Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-09-21
STORY OF THE WHISKY IN
SURRECTION.

Inc most nOtaDe event In the early
history of Washington county was the
Whisky 1nsurrection continuing from
1871 to 1894 inclusive, which was
simply a moonshiner's rebellion against
the authority of the Government to i'm
pose and collect revenue tax upon
whisky, similar to the one now exact
ed. The excise tax was first state
enactment, but afterwards, at the sug-
gestion of General Alexander Hamil-
ton, then Secretary of the Treasury,
March Sd, 1871, Congress passed
law placing duty of four pence upon
every gallon of distilled spirits There
were at that time 272 stills in opera
tion in Washington county. The peo-
pie of Western Pennsylvania claimed
that the only way they could pack therye
and other cereal products of their farms
across the mountains on horseback and
exchange them for salt, iron and other
necessities was by first manufacturing
the grain into whisky and contended
that the Government tax was unjust
and burdensome. A hot headed lawyer
named David Bradford residing at the
town of Washington headed the insur-
rection and certain person known as
'"Tom the Tinker" "who is supposed to
have been John Holcraft, issued the
orders to and directed the movements of
the insurgents, while the Pittsburgh
Gazette was their official organ. The
purpose of these rebels, like that of the
Southern traitors in our own time, was
to withdraw from the Union and set
a sovereignty of their own, or even to
place themselves under British author
ity. A more nefarious plot of rebellion
never was conceived in the mind of
man, and it finally required all the
force and power of the Government to
defeat its purpose. The insurgents
outraged every provision of law and
principle of decency in their attempts
to thwart the collectors in pursuance of
their duty They erected liberty poles
surmounted by flags bearing the de-
vice, Liberty; No Excise Dea' h to
Traitors ;" assembled in arms, tarred
and feathered the officers of the law,
shot down the agents of the govern
ment like dogs, and committed indig-
mites and outrages that would utterly
disgrace any semi-civilized condition
of society 1t is not within the prov
ince of this sketch to detail the wicked
schemes of these conspirators, but
among their designs was the destruc-
tion of Pittsburgh Washington, who
was then President, of the United
States issued several proclamations
calling the insurrectionists to their
duty and finally sent the army, CON-
prising Is, 900 men under command of
General Daniel Morgan, across the
Alleghenies to quell the spirit of seces-
sion and rebellion. At public meet
ing held at Parkinson's Ferry, now
Monongahela City, on the 14th of
August, 1894, in which III. HI. Brack-
enridge, the historian of the troubles,
the celebrated Albert Gallatin and Da-
vid Bradford were the principal actors,
it was finally agreed to return to the
allegiance of the Federal Government
David Bradford, who was mainly in
strumental in stirring up strife, fled to
Bayou Sara, in what is now the State
of Louisiana, and which was then part
of the Spanish possessions in North
America, and Albert Gallatin and
Breckenridge both satisfied the Gov
ernment that they were acting in its
interest throughout the heated strug-
gle that decided the issue between
loyalty and rebellion.