Posted on 11/07/2025 10:38:05 AM PST by bitt
ailhouse records describing the incarceration of dozens of participants of Shays’ Rebellion sat for decades in a cardboard box at the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office before state archivists discovered them.
The leatherbound register of prisoners, written on yellowed pages in looping cursive, described the charges of treason, sedition and taking up arms against the state leveled against 35 participants of the rebellion that ran from the summer of 1786 to early 1787. The sheriff’s office announced the discovery this week.
Shays’ Rebellion was one of the inciting incidents that led to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution that created a stronger federal government.
Farmers in Western Massachusetts, saddled with repaying war debt to wealthy merchants in Boston, gathered to shut down courts that were moving to foreclose on their homes and land. The rebellion, led by Revolutionary War Army Captain Daniel Shays, came to a head outside the Springfield Arsenal in January 1787 when the group of about 1,200 was driven away with cannon fire.
“We stored all those boxes away and we just have never had the manpower or the time to dig back through those records,” said Sheriff Patrick Cahillane.
Cahillane noted the discovery of the records comes in the months before the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “These were individuals who truly believed that they should have a stake in their own government,” he said.
The register of prisoners recorded information on every detainee in Hampshire County from 1784 (the first year Massachusetts sheriffs were required to keep such a log) to 1830. It ended up in one of the boxes containing Bibles, dictionaries and miscellaneous documents that the sheriff’s department packed up when it moved from Union Street in Northampton to Rocky Hill Road in 1985.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
On which side?
“Hopefully I am not the only one that figured Shays Rebellion was a 60s band, and they found some rare records.”
Don’t look too 60’s but they sound quite good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdQnEe5H4CM
If that was your first thought then you prolly went thru high school after they stopped teaching history (and civics and economics and etc) ... LOL!
“Stebbins opposed Shays’ Rebellion, an uprising by some people in Massachusetts against the policies of the Massachusetts Legislature. The Massachusetts government rewarded Stebbins’ support by promoting him to Lieutenant Colonel in 1786, and to full colonel in 1787. “
Nice!
Not a bad name for a band though. Neither is “looping cursive”.
Bkmk
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.