Subject: Shays's Rebellion and the Arrest of Job Shattuck, Oliver Parker Benjamin Page, Groton; Nathan Smith and John Kelsey of Shirley Source: Groton Historical Series by Dr. Samuel A. Green Vol 1 1887 GROTON DURING SHAYS'S REBELLION Boston Nov'r 28th 1786 A company of horsemen, under the Command of Colonel Benjamin Hichborn aided by another party under Capt. Henry Woods of Pepperell, was sent from Boston to secure the subjects of the warrant. George R. Minot, in "The History of the Insurrection in Mass." p.77-79, gives the following account of the affair: "The execution of these warrants was committed to the Sheriff of Middlesex [Loammi Baldwin], and others, to whose aid a party of horse who had voluntarily associated for the support of the government, under Colonel Benjamin Hichborn, was ordered from Boston early in the morning of (Wednesday) the 29th of November. [1786] They were joined by a party from Groton, under the command of Colonel Henry Wood and the whole consisting of more than 100 proceeded immediately for Concord. These returned at night with two prisoners, [Oliver] Parker and [Benjamin] Page, but [Job] Shattuck, the principal leader had taken an alarm and escaped." p.8 Job Shattuck lived near Wattle's Pond, in a house which he built about the year 1782, still standing [1887] and occupied by Harrison Holmes, when the map in Mr. Butler's History was made. He is supposed to have passed the night before his arrest at the house of Samuel Gragg, two miles away from his own dwelling. When the company failed to find him at his home on the morning of Thursday, Nov. 30 [1786] twelve men, under Sampson Reed of Boston, proceeded at once to Gragg's residence where there was reason to think he was in hiding. They learned that he had been there, but had just left; and by the tracks in a light snow which had fallen during the previous night, they traced him to the neighborhood of his own house. Here he was taken by his pursuers after a desperate resistance, on the banks of the Nashua River, almost within sight of his dwelling. A blow from the broadsword of F. C. Varnum of Boston made a fearful wound in Shattuck's knee, deviding the capsular ligament. p.9 Capt. [Job] Shattuck was carried to Boston on Dec 1, 1786 and committed to jail with Page and Parker though these last two were soon afterwood released on bail. "The Massachusetts Gazette," December 12, 1786 said: "Shattuck, the state prisoner now in this town is amply provided with all the necessaries and convenience proper for any person labouring under such a wound as he received in his violent and obstinate re- sistance to the gentlemen who apprehended him; he is constantly attend- ed by a number of respectable gentlemen of the Faculty and treated with all the humanity that could possibley be shewn to any person whatever." p.12 In the month of May 1787 Capt. Shattuck was tried and convicted before the Supreme Judicial Court and sentenced to be hanged on June 28 but the day before this a reprieve was granted to July 26; then on the day preceding this the execution was again postoned to Sept 20 but on the 12th of that month he received a full and unconditional pardon. He remained in jail more than four months but was finally released on April 6, 1787 under bonds of f200 and allowed to return to his family. p.13 Job Shattuck's life was one of large experiences. He was born on Feb. 11, 1736 and at the early age of nineteen took part in the French War, serving through the campaign of 1755 under General Monckton in Nova Scotia; and later he was present at the Battle of Bunker Hill. In the year 1776 he was Lieutenant of a company that went to Boston after that town was evacuated by the British and the next year he commanded a company raised in Boston that marched to Fort Ticonderoga. During the whole period of the Revolution he gave freely of his time and money to promote the popular cause. In the autumn of 1781 Shattuck was engaged in what were then known as the Groton riots, incited by the opposition to the silver-money tax. He and over sixteen other citizens of the town threatened and bullied William Nutting and Benjamin Stone while attending to their duties as constables in collecting taxes. It was an affair that created a good deal of excitement in its day. At the trial he pleaded guilty and was fined f10 and the cost of prosecution. It is but just to the memory of Captain Shattuck to say that he was a member of the church and much respected by his townsmen. At the time of the rebellion he was near the middle age of life and a man of great bodily vigor. He was the son of a respectable farmer and himself a large landowner. Strong and athletic in person, skilled in the use of the broadsword and proud of the accomplishment, utterly insensible to fear and having a good war record, all thes qualities aided by his position and means, gave him great influence among his neighbors. He paid dearly for his errors as the crutch which he used until the day of his death, January 13, 1819 would testify; and we can well afford to be charitable now to the poor misguided men who took part in that need- less and wicked rebellion. p.152 - Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground, Groton, MA by Dr. Samuel A. Green 1878 Tombstone [Willow Tree and Urn] Sacred to the memory of Capt. Job Shattuck who Died Jan. 13, 1819. AEt. 84. Author's note: The son of William and Margaret (Lund) Shattuck, born February 11, 1735/6. He was a noted leader in the insurrection of 1786 - known as Shays's Rebellion and was afterward tried for high treason, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged, but was subsequently pardoned. Job Shattuck's Marriage at Groton, MA Source: Farnsworth Memorial John Farnsworth/Hannah Aldis Line, Groton, MA p.186 Sarah Hartwell b. Mar 19, 1737/8 dau of Samuel Hartwell and his 2nd wife, Sarah Holden dau of John and Sarah Holden. His first wife was Sarah Farnsworth of Groton. Sarah Hartwell m. Capt. Job Shattuck b. Feb 11, 1736 in Groton; he died Jan 13, 1819 and she died May 5, 1798 (see also Shattuck Memorial) p.110 of Epitpahs Tombstone [Willow Tree and Urn] Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Sarah Shattuck, wife of Cap Job Shattuck, who Died May 5, 1798 AEt. 61. Author's note: The daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Holden) Hartwell b. March 19, 1737/8. She was one of a band of patriotic women who arrested in April, 1775, Leonard Whiting of Hollis, New Hampshire, a noted Tory, bearing dispatches from Canada to the British in Boston. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Daniel Shays' Rebellion Shays' Rebellion (1786-1787) With bio on Daniel Shays Source: Encyclopedia Americana pub. 1829 Vol.24 p. 669 Shay's Rebellion, an uprising, chiefly of farmers in Massachusetts in 1786 to 1787. The revolt was the cul- mination of five years of restless dissatisfaction grow- ing out of high taxes, heavy indebtedness and declining farm prices. The legislature's repeal of the legal- tender status of paper money and its refusal to permit the offering of goods to satisfy debts meant that obligations had to be met with hard-to-obtain specie. More-over, from excises the state paid 6 % interest in specie on securities and promised redemption in full, although speculators had bought them at a fraction of their face value. Those who could not pay their debts faced trial by an inefficient and expensive court system and jailing until they paid even small sums; or they saw their poss- essions sold at auction to satisfy their creditors. Assembling in conventions in five counties in the summer of 1786, the people listed their demands for relief, also calling for amendment of the state constitution to reduce the costs of government. Historians who cite limitations on voting rights as a grievance are not supported by the records. Mobs prevented the county courts and the Springfield session of the Supreme Court from doing any business. A Hastily summoned legislature passed a tender-law but did little else to adjust grievances. Ignoring its act of indemnity, insurgents comp- romising one fifth of the people of several counties took up arms and organized one of them captained by Daniel Shays. Shays failed in an attempt to seize the federal arsenal at Springfield when his men quailed be- fore a round or two of artillery fire (Jan. 25, 1787) Several other skirmishes took place in nearby towns of Hampshire County and in neighboring Berkshire Count. Exept for sporadic raids made over the state's borders by dispersed insurgents, the fighting ended when the militia under Major General Benjamin Lincoln routed Shays' forces at Petersham, Feb. 4, 1787. When the legislature met again, it took impressive meas- ures and assumed all the costs of the army raised by Gov. James Bowdoin and financed by private contributions. It made significant reductions in court fees, but it continued to pay interest on securities from excises and refused to issue paper money. In the spring election, the voters replaced many legis- latures and chose John Hancock governor. The new legislature reduced somewhat the taxes on polls and estates and ended indefinite jailing of debtors, but could accomplish little else that the Shaysites wanted. The rebellion increased class consciousness in Mass. stirred up unrest in neighboring states, sharpened de- mand for a stronger national government since Congress had been so conspicuously unable to aid the state in suppressing the insurgents, and intensified disagreement over ratification of the federal constitution by Mass. - Robert J. Taylor., Western Massachusetts in the Revolution. Shays, Daniel Source: Encyclopedia Americana pub. 1829 Vol.24 p. 669 p.669 Daniel Shays, American Revolutionary officer and in- surrectionary leader; b. Hopkinton, Mass., ca 1747; d. at Sparta, N.Y. Sept. 29, 1825. He was a leader in the Mass. rebellion named for him. Shays fought at Lexington, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, Saratoga and Stony Point, and was commissioned captain in the 5th MA Reg. on Jan 1, 1777. He was one of a number of officers to whom the Marquis de Lafayette gave commemorative swords; Shays sold his for needed cash, scandalizing his comtempories. Resigning from the army in 1780, he too up residence in Pelham, Mass., where he served on the Committee for Safety in 1781-1792. Heavily in debt like many other Mass. soldiers, Shays sought tax relief and adjustment of other grievances, not the overthrow of the government. Although the state government considered him "generalis- imo" of the rebellion of 1786-1787, Shays denied the charge and the records support his denial. He led the insurgents at Springfield who compelled the Mass. Supreme Court to adjourn on Sept. 26, 1786 and he commanded the ambitious attack on the federal arsenal at Springfield on Jan 25, 1787 but other leaders, such as Luke Day and Eli Parsons did not take orders from him. Escaping capture by fleeing the state after the defeat of his forces at Petersham Feb 4, 1787, Shays was one of fourteen condemned to death, and like the others he was finally pardoned in full June 13, 1788. A few years before he died he received a federal pension for service in the Revolution. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth