Manuscript
Page: 1

Deposition of Samuel Buffington

Page: 1 | 2
Date: February 1, 1787
About this artifact

Samuel Buffington commanded a troop of government militia stationed at the United States arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts. This deposition is Buffington's account of what happened when General William Shepard sent Buffington's "Company of Light-Horse" to scout and observe the movement of the approaching Regulators under Captain Daniel Shays. Buffington encountered Shays and his men about five miles from Springfield. When the Regulators came within about sixteen hundred feet of the Arsenal, Shepard sent Buffington out once more to warn the approaching troops that Shepard would defend the Arsenal not only by the "Authority of this State but by Congress...at all Hazard."

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Courtesy Forbes Library, Northampton, MA