Governor Bowdoin Raises an Army
Governor Bowdoin could not rely on the country militias to put down Regulator uprisings. He now called on all of his friends and associates to contribute money to create and supply an army capable of opposing the western rebels and restoring order in
The army Governor Bowdoin raised consisted of volunteers from the merchant elite of the east coast, servants who had been sent to serve in their employers’ places, and prominent professional and commercial men from inland market towns. The new government troops formed five divisions, including two artillery regiments, and were furnished with muskets, bayonets, cartridge boxes, and thirty rounds of ammunition each.
On January 22, 1787, these government troops arrived in
Regulators Move on
The Regulators had to improve the quality of their weapons in order to resist capture. They had never been well armed. In fact, some of the Regulators had only wooden clubs for protection. The Regulators were also short of supplies, and they did not always have enough to eat when they marched to distant courthouses. These problems had to be resolved.
The Regulators wanted to launch an attack on the federal arsenal at
Meanwhile, General William Shepard and the remains of the Hampshire militia, numbering about one thousand men, were camped inside the
When Shay’s regiment got within one hundred fifty yards of the arsenal, Shepard had his men fire the cannon twice over the rebels’ heads. When they continued to march forward, they fired a third shot into their center as the column approached, killing four and wounding one. Shay’s men scattered and some even deserted in the confusion that followed the cannon fire.
