11/04/2025
I'm happy to share the following press release we've sent to our local media:
Massachusetts Archivists Discover Shays’ Rebellion Documents
Among Hampshire Sheriff’s Office Records
Find Represents Oldest County Jail Records in the Commonwealth
Arrest records of the “Conspirators in Shays Rebellion,” an armed uprising in 1786 -1787 in western Massachusetts over the newly independent nation’s monetary system, have been discovered stored in a warehouse at the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office (HSO) on Rocky Hill Road.
In late- September, Jeremy Berry-Cahn and Joseph Solis, processing archivists with the Massachusetts Archives, discovered the documents while reviewing old records that had been brought to the Rocky Hill Road location 40 years ago when the jail and house of correction moved from its previous location on Union Street near downtown Northampton.
The documents are pages from the “Register of Prisoners” and depict the arrest records of 35 members of the Rebellion who were jailed for taking up arms against the state, treason and sedition. The men held at the jail, then located on Pleasant Street in Northampton, include Luke Day of West Springfield, recognized as one of the leaders of Shays’ Rebellion.
According to Samuel Edwards, reference archivist at the Massachusetts Archives:
“In 1780s Western Massachusetts, unrest was brewing for several years after the Revolutionary War. The newly independent nation struggled to develop a monetary system, and issued more paper money than could be redeemed for coins, which were in short supply. Coastal merchants, storekeepers and tax collectors insisted on coin payments, which many agrarian farmers in Massachusetts did not have.
“Tensions escalated as Western Massachusetts farmers felt their demands were not being met or acknowledged. On August 29, 1786, an armed protest began in Northampton at the Supreme Judicial Court and Court of Common Pleas, led by Daniel Shays and his group called the “Regulators”, who were attempting to shut down the courts so that debt proceedings could not go forward. Due to Shays’ leadership of this protest, this uprising was later called “Shays’ Rebellion”.
“Throughout September and October 1786, similar actions to stop court proceedings took place throughout New England, and tensions continued to escalate through the winter between the Regulators and the state government. After suffering defeat in a battle in early February of 1787, Daniel Shays escaped north to Vermont. Later that month, on February 27, 1787 at Sheffield, the Regulators had a violent encounter with state soldiers where 30 Regulators were killed or wounded, and 3 state soldiers were killed. After this incident, many of the protests quelled.
“Once John Hancock won the gubernatorial election, many of the Regulators were pardoned, which is reflected in these original archival documents. The aftermath of these protests contributed to the creation of the federal government and the writing of the Constitution, as Federalists used the example of Shays’ Rebellion as an argument for a centralized government for the United States.”
“I am so pleased that our state archivists have discovered these historically significant documents among our records at the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office, especially as we approach the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence and the influence Shays’ Rebellion had on the development of our Constitution,” Hampshire Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane said. “The documents remind me that democracies, no matter their age, are inherently fragile and require constant, attentive care if they are to endure.”
"The inmate registers from the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office are the oldest county jail or house of correction records we have encountered in the Commonwealth,” Jeremy Berry-Cahn said. “Their survival is remarkable. We are deeply grateful to Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane and his staff for their careful stewardship of these documents and for ensuring that they will endure for generations to come. The Massachusetts Archives is committed to preserving these records and will make them accessible to the public for historical research. Researchers examining Shays’ Rebellion, early incarceration in Hampshire County, or sheriff’s records more broadly are encouraged to contact us at [email protected] or visit the Archives in Boston."
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