Moses Sash was born in 1755 in Stoughton, Massachusetts, to Moses and Sarah Colley Sash, a free-born African American couple. According to Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (Vol. 13, pg. 826), he stood 5 feet, 8 inches tall and had a black complexion and black hair. He gave his occupation as farmer. On March 17, 1785, Moses married Abigail Richardson in Cummington, Massachusetts. By 1790, the couple had moved to nearby Worthington where Moses had purchased land in 1785. and then briefly lived in Townsend, Vermont. By 1810, Moses and Abigail were in Hartford, Connecticut, where he worked as a farm laborer. They lived there until they died, Abigail in 1826 and Moses in 1827.
Sash actively participated with several other Worthington men in the Massachusetts Regulation of 1786-87 that became known as Shays' Rebellion. Shays’ Rebellion was a direct consequence of the Massachusetts government’s attempt to pay off its heavy war debt despite a severe economic downturn in the aftermath of the War for Independence. Under the leadership of Governor James Bowdoin, the tax rate jumped an astonishing 1,000% between 1774 and 1786. High taxes payable only in hard currency proved a disastrous combination, mainly because there was not enough cash in circulation to meet the increased demand. Massachusetts farmers like the Sashes suffered as there was almost no coinage in circulation. As defaults increased, many lost their farms through foreclosure and the number of people imprisoned for non-payment of debts skyrocketed. (Barbara A. Mathews, "More than a Little Rebellion", Historic Deerfield Magazine, Summer 2026, 55-60.)
In January of 1787, Moses was among an army of Regulators who attempted and failed to capture the United States Arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts, and was captured by government troops. Sash was apparently trying to obtain arms for the Regulators encamped at Pelham, Massachusetts, where they had retreated following the bloody encounter at Springfield. The first of the two indictments issued against him identified Sash as "a Captain & one of Shaises council." According to the jurors, Moses was a Negro man & Labourer" who "being a disorderly, riotous & seditious person & minding and contriving as much as in him lay unlawfully by force of arms...promote[d] and maintain[ed] riots tumults mobs insurrections in this Commonwealth."
Sash was further accused of taking a leading role in recruiting and encouraging armed opposition to the state. He "did advise persuade invite incourage and procure divers persons…by force of arms to oppose this government and Commonwealth." To achieve these ends, Sash had "unlawfully & seditiously" procured "guns, bayonets, pistols, swords, gunpowder, bullets, blankets and provisions" to arm fellow "riotous & seditious persons." The second indictment declared that Sash "did steal and carry away" two guns valued at five pounds. It is not clear why the court identified him as part of Shays’ council, although this may have referred to his activities in recruiting men to join the Regulators. Despite the gravity of the charges, no subsequent action was taken. With the election of Governor Hancock in April 1787, the government dropped the charges. (Ibid; Kennedy, Brenner, and Spring, "Moses Sash"; Shays' Rebellion & the Making of a Nation.)
Abigail and Moses continued living in Worthington for several years after he was pardoned. The first (1790) Federal Census recorded Moses as the head of a household of four free people, "not white." Sometime between 1793 and 1797, they were in Townsend, Vermont. By 1810, they were no longer landowners and were living in Hartford, Connecticut. Moses described the family's distressed circumstances in his application in 1820 for a pension for his war service under the federal Revolutionary War Pension Act of 1818 granting relief to indigent veterans.
By 1820, applicants were required to include information about family members and if the applicant was receiving any other financial assistance. (John P. Resch, “Politics and Public Culture: The Revolutionary War Pension Act of 1818,” Journal of the Early Republic Vol. 8, no. 2 (Summer, 1988), 154.) Moses identified two other household members, referring to "my wife [Abigail] aged 56 in tolerable health" and "my wife's mother aged 97." Moses painted a grim picture of the poverty in which he and his family were living, writing, "I have been partly supported by the town of Hartford for several years cannot subsist without a pension & ev[en] that is not sufficient to support myself & family without some aid from the charitable." (Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C.)
Moses was granted a pension of $8.00 per month. Abigail died on May 21, 1826. Moses passed away the following year, on May 30, 1827, leaving a meager estate valued at $32.04. (Probate file for Moses Sash, Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts.)
Abigail and Moses Sash are buried in the “Ancient Burying Ground” of Hartford’s Center Cemetery. (Ibid; Kennedy, Brenner, and Spring, "Moses Sash.")