This note, reprinted in the Hampshire Gazette, is a death threat against the Sheriff of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Shays’ Rebellion was taking place in the state and the anonymous author was a Regulator who fled to New Lebanon, New York, following the defeat of the Regulators by government militia on February 27, 1787, at Sheffield, Massachusetts. He warned the sheriff not to execute any “countrymen condemned to die because they fought for Justice.” Otherwise, the sheriff should “prepare for death with speed” and that “when the woods are well cover’d with leaves, I shall return and pay you a short visit.”
Peabody, Mary. Letter to Colonel Hyde from an insurgent published in the Hampshire Gazette. Hampshire Gazette, June 6, 1787. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l04-106/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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