The actions in January, 1787, at the Springfield arsenal, part of what is known as “Shays’ Rebellion”, caused concern in states other than Massachusetts. This newspaper from New Haven, Connecticut, reports that Daniel Shays and 1,000 of his Regulators were in Columbia County, New York, and that General Lincoln asked permission from that governor to enter the state in pursuit. Regulators were staying in New Lebanon, New York, and traveled over the border to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where they attacked and looted the town, taking thirty-two prisoners. The letters from Benjamin Lincoln refer to the skirmish on February 27, 1787, in the town of Sheffield, Massachusetts. Government supporter Colonel John Ashley had assembled a company of eighty men from Great Barrington and Sheffield and proceeded to the western border of Sheffield where they met Regulator Captain Perez Hamlin and his men, who had ransacked Stockbridge. In just six minutes, two Regulators, one prisoner,and one of Ashley’s men were killed, and thirty Regulators were wounded including one man who later died. With help from reinforcements from Lenox, Ashley took one hundred fifty prisoners.
Lincoln, General Benjamin. “Multiple articles from The New-Haven Gazette and The Connecticut Magazine newspaper regarding Shays’ Rebellion.” New-Haven Gazette and Connecticut Magazine, March 15, 1787. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l07-057/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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