on. Shays and his men had not looked for such a
display of energy, and as they were getting their breakfast on Sunday
morning at Petersham they were taken by surprise. A few minutes sufficed
to scatter them in flight. A hundred and fifty, including Shays himself,
were taken prisoners. The rest fled in all directions, most of them to
Athol and Northfield, whence they made their way into Vermont. General
Lincoln then marched his troops into the mountains of Berkshire, where
disturbances still continued. On the 26th of February one Captain
Hamlin, with several hundred insurgents, plundered the town of
Stockbridge and carried off the leading citizens as hostages. He was
pursued as far as Sheffield, defeated there in a sharp skirmish, with a
loss of some thirty in killed and wounded, and his troops scattered.
This put an end to the insurrection in Massachusetts.

[Sidenote: Conduct of neighbouring states.]

During the autumn similar disturbances had occurred in the states to the
northward. At Exeter in New Hampshire and at Windsor and Rutland in
Vermont the courts had been broken up by armed mobs, and at Rutland
there had been bloodshed. When the Shays rebellion was put down,
Governor Bowdoin requested the neighbouring states to lend their aid in
bringing the insurgents to justice, and all complied with the request
except Vermont and Rhode Island. The legislature of Rhode Island
sympathized with the rebels, and refused to allow the governor to issue
a warrant for their arrest. On the other hand, the governor of Vermont
issued a proclamation out of courtesy toward Massachusetts, but he
caused it to be understood that this was but an empty form, as the state
of Vermont could not afford to discourage immigration! A feeling of
compassion for the insurgents was widely spread in Massachusetts. In
March the leaders were tried, and fourteen were convicted of treason and
sentenced to death; but Governor Bowdoin, whose term was about to
expire, granted a reprieve for a few weeks. At the annual election in
April the candidates for the governorship were Bowdoin and Hancock, and
it was generally believed that the latter would be more likely than the
former to pardon the convicted men. So strong was this feeling that,
although much gratitude was felt toward Bowdoin, to whose energetic
measures the prompt suppression of the rebellion was due, Hancock
obtained a large majority. When the question of a pardon came up for
discussion, Samuel A