USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 40
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Soon after the affair at Great Barrington, the insurgents, who had hitherto confined their opposition to the inferior courts, now dreading indictment by the Superior Court at Springfield, collected in such numbers at that place, that, although the court was pro-
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tected by six hundred militia, the confusion was such that it was deemed advisable to adjourn without attempting to transact busi- ness, after passing resolutions that it was inexpedient to proceed to Berkshire.
When the day fixed by law for opening the court in this county came, the malecontents, nevertheless, assembled in considerable numbers at Great Barrington, believing, or pretending to believe, that the judges really intended to sit. Of course no court ap- peared : but the crowd became extremely riotous, and obliged several persons obnoxious to them to take flight; while armed men pursued one gentleman who held a very honorable office, searched private houses, and fired upon several of the inhabitants.1
About Christmas, 1786, the insurrectionary disturbances in the lower counties assumed the form of a pronounced rebellion. Daniel Shays, the renowned leader who clouded his fame as a faithful captain in the Revolution for the equivocal honor of giv- ing his name to an unnecessary and unsuccessful rebellion, ap- peared first at Springfield, then at Worcester and elsewhere, with bands of armed men, of disorderly carriage and fluctuating mate- rial, but with some sort of a military organization.
Gov. Bowdoin intrusted the restoration of order to Major- Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, of Revolutionary fame, with a body of over four thousand militia.
Four hundred Berkshire men, under the leadership of Eli Par- sons, were in Shays's army ; but we know nothing of the recruits from Pittsfield who may have been among them, and we do not purpose to chronicle in detail the operations of the three months' campaign by which the insurrection was suppressed.
The spirit of the rebellion was broken on the 25th of January, when Shays, marching upon the post of Gen. Sheppard at the Springfield Arsenal, was met by a discharge of artillery, which sent his men flying in confusion, crying " Murder," and leaving three of their comrades dead upon the field.2
1 History of Berkshire.
2 An incident occurred in connection with this affair in which a boy, afterwards a prominent citizen of Pittsfield, was the hero. .
Major Solomon Allen of Northampton, upon whom the command of the Hampshire militia, or a portion of it, devolved, dealt largely with Philadelphia drovers; and, when the outbreak occurred, he was in that city, having with him his little son of eight years, afterwards Hon. Phinehas Allen, the founder of " The
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So weak at heart was this seemingly formidable uprising, that, upon a check so slight as this, the insurgents fell back from point to point, until they reached Petersham. Here Gen. Lincoln, by a forced march of thirty miles in the midst of a driving snow-storm, surprised them ; and those who escaped capture were scattered.
Meanwhile small bodies of the disaffected appeared in Berkshire, with the intention of creating a diversion in favor of their brethren, and, as was feared, of forming a rendezvous upon the heights of the Hoosacs. As a countercheck to this movement, the friends of government formed a voluntary association, numbering perhaps five hundred men, and in slight encounters met with significant success. Still the malecontents, dispersed near Stockbridge, rallied again at South Adams, and, on the approach of the volunteers, scattered at that place to collect again, and again be dispersed, at Williamstown. However unfortunate in their essays, their dispo- sition to embody was apparent; and it was understood that a con- siderable number were on their way to Washington to join the standard of one Major Wiley.
Gen. Patterson, commander of the Berkshire militia, apprehen- sive of the results of these movements, earnestly entreated assistance from Lincoln, who responded by promptly repairing to Pittsfield with two divisions of his army.
From this point he sent out parties in sleighs, - one, under the adjutant-general, to Dalton, where they captured Wiley's son and six others, Wiley having fled ; one, under Capt. William Francis, to Williamstown, where, after a skirmish, they captured fourteen prisoners. The activity of the troops drove into banishment or concealment all those who had been in arms against the govern- ment in Northern Berkshire. But the truculent Eli Parsons, from his hiding-place, sent out an appeal to his " friends and fellow- sufferers" in the lower counties, - a paper of whose sanguinary vein the closing paragraph may convey an idea : --
" The first step I would recommend is to destroy Sheppard's army ; then proceed to the county of Berkshire, as we are now collecting in New Leba-
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Pittsfield Sun." Summoned home by his military duties, Major Allen reached Springfield in time to take part in the defence of the arsenal.
Here his little son, elad in red broadeloth, the gift of his father's enstomers, with whom he was a pet, was seated on horseback in the rear of the troops; and when, on the advance of the rebels, fire was opened, the little fellow, carried away with excitement, stretched himself up in the saddle, and gave a ringing huzza, to thic great delight of the soldiers, who took up and prolonged the tiny cheer.
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non in York State, and Pownal in Vermont State, with a determination to carry our point if fire, blood, and carnage will effect it : therefore we beg that every friend will immediately proceed to the county of Berkshire, and help us to Burgoyne Lincoln and his army."
There was more than mere bravado in this. Berkshire, with inaccessible hills on the east, and States north, south, and west upon whose soil the Massachusetts militia might not trespass, was surrounded by convenient lurking-places, of which the rebels did not neglect to avail themselves, to the great annoyance of the Commonwealth, until the friendly action of the sister States relieved her.
An occasion soon presented itself when an incursion might have been made with almost assured success by a small body of deter- mined men; for the new contingent to supply the place of the militia, whose term of service expired on the 21st of February, not arriving promptly, Gen. Lincoln was left at Pittsfield with only thirty soldiers. The rebels were, happily, not informed correctly of the moment so opportune for them ; and the danger passed. But, on the 27th, a body of between eighty and ninety men, under Capt. Perez Hamlin, entered the State from New York, pillaged Stockbridge, made prisoners of some of its most respectable citizens, and proceeded with their prisoners and booty to Great Barrington. Thence they went towards Sheffield in sleighs by a back road. In the mean time, Col. Ashley of Sheffield had col- lected the loyal militia of that town, and, uniting with a small body who had retreated from Great Barrington, had a force of eighty men.
With these he met the insurgents near the western boundary of Sheffield ; and the most severe encounter of the rebellion ensued. The insurgents were defeated, with a loss of two killed and thirty wounded, one mortally ; and Capt. William Walker of Lenox coming up opportunely with re-enforcements, one hundred and fifty prisoners were taken. Of the militia, two were killed and one wounded.
The borders of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Worcester remained in a disturbed condition for some months; but the energetic co-operation of the neighboring States, although that of Ver- mont was somewhat hesitating and tardy, finally removed all sources of apprehension from abroad. On the 13th of August, it was considered safe to reduce the number of troops to two hun-
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dred; and, on the 13th of September, the complete suppression of the rebellion was announced by the discharge of all the forces.
The wisdom, moderation, and firmness of Gov. Bowdoin and Gen. Lincoln, and the good conduct of the forces under their command, had saved, not only the Commonwealth, but the country, from dangers which threatened disastrous consequences whose extent it was impossible to foresee, and had relieved a widespread consternation of which it is difficult now to form an idea.
In the suppression of the rebellion, the legislature had co-oper- ated with the executive, on the whole, with zeal and promptitude ; although manifesting a natural repugnance to extreme measures against their misguided fellow-citizens. There now remained the more difficult task of re-establishing order, and composing the agitated minds of the people. Justice was to be tempered with mercy in such measure as would not give heart to new outbreaks. The majesty of the law was to be maintained, but in such manner that there should be not even the semblance of a vindictive spirit, either in the legislature or in the courts. Above all, the legislators of the Commonwealth were to enter earnestly upon the work of alleviating the burdens and sufferings which had maddened so many of its most patriotic and well-intentioned citizens. And, in all this, it was to be made apparent that nothing was conceded to intimidation, but that all was done through a sincere desire for the best interests of the people, and a pure regard for substantial justice. It is not our province to discuss in detail the measures by which these ends were sought; but the wisdom and moderation of Massachusetts legislation were never more conspicuous than in their adoption. Sufficient guaranties were exacted for future alle- giance to law and order ; but what was deemed the minimum of punishment was meted out for past offences. Six of the insurgent prisoners were condemned to death in Berkshire, six in Hampshire, and one each in Worcester and Middlesex; but none suffered that penalty. Of the Berkshire prisoners, three were pardoned, - one of them Samuel Rust, a Pittsfield veteran of the Continental Army, - two escaped, and the sentence of the sixth was commuted to imprisonment for seven years.
Large numbers were, however, convicted of seditious words and practices, many of them persons of consequence in their several localities. Among them was a member of the legislature, who was sentenced to pay a fine of fifty pounds, give security for five
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years' good behavior, and sit on a gallows with a rope around his neck; all of which sentence was carried out.1
Those who had participated in the insurrection were for a time disfranchised, and excluded from the jury-box; but these disabili- ties were soon removed, the offender being merely required to take the oath of allegiance. Measures of reform in the administration of the laws and of the finances were immediately entered upon, at first with somewhat of the crudity of thought which had pre- vailed before the insurrection. But the light soon began to break, and gleams of those beneficent reforms which have since prevailed began to streak the horizon. It is not the least among the com- pensations of the rebellion of 1786, that it directed the more earnest thought of cultivated statesmen to the imperfection of the laws, and to popular content as an element in the strength of government.
1 The unfortunate legislator was Hon. Moses Harvey, senator from Hampshire County.
CHAPTER XXII.
PITTSFIELD IN THE SHAYS REBELLION. - PAROCHIAL DIFFICULTIES.
[1786-1789.]
Public Sentiment of the Town. - Its Comparative Prosperity. - Prominent Citi- zens labor for Law and Order. - Henry Van Schaack eulogizes the Town. - The Malecontent Movement modified in Pittsfield. - Instructions to Repre- sentative Childs. - A Stormy Town Meeting. - A Conservative Re-Action. -- Military Occupation of the Town. - Anecdote. - Parochial Dissensions. - Reconciliation effected. - Joshua Danforth. - Henry Van Schaack.
L "N considering the public sentiment which prevailed in Pittsfield during the memorable commotions just related, nice discrimi- nation is required. Tradition affirms that the great majority of the inhabitants were averse to the insurrection; and, while it is certain that the malecontents more than once controlled the town meetings, it is equally clear that only a small fraction of the voters were, at the close of the rebellion, found to have been seriously implicated in it.
The population of the town was about eleven hundred, which would represent at least two hundred voters; but those who are recorded to have taken the oath of allegiance.prescribed by the legislature as a condition of re-enfranchisement counted only thirty-one, of whom only eight are minuted as having "turned in their arms." Of these, some denied any guilty connection with the rebellion ; and so slight was the evidence against them, that many were found to credit their plea. On the other hand, the names of Thomas Gold, and of two or three others known to have been active rebels, do not appear in the list. But the whole number of whom the oath could justly have been required could hardly have exceeded forty. It should be remarked, however, that some who had been led by a misinterpretation of precedents to consider the
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obstruction of courts as a very venial offence, if not an altogether justifiable mode of seeking reforms, shrank from the extreme measure of appearing in arms against the government, and espe- cially after a "county congress " had expressly refused its sanction to any but constitutional measures of redress.
The list of thirty-one contains few names familiar to us, except those of the delegates to the county convention ; and it is to be observed, that, with the exception of Col. Root and Deacon Hub- bard, not one of the men who had been prominent as patriots in the Revolution, or who, as constitutionalists, had resisted the government of the interregnum, is known to have favored the insurrection of 1786; nor did any one of those implicated in the Rebellion ever afterwards rise to much political consequence in the town.
There were substantial reasons why this should be so. Pitts- field, although sharing in a degree in the general depression of affairs, was a thriving and prosperous village, with interests to be dangerously affected by popular tumults and indiscreet innovations. Manufactures were springing up ; public improvements were antici- pated ; and possibly it may have been suggested that the course of the town in this emergency might influence the contest then pending with regard to new seats for the county courts. Col. Joshua Danforth, John Chandler Williams, Henry Van Schaack, and other gentlemen of influence, had recently removed to the town,1 and with Rev. Mr. Allen, Oliver Wendell on his summer visits, Dr. Childs, and other eminent citizens of longer residence, united with Hon. Theodore Sedgwick and Judge Bacon of Stock- bridge, Gen. Patterson of Lenox, and men of like stamp through- out the county, who at great sacrifice of personal comfort, and much exposure to personal danger and indignity, travelled from town to town, bringing their influence to bear in every possible way in favor of law and order.
Just before the outbreak, Major Van Schaack wrote a letter to his brother, from which we may be able to extract a fair idea of the double aspect of the times : 1 -
" Here I have made an advantageous purchase, and live in the midst of those who owe. I have made some other purchases about me, and I have a
1 See note at end of this chapter.
2 Life of Peter Van Schaack, LL.D., by his son Henry C. Van Schaack. New York : Appleton & Co.
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number of mortgages in the neighborhood ; so that I shall, in all probability, be a considerable landholder in a little time.
" The farm I live on I bought for four hundred and seventy-four pounds York money. It contains eighty-six aeres good land, with a tolerably good house, barn, and a young orchard, and a pleasant lake1 in sight of me. In my lifetime, I never lived among a more civil, obliging people. During my residence in Richmond,2 I never was a witness to swearing, drunkenness, nor a breach of the sabbath, or, in short, any flagrant trespass upon mo- rality. A purse of gold hung up in the public streets would be as safe from our inhabitants as it used to be in the great Alfred's time. Beggars and va- grants we are strangers to, as well as overbearing, purse-proud scoundrels. Provisions we abound in : beef, veal, mutton, and lamb, in the spring, sum- mer, and fall, we buy at two pence lawful 3 per pound ; in winter, beef and inutton at two and a half and three pence ; every thing else in proportion, and very plenty. . . . I have just returned from Vermont. I took your son Harry and F. Silvester with me in the sleigh, who, as well as myself, were much pleased with the jaunt. . .. In travelling sixty-four miles and back again, four days out, lived extraordinary well all the time, and, among other things, dined upon boiled turkey and oyster-sauce at Manchester. The whole expense of our bill, while we were out, horse-keeping in the bargain, was twenty-six shillings eight pence York money apiece.4 Add to the ad- vantages of travelling, that your persons and property on the road and in the inns are perfectly safe. Murders, robberies, and burglaries, or petty larce- nies, are scarce heard of in this country. So perfectly am I satisfied with the manners, customs, and laws of this Commonwealth, that I would not ex- change them for any other I know of in the world.
" It will be difficult for you to believe, at so great a distance, that, imme- diately after the horrors of a civil war, the new government should have force and energy, the morals and religion of the inhabitants apparently as pure and uncorrupt as they were at the best a number of years before the late distractions. ... It is true that the public calamities have brought heavy burthens; but these become lighter, and will be more and more so every year.
" The epitome of human misery -I mean the civil war - in this country has been accompanied by a failure of crops. ... If any of your friends wish to migrate, by way of encouragement you may assure them that lands are cheap and good in Berkshire. Building materials of every sort in great plenty. All that I want in my delightful retreat is a few people of your sort about me."
This picture is a good deal rose-tinted by Major Van Schaack, a prosperous gentleman of steady income, who had just saved from
1 Melville. 2 Where Major Van Schaack settled on his first removal to
Berkshire.
3 Lawful money. 4 $3.25 Federal money.
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the dangers of civil war more than he had expected of his own and his paternal fortune, who was likely to be enriched by the financial difficulties that impoverished his neighbors, who had secured a delightful estate, and was eulogizing the community where even his Whig opponents had received him with cordiality and confidence when he was exiled by those of his own section.
He had, however, but recently become a resident of the town, and there was much in it with which he had not yet come in contact. The Arcadian innocence which he paints so glowingly must be accepted, as a portrait, only with many grains of allow- ance. And the rich colors in which he depicts the physical com- forts of his home were sadly obscured to those of his neighbors who " owed; " to the mortgagers, who saw little in the times to encourage the hope of their becoming or remaining "considerable landholders;" to the farmers, who found that it took a great deal of mutton at two pence a pound to pay such taxes as were levied upon them in order to " lighten the burthens " imposed by " the late public calamities." However it might be with some indi- viduals, the masses of community could hardly felicitate themselves upon low prices, the result of insufficient markets and of a cir- culating medium utterly incapable of meeting the ordinary require- ments of traffic.
Pittsfield, with a strong conservative element in its population, and with flourishing material interests which forbade it to favor rebellion, had thus also a large class, especially among its farmers, of men embarrassed, not only by the financial difficulties of the time, but by a succession of bad crops.
But there were also many, who, with no desire to overthrow the government, were painfully sensitive to the sufferings of the people, and sincerely believed that the legislature was criminally remiss in postponing the radical remedies which they deemed indispen- sable, who reiterated the complaints which had become chronic, ' if not morbid, in Berkshire, of the cumbrous and costly system of judiciary, and who perhaps joined in the charge that the counties of Hampshire and Berkshire had been unfairly assessed in the State valuation; and they were not unwilling that the apathy of the conservatives should be disturbed by popular tumults rising to the very verge of rebellion. It was a dangerous tampering with fearful elements ; but if there were many among the influen- tial classes, who, while rapt in admiration of the Commonwealth,
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thought it delightful " to live among those who owed," there was much to palliate their rashness.
It was by the votes, or the absence from town-meeting, of this class, which, although disaffected to the government, shrank from overt rebellion, that the open insurrectionists owed their triumphs. The malecontents, however, did not secure, and probably did not desire, town action in unison with that of their brethren in the lower counties. A fair indication of the extent to which the majority could be induced to yield its approval to measures for the reconstruction of government is found in the votes of Sep- tember, 1785, concerning the instructions to be given Dr. Timothy Childs, who had some months before been chosen repre- sentative, and who was opposed to the insurrectionary movement, although doubtless, like most of the friends of law and order in Berkshire, earnestly desirous of thorough reforms by unintimidated legislation.
The committee to draft the instructions were Woodbridge Little, Joseph Fairfield, Daniel Hubbard, Major Simon Larned, and Eli Root, - two malecontents, and three who are supposed to have been of opposite views.
They reported seven paragraphs, of which four were adopted, expressing all to which a majority of the meeting would assent. The following is the report, as drafted, with the minutes of the town's action upon it : -
Sir, -In the present critical and disturbed situation of affairs in this Commonwealth, it is the wish of your constituents that you give the most early attendance possible at the General Court in their present session, and that you there use your influence that something may be done which may serve to quiet the minds, remove the uneasiness, and silence the complaints, of a great number of the good people of this State. And, for the purpose of effecting and obtaining this desirable objeet, your constituents recommend the following matters and artieles to your consideration, which they imagine will be conducive to this end, and to which they expect you will give your particular attention in the General Court : -
1st, That you endeavor to obtain a suspension of the collecting of the last State tax, so far as it respects the redemption or payment of the public securities of every description or denomination, or the interest due on said securities, until some more easy and equal method of paying the same can be found and adopted. And it is the sense of your constituents, that some medium at which publie securities of every kind have been sold and trans- ferred from time to time shall be considered as the true value of the same,
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and that they be paid both principal and interest accordingly ; and that the present appropriation of the impost and excise revenue be suspended in the mean time, if not forever. (Voted.)
2d, That the courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace be abolished, and some other system instituted, calculated (if possible) to lessen the present expense of suits in law, and bring them to a more speedy decision. (Voted.)
3d. That particular attention be paid to the fee-table, and that the fees of justices of the peace, attorneys-at-law, sheriffs, and all other civil officers, be so far reduced as that they shall receive merely an honest and equitable recompense for their services, and not have it in their power to evade the true meaning and intention of the legislature in their establishment of fees ; and that it be an object whether a reduction of salaries in many instances is not as proper as an augmentation in any. (Voted.)
4th, That you use your influence to obtain a law that no debt shall be collected by law which shall be contracted after a certain period to be fixed by the court, and that a tender act be made to ease all debtors as much as possible without doing manifest injustice to creditors. (Voted.)
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