(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All
rights reserved. Contact us for information about using this
image. Captain Luke Day's January 25, 1787 message to General
William Shepard demanding that the government militia at the
Springfield Arsenal lay down their arms and return to their
homes, appeared in the Hampshire Gazette. In this letter, Day
demands that government troops at the Springfield Armory "lay
down their arms" and return to their homes. 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
insurrections.