Printed Material
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Two Monuments to Shays' Rebellion

Page: 1 | 2
Date: February 19, 1987
Publisher: Barre Gazette
About this artifact

For 200 years, the Massachusetts Regulation was referred to as "Shays' Rebellion." The inscription on a monument erected in 1927 celebrating the rout of the Regulators under Captain Daniel Shays by government militia under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln at Petersham is typical of this traditional, pro-government interpretation. It contains phrases such as "rebellion against the commonwealth" and "victory for the forces of government." During the bicentennial of the Regulation in 1987, two teachers from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School decided, with permission from the Petersham Historical Society, to erect a monument that presented the story from the point of view of the Regulators. This monument was not meant to be permanent, as it was made from plywood and cardboard. The inscription on the new monument ends with, "True Liberty and Justice may require resistance to law."

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Courtesy Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, MA