The armed revolt of farmers, largely in Western Pennsylvania, began against Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton's excise tax in 1791. The revolt centered on several counties surrounding Pittsburgh. As one way to generate hard currency for the new Federal government, Hamilton pushed an excise tax on whiskey through Congress and into law. To have a cash commodity to sell in Lancaster or Philadelphia, farmers had begun to distill their wheat and other grains into whiskey. Without benefit of east-running rivers, freshly-harvested grain spoiled before reaching the two main cities in Pennsylvania.
The same rebellion flared in the western Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky for the same reasons. However, it was toward Western Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh that President George Washington marched a 13,000-man army. Although he returned to the capitol once the force reached Carlisle, the Federal force continued across the Allegheny Mountains to Pittsburgh.
General John Neville: Planter, Distiller, Washington Insider
According to historian William Hogeland, General Neville "received an appointment as inspector of the revenue ... for purposes of Federal excise tax collection ... [in] the district of Pennsylvania. For General Neville was also a large-scale distiller. The leading local beneficiary of the tax had been given the job of enforcing and collecting it."
It may well be that such a both-hands-in-the-cookie-jar arrangement remained from colonial days. Even by 1794, President Washington himself considered his vast land holdings as a tenant-and-lord arrangement, according to historian Joseph Ellis's masterwork, His Excellency, George Washington. From the years of British rule when he significantly expanded and improved the Mt. Vernon estates onward, he also maintained a huge whiskey still. His Excellency was the single largest producer of distilled whiskey in Virginia, if not in the nascent United States.
As for his friend and Revolutionary War compatriot John Neville, "General Neville's survey [section of the nation to be taxed] wasn't just any survey. Comprehending the four westernmost counties of Pennsylvania - Washington, Allegheny, Fayette, and Westmoreland - as well as Bedford ... it placed under Neville's purview the heart of distilling in America."
Bonds between the President and General Neville went back over 35 years. According to author William Hogeland, " ... Neville first reached the Forks [Pittsburgh area] as a Virginia militia officer under the command of his Tidewater neighbor George Washington, in General Braddock's expedition [1755] .... John Neville received for his service to Virginia five hundred acres near the Chartiers Creek." These acres first established Neville in Western Pennsylvania.
A Broader Look at the Rebellion:
In a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton, Washington noted that “The last post brought me your letter of the 1st instant, with the enclosures respecting the disorderly conduct of the Inhabitants of the Western Survey of the District of Pennsylvania, in opposing the execution of what is called the Excise Law; and of the insults which have been offered by some of them to the Officers who have been appointed to collect the duties on distilled spirits ....
Such conduct in any of the Citizens of the United States, under any circumstances ... would be exceedingly reprehensible; but when it comes from a part of the Community for whose protection the money arising from the Tax was principally designed, it is truly unaccountable, [emphasis mine] and the spirit of it much to be regretted.”
The President was plainly furious at this revolt against the newly constituted Federal government, now backed up by the strong Constitution and a stabilizing currency, and its actions against one method to stabilize Federal currency. Washington was not about to wink at an armed revolt enveloping the western fringes of five states.
Rebellion Central:
Despite rebellion in six states/territories, the countryside around Pittsburgh was central to the whole movement. Apart from the preponderance of whiskey distilled in the area, Pittsburgh, Washington PA, Greensburg and Bedford had more than enough attorneys and middling-grade Continental Army officers glad to lead or at least talk up a rebellion.
One of the moderators among rebel leaders was former Senator, now Congressman Albert Gallatin, based at his Friendship Hill estate in Fayette County. Although branded a rebel against the Federal government, Gallatin would follow Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury from 1801 until 1814.
Other rebel leaders included David Bradford, a Washington PA-based attorney, entrepreneur, and the deputy attorney general of Washington County. Bradford had completed an elegant, mahogany-staircased brick manse only three years before the Rebellion began. Bradford began by representing newly-taxed Pennsylvania farmers in Philadelphia courts and soon turned to giving them the benefit of his knowledge of Federal and state law. Clearly neither gentleman was an idler or born troublemaker.
Among those to be arrested once Federal troops reached the center of rebellion in 1794, David Bradford abandoned his mansion and lucrative career to hide in Louisiana. Eventually given a Presidential pardon, he returned to Western PA only long enough to sell his property, then moved his family to Spanish-held Louisiana in 1797.
General Neville Surrounded:
And there was of course the Neville connection. One Federal sympathizer in the area was frightened enough by what he saw to swear out a deposition. War (now Defense) Department records indicate that "Francis Mentges makes an oath that he arrived at Pittsburgh on July 22 .... ... several groups of armed men made repeated attacks upon the house of General John Neville, Inspector of the Revenue, for his enforcing the unpopular excise tax on the western Pennsylvania frontier. His house, barn, and stables were burnt down by the ... assailants."
Since two rebels were killed and several wounded during this attack, it was lucky indeed that General Neville, his son Col. Presley Neville, the rest of the family and servants were able to safely retreat down wooded hills to the General's Woodville Plantation. As the Federal militia approached, Whiskey rebels fled (like Bradford, above) or awaited Federal trials.
John Neville was reimbursed by the government for loses of expensive furniture, art, and plantation equipment due to the destruction of Bower Hill Plantation. Woodville remained in collateral branches of the Neville family until ... 1973. Altogether, General Neville owned roughly 10,000 noncontiguous acres in the..." [area south of Pittsburgh]. Expecting the southwest segment of Pennsylvania to become part of Virginia, Neville planned to farm the massive, widely distributed estate with a portion of his Tidewater slaves.
President Washington held various properties in this part of Pennsylvania, although he rented those holdings out to tenant farmers. General Neville became as ambushed by the Mason-Dixon Line as he had been by the Whiskey Rebellion. Since southwestern Pennsylvania counties never were transferred to Virginia, the famous boundary line originally established by King George III was firmly established miles south of the relatively new Neville plantations.
Additional Sources:
Hogeland, William, "The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty, " A Lisa Drew Book/Scribner, New York, 2006, p. 97.
Ellis, Joseph J, His Excellency George Washington, Alfred A. Knopf/Random House Inc, New York, 2004
Washington, George, 1732-1799. Letter to THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, September 7, 1792, in The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, University of Virginia, Electronic Text Center, Richmond VA, 2007
National Park Service, Friendship Hill National Historic Site, The Whiskey Rebellion, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, www.nps.gov , District of Columbia, 2011.
Slater, Larry, The Virginia Gentleman and the Whiskey Rebels, Mt. Lebanon Magazine, July/August, 2005, Mt. Lebanon PA Municipality, PA
Larry Slater - I have been writing for publication for 35 years -literary magazines, and articles on historic homes, nonprofit boards and antiques In ...
