economy of the region, was utilized to securernan adequate supply of agriculturalrnlaborers. Independent frontiersmen migratedrnto western Pennsylvania seekingrnland and prosperity, and for many, to escapernthe grip of laws and Eastern values.rnMountains and self-determination separatedrnthem from the wealth, army, andrnculture of the Eastern elites and centralrngovernment.rnUnfortunately, a profound disparityrnexisted between their inflated expectationsrnof liberty and fortune and the harshrnrealities of frontier life. The best landrnaround Pittsburgh was owned by Easternrnspeculators. “Croppers,” laborers whornfarmed the land of others and paid theirrnrent in crops, made up one-fourth of thernpopulation. Housing was typically arnsmall dirt-floored cabin, the economyrnwas in decline, and the settlers learned tornexpect nothing of value firom the state orrnnational government. Despite promisesrnfrom Eastern politicians, the inhabitantsrnof the region lacked protection fi’om Indians,rnthe Spanish still frustrated navigationrnon the Mississippi, and the lack ofrnroads limited access to markets.rnOn March 22, 1791, Abraham Russrnand his family were preparing for dinnerrnat their cabin on the banks of the AlleghenyrnRiver, 20 miles from Pittsburgh.rnSeven Indians arrived and requested torneat with them. After the Indians finishedrntheir meal, they scalped their hosts,rnkilling one woman, four men, and sixrnchildren, and then set fire to the cabin.rn”Almost everyone knew someone whornhad lost a wife to the Indians, or a childrnto a panther or bear,” reports Slaughter.rn”Widows could attest to the rage of thernMonongahela at floodtide.”rnCosmopolitan Eastern visitors characterizedrnPittsburgh as “a parcel of abandonedrnwretches,” its inhabitants as “thernscum of nature,” living like “so manyrnpigs in a sty,” David McClure describedrnundomesticated masses who consideredrnthemselves “beyond the arm of governmentrnand freed from the restraining influencernof religion.”rn”Female seduction was frequent,rnquarreling and fighting decidedly customary,rndrunkenness almost universal,”rnobserved William Winans in Recollectionsrnof Boyhood Years in SouthwesternrnPennsylvania, 1788-1804. On Sunday,rnreligiously, said Winans, men met notrnfor church but to “drink, to settle theirrndifferences and to try their manhood inrnpersonal conflict.” With “very few exceptions,”rnPittsburgh’s populace wasrn”about as wicked as fallen human beingsrncan be on this side of utter perdition.”rn”Presbyterian ministers were afraid torncome to the place,” observed JohnrnWilkinsin 1783. “All sorts of wickednessrnwas carried on to excess and there was nornappearance of morality or regular order.”rnOthers noted with horror the amount ofrnwhiskey consumed per capita and thernnumber of one-eyed men, victims of eyegouging.rnTo most visitors and many residents,rnreports Slaughter, the “dominantrntraits of life” in western Pennsylvaniarnwere a combination of “irreligiosity, immoralityrnand dirtiness.”rnIn this rebellious and godforsaken milieu,rna federal tax on homemade spiritsrnprovoked the largest armed resistance tornan American law between the ratificationrnof the Constitution and the CivilrnWar. By taxing the output of subsistencernfarmers, rather than land, the “moneyedmen”rnof the Eastern elite —absenteernland owners, international merchants,rnand security speculators —imposed anrnunjust and regressive tax that threatenedrnthe liberty and economy of the frontier.rnThe enemies of freedom, they declared,rnwere a remote Eastern elite who “makernfortunes by the fortuitous concurrence ofrncircumstances, rather than by economic,rnvirtuous and useful employment.”rnThe Whiskey Rebellion began on Julyrn16, 1794, as hundreds of armed menrnmarched to the first large estate in thernPittsburgh region. Bower Hill, the homernof John Neville, regional supervisor forrncollection of the excise. Following arntwo-day battle and several deaths, thernmob torched Neville’s house, slave-quarters,rnand outbuildings.rnIn Pittsburgh, a lone horseman, wavingrna tomahawk, rode through the stieetsrnchanting his warning: “It is not the excisernlaw only that must go down. The government’srnhigh offices and salaries mustrngo down. A great deal more is to berndone. I am but beginning.” Ruralrnhordes plotted the desfruction of the city,rncalled “Sodom” by the rebels. “It was anrnexpression that Sodom had been burntrnby fire from heaven,” explained HughrnBrackenridge, a leader of the anti-excisernrebellion, “and that this second Sodomrnshould be burned with fire from earth.”rnIn a call to arms against Pittsburgh andrnits garrison, 7,000 armed rebels met atrnBraddock’s Field on August I and raisedrna six-striped flag, representing four Pennsylvaniarncounties and two counties inrnVirginia. Speakers called for a civil war,rnmilitary alliances with Spain and GreatrnBritain, and an independent Westsylvania.rnThe next day. President Washingtonrncalled an emergency cabinet meeting.rnPortraying western Pennsylvania as exceptionallyrnrecalcifrant to taxation. TreasuryrnSecretary Alexander Hamilton advocatedrnan armed response to vanquish thernregion’s “general spirit of opposition.”rnTwo days later, Washington secured anrnofficial confirmation from SupremernCourt Justice James Wilson that a state ofrnrebellion existed. The anti-excise uprisingrnhad expanded to eight western Pennsylvaniarncounties—Allegheny, Washington,rnWestmoreland, Fayette, Bedford,rnCumberland, North Cumberland, andrnFranklin.rnTo crush the insurgence, the Presidentrnnationalized 13,000 militiamenrnfrom Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey,rnand Pennsylvania in late September andrndispatched them to western Pennsylvania.rnThe first casualty was a young boy inrnMyerstown, not complicit in the protests,rnwho was rounded up in a mass search forrnsuspects who had erected “liberty poles.”rnA physical debility kept the boy fromrnstanding as directed by his captors. Herndied from a gunshot wound to his groin.rnTwo days later, the army killed a drunkenrnman during a struggle at a tavern inrnMyerstown. Stabbed by a bayonet, thernman uttered “Success to the whiskeyrnboys” as his last words.rnOn October 4, President Washingtonrnarrived in Carlisle, outside Pittsburgh, arnweek after citizens had declared at arntown meeting that the rebellion wasrnover. The President, pronouncing thatrnthe time for “overtures of forgiveness”rnhad ended, demanded “unequivocalrnproofs of absolute submission.”rnAfter months of rampaging the Pennsylvaniarncountryside in search of antitaxrnrebels and traitors, the army accumulatedrn20 obscure characters for transport tornPhiladelphia, to be tried for treason.rn”Liberty poles” sprouted up each nightrnalong the army’s route.rnWearing “the appearance of wretchedness,”rnthe Pittsburgh captives arrivedrnin Philadelphia on Christmas day. A victoriousrnarmy paraded its prisoners downrnBroad Street to the roar of immenserncrowds and the blast of artillery. Thernbells of Christ Church rang, ships displayedrntheir colors in the harbor, and arnband played as the procession andrn”rebels” passed by the President’s house.rnFor a variety of reasons, juries freedrnall but two of the defendants. JohnrnJANUARY 1998/41rnrnrn