Leader of Shays’ Rebellion getting new stone on his NY grave

CONESUS, N.Y. – The man who led what’s known as Shays’ Rebellion is getting a new gravestone to correct an old mistake.

Massachusetts native Daniel Shays was a Revolutionary War veteran who led a protest against the state’s harsh economic policies. His six-month armed rebellion was put down in 1787, but it exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and figured prominently in the drafting of the Constitution.

Shays fled to southern Vermont, and he was pardoned a year later. He later moved to western New York, where he died in 1825. He’s buried in a cemetery in Conesus, 30 miles south of Rochester.

His gravestone is missing the “s” at the end of his surname. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports (http://on.rocne.ws/2aZFkDo) that a descendant, Phil Shays of Clarence, is dedicating a new stone on Aug. 12.

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