William Shepard
Encyclopedia
William Lyman Shepard was a United States Representative from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. Born in Westfield
Westfield, Massachusetts
Westfield is a city in Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 41,094 at the 2010 census. The ZIP Code is 01085 for homes and businesses, 01086 for Westfield State...

, he attended the common schools, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and served in the French and Indian war
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

s for six years. He was a member of the committee of correspondence
Committee of correspondence
The Committees of Correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of American Revolution. They coordinated responses to Britain and shared their plans; by 1773 they had emerged as shadow governments, superseding the colonial legislature...

 for Westfield in 1774, and was a lieutenant colonel of Minutemen
Minutemen
Minutemen were members of teams of select men from the American colonial partisan militia during the American Revolutionary War. They provided a highly mobile, rapidly deployed force that allowed the colonies to respond immediately to war threats, hence the name.The minutemen were among the first...

 in April 1775. He entered the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...

 in May 1775 as Lieutenant Colonel and was commissioned Colonel of the 4th Massachusetts Regiment
4th Massachusetts Regiment
The 4th Massachusetts Regiment also known as 3rd Continental Regiment was raised on April 23, 1775 under Colonel Ebenezer Learned outside of Boston, Massachusetts. The regiment would see action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, New York Campaign, Battle of Trenton, Battle of Princeton, Battle of...

 on October 6, 1776, serving throughout the Revolutionary War, including winter at Valley Forge, PA. where he commanded the 4th Division of the Massachusetts militia, under the overall command of General John Glover. His name is immortalized along with his comrades on stone monuments there. Many letters still exist between Shepard and other commanders, including General George Washington, Marquis de LaFayette, John Hancock, Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, General Henry Knox and other illustrious founding fathers.

Shepard was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...

 in 1785 and 1786 and was selectman for Westfield from 1784 to 1787.Local farmers and ex-Militia began to rebel after months of destitution and taxation they believed to be unfairly levied by the powers from Boston. Many were consigned to debtors' prison. (Daniel Shays of Pelham Mass. led an attack to obtain arms at the Springfield Armory,)- Major General Shepard called to duty the Fourth Division of the Massachusetts militia in 1786 and defended the Springfield Arsenal during Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War....

, ordering defenders of the arsenal to fire cannons at attacking rebels at "waist height." ,with cannons filled with 'grape seed' shot. Two of the insurgents were mortally wounded. Messages to Governor Bowdoin express his deep regret at the shedding of blood. He kept in constant contact with Governor James Bowdoin, Sam Adams, John Hancock, and General Benjamin Lincoln, who arrived in a blizzard from Boston just after the Springfield arsenal attack to pursue Shays and his men into the surrounding towns heading towards Northampton. That order would earn Shepard a lasting reputation as the "murderer of brethren." The local neighbors were so angry that they mutilated his horses, gouging out their eyes, to his horror. He was a member of the Governor's council of Massachusetts from 1792 to 1796, and was appointed in 1796 to treat with the Penobscot Indians and, in 1797, with the Six Nations
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

.

Shepard was elected as a Federalist to the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh
7th United States Congress
- House of Representatives :-Senate:* President: Aaron Burr * President pro tempore:** Abraham Baldwin , first elected December 7, 1801** Stephen R. Bradley , first elected December 14, 1802-House of Representatives:...

 Congresses, serving from March 4, 1797 to March 3, 1803; he resumed his agricultural pursuits and died in Westfield, essentially penniless. Interment was in the Mechanic Street Cemetery. A statue of him stands in Westfield. Each year on Patriots day, a ceremony is held in Westfield, wherein his descendants and those of four other founding families of Westfield join city and state government representatives, members of the armed forces ,clergy, local school children and residents in giving prayer and remembrance of the town's history.
From a mid-western paper c.1928 he was reported to have been quoted as saying, "Hang On! If the motherhood of America ever lets go, it will serve us right if America turns to the saloon or its equivalent. But the motherhood of America will not let go."

External links

  • http://www.icollector.com/Letters-to-Militia-General-WILLIAM-SHEPARD_i8598171
  • http://www.westfieldkiwanis.org/shepard.htm
  • http://www.archive.org/details/sermondelivereda00knap Sermon given at General William Shepard's funeral.
  • http://www.shaysrebellion.stcc.edu/shaysapp/person.do?shortName=william_shepard
  • http://www.cityofwestfield.org/home.html More background, and a photo of the statue of General William Shepard in the town green.
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