The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794
- by Elmer E. Specht (SPECHTELME@aol.com)
Be sure to celebrate, and encourage others to do so, the upcoming anniversary of Whiskey Rebellion Day --- July 16th. Back when we knew how to run a country, the farmers of western Pennsylvania (and others in Carlisle, PA, Hagerstown, MD, and various parts of Virginia later joined the fray) rose up at the imposition of a tax on spiritus frumenti, of which it is duly recorded they produced and consumed prodigious amounts. It seems moonshining was the only way they could get their produce to market in the east, notably Philadelphia, without undesirable spoilage. But Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, in his wisdom, imposed an ad valorem tax amounting to twenty-five percent of the value of the spirits.
Thus ired, the western Pennsylvania rustics, restless since June, surrounded the home of the local tax man, one John Neville of Bower Hill, near Pittsburgh, and invited him to depart the county. He thought to demur, having some militiamen with him, and succeeded in killing one Oliver Miller in what was the opening shot in the rebellion. The "rebels" then fired back, Neville signaled his slaves to fire from the rear, and more blood flowed. Thus it was a scant 24 years between the time the "lobsterbacks" of King George fired on the colonists in Boston (in 1770), killing five, and the time the federal government took to killing its own citizens. The next day, July 17, 1794, James McFarlane, a Revolutionary War veteran, and popular commander of the local militia, was shot dead in what may have been a ruse to lure him into the open, thinking the soldiers defending Neville wished to parley. That ended any hope of peaceful resolution, and the locals proceeded to burn Neville's buildings to the ground as he was spirited away by the federal troops.
The federal government responded as one might anticipate, by relying on yet more force. President Washington recruited a militia from the surrounding states (to their everlasting shame) --- which was dubbed, derisively, the "watermelon army." After a few more months, during which time some of Neville's sycophants were tarred and feathered just prior to their hasty and unscheduled departures for the east, the rebels, realizing they could not withstand the onslaught of the government, disappeared into the countryside. Two of these stalwarts were tried for treason, convicted, and pardoned by Washington. Thomas Jefferson condemned the use of military force and Hamilton's arrogation of power by the feds. It was, along with some other intraparty miscues, the (ignominious) end of the Federalist Party. Jefferson was elected as a Republican-Democrat in 1800, defeating John Adams in his bid for a second term.
You will not read much, if any, of this in your local newspaper, but I am committed to bringing back the memory of this mirific and glorious event in the history of our great country, so mark your calendars for July 16th accordingly, and drink a toast to those who knew how to deal with corruption and greed in high places, and share a moment of silence for Oliver Miller and James McFarlane, the first two American patriots killed by their own government.
Credit where credit is due department: read Thomas P. Slaughter's The Whiskey Rebellion (Oxford University Press) for the whole unvarnished story.
Be sure to celebrate, and encourage others to do so, the upcoming anniversary of Whiskey Rebellion Day --- July 16th. Back when we knew how to run a country, the farmers of western Pennsylvania (and others in Carlisle, PA, Hagerstown, MD, and various parts of Virginia later joined the fray) rose up at the imposition of a tax on spiritus frumenti, of which it is duly recorded they produced and consumed prodigious amounts. It seems moonshining was the only way they could get their produce to market in the east, notably Philadelphia, without undesirable spoilage. But Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, in his wisdom, imposed an ad valorem tax amounting to twenty-five percent of the value of the spirits.
Thus ired, the western Pennsylvania rustics, restless since June, surrounded the home of the local tax man, one John Neville of Bower Hill, near Pittsburgh, and invited him to depart the county. He thought to demur, having some militiamen with him, and succeeded in killing one Oliver Miller in what was the opening shot in the rebellion. The "rebels" then fired back, Neville signaled his slaves to fire from the rear, and more blood flowed. Thus it was a scant 24 years between the time the "lobsterbacks" of King George fired on the colonists in Boston (in 1770), killing five, and the time the federal government took to killing its own citizens. The next day, July 17, 1794, James McFarlane, a Revolutionary War veteran, and popular commander of the local militia, was shot dead in what may have been a ruse to lure him into the open, thinking the soldiers defending Neville wished to parley. That ended any hope of peaceful resolution, and the locals proceeded to burn Neville's buildings to the ground as he was spirited away by the federal troops.
The federal government responded as one might anticipate, by relying on yet more force. President Washington recruited a militia from the surrounding states (to their everlasting shame) --- which was dubbed, derisively, the "watermelon army." After a few more months, during which time some of Neville's sycophants were tarred and feathered just prior to their hasty and unscheduled departures for the east, the rebels, realizing they could not withstand the onslaught of the government, disappeared into the countryside. Two of these stalwarts were tried for treason, convicted, and pardoned by Washington. Thomas Jefferson condemned the use of military force and Hamilton's arrogation of power by the feds. It was, along with some other intraparty miscues, the (ignominious) end of the Federalist Party. Jefferson was elected as a Republican-Democrat in 1800, defeating John Adams in his bid for a second term.
You will not read much, if any, of this in your local newspaper, but I am committed to bringing back the memory of this mirific and glorious event in the history of our great country, so mark your calendars for July 16th accordingly, and drink a toast to those who knew how to deal with corruption and greed in high places, and share a moment of silence for Oliver Miller and James McFarlane, the first two American patriots killed by their own government.
Credit where credit is due department: read Thomas P. Slaughter's The Whiskey Rebellion (Oxford University Press) for the whole unvarnished story.
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