After coming home empty-handed from my recent trip to Greenfield, IN, to hear author Brady J. Crytzer talk about his new book on the National Road, I decided to sample his writing on the cheap by checking out one of his other books from the local library. The Whiskey Rebellion interested me and was available. I had no delusions about knowing the history in detail, but I thought I had a good overview: The government imposed a tax on whiskey; some farmers didn’t want to pay it; George Washington personally led troops to confront the farmers; and the farmers paid up. End of story.

That’s not wrong, but it’s terribly oversimplified. The biggest thing missing from my four-point summary is the extreme risk the uprising posed to a new nation with its first president in his first term. This book also showed me a different, less flattering, view of Alexander Hamilton than I’d previously seen. Hamilton designed the tax and saw its enforcement and the punishment of those who opposed it as something personal.

The first indication of just how little I knew about the book’s subject was when I read that what we now call the Whiskey Rebellion was known in its own time as the Western Insurrection. I don’t believe I’d ever heard that phrase before. I instinctively thought that removing the word “whiskey” from its name made the event seem more sinister and more important. My instincts were validated in the book’s last chapter, where Crytzer writes that when the event was completely over, “Alexander Hamilton and his Federalist allies took to calling it ‘the Whiskey Insurrection’ as a means of trivializing the affair.”

Crytzer does know the details. Like any good historian, he provides dates and names for events before, during, and after the insurrection. More importantly, he places those dates and names in the bigger picture of the times. At its core, the Whiskey Rebellion was a manifestation of the period’s conflict between Federalists (e.g., Hamilton, John Adams) and Anti-Federalists (e.g., Jefferson, George Mason). The most radical of the insurrectionists took steps to establish their own government separate from that of the United States. Had Washington delivered a Gettysburg Address-style speech as he led his troops west, it might have begun “Half a score and eight years ago…”.

Washington personally commanding an army to quell the uprising is part of virtually every description of the Whiskey Rebellion ever made, including my woefully shallow one in the first paragraph. That is deserved. It is the only time that a President of the United States personally led military forces in the field. But Washington returned to Philadelphia after reaching Bedford and turning command over to Henry Lee, the Governor of Virginia. The rebellion was centered in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties plus Ohio County in Virginia. The 13,000 troops headed west came from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia, and the governor of each state led their own troops.

Accompanied by Hamilton, Lee led the army into the heart of the rebellion, but there was no big confrontation or battle. As the insurrection grew, the rebels had organized militia-like forces, and they were active in attacking and terrorizing individuals and families, but they quickly dissolved as the federal forces approached. The army was put to work apprehending targeted individuals, but the targeting was not very precise and the apprehension heavy-handed more often than not. Hamilton wrote a letter to Washington suggesting the elimination of due process. On November 13, 1794, the Pittsburgh area experienced so many of what Crytzer calls “smash-and-grab-style raids” that it became known as “The Dreadful Night”. “The names provided by Hamilton and Lee,” writes Crytzer, “made no distinction between witnesses, dissidents, and cooperators…” Those grabbed were confined in deplorable conditions.

As is all too often the case, almost all of the insurrection’s ringleaders escaped. In those days, exiting the United States was as simple as floating a sufficient distance down the Ohio River. Hamilton never caught the “big fish” he hoped to make an example of, and many of the little fish and those who should not have been fish at all suffered terribly. It was early enough in our nation’s history that it might have been the first time that we behaved so badly on such a scale, but it would not be the last. It might be that the passage of time and the fact that the insurrection was unsuccessful explain what Crytzer calls “a void in scholarship surrounding the event.” Still, I have to wonder if there has been real purpose in our school books extolling Washington gallantly returning to the field while not once mentioning “The Dreadful Night.”

The Whiskey Rebellion includes several images. Some are from historical sources, but Crytzer uses his own photos when possible. These are locations described in the text, and many still have buildings standing today after playing a role in the rebellion. Somewhat related to the pictures is a nice touch that Crytzer calls “Traveler’s Notes”. These appear at the end of some chapters and include notes, such as directions, about a location mentioned in that chapter. The Jean Bonnet Tavern was among the few of these I was familiar with. It served multiple functions for both sides in the Whiskey Rebellion. Established around 1760 and still operating today, it witnessed many significant events before the rebellion and even more after. The most recent significant event that I am aware of is serving me dinner in June.

I don’t know that this old dog can actually be taught any new tricks, but I’m encouraged knowing that I can learn new facts. In The Whiskey Rebellion, Crytzer does a fine job of shining a light on a subject I knew very little about. I don’t doubt he can do the same for one about which I think I know considerably more. I plan to read his National Road book and may acquire it at a future presentation of his. If so, I’ll make an effort to check inventory before driving too far.

The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis, Brady J. Crytzer, Westholme Publishing (June 14, 2023), 6 x 9 inches, 224 pages, ISBN 978-1594164002
Available through Amazon.