Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

32() SPRfNGFIELD, 1G36-1SSG.
tlu'V were met hy the Liglit horse; thence tliey lied in every direction, but most
of them readied Xortliampton, about 20 miles distant. Tlris left Shays' right
uncovered, & induced him to move the same night to Amlierst, twenty miles
Nortli of Springfield. At 3 o'clock in the morning of the 2;)th we moved toward
Amherst, where Sliays had been joined b}' Day. On our arrival in tlie borders
of the town, the rear of Shays' force left it, some few fell into our hands; he
then took post at Felham, east from Amherst; we filed off to the left & took post
in Hadley & Hatfield on the river.
Lincoln said at Pittsfleld, after the scattering of the insurgents in
western Massachusetts, that he found that " the people in general had
been in arms, or had been abettors of those who were : and that their
obstinacy was not exceeded by anything but their ignorance of their
own situation." Governor Bowdoiu in February offered £150 for the
arrest of Shays, and £100 each for the arrest of Adam Wheeler, Luke
Day, and Eli Parsons. Day was eventually brought to Springfield,
a prisoner, but Shays made good his escape.
This region round about was for some weeks made lively with sun-
dry martial episodes. Gen. John Peterson, at Stockbridge,with three
hundred men, was so annoyed with insurgents hovering around and
distressing loyal people, that he made a raid on the 29th of January,
and succeeded in capturing eighty-four prisoners, and his couriers
reported such an ugly feeling that he applied to Lincoln for more
troops. He said the "deportment of the Faction in this county
against government has induced a kind of frenzy." At Hadley, on
February 1, seven soldiers were court-martialled for stealing property
from private citizens, and were condemned to march before the army
on parade with a paper pinned to their breasts, on which was written,
in capital letters, " FOR PLUNDERING." Col. Gideon Burt, at
Springfield, informed Lincoln on the 1st of February that it would
be dangerous to withdraw the horse from the town, as both to the
east and west hostility to the government continued. He had found
that one hundred and twenty armed insurgents were seen at South-
wick on the road to Westfield on the last day of March, and he added,