History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 75

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 75

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Accordingly, on the 28th of August, the standing committee (the "Committee of Sixty") met at Red- stone Old Fort (Brownsville), to receive and act upon the report of the committee of conference. Of the sixty members of the committee, fifty-seven were in attendance, of whom twenty-three were from Wash- ington County, thirty from the three counties of Westmoreland, Allegheny, and Fayette, one from Bedford, and three from Ohio County, Va. While the members of the committee were assembling a large military company crossed the Monongahela from the western side, by John Krepps' ferry, to the site of the present town of Bridgeport, then crossed Dunlap's Creek to the Old Fort. The company con- sisted of about seventy men on foot, all fully armed,

of the constitutional power of the President to call upon the force of the Union to suppress them. It is our object, as it is yours, to compose the disturbance. . . . We have already stated to you in conference that we are empowered to give you no definite answer with regard to the sense of the people on the great question of acceding to the law, but that in our opinion it is the interest of the country to accede, and that we shall make this report to the committee to whom we are to report, and state to them the reasons of our opinion, that so far as they have weight they may be regarded by them. It will be our endeavor to con- ciliate not only them, but the public mind in general to our views on this subject. We hope to be assisted by you in giving all that extent and precision, clearness and certainty to your propositions that may be necessary to satisfy the understandings and engage the acquiescence of the people. . . . As we are disposed, with you, to have the sense of the people taken on the subject of our conference as speedily as may be, with that view we have resolved to call the committee to whom our re- port is to be made at an earlier day than had been appointed, to wit, on Thursday, the 28th instant, but have not thought ourselves authorized in changing the place at Redstone Old Fort, on the Monongahela.

" By order of the Committee, " EDWARD COOK, Chairman."

-Papers Relating to the Whiskey Insurrection, Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Series, vol. iv. pp. 190, 191.

Less conciliatory but more curious was the reply of the Ohio County (Va.) committee to the United States commissioners, viz .:

"PITTSBURGH, Aug. 23, 1794.

"GENTI .- Having Concidered your Letter of this Date since the De- parture of the speachel Comatie delegated from Westmoreland, Wash- ington, Featt & Aleganie countis, in Pensilvenea, & Considering our Selves a Justifyable repsentation of those inhabtents of Ohio County by whome we were deligated, & a part of that speachell Comitie to whom your proposals wear mead and Accepted yesterday, and the day posding and relying on the faith alr'dy pledged by you and Acepted by the Speachell Comatee, we d'clin entering any further on this Bussens, un- tell we Consult our Constituents & the Cometee of Safety.

" We are, Gentl., with esteem,

" Your most Obed. Humble Serv't,

" ROBERT STEPHENSON,

" WILLIAM SUTHERLAND,

"WM. MCKINLEY."

and some of them dressed in a kind of military uni- form, and fifteen or twenty horsemen also fully armed, and all in the uniform of the day and region, the principal garment of which was the omnipresent hunting-shirt. The entire company, which was under command of Capt. Crawford, of Muddy Creek, was made up of men from that section of Washington County. They attended the meeting for the purpose of showing their sympathy with the insurrection and their defiance of the government, and to administer chastisement to Samuel Jackson,1 of Fayette County, for having (as was reported) applied a contemptuous epithet to the august Committee of Sixty, otherwise styled by their adherents the "Committee of Safety." As they paraded the single street of the place they made quite a formidable appearance, and contributed no little towards keeping up the excitement and spirit of defiance among the mass of people; but it had no such effect on the leaders, for nearly all of them were thoroughly cowed and resolved on submission, making the best terms possible for themselves. Judge Alex- ander Addison said? "that the minds of all men appeared to be strongly impressed with a sense of the critical situation of the country, and the minds of almost all with a fear of opposing the current of the popular opinion," and that "these impressions were greatly increased by the appearance of a body of armed men assembled there from Muddy Creek, in Washington County." The armed party remained at Brownsville until night, when they were prevailed on by the more prudent of the leaders to recross the river and return to their homes; but Findley says that during their stay at Brownsville, "by their pres- ence and threats, they overawed the meeting."

The business of the meeting was opened by the submission of the conference committee's report and a speech upon it by Mr. Gallatin, who urged the adoption of a resolution in acceptance of the terms offered by the commissioners, and set forth the dan-

=1 Samuel Jackson was a Quaker of great respectability, a man of some wealth, and in part owner of a paper-mill on Redstone Creek. He was conscientiously opposed to the use and manufacture of whiskey, and naturally sided against the insurgents. This caused them to regard him as a foe, and the enmity was increased by a remark which he had made concerning the meeting at Parkinson's Ferry, calling it a " arrub con- gress." It was for this offense that the Muddy Creek men now visited him, took him prisoner, marched him to Brownsville, and arraigned him before the Committee of Sixty. Violence might and probably would have been done him but for the interposition of Judge Brackenridge, a member of the committee, but an acquaintance and personal friend of Mr. Jackson. On the appearance of the latter the judge took the matter into his own hands. He addressed the meeting, saying that Samuel was certainly very culpable for having applied so disrespectful an epithet to such an august and legitimate assemblage of the sovereign people, but that it was probably from lack of thought and reflection more than from sinister design, and that on this account the proper punishment to apply to him would be to pay him in his own coin by stigmatizing him as a " scrub Quaker." The effect was just what the judge had intended. Tom the Tinker's boys yelled with delight, and after admonishing the scrub Quaker to be more careful of his language in the future allowed him to depart with no other maltreatment than the jeers of the Muddy Creekers and their compatriots.

2 In a deposition before Richard Peters, judge of the United States District Court .- See Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, vol. iv. p. 390.

-Ibid., p. 203.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ger of using force in resistance to the law, the im- possibility of these western counties contending suc- cessfully against the force of the United States, and the evident necessity of submission. "Mr. Gallatin, although a foreigner who could with difficulty make himself understood in English, yet presented with great force the folly of past resistance and the ruin- ous consequences to the country of the continuance of the insurrection. He urged that the government was bound to vindicate the laws, and that it would surely send an overwhelming force against them. He placed the subject in a new light, and showed the insurrection to be a much more serious affair than it had before appeared."1 Brackenridge followed Gal- latin in an argument to the same end, though urged in a different manner. His speech was followed by a violent one from Bradford, who scouted the idea of " surrender," as he called it, denounced those who advocated the. making of terms with the commission- ers, and strenuously advocated continued resistance, in which he was almost unanimously supported by the large assembly of people present, who greeted his speech with the most enthusiastic cheers. The busi- ness of the day proceeded amid scenes of wild excite- ment, and no result was reached.

On the 29thi the meeting was opened by Gallatin, who made another long and sensible speech in favor of accepting the terms of the commissioners. Other addresses to the same end were made by speakers of the previous day. Bradford was of course prominent in the debate, and his speech at this time was more violent than any he had previously made. He boldly advocated the project of erecting a new and inde- pendent government.2 He cited the revolutions in America and in France as models for imitation, and as inducements to hope for the success of these counties against the government, which he said was rendered reasonably certain on account of their pecu- liar situation, as separated from the eastern country by almost insurmountable natural barriers. He pro- posed the immediate raising of an army to meet any

government force that might be sent against them, to drive it back in rout and possess themselves of its arms and ammunition, after which they could easily hold their country against all invaders and secure in- dependence beyond all doubt. His whole speech was manifestly intended to keep up the opposition to gov- ernment and to prevent the adoption of the resolu- tions proposed by Gallatin.

The leaders, with the exception of Bradford and a few others of less prominence, had fully made up their minds to abandon the wreck of the insurrection, but the followers had apparently at that time little thought of submission, and were as violent and determined on opposition as ever, and so strong an influence did this exert, even on the leaders who knew that the cause was hopeless, that they dared not openly and fully avow their sentiments and place themselves on record. "Such was the fear of the popular frenzy that it was with difficulty that a vote could be had at this meet- ing. No one would vote by standing up. None would write a yea or nay, lest his handwriting should be recognized. At last it was determined that yea and nay should be written by the secretary on the same pieces of paper, and be distributed, leaving each member to chew up or destroy one of the words while he put the other in the box," thus giving each mem- ber an opportunity of concealing his opinion, and of sheltering himself from the resentment of those from whom violence was to be apprehended, or whom he wished to avoid offending. In this way a balloting was had, and in the adoption of the resolutions by a vote of thirty-four to twenty-three, as announced, though it was afterwards found that six votes had been cast in the negative under a misapprehension of its import, so that but for this mistake the vote would have stood forty for, and seventeen against, the reso- lution.3 When the result was declared, so strongly in

1 Judge Wilkeson.

. 2 With reference to this speech of Bradford, Findley says, "Reports were circulated that Bradford, who lodged on the Washington side of the river that night, had bound himself firmly with a number of others to support the opposition by force of arms until government would be brought to agree unequivocally to their own terms ; it appeared by what followed that the idea of a complete revolution was now taken up by Bradford, and it was certain that several of the most obstinate of those who originated the present violent measures were among the spectators, and perhaps some of them members of the committee; but Marshel and others of the most respectable men among them had totally withdrawn from their interest." Judge Mckean, one of the commissioners, in a letter to Attorney-General Ingersoll, dated Pittsburgh, Aug. 29, 1794, said, "In case a reconciliation and amnesty had not taken place many (I believe a majority of the people here) threatened to become British subjects, to remove into the Indian country, or at all events to detach themselves from the laws of the Union, and be independent of any govern- ment except one formed by themselves. Indeed, their speeches and actions have been most extravagant; a frenzy seemed to be diffused through the country ; the still voice of reason drowned, and the wildest chimeras to have taken possession of men's minds. One might be led to think it was the work of magic, or owing to some physical cause."

8 The following letter, in reference to this meeting and the result of the voting, was written by the Pennsylvania commissioners to Governor Mifflin. It is dated Pittsburgh, Aug. 30 (2 o'clock P.M.), 1794:

" We have this moment received a copy of the proceedings of the Com- mittee of Sixty, called the Committee of Safety, at Brownsville yesterday, which we have the honor to enclose to you. Exclusive of the knowledge of the sentiments of these gentlemen, to be derived from the Resolutions they have passed, we have good information that the sense of those present, being fifty-seven in number, was taken by ballot on the ques- tion ' whether they would acquiesce in the terms of reconciliation pro- posed by the Commissioners of the United States;' and that it was car- ried in the affirmative by thirty-four votes against twenty-three as the votes were counted, although in reality six had put in their ballots in the negative in a mistake, so the true state of the numbers was forty for, and seveuteen against, submission, We have been told there were a considerable number of Spectators there (one company of militia with their arms), who appeared to be variously affected, though our informa- tion is that the majority were for pacific measures."-Pa. Arch., 2d Series, iv., pp. 218, 219.

But the United States commissioners took a somewhat different view of the significance of the proceedings at the Brownsville meeting. In their report, made September 24th, they said,-

" The underwritten were informed by several of the members of that meeting, as well as other citizens who were present at it, that the report of the committee of conference and the proposals of the commissioners were unfavorably received; that rebellion and hostile resistance against the United States were publicly recommended by some of the members,

291

THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION.

opposition to his views, Bradford left the meeting in anger and disgust.1 Nearly all the spectators also withdrew as soon as the vote was declared, and the committee was left almost alone to complete their business.

The main resolution adopted at the Brownsville meeting was as follows: "Resolved, That in the opinion of this Committee it is the interest of the people of this Country to accede to the proposals made by the Commissioners on the part of the United States. Resolved, that a Copy of the foregoing reso- lution be transmitted to the said Commissioners."

But instead of giving the assurances required by the commissioners, the Committee of Sixty showed a disposition to temporize, and in the hope of obtaining better terms they further "Resolved, That a Com- mittee be appointed 2 to confer with the Commission- ers on the part of the United States and of the State of Pennsylvania, with instructions to the said Com- mittee to try to obtain from the said Commissioners such further modification in their proposals as they think will render them more agreeable to the people at large, and also to represent the necessity of grant- ing further time to the people before their final deter- mination is required. . . . That the said Committee shall publish and communicate throughout the sev- eral counties the day at which the sense of the people is expected to be taken. That on the day thus pub- lished the following question be submitted to the citi- zens duly qualified to vote, according to the election law of the State, of the Counties of Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, Allegheny, and that part of Bedford which lies west of the Allegheny mountains,

and that so excessive a spirit prevailed that it was not thought prudent or safe to urge a compliance with the terms and preliminaries prescribed by the underwritten or the commissioners from the Governor of Pennsyl- vania, . . . and the underwritten have been repeatedly assured that if the question had been publicly put, it would have been carried in the negative by a large majority.

" The conduct of the meeting at Brownsville, notwithstanding the thin veil thrown over it by the resolve already mentioned [that it was expedient to comply with the terms proposed by the commissioners], was said to be considered by many, and especially by the violent party, as a rejection of the terms. It was certainly a partial rejection of those pro- posed by the underwritten, and a total one of the preliminaries pre- scribed by the State commissioners, who had required assurances from the members of that meeting only, and not from the people themselves." -Penna. Arch., 2d Series, vol. iv. pp. 353-54.

1 " Bradford stood appalled; his power and influence were at an end; he withdrew from the place almost immediately and was not heard of again until some days after, when he was one of the first to hasten to seize the horns of the altar, or, in other words, to take the benefit of the amnesty, in the midst of his deserted followers, who now cried out, "Dagon, how art thou fallen!' But being excepted, on account of his last act, and perhaps on account of his robbery of the mail, he took to the river and escaped."-Brackenridge.

2 The following letter from the chairman of the committee was ad- dressed to the United States committee :

* BROWNSVILLE, 29th August, 1794.

" GENTLEMEN,-Difficulties having arisen with us, we have thought it necessary to appoint a committee to confer with you in order to procure, if possible, some farther time, in order that the people may have leisure to reflect upon their true situation.

"I am, Gentlemen, your most obt. Humble Servt, " EDWARD COOK."

in Pennsylvania, and of Ohio County, Virginia,- Will the people submit to the laws of the United States upon the terms proposed by the Commissioners of the United States ?"

The persons appointed to form the committee under these resolutions were John Probst, Robert Dickey, John Nesbitt, Herman Husband, John Corbly, John Marshal, David Phillips, John Heaton, John McClel- land, William Ewing, George Wallace, Samuel Wil- son, and Richard Brown.

The meeting continued in session at Brownsville for two days, and adjourned on the 29th of August. It was the last meeting of the kind 3 held during the insurrection, and virtually marked its close, as the meeting held at the same place three years before (July 27, 1791) had marked its opening, that being the first public meeting held in opposition to the ex- cise law.

The committee appointed at the Brownsville meet- ing met the commissioners of the United States and those of Pennsylvania in conference at Pittsburgh on the 1st of September, at which meeting "it was agreed that the assurances required from the citizens of the Fourth Survey of Pennsylvania [the four west- ern counties] should be given in writing, and their sense ascertained in the following manner :

"That the citizens of the said survey (Allegheny County excepted +) of the age of eighteen years and upwards be required to assemble on Thursday, the 11th instant, in their respective townships, at the usual place for holding township meetings, and that between the hours of twelve and seven, in the after- noon of the same day, any two or more of the mem- bers of the meeting who assembled at Parkinson's Ferry on the 14th ultimo, resident in the township, or a justice of the peace of said township, do openly propose to the people assembled the following ques- tions : Do you now engage to submit to the laws of the United States, and that you will not hereafter, directly or indirectly, oppose the execution of the acts for raising the revenue upon distilled spirits and stills ? And do you also undertake to support, as far as the laws require, the civil authority in affording the protection due to all officers and other citizens ? Yea or nay ? . ... That a minute of the number of yeas and nays be made immediately after ascertaining the same. That a written or printed declaration of such engagement be signed by all those who vote in the affirmative, of the following tenor, to wit : 'I do solemnly promise henceforth to submit to the laws of

3 Two meetings were afterwards held at Parkinson's Ferry, not, how- ever, to consider the acceptance or rejection of terms, but to send out ambassadors in hot haste to the President and the commander of the army to urge the acceptance of their submission, to give assurances of good conduct in future, and to avert if possible the march of the mili- tary forces to the Monongahela.

4 'The citizens of Allegheny County were required to "meet in their respective election districts on the said day, in the same manner as if they were assembled in townships."

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the United States; that I will not, directly or indi- rectly, oppose the execution of the acts for raising a revenue on distilled spirits and stills ; and that I will support, so far as the law requires, the civil authority in affording the protection due to all officers and other citizens.' This shall be signed in the presence of the said members or justices of the peace, attested by him or them, and lodged in his or their hands.

" That the said persons so proposing the questions stated as aforesaid do assemble at the respective county court-houses on the 13th inst., and do ascer- tain and make report of the numbers of those who voted in the affirmative in the respective townships or districts, and of the number of those who voted in the negative, together with their opinion whether there be such a general submission of the people in their respective counties, that an office of inspection may be immediately and safely established therein ; that the said report, opinion, and written or printed declarations be transmitted to the commissioners or or any one of them at Uniontown on or before the 16th instant."

On the part of the United States, the commissioners agreed that if the assurances should be given in good faith, as prescribed, no prosecution for treason or any other indictable offense against the United States com- mitted in this survey before the 22d of August, 1794, should be commenced before the 10th of July, 1795, against any person who should, within the time lim- ited, subscribe such assurance and engagement, and perform the same, and that on the 10th of July, 1795, there should be granted "a general pardon and ob- livion of all the said offenses ;" but excluding there- from every person refusing or neglecting to subscribe the assurances and engagement, or who having so sub- scribed should violate the same, or willfully obstruct the execution of the excise laws. On behalf of the State of Pennsylvania, the commissioners, Mckean and Irvine, promised that if the proposed assurances should be given and performed until July 10, 1795, there should then be granted (so far as the State was concerned) " an act of free and general pardon and oblivion of all treasons, insurrections, arsons, riots, and other offenses inferior to riots committed, counseled, or suffered by any person or persons within the four western counties of Pennsylvania" subsequent to the 14th of July, 1794, but excluding from its operation every person refusing or neglecting to subscribe to such agreement, or violating it after subscribing.

The Pennsylvania commissioners left Pittsburgh on the 3d of September, and Messrs. Yeates and Brad- ford, United States commissioners, proceeded east soon afterwards. Both bodies were requested by the Governor and the President respectively to remain until after the announcement of the result of the popular vote;1 but for some reason only James Ross remained to carry the signatures to Philadelphia.

On the day appointed, September 11th, elections were held in (nearly) all the townships or election districts of Washington, Westmoreland, Allegheny, and Fayette. The result was that in all the four counties votes were cast for submission by three thou- sand two hundred and eighty of the thirteen thousand eight hundred taxable inhabitants. Thus it appeared that the vote for submission was cast by less than one- fourth the taxables, and by probably less than one- sixth of the whole number classed as voters under the terms granted by the commissioners, which embraced all male citizens of the age of eighteen years old and upwards. Yet great efforts had been made by a few of the more thoroughly cowed leaders (such as Col. James Marshel and some others), as well as by many · well-disposed individuals of good standing who had never been with the insurgents, to induce the people to sign the submission ; and this was especially true of the clergy in general. Brackenridge says they were conspicuous in this work ; that "the Rev. John McMillan, of Washington County, and the Rev. Mr. Porter, of Westmoreland County, very influential clergymen, exerted themselves with their congrega- tions and elsewhere with much effect." Findley says Mr. Porter "labored publicly and privately with success from the beginning to prevent the spirit of disorder from spreading in his congregation," and that Dr. McMillan, of Washington County, " refused to administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to his congregation until they would submit to the laws."

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 75

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216