WORCESTER T&G - Hunting Dan Shays History knows a great deal about Daniel Shays, the former Army captain who lends his name to a rebellion in Western and Central Massachusetts. Indeed, Shays biography touches on important military and economic themes in the early post-Revolutionary history of Massachusetts. So Bay State residents with a taste for history will want to follow the progress of an archaeological dig under way in Sandgate, Vermont. There, a New York state high school teacher and his students are scratching about for evidence of the hideout that Shays and his fellow rebels are believed to have established following their flight from Massachusetts in 1787. Shays was born in Hopkinton in 1747. He and his wife settled on a farm in Brookfield in 1772. Shays fought in the Revolution, including at the Battle of Lexington, and left the Army in 1780. By 1786, Shays and many fellow farmers found themselves struggling under heavy debts, exacerbated by high taxes imposed by Gov. James Bowdoin. In August that year, disgusted that the state Legislature had concluded its business without taking up matters of importance to residents west of Boston, Shays and others, calling themselves Regulators, shut down the Northampton court. Matters quickly accelerated. Worcester played its part on September 5, when the courthouse was shut down, and county militia ordered to respond refused. Shays and other rebel leaders gathered their forces and in January 1787 moved against the Springfield Armory, where local state militia killed four of Shays followers and wounded 20 others. The Shaysites eventually retreated to Petersham. It was there, in February of 1787, that a force of 3,000 militia from Eastern Massachusetts, under the command of Benjamin Lincoln, surprised the Shaysites, and drove them into the northern hills. Sandgate proved to be a good choice for Shays. Vermont, then an independent republic, refused to hand him over. Shays died in Sparta, New York in 1825, but his rebellion helped shape thinking following the Revolution, illustrating the need for a stronger federal government and paying heed to rural Americans. The work in Vermont wont change that basic narrative, but it should fill out the timeline of Shays life, and in time offer New Englanders a fuller portrait of an ordinary man who played an extraordinary role in their early history. .
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:52:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015