Daniel Shays

A presumably fictional representation by Daniel Shays (left) and Job Shattuck from Bickerstaff's Boston Almanac from 1787

Signature of Daniel Shays

Daniel Shays (* probably 1741 ; † September 29, 1825 ) was an American farmer and officer in the War of Independence , who gained fame in 1786 as the leader of an armed peasant uprising (" Shays' Rebellion "). During his entire lifetime, Shays forbade having a portrait made of himself, so his true appearance remains unknown.

biography

The American Revolution

During the Revolutionary War, Shays served in the rebellious Continental Army . He was involved in the Boston campaign, in which he took part in the Battle of Bunker Hill , as well as the battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Saratoga . He was wounded during the war and retired from military service in 1780 without pay. Upon returning home, he found that he had been called to court for unpaid debts that he still could not pay because he was not paid for military service.

post war period

Shays was concerned when he learned that many other farmers and veterans were in the same financial position as him. Community meetings revealed that the veterans were treated badly after they were laid off and that businessmen were trying to squeeze money out of the small farms to pay their own debts to European war investors. Shays and his fellow sufferers first tried to petition Boston lawmakers for help. After several years of unsuccessful petitions and popular assemblies, Shays and the members of his group, who referred to themselves as regulators , finally decided on violent rebellion.

Shays' rebellion

In September 1786 Shays rose to be one of the leaders in command of the rebel units. The reason for his decision to take more massive action was the charges brought by the court on 19 September against eleven leaders of the rebellion, including three friends of Shays. The uprising soon became known as the "Shays' Rebellion" after about 800 Shays farmers clashed with a unit of private militia of roughly the same size at Springfield on September 26, 1786. Four men were killed - the first victims of the rebellion - and many others were wounded. Shays and his men had tried to prevent the Massachusetts Supreme Court from being convened because they feared charges against local farmers.

In the winter of 1786 there was open fighting between government troops and the rebels. After several skirmishes, Shays and his men were defeated on February 2, 1787 at Petersham, Massachusetts. Shays then fled to the Republic of Vermont . Accused of treason and sentenced to death in absentia, Shays filed for amnesty in February 1788. The application was granted and Shays moved to Rensselaerville, New York on June 13th .

Next life

Shays was later awarded a pension by the federal government for service in the Revolutionary War of $ 20 a month. Until the end of his life he insisted that his service during the revolutionary era and his struggle during the rebellion were devoted to the same principles. He died on September 29, 1825 in Sparta, New York, impoverished and well known for the role he played in the making of the American Constitution. He was buried in Scottsburg, New York (now part of Sparta).

Web links

Daniel Shays 1747-1825 Biography
Shays' Rebellion & The Making of a Nation
George RR Rivers: Captain Shays, a populist of 1786 ; Publisher: Little, Brown and Co., Boston 1897 - on the Internet Archive

Individual evidence

↑ Willi Paul Adams (ed.): Fischer world history. Volume 30. The United States of America, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1997, p. 46
^ Leonard L. Richards: Shays's Rebellion. The American Revolution's Final Battle, p. 95
^ Howard A. Zinn: People's History Of The United States, New York 1995, pp. 71f
^ Howard A. Zinn: People's History Of The United States, New York 1995, pp. 91f
^ Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 93 ISBN 0-06-083865-5
↑ 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. "

personal data
SURNAME	Shays, Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American soldier, revolutionary and farmer
DATE OF BIRTH	uncertain: 1741
DATE OF DEATH	September 29, 1825

[1] Willi Paul Adams (ed.): Fischer world history. Volume 30. The United States of America, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1997, p. 46

[2] Leonard L. Richards: Shays's Rebellion. The American Revolution's Final Battle, p. 95

[3] Howard A. Zinn: People's History Of The United States, New York 1995, pp. 71f

[4] Howard A. Zinn: People's History Of The United States, New York 1995, pp. 91f

[z1-5] Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States, Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 93 ISBN 0-06-083865-5

[6] 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. "