Height of Violence

Despite the actions taken to disrupt violent opposition to the whiskey excise, the climax of the struggle in western Pennsylvania followed in July of 1794.  David Lenox, Federal Marshal of the Pennsylvania District, was charged with serving subpoenas to distillers who ignored their obligation to pay the whiskey tax.  A letter from David Lenox to Alexander Hamilton dated 8 September, 1794 describes the violent events of 15 through 17 July, 1794.1

On 15 July, a mob of angry insurgents confronted Lenox and a Federal Revenue Inspector named General John Neville after they properly served a subpoena to a man named William Miller in Allegheny County.  Lenox described being approached and “fired upon” by “Armed Men approaching us to appearance about thirty or forty.”2  In response to the shot, Lenox and Neville split up.  Lenox made his way to Pittsburgh while General Neville traveled home to Bower Hill in western Pennsylvania.

According to Lenox’s letter to Hamilton, the violence escalated the following morning.  Lenox wrote that he received a letter from General Neville on 16 July.  Neville’s letter described an attack earlier that morning that left one man dead and at least two others wounded.  Responding to the letter, Lenox rallied a team of reinforcements to aid in the protection and retrieval of General Neville.  The reinforcements departed for Bower Hill on 17 July.  Within half a mile of Neville’s home, Lenox and company were met by a group of insurgents.  Lenox estimated the insurgency to consist of “about five hundred men”.3  A battle ensued resulting in the death of John McFarlane, the leader of the antagonist group.4  Enraged by the death of their leader, the insurgents set fire to Neville’s house and captured Lenox along with a few of his party. Lenox eventually escaped, but not without promising to refrain from delivering subpoenas west of the Allegheny Mountains.

On 28 July, 1794 the Western Insurgents issued a circular to the officers of the militia declaring, “it is therefore now come to that crisis, that every citizen must express his sentiments, not by his words, but by his actions.” 5  The circular called for a militant gathering of those opposed to the whiskey tax at Braddock’s Field.  Thousands of protestors gathered in support of the cause.

The need for further federal arbitration was clearly evident to President Washington.  With knowledge of the escalated violence and the gathering of militant forces at Braddock’s Field, it was apparent that the peaceful measures previously taken were not sufficient as they failed to stop the insurgency.  Despite all peaceful measures, the insurgency continued and many aggressors began to converge on Braddock’s Field en masse.  The circumstances were dangerous.  Not only for the inhabitants of western Pennsylvania, but for the future of the country as a whole.  The newly independent republic survived on the concept of union stability.  A violent divide could strip the country of its national strength and the citizens of their allegiance and fidelity to the union.

  1. Harold C. Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. XVII  (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1972), 203-209. ↩
  2. Harold C. Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. XVII  (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1972), 203-204. ↩
  3. Harold C. Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. XVII  (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1972), 205. ↩
  4. Thomas P. Slaughter, The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), 180. ↩
  5. John B. Linn and WM Hegle, ed., Pennsylvania Archives Second Series Vol. IV (Harrisburg: J. Severns & Company, 1876), 79, accessed November 28, 2013, https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=CXIFAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&authuser=0&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA79. ↩