Editing Daniel Shays (section)

===Attack and collapse===
The insurgents were organized into three major groups, and intended to surround and simultaneously attack the armory.  Shays led one group east of Springfield near [[Palmer, Massachusetts|Palmer]], Luke Day had a second force across the Connecticut River in [[West Springfield, Massachusetts|West Springfield]], and the third force, under [[Eli Parsons (soldier)|Eli Parsons]], was to the north at [[Chicopee, Massachusetts|Chicopee]].<ref>Richards, p. 28</ref>  The rebels had planned their assault for January 25, but Luke Day changed this at the last minute, sending Shays a message indicating he would not be ready to attack until the 26th.<ref>Szatmary, p. 101</ref>  Day's message was intercepted by Shepard's men, so the militia of Shays and Parsons, around 1,500 men, approached the armory on the 25th not knowing they would have no support from the west.<ref name="Richards29">Richards, p. 29</ref>

[[Image:Springfield Armory.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Springfield Armory]] (building pictured is from the 19th century) was the first major target of the rebellion.]]
When Shays and his forces neared the armory, they found Shepard's militia waiting for them. Shepard first ordered warning shots fired over the approaching Shaysites' heads, and then ordered two cannons to fire [[grapeshot]] at Shays' men.  Four Shaysites were killed and twenty wounded.  There was no musket fire from either side, and the rebel advance collapsed.<ref>Szatmary, p. 102</ref>  Most of the rebel force fled north, eventually regrouping at [[Amherst, Massachusetts|Amherst]].  On the opposite side of the river, Day's forces also fled north, also eventually reaching Amherst.<ref>Szatmary, p. 103</ref>

General [[Benjamin Lincoln]] had mustered 3,000 men at [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]] to deal with the rebels.  When he heard of the Springfield incident, they immediately began marching west.  Shays led the rebel force generally north and east to avoid Lincoln, eventually establishing a camp at [[Petersham, Massachusetts|Petersham]]. Along the way they raided the shops of local merchants for supplies, taking some of them hostage.  Lincoln pursued them, reaching [[Pelham, Massachusetts|Pelham]], around {{convert|10|mi|km}} from Petersham, on February 2.<ref>Szatmary, pp. 103–04</ref>  On the night of February 3–4, he led his militia on a forced march to Petersham through a bitter snowstorm.  Arriving early in the morning, they surprised the rebel camp so thoroughly that they scattered "without time to call in their out parties or even their guards."<ref>Szatmary, p. 105</ref>  Although Lincoln claimed to capture 150 men, none of them were officers, leading historian Leonard Richards to suspect the veracity of the report.  Shays and some of the other leaders escaped north into New Hampshire and Vermont.<ref>Richards, pp. 31, 120</ref>

Around four thousand people signed confessions acknowledging participation in the events of the rebellion (in exchange for amnesty); several hundred participants were eventually indicted on charges relating to the rebellion.  Most of these were pardoned under a general amnesty that only excluded a few ringleaders.  Eighteen men, including Shays, were convicted and sentenced to death.  Most of these either had their convictions overturned on appeal, were pardoned, or had their sentences commuted.  Two of the condemned men, John Bly and Charles Rose, were hanged on December 6, 1787.<ref>Richards, pp. 38–41</ref> Shays was pardoned in 1788 and he returned to Massachusetts from hiding in the Vermont woods.<ref name="zinn95">Zinn, p. 95</ref>  He was, however, vilified by the Boston press, who painted him as an archetypal radical opposed to the government.<ref>Richards, p. 117</ref>