MS .

RTP was more expansive in his diary during the period of Shays’s Rebellion than before or afterwards. His scenario of the events of the summer and autumn of 1786 follows. Aug. 29 (at Boston): “Sup. Jud. Court set Boston. the Court of C Pleas at Northampton prevented sitting by armed Insurgents”; Sept. 1: “attended private Council of Govr. respecting the Insurgents”; Sept. 2: “dind at the Govr. with Court and Barr”; Sept. 5: “CC Pleas at Worcester stop’d by armed Insurgents”; Sept. 7: “attended private Council of Govr. respecting the Insurgents”; Sept. 8: “dind at Govr. with a private Council & sat till 10 at night”; Sept. 9: “Evning at Govr. in private Council”; Sept. 10: “PM at Govr. in private Council”; Sept. 11: “this morning at Govr. in private Council”; Sept. 12: “the Commn. Pleas stop’d by a Riot at Concord attempted at Taunton but the Court was supported by Majr. Genl. Cobb.”

Sept. 19: “this morning rode to Worcester Sup. Jud. Court sat there without any appearance of disturbance as was expected”; Sept. 25: “rode to Springfeild, found a body of Militia Troops Collected to Support the Court from the Insurgents who was expected. the militia took possn. of the Courthouse on Thursday night”; Sept. 26: “this morning the Insurgents made their appearance & took Post on the Upper End of the Street. Command by Capt. Shais a Capt. in the late army & the militia increased continually, the Court opened a Grand Jury not appearing they impannelled two Petit Jurys & adjourned to next morning. The Insurgents by leave of the Genl. Sheppard marched down street and back again”; Sept. 27: “the Court met and Adjd. to three oClock PM not able to make a Grand Jury PM the Grand Jury that appeared were dismissed being 9, some business was done but the minds of all were so engaged in the military appearance of the day that no business could be done; this Evning there was the greatest expectation of a Battle & at 9 oClock an Alarm was made: fine day: Genl. Court met by Govr. Proclamation on acct. of the disturbances”; Sept. 28: “this morning a great Expectation of a Battle; the Court met and finding no business could be attended to adjd. witht. day, a Cmttee of the two Parties agreed that as the Ground by the Court House was now no Object that the Mi­379litia Should march up the Hill to the Arsenal, & the Insurgents march off down the Street & back and then disband and go home, this was done about 1 oClock; on Tuesday Evning the mobb sent in their Comttee to the Court with their Votes that the Court might do business if they confined themselves to Criminal Causes & the Grand Jury did not find Bills agt. the Persons Concerned in the affair of at No. Hampton or at this time, that the Judges should go out of Town & not Return till Greivances were redressed the militia should immediately disband without pay: the Court gave a very sensible answer: 3 oClock I Set out with Mr. Tucker (the Court being determined not to go to Great Barrington).”

Oct. 1: “waited on Govr. with Judges Seargeant & Sewall”; Oct. 2: “dind at Govrs.” Oct. 23; “rode to Taunton on horse back, found a Party of Volunteers had taken possn. of the Court House”; Oct. 24: “Sup. Jud. Court Taunton, Court all there, the Militia came from Raynham Bridgwater & other parts, the mobb is collecting round about to stop the Court”; Oct. 25: “abt. noon the mob came on the Green headed by David Volentine in No. abt. 140 armed, the paraded on the side of the Green, & PM put in a Petition to the Court finding the Militia Commanded by Genl. Cobb, to be abt. 380 well armed & officerd & a field piece, Wheeler with his party marched off & disbanded & we heard no more of them.”

Nov. 1: “this day was a Review of the Militia of this County & Independent Companies from Boston Dorchester & other places assembled here on the call of the Govr. on an apprehension of the mobb attempting to molest the sitting of the Court, but there was no mobb nor rumour of any: the No. of Troops amounted to abt. 2000 & made a very fine appearance”; Nov. 7: “I rode to Salem in Sulkey: Sup. Jud. Court sat there”; Nov. 28: “Report of Insurgents coming to stop Cambridge Cmn Pleas wch. sitts to day a Company of Volunteer horse sett out on secret Expedition.”

Dec. 1: “abt. noon the said Co. of Horse returned having been to Groton & taken Job Shattuck Oliver Parker and Benja. Page who were heads of the Insurgents in those Parts.”

As part of his year-end summary: “The Year is now ended, very gloomy times, uneasiness, Commotions, no money.”

The trial testimony for this case, dated May 1787, appears in vol. 5.

Nathan Smith (1738–1834) of Shirley, Mass., served in the Revolution and was the most outspoken of the insurgents at the Concord courthouse, where it is said that his “language was offensive even to his own party.” The local history remembers him as a “rough, unlearned man” and “coarse in habit and undisciplined in temper.” He remained in Shirley after the rebellion (Seth Chandler, History of the Town of Shirley, Massachusetts [Shirley, Mass., 1883], 129–132, 620).

Joseph Hinds (1743–1799) of Greenwich, Mass., was a minuteman at the Lexington Alarm and served as a corporal and sergeant in various companies (1775–1777). He later moved to New York State (Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 7:939; Albert Henry Hinds, History and Genealogy of the Hinds Family [Portland, Maine, 1899), 55).

Adam Wheeler (1732–1802) was a prominent resident of Hubbardston, Mass., and a deacon of the church. He served in the French and Indian Wars, as a minuteman at the Lexington Alarm, and then as captain in two different Massachusetts regiments, serving until 1779. He was one of the leaders at the closure of the Worcester courthouse and at the end of the rebellion fled to Canada, where he remained until granted amnesty in 1791 when he returned to Hubbardston (John M. Stowe, History of the Town of Hubbardston, Worcester County, Mass. [Hubbardston, Mass., 1881], 57–62, 113; Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 16:959).

Abraham Gale (1745–1829) was a minuteman from Princeton, Mass., at the Lexington Alarm and during the war was commissioned as second lieutenant in three different regiments. He was captain of the insurgents at the closure of the Worcester courthouse in 1786. After the rebellion, he moved to Alstead, N.H., where he died. His brother Henry (1752–1836) was also heavily involved in Shays’s Rebellion and afterwards moved to New York State (George Gale, The Gale Family Records in England and the United States [Galesville, Wisc., 1866], 76–83).

Benjamin Convers was a landowner and retailer at Hardwick, Mass., and became an “adjutant” in the insurrection as part of the court stoppages at Concord and Worcester. To avoid capture he absconded, and his later history is unknown (Lucius R. Paige, History of Hardwick, Massachusetts [Boston, 1883], 127–128, 354).

Peter Butterfield (1739–1811) of Townsend, Mass., was a minuteman at the Lexington Alarm and served in various military capacities during the Revolution, most pertinently as first lieutenant of Capt. Job Shattuck’s company in Col. John Robinson’s regiment. He remained in Townsend for the rest of his life (Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 2:964).

Benjamin Page (b. 1753) was one of the Groton minutemen at the Lexington Alarm in 1775 and may have had other military service. He was still living in Groton at the time of the 1820 census, but his later history is unknown (Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 11:755).

Asa Lawrence (1737–1804) was captain of one of the two minutemen companies which marched from Groton at the Lexington Alarm in 1775. He was later a captain in Col. William Prescott’s regiment, with which he served at Bunker Hill (Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 9:562).

Joshua Farrington (1749–1792), a brother-in-law of Maj. Robert Davis, was a West Indies merchant in Boston. He served as lieutenant colonel of the Boston Regiment of Militia but was court-martialed and “displaced” in 1786 (Roberts, History of the Military Company of Massachusetts, 2:204).

Joseph Hosmer (1735–1821) was captain of the Concord minutemen and fought with them at the 1775 Lexington Alarm. He served as commissary with the army during the remainder of the war. Hosmer was a representative to the General Court for five years, a senator for nine years, and finally high sheriff of Middlesex County for about fourteen years (George Leonard Hosmer, Hosmer Genealogy [Cambridge, Mass., 1928], 31–32).

Col. John Robinson (1735–1805) of Westford, Mass., led three companies of minutemen at the Lexington Alarm as lieutenant colonel under Col. William Prescott and also served with him at Bunker Hill. Robinson was later colonel in the 3d Hampshire County regiment (Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 13:451). He was not prosecuted for his support of Job Shattuck at the Concord courthouse and continued on his farm in Westford for the remainder of his life.

Court of Common Pleas.

Brothers James (1733/4–1799), Stephen (1750–1824), and Peter Barrett (1755–1808), all of Concord, Mass., each testified on behalf of the state. They were sons of Col. James Barrett, who commanded the provincial troops at the North Bridge in Concord in Apr. 1775 (William Barrett, Genealogy of Some of the Descendants of Thomas Barrett, Sen., of Braintree, Mass. [St. Paul, Minn., 1883], 266–267).

Robert Davis (1747–1798) was a participant in the Boston Tea Party, an officer in Col. Crafts’s artillery company, and later major in the Suffolk County Brigade of Artillery. After the war he returned to his retail business in Boston (Roberts, History of the Military Company of Massachusetts, 2:204).

Oliver Parker (1733–1790) served at the Lexington Alarm with the Groton minutemen and later as a captain in Col. William Prescott’s regiment. In 1786 he led the company of insurgents which marched on the Concord courthouse. At his death, Parker’s extensive estate was declared insolvent due to the level of debt, and among the notes were debts owed both to and by Job Shattuck. In his estate papers Captain Parker was called a gentleman of Groton (Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 11:893; Middlesex Probate, file 16764).

Oliver Prescott (1731–1804) of Groton, Mass., graduated from Harvard in 1750 and became a physician in his native town, which he also served as selectman and town clerk over the years. He cared for the wounded after the Lexington Alarm and Bunker Hill, where his brother Col. William Prescott commanded the American troops. He was appointed brigadier general of the Middlesex County Militia, while also serving as a justice of the peace and judge of probate, as well as a member of the Massachusetts Executive Council. Along with RTP and others, Prescott was a charter member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 12:569–573; American National Biography).

Daniel Shays (1747?–1825) was a farmer from Pelham, Mass., who served as a captain in the Continental Army. Affected by post-war economic straits, Shays was among the many taken to court for debt. From the time of the insurrectionists’ gathering at Springfield courthouse (Sept. 26), Shays became a leader 381 of the rebellion which took his name. At the end of the revolt, Shays hid and avoided arrest and trial. He was pardoned in 1788 and spent his last years in New York State (American National Biography).

Joseph B. Varnum (1750–1821), a farmer from Dracut, Mass., served with the local minutemen during the Revolution and was eventually commissioned as captain. He became a colonel in the Massachusetts militia and marched with them in the suppression of Shays’s Rebellion. Varnum served in the Massachusetts General Court and then in the federal House of Representatives (1795–1811), including two terms as Speaker of the House, and finally in the U.S. Senate (1811–1817) (American National Biography).