"To the good People of the Town of Deerfield.
"IT has been considered by the officers of the several companies in the
county of Hampshire returning from the movement to Worcester, met in consultation
at Pelham, on the 9th day of December instant, to be a matter of the greatest
importance, that the several companies and regiments in the said county be properly
organized and officered: I am, therefore, directed by a committee appointed
for that purpose, to request you in the name and behalf of the committee aforesaid,
forthwith to assemble your companies to chuse a Captain and other officers necessary,
and make return of the person so chosen to me as soon as may be.
"By order of the Committee,
"OBADIAH FOOT.
"Greenfield, Dec. 9, 1786."
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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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This letter would have been sent to the Town Clerk of Deerfield. It askOn December 9, 1786, Regulator leaders met and appointed a committee of seventeen men to oversee the organization of military companies and regiments "in the present movement of the people." Each member of the committee was assigned a regiment and ordered to write a letter to towns requesting them to meet and organize their men into companies. Obadiah Foot of Greenfield accordingly wrote this letter to the Town Clerk of Deerfield requesting the town "to assemble your companies to chuse a Captain and other officers necessary, and make return of the person so chosen to me as soon as may be." Deerfield did not comply with Foot's request as very few residents actively supported the Regulation. Foot's letter may have been sent to the Hampshire Gazette to promote anti-Regulator sentiments among those alarmed by these preparations for a violent contest with the Massachusetts government. William Butler, the publisher of the Gazette, disapproved of the methods of the Regulators and their cause. He lost no opportunity to publish news and commentary that might discredit them in the eyes of the public. Deerfield was not in favor of the Regulators, and it is probable that this letter was sent to the Hampshire Gazette to promote anti-Regulator sentiment. William Butler began publication of the Hampshire Gazette on September 6, 1786, in Northampton, Massachusetts. The mission of the newspaper was to inform the public about the issues pertaining to the ongoing conflicts.
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"To the good People of the Town of Deerfield" article in the Hampshire Gazette
publisher Hampshire Gazette |
author Obadiah Foot |
date Jan 3, 1787 |
location Northampton, Massachusetts |
width 4.25" |
height 6.0" |
process/materials printed paper, ink |
item type Periodicals/Newspaper |
accession # #L04.075 |
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