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 ...
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Thought Larry might not know this yet and would appreciate.
Ping!.....................
250 years from now they will find the Epstein Files...........
Hopefully I am not the only one that figured Shays Rebellion was a 60s band, and they found some rare records.
“...the group of about 1,200 was driven away with cannon fire.”
Now we’re talking! Use that approach in Portland, LA and Chicago!
Thanks for the ping!
Followed not long after by the Whiskey rebellion, and a tax to pay off war debt through a tax on moonshine.
LOL. It didn't occur to me, but now that you mention it, I can see how someone could see it that way.
From the article: "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."
I always think it's cool when old artifacts from history get discovered. Who knows what else is out there moldering away in some obscure government basement or backroom? It would be nice to maybe get a bunch of local history graduate students to archive stuff like this and put it on display in a museum. Better than letting it rot away.
Show this to the Karens who constantly whine about getting rid of “clutter”.
I had an ancestor involved in that.
Shays’ Rebellion factored into the decision to scrap the Articles of Confederation and adopt a new guiding document... The US Constitution.
I remember the 60’s..........well, most of it anyways............🤔
I see a death sentance for burglary!
There was a book written about my Ancestor (GGGGGrandfather). “He’s” trying to get me into the SAR now.
“ I had an ancestor involved in that.”
Is he still involved with it?
Found the Hoarder! ;)
That explains the delay. They had to find a geezer to decode it.
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