Dotting North Quabbin — and the rest of the state, for that matter — are historical markers. We have all seen them, signs quickly passed by while we are going here or there. Maybe we have noticed them but have never really stopped to ponder the story behind them.
Such is a stone marker on North Main Street in Petersham. While Daniel Shays Rebellion may have begun in Springfield, the last battle of the rebellion happened on Feb. 4, 1787 in Petersham. Thus, this stone marks not the beginning of Shay’s Rebellion but the end of it.
Daniel Shays served in the Revolutionary War including in the battles of Bunker Hill, Lexington and Saratoga. After the revolution, the coastal and eastern part of the state became more prosperous. The central and western sections of Massachusetts, however, were not doing as well. These areas were inhabited by the farmers who were living on what they raised and bartering with neighbors for other items they may have needed.
In 1785, the state legislature increased real estate taxes in order to assist in covering the state’s portion of federal foreign debt. Meanwhile, Gov. Bowdoin increased efforts to collect back taxes that were owed. Unable to meet their debts and tax obligations, many of the struggling farmers, at risk of losing their farms, petitioned the courts for relief.
When in 1786 the court in Boston recessed without addressing many of the farmers’ petitions, the farmers including Shays marched on Northampton to prevent the courts from sitting. Within a month, similar actions had taken place at the courts in Worcester and Springfield. Finally, Daniel Shays had had enough. Shays, with the help of other farmers, staged a raid on the armory in Springfield to gather arms for a rebellion to overthrow the state government.
With the federal government unable to fund a militia in order to quell the rebellion, these uprisings were addressed through a combination of the Massachusetts State militia and the raising of private militias. One of these private militias was led by Benjamin Lincoln, who had served as a Major General during the Revolutionary War.
On Feb. 3, Lincoln forced his militia to march overnight from Hadley to Petersham, a distance of about 30 miles in an effort to capture Shays and his men. This march took place through below-zero weather in the snow, according to the marker.
On the morning of Sunday, Feb. 4, 1787 Lincoln managed to surprise Shays and 150 of his men in Petersham. There, at the battle of Petersham, three of Shays’ troops were wounded and three died. Lincoln’s troop casualties included one dead and one injured. Several of Shays’ men including Shays himself, escaped to Vermont and New Hampshire to avoid prosecution.
So in the end what did the rebellion change? The rebellion by many is credited with being one of the events leading to the Philadelphia Convention that met three months later to create the U.S. Constitution.
Which leads me back to where I started. If one marker holds such a fascinating tale, how many more equally fascinating historical stories are held by other markers, which we travel by every day? It’s something to ponder as we navigate throughout the region. A reminder that maybe we should stop every once in a while, and really wonder about the history we often pass by in our day to day lives, often without giving it a second thought.
Carla Charter is a local historian and author. She has written several books funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, on Abolition in the North Central area of Massachusetts.