Shay’s Rebellion ends with the Battle of Petersham: Benjamin Lincoln, former Secretary at War, commanding his 3,000-strong private militia, and Major General William Shepard, in command of 4,400 Massachusetts Militiamen, defeat and scatter what is left of the Regulator Militia, commanded by Captain Daniel Shays, formerly of the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment. One-hundred, fifty of Shay’s militia are taken prisoner. The remaining 450 escape to New Hampshire and the Independent State of Vermont. This ends the effectiveness of the Regulators as a fighting force, and gives Governor James Bowdoin, a free hand to seize of the Regulator’s farms to retire Massachusetts war debts owed to European creditors.
Postscript: A week later Congress issued the call for the Constitutional Convention.
[updated 7/18/2026] Thanks to Chuck McGlawn for this entry.
Subsequent Events:
References:
“Chronology of Events, 1774-1804,” from The Debate on the Constitution, two volumes, Bernard Bailyn, ed., (New York: Library of America, 1992), 2:1046.
Calvin D. Linton, ed. The Bicentennial Almanac: 200 Years of America, 1776-1976, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1975), 40.
Forrest McDonald, E Pluribus Unum: The Formation of the American Republic, 1776 – 1790, (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), 154.
Daniel Shays – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Shays
Shays’ Rebellion – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays’_Rebellion
The Revolution’s Paper Money Legacy | Strike-The-Root A Journal Of Liberty.mht
www.strike-the-root.com/82/smith/smith1.html
Current U.s. National Debt:
