Headstones of American History - The Whiskey Rebellion

Headstones of American History - The Whiskey Rebellion. . , The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest beginning in 1791 during the presidency of George Washington. The Mingo Creek Society, also known as the Whiskey Boys, was especially outraged at a federal tax levied on each gallon of whiskey they produced and each whiskey still. The tax money was needed to repay debts accumulated by the states during the Revolutionary War., Location of rebel graves:, 1. John Holcroft was an active insurgent who used the name "Tom the Tinker" to threaten farmers who complied with the tax. , 2. Reverend Ralston was the first pastor of Mingo Creek Presbyterian Church. The rebels met at the Mingo Creek Meeting House to discuss the tax and plan their strategy. , 3. John Hamilton, Colonel of the Mingo Creek Militia and Sheriff of Washington County, was accused of helping rioters burn the Neville home at Bower Hill. He and other prisoners were marched by foot to Philadelphia for trial, where he was aquitted. , 4. Major James McFarlane led hundreds of militiamen to Bower Hill to force the local tax collector to resign. McFarlane was killed in an exchange of gunfire. , 5. David Hamilton offered the excise officers his hospitality and drinks of whiskey with Jamaica ginger when they came to seize his still. After the officers fell into a sound sleep, Hamilton and his neighbors rushed the still and whiskey to a place of safety. The area is known as Ginger Hill today. , 6. John Gaston, a Revolutionary War Veteran, delivered "Tom the Tinker" letters to the Pittsburgh "Gazette" to be published for all to read and be forewarned., The Constitution of the United States Government and the power of the Presidency survived the challenge of the Whiskey Boys of Southwestern Pennsylvania. President Washington proclaimed a day of "Public Thanksgiving and Prayer" for February 19, 1795, following the defeat of the Whiskey Rebellion.