History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 19

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 19
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 19
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 19

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

WASHINGTON COUNTY, 16th April, 1786.

GENTLEMEN : About ten days ago, a Mr. Graham, Excise officer for the three western Counties, was in the exercise of his office in this County, seized by a number of People and Treated in the following man- ner, viz: His Pistols, which he carried before him, taken and broke to pieces in his presence, his Com- mission and all his papers relating to his Office tore and thrown in the mud, and he forced or made to stamp on them, and Imprecate curses on himself, the Commission, and the Authority that gave it to

him; they then cut off one-half his hair, cued the other half on one side of his Head, cut off the Cock of his hat, and made him wear it in a form to render his Cue the most conspicuous; this with many other marks of Ignominy, they Impos'd on him, and to which he was obliged to submit; and in the above plight they marched him amidst a Crowd from the frontiers of this County to Westmoreland County, calling at all the Still Houses in their way, where they were Treated Gratis, and expos'd him to every Insult and mockery that their Invention could con- trive. They set him at Liberty at the entrance of Westmoreland, but with Threats of utter Desolution should he dare to return to our County.

This Bandittie, I am told, denounces distruction, vengeance against all manner of People who dare to oppose or even ganesay this their unparrelled be- haviour, and that they will support every person con- cerned against every opposition. I suppose they de- pend on their numbers, for I am told the Combina- tion is large.

I have thought it my duty as a good citizen to give your Honorable Board information of this match- less and daring Insult offered to Government, and the necessity there is for a speedy and Exemplary punish- ment being inflicted on those atrocious offenders, for if this piece of conduct is lightly looked over, no Civil officer will be safe in the Exercise of his duty, though some Gentlemen with whom I have conversed, think it would be best, and wish a mild prosecution ; for my part I am of a different opinion, for it certainly is the most audacious and accomplished piece of outragious and unprovoked Insult that was ever offered to a Government and the Liberties of a free People, and what in my opinion greatly aggrivates their Guilt is that it was not done in a Gust of Passion, but cooly, deliberately and Prosecuted from day to day, and there appears such a desolute and refractory spirit to pervade a Certain class of People here, particularly those concerned in the above Job, that demands the attention of Government, and the most severe punish- ment.

I am not able to give the names of all concerned, nor have I had an opportunity of making perticular enquiry, but have received the aforegoing information from different people on whom I can rely, neither do I think they have as many friends as they suppose, or would wish to make the public believe. I have it not in my Power at this time to be as full and ex- plicit as I could wish on this subject, as I have but Just time to hurry up this scrawl while the carrier is waiting.

I am, Gentlemen,

with the highest Esteem and Respect, your most obdt. very Humble Servt., DORSEY PENTECOST.

His Excellency the President and Members of the Supreme Executive Council of Pensylvania.

P. S .- I have just snatched as much time as to write a short note to the Chief Justice on the above subject.

. See chapter entitled "Organization, etc., of the Ninth County of the Province."

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

Upon the adoption of the federal constitution it became necessary to provide ways and means to support the government, to pay just and pressing revolutionary claims, and sustain the army, still engaged in protecting the western frontier against the Indians. Thereupon, at the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury, a bill was framed which provided for the imposition of an excise duty of four pence per gallon on all distilled spirits. This bill was passed by congress March 3, 1791,* though against the strong opposition of many members.

Those interested asserted that the law of 1791 bore more heavily and unjustly on the interests of the region west of the Alleghenies, or its vicinity, than on those of any other part of the United States. Rye was a chief product of the farmers. For this there was but a limited home demand, and the surplus could not be trans- ported across the mountains at a profit except in the form of whisky. "A horse could carry but four bushels, but he could take the product of twenty-four bushels in the shape of alcohol. Whisky, therefore, was the most important item of remittance to pay for their salt, sugar and iron." As a result of these circumstances, there were a greater number of stills and a larger amount of whisky manufactured in this portion of the state than in any other region of the same population in the whole country. There were very few or no large manufactories where grain was bought and cash paid. There was not capital in the country for that purpose. In some neighborhoods every fifth or sixth farmer was a distiller,t who, during the winter

season, manufactured his own grain and that of his neighbors into a portable and salable article."*

A large proportion of the early settlers of Western Pennsylvania were Scotch-Irish, or of that descent, and the remainder chiefly Germans, people whose early homes, or that of their fathers, had been beyond the sea, in lands where whisky, ale or beer had been freely used, and where excise laws and excise officers were regarded as the most odious of all the measures and minions of tyranny. It can scarcely be wondered at, then, that among a people holding such opinions the law was regarded as most unjust and oppressive, nor that the more hot- headed and turbulent ones freely and fiercely announced their determination to oppose its enforcement, even to the extremity of armed resistance to the government.

This rebellious sentiment was so widespread, so unmistakable in its character, and indicated by such open threats of violence to any officers who might be hardy enough to attempt the collection of the excise duty, that it became extremely difficult to find proper persons will- ing to serve as inspectors and collectors. As time passed the spirit of resistance became more determined and soon found expression in a public act, which may be said to have marked the commencement of the famous " whisky insurrection." This was a preliminary meeting held at Redstone Old Fort (Brownsville, Penn- sylvania) on July 27, 1791, of people opposed to the execution of the law. At this meeting it was arranged that county committees should be formed in each of the counties of Fayette, West- moreland, Washington and Allegheny to meet at their respective county-seats and inaugurate measures looking to a common end - successful resistance to the operation of the law. An idea of the spirit which predominated among those composing these committees can be formed by scanning the proceedings of the Washington county committee. That committee assembled at the county-seat on August 23, 1791, and passed resolutions to the effect that any person who had accepted or might accept an office under congress in order to carry the excise law into effect should be considered inimical to the interests of the country, and recommending to

* An act entitled " An Act to repeal so much of every act or acts of assembly of this state as relates to the collection of excise duties " was approved September 21, 1791, more than six months after the passage by congress of the national excise law which brought about the Insurrection in the southwestern counties of Pennsylvania.

t Although distillers were not quite so numerous in Bedford (in proportion to the number of inhabitants) as in counties to the westward of it, yet; that it could once boast of a respectable number, the following list of still-owners for the year 1792 will show. They were John Black, John Dibert, John Helsel, John Sill, George Wisegarver, Peter Wertz and Henry Wertz in Bed- ford township ; Valentine Bowser and Sebastian Shoup in Hope- well township; Robert Campbell, John James and Abraham Miley, Jr., in Cumberland Valley township ; Peter Cupe in Milford township; John Tate and Nicholas Liabarger, Jr., in London- derry township ; Stephen Bruner, Oliver Drake, Henry Noel and Jacob Smith in Turkey-Foot township ; Edward Cowen, Abraham Nisewanger, John Snyder, John Stahl, John Shirley, William Satorus and Valentine Hay in Woodbury township; George Sipes in Belfast township; Nicholas Friend in Bethel township : Jacob Gundriman, Michael Kuntz, Peter Martin, George Mat- thias, Thomas Phreaton, Simon Phillips and Nicholas Miller in Brother's Valley township; Christian Hipple, Philip Kimmel, Sr., Christian Levenstone, William McDermot and Michael Mowry in Quemahoning township, and Michael Miller in Elk Lick township. Of these men, Michael Kuntz, of Brother's Valley, owned three stills. George Wisegarver and Henry Wertz, of Bedford, Robert Campbell, of Cumberland Valley, Peter Cape, of Milford, John Tate, of Londonderry, John Snyder and John

Stahl, of Woodberry, Jacob Gundriman and Peter Martin, of Brother's Valley, Philip Kimmel, Sr., of Quemahoning, and Michael Miller, of Elk Lick, owned two each, while the remain- der owned one still each.

* Address of Rev. Dr. Carnaban.

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the people of their county to treat every person who had accepted, or might thereafter accept, any such office with contempt, and absolutely to refuse all kind of communication or intercourse with him, and to withhold from him all aid, sup- port or comfort.

On September 7 following, a meeting was held at Pittsburgh, composed of three members from each of the four county committees, for the purpose of expressing the sense of the people in an address to congress " upon the sub- ject of the excise law, and other grievances." These delegates were among the most promi- nent citizens of the counties mentioned, and passed a series of resolutions censuring the legislation of the late congress, especially the obnoxious excise law, which they characterized as "a base offspring of the funding system, * being attended with infringements on liberty, partial in its operations, attended with great expense in the collection, and liable to much abuse," and declaring that "it is insulting to the feelings of the people to have their vessels marked, houses painted and ransacked, to be subject to informers, gaining by the occasional delinquency of others. It is a bad precedent, tending to introduce the excise laws of Great Britain, and of countries where the liberty, property, and even the morals of the people are sported with to gratify particular men in their ambitious and interested measures." The meet- ing also adopted a remonstrance to " be presented to the legislature of Pennsylvania " and further, " resolved, that the foregoing representations [the resolutions adopted] be presented to the legislature of the United States."

The day before the above-mentioned meet- ing, however, or September 6, the opposition to the law broke out in an open act of violence, said to have been the first of the kind com- mitted in the western counties. It appears that at a place near Pigeon creek, in Washington county, a party of men, armed and disguised, waylaid Robert Johnson, collector of revenue for Allegheny and Washington counties, cut off his hair, stripped him of his clothing, tarred and feathered him and took away his horse, thus "obliging him to travel on foot a con- siderable distance in that mortifying and pain- ful situation." During the same season Benjamin Wells, the collector of revenue for Fayette and Westmoreland counties, was also subjected to harsh treatment on account of his official position.

Said the secretary of the treasury, in reporting to President Washington the circumstances of the attack on Robert Johnson : " Mr. Johnson was not the only officer who, about the same period, experienced outrage. Mr. Wells, collector of revenue for Westmoreland and Fayette, was also ill-treated at Greensburg and Uniontown. Nor were the outrages perpetrated confined to the officers; they extended to private citizens who only dared to show respect for the laws of their country."

In October of the same year, another outrage was committed in Washington county on the person of Robert Wilson, who was not an ex- cise officer, but a young schoolmaster who was looking for employment, and "carried with him reputable testimonials of his character."* It was supposed that he was a little disordered in his intellect, and having, unfortunately for himself, made some inquiries concerning stills and distillers, and acted in' a mysterious manner otherwise, he was suspected of being in the service of the government. On this account he " was pursued by a party of men in disguise, taken out of his bed, carried about five miles back to a smith's shop, stripped of his clothes, which were afterward burnt, and having been inhumanly burnt in several places with a heated iron, was tarred and feathered, and about daylight dismissed, naked, wounded, and in a very pitiable and suffering condition. These particulars were communicated in a letter from the inspector of the revenue of the 17th of November, who declared that he had then himself seen the unfortunate maniac, the abuse of whom, as he expressed it, exceeded de- scription, and was sufficient to make human nature shudder. * * The symptoms of in- sanity were during the whole time of inflicting the punishment apparent, the unhappy sufferer displaying the heroic fortitude of a man who conceived himself to be a martyr to the dis- charge of some important duty."t For partici- pation in this affair Col. Samuel Wilson, Samuel Johnson, James Wright, William Tucker and John Moffit were indicted at De- cember sessions, 1791 ; but before the offenders were arraigned in court, the victim, Wilson (probably through fear of further outrage), left that part of the country, and at June sessions,

* Extract of a letter addressed to Gov. Mifflin, by James Brison, of Allegheny, November 9, 1792.

t Report of the secretary of the treasury, Pennsylvania Archives.

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1792, the indicted persons were discharged. Said Gen. Hamilton to President Washington in again referring to this affair : " The audacity of the perpetrators of these excesses was so great that an armed banditti ventured to seize and carry off two persons who were witnesses against the rioters in the case of Wilson, in order to prevent their giving testimony of the riot to a court then sitting or about to sit."

On the 8th of May, 1792, congress passed an act making material changes in the excise law, among these being a reduction of about one- fourth in the tax on whisky, and giving the distiller the alternative of paying a monthly instead of a yearly rate, according to the ca- pacity of his still, with liberty to take a li- cense for the precise term which he should intend to work it, and to renew that license for further term or terms. This provision was regarded as peculiarly favorable to the western section of the state, where very few of the distillers were in the habit of distilling during the summer months. "The effect has in a great measure," said Hamilton, in 1794, " corresponded with the views of the legisla- ture. Opposition has subsided in several dis- tricts * where it before prevailed, and it was natural to entertain, and not easy to abandon, a hope that the same thing would, by degrees, have taken place in the four western counties of the state."

Hamilton's hope, however, was not realized. The modifications made in the law, favorable as they had been thought to be for the west- ern counties, did not produce acquiescence and submission among the people of that section. Public meetings, generally controlled by men of ability and influence, were held by the dis- affected throughout the four western counties ; United States revenue officers continued to be the victims of studied insult and maltreat- ment, and the power of "Tom the Tinker" became greater in these regions than that of President Washington.

On the 21st and 22d days of August next following the passage of the modified law "a meeting of sundry inhabitants of the western counties of Pennsylvania" was held at Pitts- burgh, which was organized by the choice of Col. John Canon as chairman, and Albert Gallatin as clerk. The subject of the excise law was then

" taken under consideration and freely debated," and after adopting various resolutions the final declaration of those present was to the effect that,

WHEREAS, some men may be found amongst us so far lost to every sense of virtue and feeling for the distresses of this county as to accept offices for the collection of the duty.

Resolved, therefore, that in future we will consider such persons as unworthy of our friendship ; have no intercourse or dealings with them ; withdraw from them every assistance, and withhold all the comforts of life which depend upon those duties that as men and fellow-citizens we owe to each other ; and upon all occasions treat them with that contempt they deserve ; and that it be, and it is hereby, most earnestly recommended to the people at large to follow the same line of conduct towards them.

How men of character and good standing, such as were a majority of those composing the Pittsburgh meeting, could have given their assent to the passage of such extreme heartless resolutions, it is difficult to understand. They were aimed in a general way at all who might be even remotely concerned on the side of the government in the collection of the revenue, but more particularly at Gen. John Neville, of Allegheny county, against whom no charge could be brought, except that he had dared to accept the office of inspector of the Western Revenue District. " In order to allay opposition as far as possible," said Judge Wilkeson, " Gen. John Neville, a man of the most deserved popularity, was appointed to the inspectorship for Western Pennsylvania. He accepted the appointment from a sense of duty to his country. He was one of the few men of great wealth who had put his all at hazard for independence. At his own expense he raised a company of soldiers, marched them to Boston, and placed them, with his son, under the command of Gen. Washing- ton. He was brother-in-law to the distinguished Gen. Morgan, and father-in-law to Majs. Craig and Kirkpatrick, officers highly respected in the western country. Besides Gen. Neville's claims as a soldier and a patriot, he had contributed greatly to relieve the sufferings of the settlers in his vicinity. He divided his last loaf with the needy ; and in a season of more than ordi- nary scarcity, as soon as his wheat was suffi- ciently matured to be converted into food, he opened his fields to those who were suffering with hunger. If any man could have executed this odious law, Gen. Neville was that man. He entered upon the duties of his office, and

. Having reference more especially to the counties of Bed- ford, Bucks, Chester and Northumberland, where more or less violent opposition to the law had at times prevailed.

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appointed his deputies from among the most popular citizens. His first attempts, however, to enforce the law were resisted."

A few days before the holding of the meeting at Pittsburgh, above referred to, an outrage had been committed upon Capt. William Faulkner, of the United States army, who had permitted his house in Washington county to be used as an inspection office. Being out in pursuit of deserters in the same neighborhood where Johnson was so brutally treated in the previous autumn, he encountered a number of disguised men, who reproached him for having let his house to the government officers, drew a knife on him, threatened to scalp him, tar and feather him, and burn his house if he did not solemnly promise to prevent all further use of it as an inspection office. He was induced by their threats to make the promise demanded, and on the 21st of August gave public notice in the Pittsburgh Gazette that the office of the inspector should no longer be kept at his house.

The secretary of the treasury reported the facts of this occurrence, as also the proceed- ings of the Pittsburgh meeting, to President Washington, who thereupon, on the 15th of September, 1792, issued a proclamation admon- ishing all persons to refrain and desist from all unlawful combinations and proceedings whatso- ever, having for their object, or tending to obstruct the operation of the laws, declaring it to be the determination of the government to bring to justice all infractors of the laws, to prosecute delinquents, to seize all unexcised spirits on their way to market, and to make no purchases of spirits for the army except of such as had paid the duty. Immediately afterward a supervisor of the revenue was sent into West- ern Pennsylvania to gain information of and report on the true state of affairs ; but his mis- sion " bad no other fruit than that of obtaining evidence of the persons who composed the meet- ing at Pittsburgh, and two of those who were understood to be concerned in the riot [against Capt. Faulkner], and a confirmation of the enmity which certain active and designing lead- ers had industriously infused into a large pro- portion of the inhabitants, not against the par- ticular laws in question only, but of a more ancient date against the government of the United States itself .*

*Reports of Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Pennsylvania Archives.

In April, 1793, a large party of men, armed and disguised, made an attack upon the house of Benjamin Wells, who was then the collector of revenue for Fayette and Westmoreland counties. His house, which stood on the west side of the Youghiogheny, opposite the present borough of Connellsville, was visited in the night by these rioters, who, having forced an en- trance and finding that Wells was absent, con- tented themselves by terrifying and abusing his family. On the night of November 22, 1793, a second attack was made on the house of Wells. The insurrectionists again entered the house by force, and demanded a surrender of the officer's commission and official books, and upon his refusal they threatened him, with pistols pointed at his head, and swore that if he did not comply they would instantly put him to death. By this means they forced him to sur- render his books and commission, and, not con- tent with this, they compelled Wells to promise that he would, within two weeks, publish hix resignation. He did not resign, however, and finally about July 1, 1794, the rioters burned his house in his absence, captured him on his return, and again demanded that he resign his commis- sion as collector and promise to accept no office under the excise laws in the future. Thexe de- mands were made as the conditions on which his life and safety depended. He accepted them, submitted to all their requirements, upon which they desisted from all further ill treat- ment of him. He afterward removed to the Connellsville side of the river and established his residence there.

Not long after the destruction of Wells' house by the insurgents, an United States officer went into Fayette county to serve processes against a number of non-complying distillers, and also against Robert Smilie and John McCulloch, two persons charged with participation in the riotous attack on the house of Collector Wells in the previous November. "The marshal of the dis- trict," said Secretary Hamilton, "went in per- son to serve these processes. He executed his trust without interruption, though under many discouraging circumstances, in Fayette county ; but while he was in the execution of it in Alle- gheny county, being then accompanied by the inspector of the revenue (Gen. Neville), to wit : On July 15, last (1794), he was beset on the road by a party of from thirty to forty armed men, who after much irregularity of conduct finally

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fired on him, but, as it happened, without in- jury either to him or to the inspector."

The attack on the marshal and Gen. Neville, however, proved to be but the prelude to one of the most daring outrages that were committed during the continuance of the insurrection. The disaffected people were greatly incensed against Gen. Neville for going with the marshal to assist in serving the processes, piloting him to the homes of his victims, they claimed, and on this account the feeling against him became very intense and bitter.

At daybreak on the day following the attack on the marshal and inspector, " in conformity with a plan which seems to have been for some time entertained, and which was probably only accelerated by the coming of the marshal into the survey, an attack by about one hundred per- sons armed with guns and other weapons was made upon the house of the inspector (Neville) in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. The inspector, though alone, vigorously defended himself against the assailants, and obliged them to retreat without accomplishing their purpose."* How- ever, they had.only postponed and not abandoned the execution of their plans, for on the following day they reassembled in augmented numbers, amounting, it was said, to fully five hundred men, and renewed the attack on .Gen. Neville's house, which was then defended by a detachment of eleven men from the garrison of Fort Pitt. After a fight of about an hour's duration, in which one of the insurgents was killed and sev- eral wounded, while three of those in the house were also wounded, the defending party sur- rendered, and the insurgents then burned the house to the ground, together with all the out- buildings, occasioning a loss of more than twelve thousand dollars. Gen. Neville had left the house before the commencement of the firing, and sought a place of concealment at a distance, wisely concluding that this was the only way to save his life. On the night of July 19, he and the marshal who had come to serve the processes (having been frequently threatened with death at the hands of the insurgents, and finding that no protection was to be expected from the magistrates or inhabitants of Pitts- burgh) made their escape from the place, fled down the Ohio river, and thence made their way east by a circuitous way, knowing the usual routes over the mountains to be beset by their enemies.

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 19

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 967

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967