Editing Sheffield, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
[[Image:1839 Print of Sheffield, MA.jpg|thumb|left|View of Sheffield in 1839]]
The land was purchased on April 25, 1724, from Chief Konkapot and 20 other [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts|Stockbridge]] [[Mahican]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. Its price was 460 [[pound (currency)|pounds]], 3 barrels of [[cider]] and 30 quarts of [[rum]]. The lower township of Housatonic (as Outhotonnook would be corrupted) was first settled by Matthew Noble of [[Westfield, Massachusetts|Westfield]], who arrived in 1725.

But [[Province of New York|New York]] claimed the land west of the [[Housatonic River]] under the Westenhook Patent, dated July 11, 1705, and insisted that [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]] cease encroachment. Indeed, one early settler was arrested and incarcerated at [[Albany, New York|Albany]] as a trespasser on Westenhook land. Nevertheless, Sheffield, Massachusetts, was officially incorporated on June 22, 1733, the first town incorporated in what is now Berkshire County. Its north [[parish]] was set off and incorporated as [[Great Barrington, Massachusetts|Great Barrington]] in 1761. Located on the fertile [[floodplain]] of the Housatonic River valley, the principal industry was agriculture.

The Sheffield Resolves, or [[Sheffield Declaration]], was an early Colonial American petition against [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] rule and manifesto for [[individual rights]], drawn up as a series of resolves approved by the Town of Sheffield on January 12, 1773, and printed in ''The Massachusetts Spy, Or, Thomas's Boston Journal'' on February 18, 1773. Sheffield was also the site of the bloodiest (and last) battle on February 27, 1787, during [[Shays' Rebellion]].