In Literature Appetizer, Ben gives you just a taste of a book. Not meant to replace the full meal, this is meant to whet your appetite. Bon appetit!
When I moved back to North Appalachia after three years journeying in other regions, I didn’t feel connected to Pittsburgh. Yes it was where my family was currently living, but we as a family didn’t discuss our personal connection with this area. It wasn’t until my father found a newspaper article titled “Family History: Reunited - Descendants of William Guffey Meet Sutersville, Westmoreland County, PA.”
The Guffey’s are my father’s, father’s, mother’s family. When my dad found this article and was reading it to me I was half paying attention. Most of it was “This person was the child of this person.” Very dry. But the part that stood out most to me was their canoe;
“The family were said to have possessed the largest canoe or dug-out ever on the Youghiogheny river: it measured 60 feet in length and its greatest width was 4 feet: it easily accommodated a barrel of whisky placed side wise. This canoe was frequently loaded with whisky, grain and produce of different kinds and sent down the river to Pittsburg and other markets. This enormous canoe was hewed out somewhere about the year 1800, and was in use for many years, and a part of it is even yet doing duty in the capacity of a feed trough in a barn a short distance from this place. ”
I love this story. A 60 foot canoe filled with whiskey? Sign me up! A little further the article talked about the Whiskey Insurrection, and which family member was helping with which tasks.
“What’s the Whiskey Insurrection?” I asked my dad.
Shocked, he answered, “You grew up on the ridge in Westmoreland, and then moved to Pittsburgh. How could you not know about the Whiskey Rebellion?!”
What followed became an obsession; the more I learned the more I wanted to know. The more I felt connected with this region and the people living here. The more I felt connected to my personal history. Reading The Whiskey Rebellion by William Hogeland is just another step in that obsession.
There are many different ways this story is told. The first retelling I found was The Dollop; a comedy/history podcast. Wigle Whiskey also sells a short book about the subject (which also connects to how they make whiskey in the traditional, Pennsylvanian way). Map of the Rebellion is an online resource which has an excellent interactive timeline to understand how all the events fit together. If you want a deep dive into all the people and specific events, Hogeland’s book has everything you need. Below will be my own retelling, and how I feel it shapes the way America is today.
Flag of the Whiskey Rebellion
The year is 1791. America was still trying to stay out of debt, the federal government was just learning to walk, and westerners lived far from the gaze of those on the eastern seaboard. Throughout the Appalachian mountain range people lived on the edge and into the frontier. Life was hard with lack of government support, ruggedness of the terrain, and attacks on settlements from Iroquoians. One staple throughout the region was whiskey.
Imagine you are trying to sell you wheat in the markets of Philadelphia. You carry as much as you can by wagon but the trek over the mountains and through the forests means you can only take about 4 bushels. That is not even accounting for damages due to pests or rain.
Whiskey, however, makes transportation much easier. Now your wagon can carry the equivalent of 24 bushels! And pests are much less likely to destroy your product. Many families in Northern Appalachia are distilling their wheat into whiskey. Whiskey becomes so common it is used as legal tender in the Appalachian frontier.
On the eastern seaboard, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton wanted the same goal; a system to funnel money from the poor to the rich. Morris had spent a lot of money during the American Revolution by lending it to the Federal Government, and he wanted his return. Progressive states like Pennsylvania wanted radical ideas like “income tax.” Hamilton needed money for the Federal Reserve, and fast. States were not fulfilling quotas, and his rich friends (such as Morris) were becoming more and more angry.
The solution; tax whiskey and other spirits. Hamilton classified spirits as “luxury” and therefore could be taxed. The tax would apply to each distillery. Distilleries could pay their taxes ahead of time (like the large ones that Morris owned in Philadelphia) and get a large discount on what you owed.
Hamilton also wanted war. He was tired of the bureaucracy of government. “Winning was easy young man, governings harder.” He knew this would cause a rebellion in the western territories and wanted to test out the new army. George Washington, however, was much more temperate. He didn’t want to march on citizens, even if they were breaking the law, as long as no one was dying.
When tax collectors started to arrive in Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties, locals didn’t respond kindly. Often stills were hidden, the collectors were scared away with guns, or the collectors were tarred and feathered. Representatives from the four counties started to meet to discuss what was to be done about this tax, which was a strain on their way of life. Most people on the frontier couldn’t afford the tax in federal currency, since they only used whiskey to pay for everything.
With these meetings becoming more and more heated, three factions arose.
The radicals, who at the least were calling for the end of the tax and some even wanted to secede from the union.
The moderates, mostly from Pittsburgh, who wanted an end to the tax but not through any violent means.
The federalists, the rich who wanted to maintain power and could afford the tax on their stills.
For years meetings, debates, and public humiliations happen between these three factions. The federalists have their property burned and destroyed by radicals and the moderates were just trying to keep everyone calm. After the burning of one such house, Hamilton found his chance to strike.
Hamilton approached Washington with the claim that the western frontier was a lawless wasteland, with radicals holding US citizens at gunpoint. On September 19th, 1794 Washington led troops, totaling 12,000, toward western Pennsylvania.
Liberty poles raised during the rebellion, courtesy of Pathe Exchange
Along the way the federal army was unlawfully taking food, whiskey, and property from citizens in their path. Many families were forced to give lodging to soldiers who would take over half their winter food supplies. Washington felt ill halfway through the march, which left Hamilton to bring the army to the frontier.
Upon arriving in Washington County, the army continued to arrest those who they thought part of the rebellion. Near the top of their list was Hugh Henry Brackenridge (part of the moderate faction, and the future founder of the University of Pittsburgh). Hamilton had intercepted a letter Brackenridge had written to a Mr. Bradford.
““There was only one small matter,” [Hamilton’s assistant] said. “It is addressed to William Bradford, Attorney General of the United States.”
Hamilton, visibly startled, looked again...Brackenridge had indeed addressed the letter not to the chief insurgent, now fugitive, David Bradford, but unmistakably to William Bradford, leader of the presidential commission...[Hamilton’s assistants] had brought Hamilton something that damned not Mr. Brackenridge but themselves, and potentially the entire operation, for hastiness and overreaching.”
Hamilton had acted too quickly. He didn’t have the legal documents he needed to persecute the rebels. This one document, a letter from Brackenridge, turned from his greatest tool to his greatest blunder.
Only a dozen men were marched back to the eastern seaboard to be tried for treason. Judges found only one, Hermand Husband, guilty. Over the next decade even he was pardoned.
So what lessons can we take way from this rebellion?
Strength through Unity
The biggest changes in America happen when citizens band together. Even after the army marched back east, communities would alert each other of tax collectors to hide stills and protect one another. From Westsylvania, to Black Panthers, to Stonewall, we are strongest together.
Judiciary Branch
Many of the judges that tried the rebels were from radical Pennsylvania. If they had all been federalists, none of them would have walked as free men. We need our Judiciary branch to reflect the values that our citizens hold
Military Industrial Complex
Robert Morris made enough money through this rebellion that he founded a bank that stands to this day. Corporations lobby our government to use the military to solve problems; both foreign and domestic (in policing). If we want to change this, we need to fundamentally change the system.
My ancestors lived and died in Northern Appalachia. John and James Guffey were radicals living in the mountains, dodging tax collectors. But William Findlay, the father in law of James, was in Congress fighting against this law and trying to pass radical laws such as an income tax.
At minimum vote. Vote for people who will change the system to help everyone. Vote for people who will destroy the Military Industrial Complex. Vote in judges who will uphold our values of freedom for all. Question laws you know are unconstitutional. Keep the rebellion alive.