Papers of John Adams, volume 19
r.Sir
y.1787
Letters are this moment receivid from Genl. Lincoln giving the pleasing intillegence that he dispersed the Party under Shays on the morning of the 5th. instant— the Insurgents had marched on the 4th. from Pelham to Pitersham distant 30 miles, with about 1500 Men— Genl. Lincoln moved after them at Eight OClock on the same Evening and came on them by Surprize at 9. OClock the next Morning, they fled in all directions; 150 were made prisoners— Shays escaped into New Hampshire, and his men are wholly dispersed—
Genl. Lincoln marched on the 6th. with a respectable force into the County of Berkshire where it is said there is a Body of Insurgents— the dessolution of the Assembly under Shays will totally discourage his partizans in Berkshire— the Leaders I think will be easily taken unless they fly—
What will give you much satisfaction is the Declaration made by the Legislature that a Rebellion exists in the Commonwealth— you know the energy and Authority of the supreme Executive in consequence of this Declaration— the General Court met on Saturday the 3d instant, received the Address of the Governor, which I inclose,2 and on Sunday the 4th. approved the measures which he had adopted, declared that a Rebellion existed in the Commonwealth, and requested him to adopt the most vigourous measures for the Suppression thereof— I will not add—except that I am most respectfully your obt. & very / Hb̃le Servt
I write this in great Haste and am uncertain whether I can get it on board the Packet—
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excellency / Mr. Adams &c &c”; endorsed by AA2: “Mr King Feb 10th. / 1787—”
King wrote to JA on 9 Feb., alerting him that congressional thanks to Maria I for Portuguese naval protection of U.S. ships was forthcoming along with orders for WSS to deliver the message (King, Life and Corr.
, 1:212–213).
The enclosure, not found, was Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin’s 3 Feb. address to the General Court, which summarized the Shaysite uprising and warned that it might bring about “a civil war, & all its dreadful consequences: which may extend, not only to the neighbouring States, but even to the whole confederacy; & finally destroy the fair temple of American liberty.” On 4 Feb., as Gen. Benjamin Lincoln’s army marched through a snowstorm to suppress the Shaysites, the Mass. General Court issued a strong condemnation of the insurgents. Observing that “a horrid and unnatural
Rebellion
and
War, has been openly and traiterously raised and levied against this Commonwealth,” it resolved to “bring forth, all the power of the Commonwealth” to quash
11
it (Mass., Acts and Laws
, 1786–1787, p. 424–426, 959–964).
In a letter to JA of 9 Feb., King had enclosed a 1 Feb. letter from Springfield, Mass., merchant Thomas Dwight as well as Dwight’s copied extracts of 25 Jan. letters that insurgent leader Luke Day had written to Daniel Shays and to Gen. William Shepard; the letter written to Shays had been intercepted (Adams Papers). Dwight’s letter to King was a colorful and detailed account of the Shaysites’ climax, and it was the first news that JA received of the rebellion’s suppression, for which see vol. 18:552.