William Shepard was an American Revolutionary officer and representative in Congress from Massachusetts.
Background
He was born on December 1, 1737 in Westfield, Massachussets, United States, the son of Elizabeth (Noble) and John Shepard, a tanner and a deacon of the Congregational Church. He was the grandson of John Shepard who emigrated from Suffolk County, England, to Westfield about the end of the seventeenth century.
Education
He attended the local school of Westfield.
Career
At seventeen he enlisted as a private in the French and Indian War, from which he emerged with the valuable experience of six years of warfare and the rank of captain.
Settling down on a farm in Westfield with his wife, he was chosen selectman, took his part in the agitation against Great Britain, and was a member of the local committee of correspondence.
In May 1775 he became lieutenant-colonel of Timothy Danielson's Massachusetts Regiment and served through the siege of Boston. Made lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Continental Infantry in January 1776 and in October colonel to rank from May, he was present in the fighting around New York and distinguished himself in the important but little-known battle at Pell's Point (Pelham Manor). He fought at Saratoga, endured the winter at Valley Forge, and, as colonel of the 4th Massachusetts Infantry, did recruiting service at Springfield, Massachussets.
When he retired on January 1, 1783, he returned to Westfield, where his wife was managing the farm. In 1785 and 1786 he sat in the lower house of the state legislature and in 1786 was appointed major-general of militia for Hampshire County. In that capacity he found himself responsible for the defense of the federal arsenal and the protection of the federal court in Springfield at the time of Shays's Rebellion. His judgment in dealing with the insurgents and his skill in delaying them, as well as his decision to remove arms and ammunition from the arsenal without specific authority, were important in deciding the outcome of that difficult situation.
On January 25, 1787, before the arrival of Benjamin Lincoln, he repulsed the attack on the arsenal by a force under Daniel Shays. Under the new federal Constitution he was one of the first presidential electors and enjoyed that honor again in the election of 1793.
Elected to the governor's council in 1792 he served five years and then sat for three terms, March 4, 1797, to March 3, 1803, in the federal House of Representatives. He spent the last fifteen years of his life quietly in Westfield, a deacon of the First Congregational Church and the town's most distinguished citizen.
He died in Westfield.
Achievements
Personality
He had never gathered any considerable fortune, and his means were even more narrow because he was not reimbursed for all of his own money that he had spent for expenses and supplies at the time of Shays's Rebellion and because sympathizers with the uprising afterward wilfully destroyed his property for revenge.
Connections
On January 31, 1760 he married Sarah (Dewey) Shepard. He had 9 children.