25 January 1787
Springfield: the attack on the arsenal
The rebels’ first target is the federal armory at Springfield and its weapons. General William Shepard holds it with 1,200 militia, armed from its arsenal without the permission of Henry Knox, the Secretary at War. The rebels come in three bodies: Daniel Shays from the east near Palmer, Eli Parsons from the north at Chicopee, and Luke Day across the Connecticut River at West Springfield.
William Shepard, the militia general who held the Springfield armoryWikimedia Commons, Wmshprd, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Major General William shepard.jpg)
They plan to attack together on 25 January. At the last moment Day sends word that he will not be ready until the 26th, and Shepard’s men intercept the message. Shays and Parsons advance on the armory on the 25th expecting Day’s support, and find Shepard waiting. Shepard has warning shots fired over their heads, then two cannon fire grapeshot into them. Only the cannon fire: four rebels are killed and 20 wounded, and the rest flee north.
Sources
- Leonard L. Richards, Shays’s Rebellion: The American Revolution’s Final Battle (2002).
Prev: The Confederation yearsNext: Springfield: Lincoln’s march to Petersham