Daniel Shays: Difference between revisions

'''Daniel Shays''' (August 1747 {{spaced ndash}} September 29, 1825) was an American soldier, revolutionary and farmer famous for allegedly leading [[Shays' Rebellion]], a populist uprising against controversial debt collection and tax policies in [[Massachusetts]] in 1786–1787. ATE THAT UPPPPP. The actual role played by Daniel Shays in Shays' Rebellion is disputed by scholars.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zug |first=Charles U. |date=September 1, 2021 |title=Creating a Demagogue: The Political Origins of Daniel Shays's Erroneous Legacy in American Political History |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/716687 |journal=American Political Thought |language=en |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=601–628 |doi=10.1086/716687 |s2cid=243849281 |issn=2161-1580}}</ref>

Daniel Ogden Shays<ref>{{cite magazine |editor-last=Nichols |editor-first=Frank M. |date=September 1912 |title=Proposed Monuments: The Livingston County Historical Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhZbAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA8-PA30 |magazine=The Reporter |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=Nichols & Co. |page=30 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> was born in [[Hopkinton, Massachusetts]], sometime between April and August 1747 to [[Irish people|Irish]] immigrants Patrick Shays and Margaret Dempsey.<ref>{{cite book |last=Butz |first=Stephen D. |date=2017 |title=Shays' Settlement in Vermont: A Story of Revolt and Archaeology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTEvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=The History Press |page=13 |isbn=978-1-6258-5950-1 |via=[[Google Books]] |ref={{sfnRef|Butz}}}}</ref><ref name="Brown-2010-p220">{{cite book|author=Brown, Lorri|chapter=Shays, Daniel (1747–1825)|editor=Danver Steven L.|title=Revolts, protests, demonstrations, and rebellions in American history: an encyclopedia|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2010|isbn=978-1-59884-221-0|page=220|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1C4W2IVHcMC&pg=PA220}}</ref> Daniel was the second of seven siblings; his siblings were Margaret, James, Roger, Phebe, Mary, and Polly.<ref>Elmer S. Small (November 1934). ''The Family of Daniel Shays, from Descendants of Daniel Shays'' {{oclc|17982816}}</ref> He spent his early years as a landless farm laborer.<ref name="Brown-2010-p220"/> In 1772, he married Abigail Gilbert, and they settled in [[Shutesbury, Massachusetts]], where he owned a sixty-eight acre farm and they had six children.{{sfn|Butz|page=14}}<ref>"Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639–1915," database, FamilySearch [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FC3N-TJR : 4 December 2014), Daniel Shayes in entry for Daniel Shayes, 31 Jan 1773; citing, Shutesbury, Franklin, Massachusetts, 2:179B4K1; FHL microfilm 886,455]{{subscription required }}</ref>

When Shays and his forces neared the armory, they found Shepard's militia waiting for them. Shepard first ordered warning shots fired over the approaching Shaysites' heads, and then ordered two cannons to fire [[grape shotgrapeshot]] at Shays' men. Four Shaysites were killed and twenty wounded. There was no musket fire from either side, and the rebel advance collapsed.<ref>Szatmary, p. 102</ref> Most of the rebel force fled north, eventually regrouping at [[Amherst, Massachusetts|Amherst]]. On the opposite side of the river, Day's forces also fled north, also eventually reaching Amherst.<ref>Szatmary, p. 103</ref>

Shays was later granted a pension by the federal government for the five years he served in the [[Continental Army]] without pay. Shays lived the last few years of his life in poverty, a heavy drinker. He supported himself on his pension and by working a small parcel of land.<ref name="Gross-1993-p2">{{cite book|author=Gross, Robert A.|chapter=The Uninvited Guest: Daniel Shays and the Constitution|editor=Gross, Robert A.|title=In Debt to Shays: The Bicentennial of an Agrarian Rebellion|publisher=University Press of Virginia|year=1993|isbn=978-0-8139-1354-4|page=2|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HpSIYclyYogC&pg=PA2}}</ref> Shays died at age 78 in [[Sparta, New York]] and was later buried at the Union Cemetery in [[Scottsburg, New York|Scottsburg]].<ref name="Gross-1993-p2" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://nyhistoric.com/2011/10/captain-daniel-shays/ |title=Captain Daniel Shays |website=nyhistoric.com/ |publisher=New York Historic |access-date=August 13, 2016 |archive-date=September 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914062550/http://nyhistoric.com/2011/10/captain-daniel-shays/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Category:People offrom colonial Massachusetts]]