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be virtue enough among the people to preserve a perfect republican government.”
    Lincoln’s answers to his former commander’s first two queries were pessimistic, but his third answer conveyed even worse news. “It is impossible for me to determine when and how things will end,” he wrote. “I see little probability that their efforts will be brought to an end and the dignity of government supported without bloodshed. Yet, once a single drop is drawn, not even the most prophetic spirit will, in my opinion, be able to determine when it will cease flowing.”
    General Lincoln knew there was no easy answer. The root cause of this growing insurrection was related to state issues like debt and property rights; issues in which the federal government, operating under the Articles of Confederation, had no ability to intervene. Lincoln also knew that other states faced similar issues. If Massachusetts’ citizens could sink into such a state of disillusionment as to pick up armsagainst their duly elected leaders, it could happen anywhere. The mob would supplant the law and trample liberty.
    And that scared him to death.
    Governor’s Mansion
    Boston, Massachusetts
    January 4, 1787
    â€œYou asked to see me, Governor?”
    General Benjamin Lincoln had rushed north from Hingham as soon as he’d received the governor’s message that morning.
    â€œYes, I have requested your presence, and I think you fully comprehend why,” Bowdoin said.
    â€œThe mobs?” Lincoln asked. Massachusetts’ situation had deteriorated even further in the month since he had written back to Washington. Rumors had even been circulating that the Regulators intended to attack Boston itself.
    â€œOf course,” answered Bowdoin. “We require a larger, more reliable force than General Shepard’s militia to crush this pox.”
    â€œThat will require patriotism . . . and, of course, gold and silver,” said Lincoln, well aware of the financial difficulties the commonwealth was already suffering.
    â€œFunds will be provided, General,” answered Bowdoin. “I have taken it upon myself to raise them privately from one hundred thirty-five of the commonwealth’s most substantial and patriotic citizens. Men who know the value of the rule of law.” What the governor did not say, but the wily Lincoln knew very well, was that these men were not merely patriotic, they also now owned the bulk of the state’s debt—most of which had been acquired at a substantial, and now very profitable, discount. The money Bowdoin raised from increased taxes went to them. Their pledge of capital to fight the rioters was motivated by their desire to ensure that the current system, which supported their wealth, remained in place.
    Motivations aside, this was the solution that Lincoln had already suggested to George Washington. The commonwealth’s men ofproperty would have to dig into their pockets to fund an armed force that would guarantee both their property and the rule of law.
    And that was just fine with Lincoln.
    â€œI’m at your service,” he said to the governor.
    Continental Arsenal
    Springfield, Massachusetts
    January 19, 1787
    A ragtag stream of ill-clad, freezing men marched through the falling snow up a steep New England hillside. They resembled white-covered scarecrows, with rags around their heads to secure their shabby three-cornered hats in place and rags bound around their feet to stave off frostbite.
    â€œColumn halt!” the man on horseback barked. “Take shelter indoors! You’ve earned it, men!”
    â€œDamn right we have!” muttered one of the scarecrows, ice forming around his beard. “We’ve marched a good twenty miles today!”
    The men were Massachusetts militia, and the person shouting orders was none other than Major General William Shepard, the same man who had rolled out the cannons in his face-off against Daniel