After closing the courts Daniel Shays targeted Boston because that's where the state

government operated. The state tried to form an army of hired men to stop Shays.

Shays decided to go and try to get weapons from the Springfield arsenal. The army was
trying to catch them so getting to the arsenal would give them lots of good weapons so
they would be stronger than the state's army.

There were several hundred guards at the arsenal. Shays wanted to attack from three
sides at the same time to spread out their forces and win. Then they planned to attack
and split up.

One of the groups in the attack wanted to attack at a different time. They sent a letter to
Shays. When Shays got the letter he sent it to the last group. The message was taken
by the men in the arsenal and read.

The men at the arsenal now knew all about their attack and not all of the sides would
attack at the same time. This made a hopeless effort for Shays' men and the other
hired men were already approaching. The army was going to lose so Shays
surrendered.