USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Our county and its people : A history of Hampden County, Massachusetts. Volume 1 > Part 8
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Arrived at Boston, Washington found about 14,000 minute men, patriots every one, willing to fight under his leadership, but unfortunately they had no knowledge of military methods and discipline. On June 25 the general court ordered that 5,000 men be raised in this province, and of the number Hampshire county's quota was 754. Springfield was required to furnish forty-four, Brimfield seventeen, Wilbraham twenty-four, West Springfield forty-eight, and Westfield thirty-one men. The troops raised in the county, comprising just a battalion, were in-
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tended for service in Canada and on the northern frontier, and they were offered a bounty of seven pounds each. During the first winter in the northern region their sufferings were terrible and the people at home were taxed to their utmost capacity to provide them with proper clothing and blankets. In January, 1776, an order of the general court required that three hundred blankets be furnished by the county, Springfield's portion being twelve, Wilbraham's six, and Westfield's thirty-two.
In April, 1777, two battalions of 750 men each were ordered raised in Hampshire county, for two months' service at Ticon- deroga. On February 5 a convention of the committees of safety of the several towns of the county was held at Northamp- ton "for the purpose of taking into consideration the suffering condition of the northern army," and in order to furnish imme- diate relief to the men from old Hampshire, the supplies were at once forwarded, "not doubting that the general court will ap- prove thereof," as the proceedings recite.
Next to the sufferings of the troops the committees' greatest anxiety was the annoying attitude of the tories of the county, who had taken hope and courage through the success of the Brit- ish in the contest thus far waged. Addressing their grievances to the general court, the committees say : "Ever since our army retreated from New York, and the inhumane ravage of the Brit- ish troops in the Jersies, our inimical brethren have appeared with an insulting air, and have exerted themselves to intimidate weak minds by threatening speeches, saying that the day was over with us."
"Their reflections on the General Court, openly declaring that our Honorable Court of this State had made acts that were unjust, respecting the last raised recruits, declaring that the committees or selectmen dare as well be damned as to draught them for the army, and that, if they were draughted, they would rather fight against our own men than against our enemies."
Notwithstanding the seriousness of this charge on the part of the zealous committees, the general court seems not to have taken cognizance of the matter, but to have left the patriots to work out their punishment upon the offenders in due course of
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time ; and the day of reckoning did come and righteous retribu- tion was visited on all British sympathizers who dare not openly fight for the king through fear of losing their property by con- fiscation. It appears not to have been the policy of Massachu- setts to take away the lands and chattels of those who differed with the Americans during the revolution, but in other states, particularly in New York, large estates were forfeited, and were sold to raise means to prosecute the war.
In April, 1778, two thousand men were required to be raised to fill up the fifteen continental battalions which the state had furnished, the Hampshire quota being 242 men; and a fine of twenty pounds was imposed as a penalty upon those who refused to go. ( In this way the general court got its first fling at the Tories.) The term of service was nine months, each man being allowed six pence a mile for traveling and $6 for a blanket. On the same day another order called for 1,300 men for service on North (Hudson) river, this county being required to send 182 men. Later on 199 more men were called for from the county to serve in Rhode Island, but afterward this order was modified, and 100 men from the south part of the county were sent to Rhode Island, and the remainder joined Gen. John Stark in Al- bany.
In June, 1779, an order was issued for 102 men from Hamp- shire county to serve in Rhode Island until the following Janu- ary, and to be paid sixteen pounds per month in addition to the regular continental pay. At the same time 2,000 more men were ordered to be raised to fill up the ranks of the fifteen continental battalions of the state. The troops raised under this call were to rendezvous at Springfield, and Justin Ely was to care for and turn them over to the officers sent to receive them. The term of service was nine months, and the penalty for refusing to serve was forty-five pounds. Of this number of men 228 were re- quired from this county. In October following 450 more men were asked from loyal old Hampshire, to serve in co-operation with the French allies of the Americans. The penalty for re- fusing to obey this call was fifty pounds. The men received as pay sixteen pounds per month in addition to regular pay, and
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By Dis Donor Mofes Gill, Esquire,
Lieutenant Dougthorn Lommanter'in Chiet
Commonwealth of Maffachufetts. Suphan Needham Vention Greding YOU being appointed Gowan gabe pour on the fifth Pigment of the & Divition of the Militia of this Commonwealth. Repefing ipescial Truf and Confidence in your Ability, Courage and good Conduct, I Do, by thefe Prefents, Commiffion you accordingly. You are, therefore, Carefully and Diligenths to Difcharge the Duties of faid Office, according to the Laws of this
younei summested in obey you in your fald Capacity ! and you are
Summede . Mat. Orders and Instructions as you thall, from time to time, receive from me of others, your Superior Officers. 52.2 ... 7.1-199-
Given under my Hand, and the Seal of the faid Commonwealth, the ' Longood in the Year of our LORD, 199 Year of the Independence of the United States of America.
and in the howby , ou tof
Jam. dary din
A Relie of the Revolution
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also received a bounty of thirty pounds from the towns from which they enlisted.
In addition to the many men called for by the military au- thorities, old Hampshire county was asked to contribute clothing for the use of the men in the field. In 1778 a general order was issued calling for sheets, shoes and stockings for the army, and William Scott, of Palmer, was apopinted collecting agent for the county. In 1779 another call for clothing was made, and the practice was continued throughout the period of the war.
These supplies were furnished willingly, although the inhab- itants were seriously burdened with expenses growing out of the contest. Mr. Holland describes them as an "immense draught upon the physical resources of Western Massachusetts, in con- nection with the other sections of the state and country." "So weak," writes he, "became the towns after two or three years had passed away, so necessary was it to remain at home for the maintenance of wives and children, that many of these requisi- tions were not complied with, the draughted men paying their fines and refusing to leave their homes. It is recorded in a jour- nal kept by the minister in Westfield, at that time, that when, on the 13th of May, 1778, a requisition was made for men from that town 'Noah Cobley and Paul Noble went, and David Fowler, Roger Bagg, Enoch Holcomb, Joseph Dewey, Simeon Stiles, Jacob Noble, Benjamin Sexton, John Moxley, Martin Root, Stephen Fowler, Eli Granger, Roger Noble and Daniel Fowler paid their fines."
Although the contest between Great Britain and her former American colonies was virtually at an end in 1780, a formal peace was not established until the treaty of Paris was signed, Septem- ber 3, 1783. The closing years of the struggle found Great Brit- ain in actual conflict with several European powers, yet she suc- ceeded in resisting them and kept reinforcing her American armies with fresh supplies of troops. At length, however, all hope of subduing her rebellious subjects had vanished, and the English people clamored loudly for a discontinuance of the war. Soon afterward the house of commons voted "that they should consider as enemies to his majesty and their country, all who
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State Street Entrance to U. S. Armory Grounds
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should advise or attempt a further prosecution of offensive war on the continent of America."
THE UNITED STATES ARMORY.
The establishment of a national armory or gun works at Springfield had its inception in an act of congress passed in 1776, by which the suggestion was made that Massachusetts construct an armory at Brookfield for manufacture of arms, cartridges and other munitions of war. It had been the first intention of Gen- eral Washington to found the works at Hartford, but on the rep- resentation of Col. David Mason to General Knox that Spring- field was a more suitable location, the act finally designated that town as the site of the establishment. Colonel Mason had served as an artillery officer in the last French and English war, and he, under the committee of safety of Massachusetts, collected at Salem the cannon and military stores which the British in 1775 sought to capture. In 1776 several cannon were cast in Spring- field, and gave excellent service during the next year in the bat- tle at Saratoga. Colonel Mason was placed in charge of the works at Springfield, and under his direction was founded that which has proved one of the most extensive labor employing in- dustries in New England.
In treating of the early history of the armory one authority says : "Before and at the time of the adoption of the constitu- tion of the United States, there were standing in the town of Springfield, on land owned by the town, divers buildings erected and occupied by the United States as arsenals, in which they then had, and always since have had, large quantities of guns and other military stores ; and one building erected by them as a pow- der magazine."
On April 2, 1794, congress passed an act authorizing the erection and maintenance of arsenals and magazines for military purposes ; and in accordance with the act, on June 22, 1795, land on Mill river was purchased by the secretary of state, in trust for the United States. On May 14, 1798, congress authorized the president to lease or purchase land for the erection of foun- dries for the manufacture of cannon and armories for the con-
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United States Watershops
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struction of small arms. On June 25, 1798, a law of this com- monwealth gave consent that the United States purchase land in Springfield, not exceeding 640 acres in extent, "for the sole pur- pose of erecting forts, magazines, arsenals and other needful buildings."
The armory was established in 1794, and in the next year the manufacture of arms was begun. The first land purchase on Mill river was made in 1793, and in that location the forgings for arms were made. A second tract on the river was acquired in 1798. The committee to superintend the transfer of title to the government comprised George Bliss, John Hooker and Wil- liam Ely. The upper watershops were built in 1809. The tract known as "Federal square" was purchased in 1812.
By various purchases under the acts and proceedings men- tioned in preceding paragraphs the government became owner of a considerable tract of land in the town of Springfield, much of which is now very valuable. In the early years of the past century the old training ground, on which the first armory build- ings were erected, was outside the business and residence district of Springfield, but with constant municipal growth the entire region was subsequently built up. Much good has come to the town from this institution, although the inhabitants of West Springfield protested against a proposition to erect the shops in that town, on the ground that the expected presence of a soldier element in that locality would have a demoralizing tendency upon the youth and otherwise disturb the well-being of the com- munity.
Since the works began operations no large bodies of troops have been quartered there, while at times several thousand me- chanics have been employed in the manufacture of arms and am- munition. The old magazine, which was built in a piece of woods, at one time was regarded as a menace to the safety of the locality, was removed in 1846, and a public street was laid out over its site.
It cannot be considered within the proper scope of the pres- ent chapter to follow in detail the history of the armory, its buildings and properties, yet in the growth of Springfield as a
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city it has been a factor for good for more than a century. £
The number of employees has varied with the requirements of the government. At times during the war of 1861-65 as many as 3,500 men were employed, and in 1866 the number of muskets made reached the extraordinary sum of almost 277,000. In 1795 only 275 guns were made, and only forty men were employed. In 1811, just before the second war with Great Britain, the num- ber increased to more than 12,000. About the time of the war with Mexico there was another period of increased activity, and again, at the outbreak of the war with Spain, the works were run with a full complement of men. The north shops and the west arsenal were burned in 1824.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE INSURRECTION OF 1786-87-THE SHAYS REBELLION
"The history1 of the insurrection in Massachusetts-com- monly called the 'Shays rebellion'-is interesting as the record of the only serious attempt ever made against the authority of the state government. The insurrection having first taken an organized form in the Connecticut valley, and having here met its final overthrow, the preservation of local facts concerning it is expressly within the province of this society."
"The insurrection was the result of a condition of things now popularly known as 'hard times.' It did not originate so much in disaffection toward the state government as in an un- controllable impulse of a distressed people to seek relief in some way, or any way. The long and burdensome war2 of the revo-
1Compiled from William L. Smith's historical address, published in Conn. Val. Hist. Society's collections.
2At the close of the war the state debt amounted to more than 1,300,000 pounds, and there was due the Massachusetts officers and soldiers not less than 250,000 pounds, while the proportion of the federal debt for which the state was responsible was at least 1,500,000 pounds. Every town was also in debt for supplies it had furnished its soldiers .- Holland.
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lution had just been brought to a close. The country was im-
poverished. The continental paper money had become worth- less, and no substitute for it had been provided. There was no trade, no demand for labor, no way in which the value of prop- erty of any kind could be measured. Under the barbarous laws then in force, the jails were becoming filled with prisoners whose only offense was their inability to pay their debts. Men who had nothing to do but to talk about their grievances and dis- tresses were excited to turbulence, and local disturbances were frequent and serious. The authorities were too often in sym- pathy with the offenders against the law, and guilty parties went unpunished. The state constitution, adopted in 1780, was viewed with disfavor by a large minority of the people, and was not regarded as securely established. The constitution of the United States had not then been framed, and all existing govern- ment was merely experimental."
"There was at that time no law for the equitable distribu- tion of a debtor's property among his creditors. The executions of the creditors were levied in the order in which their attach- ments were made, and each creditor was satisfied in his turn un- til all were paid, or the debtor's estate was exhausted. A man whose credit was suspected found his property covered by at- tachments at once, and in the condition of things then existing a very slight circumstance excited suspicion. Litigation became general. The state was showered with executions, and large amounts of property were sold, for almost nothing, to satisfy them. In the unreasoning excitement of the time, the courts, lawyers and sheriffs were denounced in the wildest terms as the promoters of the suffering that men were inflicting upon each other. A cry arose that the courts ought to be abolished. Threats were made that the courts should not be allowed to sit, that no more suits should be entered and no more executions issued. It was such a wild clamor as this that led to the first overt act in resistance to the lawful authority."
"There was no general insurrection until the summer of 1786, but as early as 1783 a bold attempt was made at Spring- field to break up the session of the court of common pleas. The
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'Massachusetts Gazette and General Advertiser,' then printed in Springfield, of May 27, gives this account of it: 'On Tuesday last, being the day on which the general sessions of the peace and the court of common pleas opened in this town, a banditti, col- lected from the obscure corners of the county, composed of men of the most infamous character, to the amount of about sixty in number, met in this town to prevent the sitting of the court. They showed no disposition to attack the courts in the forenoon; at two o'clock they met at a public house in the town, and resolved themselves to be a convention of the county, met together for the purpose of redressing grievances ; after having passed several important resolves they adjourned their convention to the elm tree near the court house; when the bell rang for the court, they, in hostile parade, armed with white bludgeons cut for that purpose, marched before the door of the court house, and when the court, headed by the sheriff, came to the door, with insolence opposed their entrance; the sheriff, in mild tones of persuasion, addressing them as gentlemen, desired them to make way. His civility was repaid with outrage, and an action soon commenced ; happily there was a collection of people friendly to the government present, and the mob was repulsed with broken heads. A number of them were instantly taken and committed to prison; after which, by a regular procedure, they were brought before the court of sessions for examination, and were bound to appear before the supreme court.' "
"The court house then stood on the east side of Main street, directly opposite Meeting-house lane, which has since become Elm street. Its site is now occupied by Sanford street. The elm tree under which the rioters held their 'convention' stood on the east side of Main street, and two or three rods south of the court house."
"The legislature of 1786 was elected at a time of great ex- citement. Many of the men who had hitherto been entrusted with the responsibilities of legislation, and were prominent in the service of the state, were superseded by inexperienced and, in many cases, by utterly unfit persons. Patriots of the revolu- tion, whose eloquence had aroused the spirit that carried the
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country triumphantly through the war of independence, were de- feated as candidates merely because they happened to be lawyers. When the legislature assembled various visionary schemes were brought forward, among them a proposition that the state should go into the business of manufacturing paper money. The legislature proceeded deliberately, influenced no doubt by the conservative sentiment of Boston, and finally rejected the proposition ; and the senate stood firmly in the way of other dan- gerous schemes. Thereupon there arose a new clamor. It was declared that the senate should be abolished and that the legisla- ture should not continue to hold its sessions at Boston ; and the agitators proceeded to supplement their declamations by formal organization."
"On the 28th of August delegates from fifty towns in Hamp- shire county met in convention at Hatfield and held a session of three days. . The paper money party was in strong force. The men who 'had fought for liberty and meant to have it,' were there; and liberty, as they understood it, was defined by one of their leaders in a speech at West Springfield. Liberty, he said, 'is for every man to do as he pleases, and to make other folks do as you please to have them.' "
"The convention solemnly voted 'that this meeting is con- stitutional,' and issued a declaration of its purposes. They wanted, among various other things, a revisal of the state constitution, the abolition of the senate and of the court of com- mon pleas, and more paper money. The convention called upon other counties to organize, and took care to go through the form of advising the people to abstain from all mobs and unlawful as- semblies."
"The events of the next few days furnished a practical con- struction of the convention's declaration against mobs and un- lawful assemblies. The last Tuesday of August was the day fixed by law for the term of the court of common pleas at North- ampton. Some 1,500 men took possession of the court house, and prevented the sitting of the court. The term was not held, and the men who did not intend to pay their debts celebrated a victory over the law."
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"The governor issued a proclamation, calling the legislature to meet in special session on the 27th of September. The proclamation was an incentive to still greater activity on the part of the insurgents. On the other hand, the supporters of the government felt the increased necessity of making a stand against insurrection. The law required the supreme judicial court to sit at Springfield on the fourth Tuesday of September. The insurgents, who had not hitherto interfered with this court, declared that the term should not be held. At that time the grand juries reported to the supreme court, and the insurgent leaders knew that if the grand jury assembled and did its duty, they would be indicted for treason. The friends of law and order declared that the court should be protected in any event, and at whatever cost."
"Gen. William Shepard, of Westfield, who had served with distinction through the war of the revolution, and had been a member of the continental congress and a trusted officer of Gen- eral Washington, was appointed to command such forces as could be raised for the protection of the court. Shays,1 the leader of the insurgents, had held a commission in the continental army, and was conspicuous for his personal bravery at Bunker Hill and Stony Point, and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. Revolutionary experiences were still fresh and almost every man in the community was accustomed, in some degree, to the use of arms and military drill. It was well understood that neither
1Daniel Shays was born in Hopkinton, Middlesex county, in 1747. He after- ward lived in Great Barrington and subsequently removed to Pelham. He en- tered the army in 1775, and in 1776 was appointed lieutenant in Col. Varnum's regiment. He was detached on recruiting service and came to Massachusetts, where he was abundantly successful ; but he was ambitious of rank and of money, and his easy success as recruiting officer suggested a plan for his advancement. He enlisted a company whose engagement to serve was based on the condition. that he should be the captain. He took the men to West Point and when they were about to be apportioned to the commands where they were most needed, the conditions of the enlistment were made known. The officers remonstrated, but the army needed the men, hence the unsoldierly demands were complied with. He was promised a captain's commission, and received it in 1779. In 1780 he was discharged from service. "He was bound to the insurrectionary movement by no tie of principle, no active conviction of right, no controlling motive of love for the public good." After the insurrection was crushed, and he had been par- doned, Shays lived in Massachusetts for a time and then removed to Sparta, N. Y., where he died in 1825.
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party would give way to the other, and there was hardly ground for hope that a bloody collision would be averted."
"General Shepard succeeded in collecting about 600 militia and volunteers, and anticipated the plans of the insurgents by taking possession of the court house. On the appointed day the court was opened, Chief Justice Cushing and Justices Sargeant, Sewall and Sumner being present, and Shays appeared at the head of a force largely superior in numbers to General Shep- ard's, but his men were not as well armed as were the militia. The insurgents were disconcerted at finding the militia in pos- session of the court house, and some of them insisted on making an immediate attack. The leaders were more prudent. They knew that the government troops were well armed, and they were especially disgusted with the bark of a small cannon, which they called the 'government's puppy.' They offered to withdraw if the judges would agree that no other than the ordinary criminal business of the term should be taken up. The judges replied in substance that they had a public duty to discharge and would attend to such business as should properly come before them. But by the time this answer was received the insurgent leaders were indifferent as to the action of the court, for they were satis- fied that the grand jury could not be got together and that there would be no trials. They saw that their main purpose would be accomplished without fighting."
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