The chasites, as they would come to be called, shut down all the debtor courts west of boston. Farmers led by chaise and a few other men kept showing up in force with their weapons. Governor bowden raised money from boston merchants to create a private army of more than four thousand men. On january 20 fifth, about 12 hundred farmers marched up to the springfield arsenal. They showed up in lines, eight abreast, their weapons at their shoulders. The first shot went over their heads as a warning shot. Those shots had the effect of making them bunch up and go faster. At about a hundred yards out, the general in charge of the grounds