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

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1S86. 327
"It is veiy difflcult for me to obtain meu who I can confide in to
bring & carry Intt41igence & horse who will parole Roads." Colonel
Bnrt was an energetic officer, however, and he inspired a wholesome
fear of the militia in these parts, by scouring the country and bring-
ing in prisoners. Col. Israel Chapin received at South Hadley ten of
Shays's meu, captured near Ware river on the 2d of February, and
upon reaching Springfield he took a nuich brighter view of things than
Bin-t did. Chapiu had sent his troopers as far north as Amherst and
as far east as Palmer, so he reported to Lincoln on February 5. He
made the expedition with four hundred men. There was much dis-
content at Springfield among the soldiers, as the prospect of peace
increased their anxiet}- to return to their neglected families.
The last of February a band of insurgents plundered several houses
at Stockbridge, taking several prisoners, and marched for Great Bar-
rington, but were soon put to rout by the Lenox and Stockbridge mili-
tia after a slight brush, in which two or three on each side were killed.
Gen. John Ashley, who was in command, was a descendant of John
Pynchon, through his daughter Mary, wife of Joseph Whiting, whose
daughter married Col. John Ashley, of Westfield, grandfather of
Maj.-Gen. John Ashley. On March 31 sixty of Shays's men at-
tacked the house of Colonel Dwight, at Belchertown, and carried off a
young man in charge of the family, but did not capture the colonel.
The people at Belchertown were in constant communication with
Shays at Pelham, and the loyal portion felt themselves much exposed.
Rev. Justus Forward, informing Lincoln of the sitxiation there, said
that Shays's spies were constantly in the place, and he added dryly,
" I am not so anxious for myself as for others ; for I don't think
Shays wants a Chaplain !
"
The news of Shays's defeat determined the course of many a waver-
ing town. The little town of Granby, for example, had witnessed
the passing of armed men in the direction of Springfield, and five
days after that town saw the affrighted army of the insurgents sweep
back over the mountains, suffering the discomforts and humiliations,