Manuscript
Page: Front

Proclamation to Apprehend Daniel Shays and Others

Page: Front | Back
Date: February 9, 1787
Creator: James Bowdoin
About this artifact

Governor Bowdoin issued this proclamation on February 9, 1787, only five days after an earlier proclamation declaring that the action at the Springfield Arsenal was a rebellion. This proclamation requires all civilian and military officers to actively search for and apprehend the four men the government believed to have master-minded the "unnatural, unprovoked and wicked Rebellion": Daniel Shays, Luke Day, Adam Wheeler and Eli Parsons. The government offered a reward to anyone who found and captured any or all of these men.

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Courtesy Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, MA