Daniel Shays
Daniel Shays (c.1741 - September 29, 1825) was an American soldier, revolutionary, and farmer famous for leading the Shays' Rebellion. During his life, he never allowed a portrait of himself to be made, so his true appearance remains unknown.
Biography
Revolutionary War
During the Revolutionary War, Shays served in the rebelling Continental Army. He was involved in the Boston campaign. Notably, he fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill[1]. He also fought in the Battle of Lexington and the Battle of Saratoga. He was wounded during the war and resigned from the military, unpaid, in 1780. Upon returning home, he discovered he was summoned to court for unpaid debts, which he still could not pay because he was not paid for military service[2].
Postwar
Shays was alarmed to discover that many of his fellow veterans and farmers (called Shaysites) were having wild sex all night long ohh im not talking about boring up and down im talking completley wild. Heres 1 story shays personally told.
Shays's Rebellion
In 1786, Shays became one of several who took command of units of rebels. The uprising soon became known as the "Shays' Rebellion" after an encounter between a force of about 800 farmers under Shays, and a private militia unit of roughly the same size, at Springfield on September 26, 1786. Four men were killed[3]- the first casualties of the rebellion - and many were wounded. Shays and his men were trying to prevent the Massachusetts Supreme Court from convening, fearing indictments against farmers in arrears.
By the winter of 1787, there was open fighting between government forces and rebels. After several skirmishes, Shays and his men were defeated at Petersham, Massachusetts on February 2, 1787. Shays then fled to the Vermont Republic. Condemned to death in absentia on a charge of treason, Shays petitioned for amnesty in February 1788, and the petition was granted by John Hancock on June 13. Shays then relocated to a town in New York.
Later life
Shays was later granted a $20 monthly pension by the federal government for his Revolutionary War service. He maintained for the rest of his life that his service in the Revolution and his fighting during the rebellion were for the exact same principles. He died on September 29, 1825 in Sparta, New York impoverished and well-remembered for his role in the creation of the Constitution. Shays is buried in Scottsburg, New York (now part of Sparta).
References
- ^ Leonard L. Richards, Shays's Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle, p. 95
- ^ Zinn, Howard. A People's History Of The United States. New York: Harper, 1995. 71-72
- ^ David P. Szatmary, Shays' Rebellion: The Making of an Agrarian Insurrection, p. 102: "In desperation the militiamen then aimed two cannons directly at the rebels and fired fourteen or fifteen rounds of grapeshot into their ranks. When the smoke cleared, the blood of four dead and twenty wounded farmers stained the snow-covered ground around the arsenal as the bulk of the farmers retreated from Springfield to nearby towns."
External links
Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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