while Shays organized and drilled them.

[Sidenote: The insurrection suppressed by state troops.]

Meanwhile the habeas corpus act was suspended for eight months, and
Governor Bowdoin called out an army of 4,400 men, who were placed under
command of General Lincoln. As the state treasury was nearly empty, some
wealthy gentlemen in Boston subscribed the money needed for equipping
these troops, and about the middle of January, 1787, they were collected
at Worcester. The rebels had behaved shamefully, burning barns and
seizing all the plunder they could lay hands on. As their numbers
increased they found their military stores inadequate, and accordingly
they marched upon Springfield, with the intent to capture the federal
arsenal there, and provide themselves with muskets and cannon. General
Shepard held Springfield with 1,200 men, and on the 25th of January
Shays attacked him with a force of somewhat more than 2,000, hoping to
crush him and seize the arsenal before Lincoln could come to the rescue.
But his plan of attack was faulty, and as soon as his men began falling
under Shepard's fire a panic seized them, and they retreated in disorder
to Ludlow, and then to Amherst, setting fire to houses and robbing the
inhabitants. On the approach of Lincoln's army, three days later, Shays
retreated to Pelham, and planted his forces on two steep hills protected
at the bottom by huge snowdrifts. Lincoln advanced to Hadley and sought
to open negotiations with the rebels. They were reminded that a contest
with the state government was hopeless, and that they had already
incurred the penalty of death; but if they would now lay down their arms
and go home, a free pardon could be obtained for them. Shays seemed
willing to yield, and Saturday, the 3d of February, was appointed for a
conference between some of the leading rebels and some of the officers.
But this was only a stratagem. During the conference Shays decamped and
marched his men through Prescott and North Dana to Petersham. Toward
nightfall the trick was discovered, and Lincoln set his whole force in
motion over the mountain ridges of Shutesbury and New Salem. The day had
been mild, but during the night the thermometer dropped below zero and
an icy, cutting snow began to fall. There was great suffering during the
last ten miles, and indeed the whole march of thirty miles in thirteen
hours over steep and snow-covered roads was a worthy exploit for these
veterans of the Revoluti