Daniel Shays (August 1747 September 29, 1825) was an American soldier, revolutionary and farmer famous for allegedly leading
Shays' Rebellion, a populist uprising against controversial debt collection and tax policies in
in 1786–1787. The actual role played by Daniel Shays in Shays' Rebellion is disputed by scholars.
Early life
![Daniel and Abigail Shays' Pelham, MA farmhouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Daniel_and_Abigail_Shays%27_Pelham%2C_MA_farmhouse.jpg)
Daniel Ogden Shays was born in
Hopkinton, Massachusetts
Hopkinton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, west of Boston. The town is best known as the starting point of the Boston Marathon, held annually on Patriots' Day each April, and as the headquarters for the Dell EMC corp ...
, sometime between April and August 1747 to
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
immigrants Patrick Shays and Margaret Dempsey.
Daniel was the second of seven siblings; his siblings were Margaret, James, Roger, Phebe, Mary, and Polly. He spent his early years as a landless farm laborer.
In 1772, he married Abigail Gilbert, and they settled in
Shutesbury, Massachusetts
Shutesbury is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,717 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
For at least 2,000 years, Nipmuc towns al ...
, where he owned a sixty-eight acre farm and they had six children.
Revolutionary War
Shays joined the militia immediately prior to the American Revolution and attained the rank of
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
in the regiment commanded by Benjamin R. Woodbridge. The
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...
took place on April 19, 1775, and the next day Shays's unit was mobilized and marched to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. His company took part in the
Boston campaign
The Boston campaign was the opening campaign of the American Revolutionary War, taking place primarily in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The campaign began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, in which the local coloni ...
and
Siege of Boston
The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...
, and Shays fought at the
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...
. Shortly after Bunker Hill, Shays was commissioned as a
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in recognition of the bravery and skill he demonstrated during the fighting. In late 1776, Shays joined
Varnum's Regiment of the
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
, with which he served during fighting in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. After performing temporary recruiting duty in Massachusetts during late 1776, on January 1, 1777, Shays was promoted to
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
as commander of a company in the
5th Massachusetts Regiment. During 1777, Shays took part in several engagements in upstate New York, including the
Battles of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led an invasion ...
.
After Saratoga, Shays continued to serve with the Continental Army in upstate New York. As commander of a company in the Corps of Light Infantry, which was commanded by
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...
, Shays took part in the July 1779
Battle of Stony Point. He subsequently served as commander of a company under the
Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...
, which patrolled farmland on the New Jersey side of the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
to prevent British troops from foraging. In 1780, Lafayette presented several officers, including Shays, with ornamental swords in honor of their military service. Shays sold his for cash to help pay off debts; he argued that there was nothing wrong with his action, because he already owned a sword, but his decision to sell his was frowned upon by his peers. After British officer
John André
John André (2 May 1750/1751[''Gravesite–Memorial''](_blank)
Westmi ...
was captured while collaborating with Continental officer
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...
's plot to surrender
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
to the British, Shays was assigned as one of the captains of the guard who oversaw André's imprisonment, a task for which Continental Army commander-in-chief
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
personally selected him. Shays was present when André was executed on October 2, 1780, and was probably the officer who escorted him to the gallows. Shays resigned soon afterwards, and was discharged from the army on October 14, 1780.
Shays' Rebellion
Debt and tax burdens
Upon returning home, Shays was summoned to court for unpaid debts, which he could not pay because he had not been paid in full for his military service. Shays was alarmed to discover that many of his fellow veterans and farmers were in the same financial situation. At commoners' meetings veterans asserted that they were treated unfairly upon release, and that businessmen were trying to squeeze money out of smallholders in order to pay their own debts to European war investors. Many Massachusetts rural communities first tried to petition the legislature in Boston, but the legislature did not respond substantively to those petitions.
The petitions and proposals often included a request to issue paper currency. Such inflationary issues would depreciate the currency, making it possible to meet obligations made at high values with lower-valued paper. Merchants, among them
James Bowdoin
James Bowdoin II (; August 7, 1726 – November 6, 1790) was an American political and intellectual leader from Boston, Massachusetts, during the American Revolution and the following decade. He initially gained fame and influence as a wealthy ...
, were opposed to these proposals because they were generally lenders who stood to lose. The proposals were repeatedly rejected. Governor
John Hancock
John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the ...
, accused by some of anticipating trouble, abruptly resigned in early 1785. When Bowdoin (a loser to Hancock in earlier elections) was elected governor that year, matters became more severe. Bowdoin stepped up civil actions to collect back taxes, and the legislature exacerbated the situation by levying an additional property tax to raise funds for the state's portion of foreign debt payments.
[Richards, pp. 87–88] Even comparatively conservative commentators like
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
observed that these levies were "heavier than the People could bear".
Protests against the courts
Protests in rural Massachusetts turned into
direct action
Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...
in August 1786 after the state legislature adjourned without considering the many petitions that had been sent to Boston. On August 29, a well-organized force of protestors, Shays among them, marched on
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
and successfully prevented the county court from sitting.
[Morse, p. 208] The leaders of this and later forces proclaimed that they were seeking relief from the burdensome judicial processes that were depriving the people of their land and possessions. They called themselves ''Regulators'', a reference to the
Regulator movement
The Regulator Movement, also known as the Regulator Insurrection, War of Regulation, and War of the Regulation, was an uprising in Province of North Carolina, Provincial North Carolina from 1766 to 1771 in which citizens took up arms against colo ...
of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
that sought to reform corrupt practices in the late 1760s. On September 2, Governor Bowdoin issued a proclamation denouncing such mob action, but took no military measures in response beyond planning militia response to future actions.
[
When the court in ]Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
was shut down by similar action on September 5, the county militia (composed mainly of men sympathetic to the protestors) refused to turn out, much to Bowdoin's amazement.
Shays, who had participated in the Northampton action, became involved in the uprising in November; though the precise role that Shays played is unclear and, as scholars have suggested, appears to have been exaggerated by contemporary elites. Historian Leonard Richards observes that "much of the backlash gainst Shays and the protestorswas due to the Boston elite. Had they treated Daniel Shays as simply a small-town rebel leader, the aftermath might have been different. But they portrayed him instead as a major villain." On September 19, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...
indicted eleven leaders of the rebellion as "disorderly, riotous, and seditious persons."[Zinn, p. 93] When the supreme judicial court was next scheduled to meet in Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
on September 26, Shays in Hampshire County and Luke Day in what is now Hampden County (but was then part of Hampshire County) organized an attempt to shut it down. They were anticipated by William Shepard
William Shepard (Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded his birth as November 20, 1737. The provisions of the British Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, implemented in 1752, ...
, the local militia commander, who began gathering government-supporting militia the Saturday before the court was to sit. By the time the court was ready to open, Shepard had 300 men protecting the Springfield courthouse. Shays and Day were able to recruit a similar number, but chose only to demonstrate, exercising their troops outside Shepard's lines, rather than attempt to seize the building. The judges first postponed the hearings, and then adjourned on the 28th without hearing any cases. Shepard withdrew his force, which had grown to some 800 men (to the Regulators' 1,200), to the federal armory
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
, which was then only rumored to be the target of seizure by the activists.
Plan to seize the Springfield Arsenal
On November 28, a posse of some 300 men rode to Groton to arrest Job Shattuck
Job Shattuck (February 11, 1736 – January 13, 1819) was a British colonial soldier during the Seven Years' War and a member of the Massachusetts state militia during the American Revolutionary War. He first served with the British in the 1755 ...
and other protest leaders in the area. Shattuck was chased down and arrested on the 30th, and was wounded by a sword slash in the process. This action and the arrest of other protest leaders in the eastern parts of the state radicalized those in the west, and they began to organize an overthrow of the state government. "The seeds of war are now sown", wrote one correspondent in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
, and by mid-January rebel leaders spoke of smashing the "tyrannical government of Massachusetts."
While government forces organized in the east, Shays, Day, and other rebel leaders in the west organized their forces, establishing regional regimental organizations that were run by democratically elected committees. Their first major target was the federal armory in Springfield. General Shepard had, however, pursuant to orders from Governor Bowdoin, taken possession of the armory and used its arsenal to arm a force of some 1,200 militia.
Attack and collapse
The insurgents were organized into three major groups, and intended to surround and simultaneously attack the armory. Shays led one group east of Springfield near Palmer
Palmer may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land
* Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...
, Luke Day had a second force across the Connecticut River in West Springfield, and the third force, under Eli Parsons, was to the north at Chicopee. The rebels had planned their assault for January 25, but Luke Day changed this at the last minute, sending Shays a message indicating he would not be ready to attack until the 26th. Day's message was intercepted by Shepard's men, so the militia of Shays and Parsons, some 1,500 men, approached the armory on the 25th not knowing they would have no support from the west.[Richards, p. 29]
When Shays and his forces neared the armory, they found Shepard's militia waiting for them. Shepard first ordered warning shots fired over the approaching Shaysites' heads, and then ordered two cannons to fire grape shot
Grapeshot is a type of artillery round invented by a British Officer during the Napoleonic Wars. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat.
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of ...
at Shays' men. Four Shaysites were killed and twenty wounded. There was no musket fire from either side, and the rebel advance collapsed. Most of the rebel force fled north, eventually regrouping at Amherst. On the opposite side of the river, Day's forces also fled north, also eventually reaching Amherst.
General Benjamin Lincoln
Benjamin Lincoln (January 24, 1733 ( O.S. January 13, 1733) – May 9, 1810) was an American army officer. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Lincoln was involved in three major surrender ...
had mustered 3,000 men at Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
to deal with the rebels. When he heard of the Springfield incident, they immediately began marching west. Shays led the rebel force generally north and east to avoid Lincoln, eventually establishing a camp at Petersham. Along the way they raided the shops of local merchants for supplies, taking some of them hostage. Lincoln pursued them, reaching Pelham, some from Petersham, on February 2. On the night of February 3–4, he led his militia on a forced march to Petersham through a bitter snowstorm. Arriving early in the morning, they surprised the rebel camp so thoroughly that they scattered "without time to call in their out parties or even their guards." Although Lincoln claimed to capture 150 men, none of them were officers, leading historian Leonard Richards to suspect the veracity of the report. Shays and some of the other leaders escaped north into New Hampshire and Vermont.
Some four thousand people signed confessions acknowledging participation in the events of the rebellion (in exchange for amnesty); several hundred participants were eventually indicted on charges relating to the rebellion. Most of these were pardoned under a general amnesty that only excluded a few ringleaders. Eighteen men, including Shays, were convicted and sentenced to death. Most of these either had their convictions overturned on appeal, were pardoned, or had their sentences commuted. Two of the condemned men, John Bly and Charles Rose, were hanged on December 6, 1787. Shays was pardoned in 1788 and he returned to Massachusetts from hiding in the Vermont woods.[Zinn, p. 95] He was, however, vilified by the Boston press, who painted him as an archetypal radical opposed to the government.
Later life
Shays was later granted a pension by the federal government for the five years he served in the Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
without pay. Shays lived the last few years of his life in poverty, a heavy drinker. He supported himself on his pension and by working a small parcel of land. Shays died at age 78 in Sparta, New York and was later buried at the Union Cemetery in Scottsburg.
Rededicated grave marker
The original gravestone for Shays contained an error; by dropping the "s", Shays was incorrectly spelled as "Shay". Philip R. Shays, of Clarence Center, New York
Clarence Center is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Clarence in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 2,257 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...
, a descendant of Daniel Shays, led an effort to correct the error. Because the original stone did not contain enough space to add a letter, a new marker was created. The new gravestone was dedicated in a ceremony on August 12, 2016.
File:ShaysGraveDedicationsAug2016.jpg, Dedication ceremony for new Daniel Shays gravestone
File:ShaysGravestoneSide A.jpg, Front side of rededicated gravestone for Daniel Shays
File:ShaysGravestoneSide B.jpg, Reverse side of new gravestone for Daniel Shays
References
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shays, Daniel
American rebels
American revolutionaries
Agrarian politics
People convicted of treason
People sentenced to death in absentia
Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons
Continental Army soldiers
American people of Irish descent
People from Hopkinton, Massachusetts
1747 births
1825 deaths
People from Sparta, New York
American tax resisters
Activists from New York (state)
People of colonial Massachusetts
Massachusetts militiamen in the American Revolution
Date of birth unknown