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Daniel Shays wrote to the selectmen in South Hadley asking that they assemble their men and make sure they're well armed and properly organized in a military group. This request was made because the General Court was determined to find the men who had stopped the court, and mete out punishment. The town of South Hadley was not sympathetic to the Regulators. By sending this copy of Shays' letter to the pro-government Hampshire Gazette, the town clerk made sure the readership knew what the Regulators were planning. 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 conflicts. Butler was decidedly on the government side of the issues.