincoln marched from Roxbury, Gen. Shepard had been ordered to take pos- session of the post at Springfield. He soon collected 900 men, and afterwards 200 more, the continental ar- senal furnishing them with a sufficient number of field pieces, and such equipments as were wanted. It be- came an object with the insurgents to gain this post, if possible, before the arrival of Lincoln's army. Their movements, therefore, were towards West Springfield on the one side, where about 400 men were collected un- der the command of Luke Day; and towards the Bos- ton road on the other, where 1100 more were headed by Shays himself. Besides these, a party of about 400 from the county of Berkshire, under the command of Eli Parsons, were stationed in the north parish of Springfield.
Shays proposed to attack the post on the 25th of Jan- uary, and wrote to Day on the 24th to co-operate with him. In a letter which was intercepted by Gen. Shep- ard, Day replied that he could not assist him on the 25th, but would the day after. On the 25th, however, Shays, confident of his aid, about 4 o'clock in the af- ternoon, approached the arsenal, where the militia were
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posted, with his troops in open column. Gen. Shepard sent several times, to know the intention of the eneiny, and to warn them of their danger; and received for an- swer in substance, that they would have the barracks ; ard they immediately marched onwards to within 250 yards of the arsenal. Another message was sent, in- formu:g them that the militia were posted there by order of the Governor and of Congress, and that if they ap- proached any nearer they would be fired upon. One of their leaders replied, that is all we want; and they iminediately advanced one hundred yards. Gen. Shep- ard was now compelled to fire ; but, in hope of intimi- daling them, ordered the two first shot to be directed over their heads, which instead of retarding, quickened their approach ; and the artillery was at last pointed at the centre of their column, which produced its effect ; a cry of murder was raised in the rear of the insurgents ; their whole body was thrown into the greatest confu- · sion, and in spite of all the efforts of Shays to form them, the troops retreated precipitately about ten miles to Ludlow, leaving three of their men dead on the field, and one wounded. Had Gen. Shepard been disposed to pursue, he might easily have cut many of them in pieces. But the objert was, not to destroy them, but to bring them to consideration and amendment.
Notwithstanding this retreat, there was serious ap- prehensions of another attack from the insurgents ; for Day was now on the west side of Connecticut river with his men, and Parsons at Chickabee, whither the party of Shays repaired, (after losing 200 men by desertion) on the 26th. This apprehension was allayed the next day, at noon, by the arrival of Lincoln's army.
Gen. Lincoln had reached Worcester on the 22d ; had protected the courts there, and learning the situa- tion of Gen. Shepard, had started for Springfield on the 25th, having dispatched orders to Gen. Brooks to pro- ceed to the same place as speedily as possible, with the Middlesex militia.
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