History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 35

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 35

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the fee bill, and signed by Robert D. Moore, Lewis Sweitzer, and Lewis Marchand, committee, with date of Sept. 1, 1810.

The Fayette County Medical Association was formed at a meeting of physicians of the county, held for that purpose at the Town Hall in Union- town, June 25, 1844. The physicians present were Drs. Campbell, Stanley, Johnston, Thompson, Rob- erts, Worrak, Miller, Fleming, Jones, Lindley, Rob- inson, Post, Fuller, Neff, Penny, Marchand, Lafferty, Fitter, Mathiot, and Shugart. Dr. Abraham Stanley was made chairman, assisted by Drs. Lindley and Campbell, which last-named gentleman delivered the address. Dr. Smith Fuller and Dr. H. F. Rob- erts reported a constitution and by-laws, which were adopted by the meeting and subseribed by the fol- lowing-named physicians, viz. : Hugh Campbell, A. H. Campbell, Smith Fuller, H. F. Roberts, and D. H. Johnston, of Uniontown ; Lutellus Lindley, Connells- ville; Abraham Stanley, Bridgeport; James Thomp- son, New Geneva; W. L. Lafferty, Brownsville; Lewis Marchand, near Brownsville; T. A. Shugart and James Robinson, Perryopolis; C. B. Fitter and H. B. Mathiot, Smithfield ; Jacob Post, New Salem ; F. H. Fleming, Cookstown ; G. W. Neff, Masontown ; J. Penny, McClellandtown; and J. R. Worrak and J. H. Miller, of Washington County.

The association was organized with the following- named officers :

President, Dr. Hugh Campbell.

Treasurer, Dr. Smith Fuller.

Corresponding Secretary, Dr. A. H. Campbell.

Recording Secretary, Dr. H. F. Roberts.

Meetings were held in August and November of that year, but the association appears to have been short-lived, for the last record of it is dated Dec. 19, 1844.

The present medical society of the county was formed at a meeting of physicians held for the pur- pose at Brownsville, May 18, 1869. There were pres- ent Drs. J. S. Van Voorhees, W. H. Sturgeon, H. F. Roberts, W. P. Duncan, S. A. Conklin, J. B. Ewing, Knox, and Hazlett. A committee, composed of Drs. Duncan, Ewing, Conklin, and Sturgeon, reported a constitution (based on that of the Allegheny County Medical Society), and signed by the physicians above named, with the addition of F. C. Robinson and B. F. Conklin. The first officers of the society were W. P. Dunean, president; J. S. Van Voorhees, vice- president ; J. B. Ewing, recording secretary ; H. F. Roberts, corresponding secretary ; and W. H. Stur- geon, treasurer.

At the meeting held in July following the consti- tution was signed by Drs. Lindley, Fuller, Groonet, Phillips, Rogers, Patten, Mathiot, Carey, Finley, and Eastman. Additions to the roll of the society were made at subsequent times as follows :

1 The duty of the Council of Censors was to inquire and ascertain whether the constitution had "been preserved inviolate in every part;" whether it was perfect in all its parts, or requiring amendment ; also to review the decisions of the judges of the courts.

2 The office of county lieutenant existed in Pennsylvania from 1776 to 1700. It carried with it the title of colonel, and gave to the person holdiog it the command of the militia and the management of the mili- tary fiscal affairs of the county.

3 On the 7th of April, 1785, William Graham was appointed collector of excise for Westmoreland, Washington, and Fayette Counties. His Cumimiission was revoked Dec. 12, 1785. His appointment of deputies was one of the first couses out of which grew the Whiskey Insurrection. John Craig succeeded him, and his commission was revoked Dec. 12, 1786.

156

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

October, 1870 .- Drs. George W. Neff, James Sloan, S. B. Chalfant, John Davidson.

Jan. 3, 1871 .- Drs. Sangston and Porter. April 4, 1871 .- Dr. Smith Buttermore.

Jan. 2, 1872 .- Dr. J. J. Singer, Connellsville.

April 2, 1872 .- Dr. W. C. Byers, Belle Vernon.

Oct. 1, 1872 .- Drs. Isaac Jackson and B. Shoe- maker, of Brownsville.

April 1, 1873 .- Dr. Strickler.

Oct. 8, 1873 .- Dr. L. Lindley, Connellsville.

Jan. 2, 1877 .-- Dr. John Hankins, Uniontown.

July 3, 1877 .- Drs. Richard Shipler and Johnston. Oct. 2, 1877 .- Dr. J. R. Nelin, Brownsville.

Jan. 8, 1878 .- Dr. Nelson Green, New Geneva, and Dr. L. S. Gaddis, Uniontown.

April 1, 1879 .- Drs. J. M. Gordon, J. M. Gordon, Jr., and Smith Fuller, Jr.

June 4, 1881 .- Dr. J. V. Porter.

The officers of the society for 1881 are :

President, Dr. J. B. Ewing ; Vice-President, Dr. John D. Sturgeon, Jr .; Recording Secretary, Dr. John Hankins; Assistant Secretary, Dr. W. S. Dun- can ; Treasurer, Dr. L. S. Gaddis; Censor, Dr. F. C. Robinson ; Delegates to State Medical Convention, Drs. Robinson, Green, Duncan, Clark, and Sturgeon, Jr. ; Delegates to National Medical Association, Drs. Van Voorhees, Robinson, and Dunean.

COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

The existence of a society for the promotion of agriculture in Fayette County sixty years ago is proved by an entry in the records of the commis- sioners of date Sept. 2, 1822, at which time the board "issued $150 to Hugh Thompson, treasurer of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and Domestic Manufactures in Fayette County, which sum the said society are entitled to receive out of the county treas- ury agreeably to an act of the General Assembly passed March 6, 1820."

The Brownsville Western Register of March 10, 1823, contains an advertisement by the secretary of the agricultural society, Col. Samuel Evans, announ- eing the premiums to be awarded at the exhibition of that year. It was required that "articles must have been manufactured in Fayette County, otherwise they are not entitled to premiums." This is the latest notice of or reference to this old society which has been found.

In 1852 an agricultural association was formed in Jefferson township, and a fair was held on the farm of Robert Elliott. Afterwards Mr. William Colvin, of Redstone, and citizens of Brownsville and Luzerne township became interested, and formed the project to organize a county association, which was accom- plished, and its first exhibition was held on the farm of Eli Cope, Esq., near Brownsville. Associations were soon after formed at Fayette City and Connells- ville. The people of Uniontown became awakened,

and the project was conceived to form a society, with headquarters and grounds at the county-seat. The proposition was made to the Brownsville society, and was coneurred in by a number of its officers and mem- bers. In 1857 or '58 a lot of about twenty acres of land was secured in a favorable location, suitable buildings and a large number of stalls for stock were erected, and a half-mile track graded. Here several exhibitions were held, but the breaking ont of the war of the Rebellion overshadowed everything not pertaining to its prosecution, and led to the abandon- ment of this enterprise.

About 1869 a society known as the Fayette County Agricultural and Mechanical Association was formed, which located its grounds above Brownsville, on the farm of William Britton, where the necessary build- ings were erected, fences built, and a track graded, involving an expenditure of some thousands of dol- lars. The first exhibition of the association was held here in 1869, and several were held afterwards, but no permanent success resulted, and the enterprise languished and finally failed.

The Fayette County Agricultural Association was chartered July 21, 1879, with E., B. Dawson, Robert Hogsett, William Beeson, Joseph M. Hadden, and John Snider, charter members. In the spring of the same year an arrangement was made with Monroe Beeson, administrator of the estate of Rachel Skiles, deceased, for a tract of about twenty-nine and a half aeres of land, which was deeded to the association in November of the same year. An additional lot of land adjoining the first named, and containing two and three-fourths acres, was purchased of William H. Sembower, and conveyed to the association by deed dated Oet. 5, 1879.

The fair-grounds, embracing these two tracts, are located on the west side of the track of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, about five-eighths of a mile north of Uniontown. On these grounds suitable buildings and stalls were erected, a tract graded in the best manner, and the whole well inclosed by a sub- stantial fence, the total cost being about $10,000. Within this inelosure the first fair of the association was held in the fall of 1879, with favorable financial result. At the fair of 1880 there were five hundred and sixty entries in the agricultural department alone, and the aggregate receipts of the exhibition were about 82600. If the interest which has already been awakened among the people continues to increase in the same ratio as hitherto, the prospects of the asso- ciation are excellent for the future. Further improve- ments in the grounds are in contemplation, and when these are completed as proposed, they will hardly be inferior to the grounds of any similar association in the State of Pennsylvania.

The present (1881) officers of the association are Jasper MI. Thompson, president; A. C. Nutt, treas- urer; and John K. Ewing, secretary.

I57

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

CHAPTER XV.

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

"THE Whiskey Insurrection" is a term which has been usually applied to a series of unlawful and vio- lent acts committed (principally in 1794, but to some extent in previous years) by inhabitants of the counties of Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette. These illegal and insurrectionary acts embraced an armed resistance on several occasions to the execution of certain State and national laws im- posing an excise tax on distilled spirits and stills used for the manufacture of such spirits, a measure which was generally and peculiarly obnoxious to the people of these counties, particularly because they regarded it as calculated to bear with especial and discriminating severity on the industries of this sec- tion as compared with other parts of the country.

The first excise tax imposed in the province of Pennsylvania was that authorized in an act of As- sembly passed March 16, 1684, entitled " Bill of Aid and Assistance of the Government."1 As it was found to be objectionable to the sense of the people, that part of the bill relating to the collection of excise duties was repealed soon afterwards, and no similar legislation was had for more than half a century. In 1738 the provincial Assembly passed "An act for laying an excise on wine, rum, brandy, and other spirits,"2 but this, like its predecessor of 1684, was received with such unmistakable disfavor that it re- mained in force only a few months from the com- mencement of its operation. Again, in May, 1744, the Assembly renewed the measure, "for the pur- pose of providing money without a general tax, not only to purchase arms and ammunition for defense, but to answer such demands as might be made upon the inhabitants of the province by his Majesty for distressing the public enemy in America."" This enactment remained in operation but a short time. Another excise law was passed in 1756, but failed of execution ; then for nearly sixteen years the people of Pennsylvania were undisturbed by governmental attempts to collect impost duties on spirits.

In 1772 the subject came again before the Assen- bly, and as a measure of revenue a new act was passed + levying a duty on domestic and foreign dis- tilled spirits. At first this law was not executed in reference to domestic liquors, nor was there any en- ergetic attempt made for that purpose, particularly in the old counties of the province; but after Pennsyl- vania became a State, and her necessities were greatly increased by the Revolutionary war, then in progress, the law was put in execution, and a very consider- able revenue obtained in that way, the measure being at that time the less obnoxious because patriotic men were opposed to the consumption of grain in distilla-

tion at a time when every bushel was needed for the subsistence of the troops in the field, fighting for lib- erty. A large part of the proceeds collected at that time was appropriated to the "depreciation fund," created in this State (as in others, in pursuance of a resolution passed by Congress in 1780; for the pur- pose of giving to officers and soldiers of the Revolu- tionary army an additional compensation, a measure which was manifestly just and necessary, because the value of their pay had been greatly lessened by the depreciation of the Continental currency.

After the close of the Revolution, laws imposing excise duties on distilled spirits remained on the Pennsylvania statute-books until 1791, but they were not generally enforced, and were exceedingly unpop- ular, especially in the western and southwestern por- tions of the State. During the period mentioned (some seven or eight years prior to their repeal in 1791), though the excise laws of the State were by no means generally enforced, the collection of the revenue tax on spirits was several times attempted, but never successfully executed in the southwestern counties. Such an attempt was made in Fayette, Westmoreland, and Washington Counties in the year 1786, and the consequences resulting to an excise officer in the last-named county are shown in a letter written by Dorsey Pentecost? to the Executive Coun- cil of Pennsylvania, as follows :

" WASHINGTON COUNTY, 16th Apr.1, 1756.

" 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 manner, viz. : His Pis- tols, which he carried before him, taken and broke to pieces in his presence, his Commission 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 enrses 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 Im- pos'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 Westmore- land County, calling at all the Still llouse, in their way, where they were Treated Gratis, and expos'd him to every Insult and mockery that their Invention could contrive. They set him at Liberty at the en- trance of Westmoreland, but with Threats of utter Desolution should he dare to return to our County.

"This Bandittie 1 am told denounces distruction, vengeance against all manner of People who dare to oppose or even ganesay this their unparrelled beha-

1 Votes of Assembly, i. 29.

3 Ibid , i. 293.

2 Dallas, i. 203.

+ Ibid., i. 034.

6 Pa, Archives, x. 757.

158

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

vior, 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 Combination 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 pun- ishing 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 outragions and unprovoked Insult that was ever offered to a Government and the Liberties of a free People, and what in my opinion greatly agrivates 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 pun- ishment.

"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 informa- tion 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 Pennsylvania.

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

The Mr. Grabam referred to in the above letter was the excise officer for the district comprising Wash- ington, Westmoreland, and Fayette. Nothing ap- pears to show that he was similarly maltreated in the two latter counties, but the public feeling in them, if less aggressive, was equally determined against the excise, and no collections were made by the officers in this district under the State law during its con- tinuance. 1

Upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, it became necessary to provide ways and means to sup- port the government, to pay just and pressing Revo- lutionary claims, and sustain the army, which was still necessary for the protection of the frontier against Indian attack. " The duties on goods imported were very far from adequate to the wants of the new gov- ernment. Taxes were laid on articles supposed to be the least necessary, and, among other things, on dis- tilled liquors, or on the stills with which they were manufactured." At the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, a bill was framed, among the provisions of which was the impo- sition of an excise duty of four pence per gallon on all distilled spirits. This bill was passed by Congress, March 3, 1791, against the strong opposition of many members, among the most determined and energetic of whom was the representative of this district, Wil- liam Findley, of Westmoreland. Albert Gallatin and John Smilie, both men of the highest prominence and residents of Fayette County, were among the strongest opponents of the measure, though not advocates of forcible resistance to its execution.

It was argued that the law of 1791 bore more heavily and unjustly on the interests of the region west of the Alleghenies than on those of any other part of the Union. Here a principal product of the farmers was rye. For this there was little home de- mand, and it could not be transported across the mountains at a profit, except in the form of whiskey. " A horse could carry but four bushels, but he could take the product of twenty-four bushels in the shape of alcohol. Whiskey, therefore, was the most import- ant item of remittance to pay for their salt, sugar, and iron."" As a result of these peculiar circum-

"Section 2. Provided always, . . . That nothing herein contained ~hall be deemed or construed to prevent the recovery of all such duties upon the said articles as are now due to the Commonwealth, nor to release or take away any forfeiture or penalty which any person or persons may have incurred by reason of the stid acts of Assembly ; but that all pros- eentions commenced, or which may be commenced in consequence there- of, may be prosecuted tu as full effect as if such acts or parts thereof had not been repealed."

This repealing act was approved Sept. 21, 1791, six months after the pas-age by Congress of the excise law which brought about the insurrec- tion in the western counties of Pennsylvania.

" As late as the year of the insurrection, ftright in wagons to Phila- delphia cost from five tu ten dollars per hundred pounds. Salt sold at five dollars a Inishel, while iron and steel cust from fifteen to twenty cents per pound. In that fertile region grain was abundantly produced, but there was no market, while farmers east of the munntains were growing rich by means of the general war in Europe. Trade down the Ohio, despite its danger, had then no outlet, the lower Mississippi bring in possession of the Spanish. The freight on a barrel of flour to Phila- delphia was as much as it would bring in that market. 'Wheat,' says the Rev. Dr. Carnahan, ' was so plentiful and of so little valuo that it was a common practice to grind that of the best quality and feed it to the cattle; while rye, corn, and barley would bring no price as fond fur man or beast.' The only way left for the inhabitants to obtain a little money to purchase salt, iron, and other articles necessary in carrying on their farming operations was by distilling their grain and reducing it to a more portable form, and sending the whiskey over the mountains or down the Ohio to Kentucky, then rapidly filling up and affording a market for that article."-Papers Relating to the Whiskey Insurrection, Pa. Archives, vol. iv., 6.

1 " An Act to repeal so much of every act or acts of Assembly of this State as relates to the collection of excise duties," provideil, " Section 1. . . . That so much of every act or acts of Assembly as authorize the vollvetion of any duty or duties upon wine, rum, brandy, or other spi: it- unns liquors shall be, and the same are, hereby repealed.

153

THIE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

stances, there was in this section a greater number of stills and a larger amount of whiskey manufactured than in any other region of the same population in any part of the country. "There were very few or no large manufactories where grain was bought and i citizens proved insufficient to screen him from their cash paid. There was not capital in the country for insults and violence when against these was weighed the fact that he had accepted an office the duties of which obliged him to attempt the execution of a law which they detested.

that purpose. In some neighborhoods every fifth or sixth farmer was a distiller, who during the winter season manufactured his own grain and that of his neighbors into a portable and saleable article." And thus the people thought "they foresaw that what little money was brought into the country by the sale of whiskey would be carried away in the form of excise duties." t

In these western counties a large proportion of the inhabitants were Scotch-Irish, or of that descent, a people whose earlier home, or that of their fathers, had been beyond the sea, in a land where whiskey was the national beverage, and where excise laws and excise officers were regarded as the most odious of all the measures and minions of tyranny. "They also remembered that resistance to the Stamp Act and duty on tea at the commencement of the Revolution began by the destruction of the tea and a refusal to nse the royal stamps ; that the design was not to break allegiance to the British throne, but to force a repeal of these odious laws. They were, almost to a man, enemies to the British government, and had contri- buted their full proportion in service in establishing the independence of America. To them no other tax of equal amount would have been half so odious." It can scarcely be wondered at then that among a people holding such opinions the measure was re- garded as a most unjust and oppressive one, nor that the more hot-headed and turbulent ones freely and fiercely announced their determination to oppose its execution even to the extremity of armed resistance to the government.

This rebellious sentiment was so wide-spread, 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 difficult to find any proper person · willing to take the risk of accepting the office of chief inspector of the Western District. The position was finally accepted by Gen. John Neville,2 of Allegheny

County, a man who above nearly all others was, on account of his great personal popularity and unques- tioned honesty and patriotism, the proper man for the place. But the confidence and respect of his fellow-

The popular excitement increased rapidly, 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 " Whiskey Insurrection." This was a preliminary meeting hekl in Fayette County, at Redstone Old Fort (Browns- ville), on the 27th of July, 1791, composed of people opposed to the execution of the law. At this meeting it was concerted that county committees should be formed in each of the four counties of Fayette, West- | moreland, Washington, and Allegheny, to meet at the respective county-seats and take measures looking to a common end,-successful resistance to the operation of the law. These committees were formed accord- ingly, and the temper and ideas of the men composing them may be judged from the proceedings had at a meeting of the Washington County Committee, held at the county-seat on the 23d of August, on which occasion resolutions were passed 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 the people of their county to treat every person who had accepted, or might thereafter accept, any such office with con- tempt, and absolutely to refuse all kind of communi- cation or intercourse with him, and to withhold from him all aid, support, or comfort. These resolutions - were printed in the Pittsburgh Gazette, the proprietor of which paper would doubtless have feared the con- sequences of a refusal to publish them if he had been so disposed.

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 35

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314