USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 17
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The proclamation of the governor, the calling out of the militia, and other evidence that the government which, up to that time, had partially tolerated if it had not countenanced the insurrection, was about to call in play all available forces for its suppression, served notice upon Shays and his followers that decisive action must be taken speedily or their cause was lost. They decided to attack the arsenal at Springfield which, if captured. would afford them abundant supplies of arms and ammunition for carrying on the struggle in which they were enlisted. The troops raised in the eastern part of the state assembled at Roxbury, Jan. 19, and marched to Worcester, reaching there the 22d. The courts met at Worcester the fol- lowing day, and in presence of the troops commanded by Gen. Lincoln the insurgents considered it the part of wisdom not to interfere. Previous to the marching of the troops from Roxbury, orders had been given to Gen. Shepard to take possession of the post at Springfield. Here he col- lected about 900 men being afterwards reinforced with 200 men, all from the militia of Hampshire county. This army was furnished with field-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
pieces from the arsenal. If the insurgents were to carry the post, the attack must needs be made before the arrival of Gen. Lincoln and his army. The forces of the insurgents numbered about 1900, stationed and commanded as follows : At West Springfield were 400 men under command of Capt. Luke Day, at Chicopee 400 from Berkshire county led by Eli Parsons, and at the east on the Boston road 1100 men under command of Capt. Shays. Jan. 24, Shays sent a message to Day, informing him that he should attack the post the following day and should count on his assist- ance. Day sent a message in reply that he could not assist on the day proposed but would the day following. The message of Day was inter- cepted and given to General Shepard. Jan 25, Day sent an insolent mes- sage to General Shepard, demanding that the troops in Springfield should lay down their arms; that their arms should be deposited in the public stores, and that the troops should return to their homes upon parole. The same day Shays, who was at Wilbraham, sent a message to General Lin- coln, stating that he was unwilling to shed blood, and proposing that all the insurgents should be indemnified until the next sitting of the General Court and until an opportunity could be had for hearing their complaints, that the persons who had been taken by the government should be released without punishment, that these conditions should be made sure by procla- mation of the governor, on which the insurgents should return to their homes and wait for constitutional relief from the insupportable burdens under which they labored.
This message was doubtless a blind, intended to delay Gen. Lincoln in his march, for no sooner had it been dispatched than Shays started with his forces for Springfield. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon they were seen approaching the arsenal upon the Boston road. Gen. Shepard, impressed with the importance of the occasion, sent repeated messages to Shays, inquiring what were his intentions and warning him that if his men approached nearer the arsenal they would be fired upon. Shays replied that it was his intention to gain possession of the arsenal and barracks. As the insurgents continued to advance, Gen. Shepard ordered a discharge of cannon, but directed that the first two volleys should be fired in the air : still they advanced, and when within fifty rods of the battery the guns were trained on the center of the insurgents' column and fired. The column was thrown into dire confusion ; a cry of " murder " arose, and as the smoke from the discharge cleared away the insurgents were seen in full retreat, the efforts of Shays to rally them being unavailing. Three of the party were killed by the cannon, Ezekiel Root and Ariel Webster of Gill and Jabez Spicer of Leyden, and one was mortally wounded, John Hunter of Shelburne.
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129
RETREAT OF THE INSURGENTS.
The retreat continued as far as Ludlow, where Shays and his men spent the night. The following day they marched to Chicopee, over 200 men deserting along the route, and there effected a junction with the Berkshire men under Eli Parsons. Gen. Lincoln with his troops arrived at Springfield, Jan. 27. Although late in the day it was determined to act at once and prevent all possibility of a union between the forces of Day and Shays. Day was still stationed in West Springfield and had placed guards at the ferry-house and at the bridge across Agawam river. Under the command of Gen. Lincoln, four regiments and four pieces of artillery crossed the river on the ice, while the Hampshire troops, under command of Gen. Shepard, marched up the river on the east bank. The insurgents under Day's command made no show of resistance, but retreated precipi- tately through Southampton to Northampton, throwing away along the route their muskets, knapsacks and ammunition ; a few of them were captured by the government cavalry. The following day, Shays, having learned of Day's retreat, started with his forces and marched through South Hadley to Amherst and thence to Pelham. During this retreat many houses were plundered, and one man was killed, the men mistaking their own rear guard for the advance of Gen. Lincoln's army. At the house of Major Goodman in South Hadley the insurgents stole two barrels of rum, his account-books and many articles of household furniture. They also broke open the house of Col. Woodbridge and took such articles. as they desired. Shays endeavored in vain to prevent these outrages. From Northampton, the party under Day had continued its retreat through Amherst to Pelham, arriving there in advance of Shays.
CHAPTER XIX.
PURSUIT OF THE INSURGENTS .- CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN LINCOLN AND SHAYS .- THE MARCH TO PETERSHAM .- TERMS OF AMNESTY. -AMHERST MEN WHO TOOK THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE .- THE. CONKEY TAVERN .- THE CLAPP TAVERN.
Immediately on learning of Shays' retreat, Gen. Lincoln and his army started out at 2 o'clock in the morning in pursuit. Shays had several hours the start of his pursuers, and when the latter arrived in Amherst Shays and his men were already on their way to Pelham, whither Gen. Lincoln thought it inadvisable to follow them at the time; he therefore
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
marched his troops to Hadley, to secure the rest of which they were sorely in need. Minot says : " Upon an examination of the houses at Amherst, it was discovered, that most of the male inhabitants had quitted them to follow the insurgents ; and that ten sleigh loads of provisions had gone forward from the county of Berkshire, for their use. Under such appear- ances, a strict prohibition was laid upon the remaining inhabitants, against affording any supplies to their deluded neighbors."
The forces of the insurgents were posted on the east and west hills in Pelham, bleak and forbidding in the winter-time and difficult of access from the deep snow surrounding them. A more inhospitable place to maintain an army for any length of time it would be difficult to select. Jan. 30, Gen. Lincoln sent a letter directed to Capt. Shays, and the officers commanding the men in arms against the government of the Common- wealth. In it he expressed the conviction that the insurgents must realize that they were unable to execute their original purposes. He warned them that if they did not disband he should approach and apprehend the most influential characters among them. They were instructed to tell their privates that if the latter would "instantly lay down their arms, surrender themselves to government, and take and subscribe the oath of allegiance to this Commonwealth," they would be recommended for mercy to the General Court. To this letter Shays returned a counter proposition, to the effect that he and his men would lay down their arms on condition of a general pardon ; he also requested that hostilities should cease until an answer should be received to a petition that had been sent by the insurgents to the General Court. The following day three of the insurgent leaders came to Gen. Lincoln's quarters at Hadley, bringing a letter signed by Fran- cis Stone, Daniel Shays and Adam Wheeler, which read as follows :
" As the officers of the people. now convened in defence of their rights and privileges, have sent a petition to the General Court, for the sole purpose of accom- modating our present unhappy affairs, we justly expect that hostilities may cease on both sides, until we have a return from our legislature."
To this Gen. Lincoln sent the following reply : HADLEY, January 31st, 1787.
GENTLEMEN. Your request is totally inadmissible. as no powers are delegated to me which would justify a delay of my operations. Hostilities I have not com- menced. I have again to warn the people in arms against government, immediately to disband, as they would avoid the ill consequences which may ensue, should they be inattentive to this caution.
B. LINCOLN."
The General Court convened Feb. 3, 1787. The governor in his address gave a review of events connected with the insurrection and the measures he had taken for its suppression. . The next day a declaration of
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MARCH TO PETERSHAM.
rebellion was adopted by both houses, as well as an approval of Gen. Lincoln's offer of clemency to privates and non-commissioned officers . among the insurgents, on condition of their surrendering their arms and subscribing to the oath of allegiance. They approved the measures the governor had taken, desired him to continue them persistently and vigor- ously, and promised him such support as was in their province to render. The petition of the insurgents was presented, but it was voted " that the said paper cannot be sustained." It was plain that the insurgents had little hope of favorable action on their petition, for Feb. 3, the same day that the General Court convened, they withdrew from Pelham and marched to Petersham. Information of this movement was brought to Gen. Lincoln at Hadley the same day at noon, but it was at first supposed to be only a removal from the west to the east hill in Pelham. When, about 6 P. M., intelligence was received that the insurgents had left their post and gone eastward, Gen. Lincoln at once ordered his troops in pursuit; at 8 o'clock the army was in motion and then ensued one of the hardest and most fatiguing marches on record. Minot describes it as follows :
" Nothing more than the usual inclemency of the season opposed their march until two o'clock in the morning, by which time they had advanced as far as New Salem. Here a violent north wind arose, and sharpened the cold to an extreme degree ; a snow storm accompanied, which filled the paths ; the route of the army lying over high land, exposed the soldiers to the full effects of these circumstances, while on their way ; and the county being thinly settled, did not afford a covering for them within the distance of eight miles. Being thus deprived of shelter by the want of buildings, and of refreshment-by the intenseness of the cold, which pre- vented their taking any in the road, their only safety lay in closely pursuing a march, which was to terminate at the quarters of the enemy. They therefore advanced the whole distance of thirty miles, subject to all these inclemencies, without halting for any length of time. Their front reached Petersham by nine o'clock in the morning, their rear being five miles distant."
Anyone who has tramped over Hampshire and Franklin hills at night in the dead of winter, with a howling north wind blowing and piling the snow as it descends into drifts all but impassable, can appreciate something of the dangers and fatigue that were undergone by Gen. Lincoln's troops on that forced march from Hadley to Petersham. The advance guard entered the town in command of Col. Haskel; a company of artillery with two pieces of cannon immediately followed and the whole body of the army was brought up as early as possible. The insurgents were taken completely by surprise ; they instantly evacuated the houses in which they were quartered and thronged into a back road leading toward Athol, scarcely firing a gun. Gen. Lincoln's troops pursued them about two miles, capturing about 150; of the remainder many returned to their homes and others fled into the states of Vermont, New Hampshire and
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
New York. This was the last attempt made by any large body of men to oppose the government forces in Massachusetts, although for several weeks succeeding a kind of guerilla warfare was carried on by the insurgents of Berkshire county, with damage to property and outrageous assaults on individuals. Feb. 7, Gen. Lincoln received a message from Gen. Patterson, requesting him to hasten to Pittsfield with his troops. They marched the same day to Amherst, a distance of 25 miles, and thence through Hadley, Northampton, Chesterfield, Worthington, Peru, Hinsdale and Dalton, to Pittsfield.
Feb. 9, Gov. Bowdoin issued a proclamation for the apprehension of Daniel Shays, Luke Day, Adam Wheeler and Eli Parsons ; a reward of £150 was offered for the capture of Shays and fioo for each of the others. The General Court having learned of the defeat of Shays and the ending of organized rebellion, gave serious attention to the conditions of indemnity that should be offered the insurgents. The following were decided upon :
" That the offenders, having laid down their arms and taken the oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth, should keep the peace for three years, and, during that term, should not serve as jurors, be eligible to any town office, or any other office under the government, should not hold or exercise the employment of school- masters, innkeepers, or retailers of spirituous liquors. or give their votes for the same term of time for any office, civil or military, within the Commonwealth, unless they should, after the ist day of May, 1788, exhibit plenary evidence of their having returned to their allegiance and kept the peace, and of their possessing such an unequivocal attachment to the Government, as should appear to the General Court a sufficient ground to discharge them from all or any of these disqualifications."
The governor was empowered to extend the release of these conditions to such of the privates among the insurgents as had taken up arms for the government before Feb. Ist. The persons absolutely excepted from the indemnity were :
"Such as were not citizens of the state, such as had been members of any General Court in the state, or of any state or county convention, or had been employed in any commissioned office, civil or military ; such as, after delivering up their arms, and taking the oath of allegiance during the rebellion, had again taken and borne arms against the government: such as had fired upon, or wounded any of the loyal subjects of the Commonwealth ; such as had acted as committees, counsellors, or advisers to the rebels; and such as. in former years, had been in arms against the government, in the capacity of commissioned officers. and were afterwards pardoned, and had been concerned in the rebellion."
All insurgents were required to take the oath of allegiance : the form of this oath may be found on page 138 of the town-meeting records in this volume. It is only by consulting the lists of those who subscribed to this oath that a correct estimate may be obtained of the large percentage of
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LIST OF AMHERST INSURGENTS.
Amherst residents who were engaged more or less actively in this rebellion. These lists are preserved in the manuscript archives at the state-house in Boston, from which the following Amherst names are transcribed. These persons appeared before Eleazer Porter, Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr. or Nathaniel Dickinson, each of whom was a justice of the peace, during the months of February and March, 1787, and subscribed to the oath :
Moses Dickinson. Nathaniel Dickinson, 2d,
Martin Kellogg,
Silas Moody,
Waitstill Dickinson, -Elisha Moody, Timothy Smith,
-. Joel Moody, Seth Wood,
- Nathaniel Moody, Samuel Nash,
. Giles Church,
John Fox, William Clapp,
David Billings, John Lee, Ebenezer Cooley,
Thomas Goodale, David Goodale, Ezekiel Ingram,
Isaac Robins, Aaron Merrick,
Timothy Green, Jr.,
- Israel Dickinson, Henry Franklin,
Alexander Smith,
Reuben Nash, James Merrick,
. Eleazer Smith,
Moses B. Mings,
Simeon Clark,
. Moses Cook,
Medad Dickinson, Samuel Ingram,
-Jonathan Moody, Lemuel Moody, David Blodgett, Ebenezer Dickinson,
Gershom Ingram,
... William Moody, Oliver Cowls, Jonathan Field, Joseph Dickinson, Clark Lawton,
David Smith, Noah Smith, Gideon Ingram,
Elisha Dickinson,
Robert Ingram, Thomas Samuel, Reuben Ingram,
John Field, Thomas Adams,
Zechariah Hawley,
Jonathan Maynard,
Ezekiel Dickinson,
Joel Billings, Jr.,
Samuel Thompson,
Nathan Dickinson, Jr.,
Samuel Prince,
David Pomeroy,
Ebenezer Ingram,
Azariah Dickinson,
Asa Dickinson.
Jacob Warner, Jr.,
Amasa Allen.
Titus Matthews,
Andrew Kimball, Jr.,
Stephen Cole.
Simeon Cowls,
Leonard Roth,
Edward Roth,
Elijah Smith,
Daniel Kellogg. Jr.,
Levi Dickinson,
John Ingram, 2d,
Amariah Dana.
Ephraim Robbin,
Noadiah Smith,
John Kellogg.
Isaac Hubbard, Enos Dickinson,
Ethan Smith,
Noadiah Lewis,
James Hendrick,
Samuel Hastings,
Reuben Cowls,
Reuben Warner,
Alexander Guill,
Simeon Pomeroy,
Moses Hastings,
Perez Dickinson,
Eli Parker, Jr.,
Elias Smith,
Samuel Smith,
Henry Lee,
Simeon Smith,
- Medad Moody.
Ephraim Kellogg.
Isaac Goodale,
Jonathan Warner,
Josiah Smith,
Asahel Clark,
Eleazer Dana,
Gideon Dickinson, Jr.,
Oliver Clapp,
Timothy Green,
Ephraim Kellogg, Jr.,
Reuben Dickinson and John Nash did not take the oath until July, and it was not until September that Joel Billing, Aaron Billing and Calvin Rich placed their names upon the list. The offence of Medad Moody was in lending his gun to a rioter, unwillingly. From the foregoing list it will be seen that a large majority of the men in Amherst favored the
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
rebellion ; how many of them bore arms under Shays cannot be stated with accuracy, but when Gen. Lincoln passed through the town in pursuit of the insurgents he found but few men at home.
The government next turned its attention to the trial of the more notorious of the insurgents. At a special session of the supreme judicial court for the county of Hampshire, held at Northampton April 9, Jason v Parmenter of Bernardston, Daniel Luddington of Southampton, James White of Coleraine, Alpheus Colton of Longmeadow, Moses Dickinson, Jr. of Northfield and Henry McCulloch of Pelham were tried for high treason, and all but Dickinson were convicted and sentenced to death. The court assigned as counsel for their defence Simeon and Caleb Strong. Shortly after sentence was pronounced the governor was overwhelmed with petitions for a pardon for the convicts. One of these, in favor of Henry McCulloch, was dated at Pelham, but contained many Amherst signatures, among others those of Ebenezer Boltwood, Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr., Zebina Montague and Noadiah Leonard. Gen. Mattoon also wrote two letters in McCulloch's favor, one addressed to Dr. Robert Cutler and one to Major Thomas Cushing. After several postponements of the time for the execution of his sentence, McCulloch was finally pardoned. Shays after his retreat from Petersham fled to Winchester, New Hampshire, from whence he made his way into New York state. He was subsequently pardoned by the governor and returned to his home in Pelham. but afterwards removed to Sparta, N. Y., where he died in poverty in September, 1825, aged 78 years.
The Shays rebellion brought into prominence two taverns, one located in Pelham, the other in Amherst. The old "Conkey tavern," situated in the east part of Pelham which in 1822 was set off as a part of the town of Prescott, was only a half mile from the residence of Daniel Shays. It was built in 1758, fifteen years after the town was incorporated, by William Conkey. It was two stories in height and fronted toward the south. There were two rooms on the ground floor with a huge chimney between, a small hall and a stairway in front of the chimney leading to the second story, which also contained two rooms. A "lean-to " extended across the rear of the main part, in which was the long low kitchen and the pantry on each end, with doors on either side of the great stone fire-place opening into the dining-room at the east end of the main building and the bar-room at the west end. The apartment over the dining-room was used at times as a dancing-hall and had a large fire-place to warm it. No lath or plaster was in the tavern, the rooms being sheathed on the sides and overhead. In 1776, the house was repaired and the stone chimney taken down to the tops of the fire-places and rebuilt of bricks. There was an ample cellar and an attic. On the corner of the tavern outside hung the sign, a pine board about two feet square, on one side of which was painted a horse and
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THE NATHAN DICKINSON HOUSE. ( Built before 1745-)
THE OLD CONKEY TAVERN.
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THE CONKEY TAVERN.
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rider, on the other a horse with a groom holding it by the bridle. The bar-room was, as doubtless it was intended to be, the most comfortable and home-like place in the building. It contained a great open fire-place, in which in winter-time the blazing logs were piled high and the crackling flames bade defiance to the winds that came howling down from the bleak hills of Shutesbury and Prescott. In the southwest cor- ner was the bar, which Landlord Conkey kept well supplied with the favorite drinks of the time, including New England and West India rum, brandy, wine and cor- dials. A receipted bill to Conkey from a Boston liquor firm, dated in 1772, shows the purchase of liquors amounting to over £100. A better place in which to plan a rebellion against govern- ment could hardly have been found. Remote from the main travel-ways, with no other habi- tation in sight, it afforded a safe retreat for the discontented and debt-burdened yeomanry of Pel- ham and surrounding towns, where they could meet on winter evenings and, their courage rein- forced by the contents of demi- johns and kegs, prepare for a conflict which they had come to look upon as inevitable. The leading spirit at these gatherings was Captain Shays ; he encour- aged the talk of rebellion and used the open space in front
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
of the tavern as a training-field to perfect his men in the manual of arms. A natural if not a necessary feature of this training consisted of frequent visits to the bar-room, and it is recorded that the casing of the huge beam that ran through the center of the apartment, on which rested the joists that supported the second floor, bore for many years the imprints of the muzzles of the muskets made by the excited rebels in the intervals between the drills. It is supposed that Shays made this tavern his head- quarters on his retreat from Springfield, and that the letters addressed by him to Gen. Lincoln were written there. The tavern remained standing until 1883 when it was burned down. The pen drawing on the preceding page was made from an autograph manuscript of Daniel Shays, petitioning for attending the convention at Hatfield.
The " Clapp tavern," located at East Amherst, was one of the best- known hostelries in the early history of the town. Many facts of interest concerning it were furnished for this history, by Charles Clapp, a direct descendant of the original owner. From a letter written by him the follow- ing is quoted :
" Preserved Clapp on first coming to Amherst built a house on what is now the Sanford Boice place, a portion of which yet remains in the old house on the hill back of Mr. Boice's present residence. That place he sold or exchanged for the farm adjoining, that at present occupied by Olney Gaylord, extending north from that to the road leading to Pelham, and east as far as Pelham line. The site of the house was very nearly that now occupied by the barn of the late Noah Dick- inson, and it was erected, as nearly as we can ascertain, about the year 1737. On the day in which the family first occupied it three bears were brought in and skinned on the kitchen floor, so plentiful were they then in that vicinity. Little need of a tavern in Amherst in those days, it would seem. I do not know when it was first used as a public house, but am under the impression that it gradually assumed that character. Oliver, the younger son of Preserved Clapp, was only fourteen years of age when his father died ; he was the one familiarly known as " Landlord Clapp," He married Gen. Ebenezer Mattoon's sister Elizabeth, and for many years kept the tavern. He was quite famed for the excellence of the flip he served. his good wife brewing the beer therefor. During the war of the Revolution, a detachment of Burgoyne's army officers, who had gone out to attend a dance near Saratoga, were captured and brought under a guard to the Clapp tavern, on their way to Boston. They remained one night for rest, the floor being covered with straw to provide them a bed. causing Landlord Clapp no little anxiety lest the straw should be set on fire and the house burned.
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