Historical Summary

WHEN the veterans of the American Revolution broke ranks there was no G.I. Bill of Rights to cushion the shock of readjustment to civilian life. Returning to plough or workbench, their pockets stuffed with worthless paper money, they were soon caught up in a post-war depression. Sheriffs were no respecters of service records and the erstwhile saviors of the country were soon regarded as public liabilities. Debtors were jailed, their goods attached, and they themselves often sold into servitude to pay off their creditors. By 1786 the situation had become so desperate in the western counties of Massachusetts that public protest meetings demanded action for the relief of debtors. Armed farmers, mostly former servicemen, broke up sittings of the courts to prevent distraint for debts or taxes.

The leader of the armed veterans, a former serviceman himself, was Daniel Shays. His name became anathema to the men of property. General Henry Knox, spokesman for the extreme nationalists, viewed the activities of these veterans as a calamity justifying military intervention. General von Steuben, the renowned drillmaster, who tried to have Prince Henry of Prussia placed on an American throne, was actually backing the ex-veteran insurgents in the hope of serving as their leader. Meanwhile his closest friend, Major "Billy" North, was sent by Knox to recruit troops to put down the uprising. Wrote Mercy Warren to John Adams: "Time will make curious disclosures, and you, Sir, may be astonished to find the incendiaries who have fomented the discontents among the miserable insurgents of the Massachusetts, in a class of men least suspected." At Mount Vernon, Washington, constantly needled by the conservatives, declared: "For God’s sake, tell me, what is the cause of these commotions. If they have real grievances, redress them if possible. If they have not, employ the force of government against them at once." Jefferson in Paris, physically remote from the clash, was cool and collected. "I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing," he commented. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

The high point of the revolt was the attack on the Springfield arsenal. As its defender, General Shepard, reports, a whiff of grapeshot was sufficient to rout the attackers. Then General Lincoln, who had raised money at a swank Boston club by warning its members that it would be best to loan part of their wealth to save the rest, relieved Shepard with some 4,400 troops. The morale of the insurgents weakened, and Shays retreated. At Petersham, after a forced thirty-mile march through a blinding snowstorm, the militia surprised the rebels, captured 150 of their number, and scattered the rest. Shays himself fled to Vermont, and the revolt, save for a few guerilla incursions, came to an end.

Lincoln’s was hardly a great military achievement. It was on a par with MacArthur’s dispersal of the Bonus Army, one of the saddest boners of the Hoover regime. The popularity of the insurgents was clearly demonstrated by the fact that Governor Bowdoin, who had called out the state troops, was swept out of office by Hancock in a landslide which elected a number of the erstwhile rebels to the legislature.

The traditional reporter of the insurgency was the old New England historian, George Minot, whose hostile attitude toward the "malcontents" biased historical writing for many generations. It remained for progressive-minded Edward Bellamy, later author of Looking Backward, to redress the balance in his historical novel, The Duke of Stockbridge. In preference to the swivel-chair reporting of Minot, we have chosen the gunsight view recorded by the two chief actors in the drama. The contrast illustrates the fact that the greatest rancor is generally reserved for those who are far from the scene of battle. Your soldier-reporter is likely to be more compassionate and conciliatory toward his antagonist. In this revolt both generals went out of their way to avoid firing on their former comrades-in-arms. Of the two accounts Shepard’s is the more tensely dramatic, with some vivid dialogue. Lincoln’s is written with the confidence which comes from a superior military position and a profound assurance of the outcome.

Key Quote

General Shepard: "The unhappy time is come in which we have been obliged to shed blood."