Husband’s arrest. Jones describes Husband’s arrest; Fennell suggests that ten or more men waited at Husband’s home for their captors; she cites the Pennsylvania General Advertiser, 10/24/1794. In a letter of 10/31/94, in Writings, Washington informs Hamilton of Husband’s arrival in Philadelphia. Given how operations developed at the Forks, it seems clear that while Peters and Rawle managed the arrest, they were following Hamilton’s orders.
The flight of suspects. Brackenridge’s Incidents gives two thousand as the number of suspects who fled the Forks. David Bradford’s escape is described in a letter of 11/15/1794 from a Captain D’Hebecourt to Henry Lee, Pennsylvania Archives.
The arrests. See Lee’s orders to General Irvine, 11/9/1794, Pennsylvania Archives. H. M. Brackenridge suggests that the army carried out the operation as must have been expected and joins Findley in decrying the abrogation of civil rights, blaming it solely on Hamilton, holding Washington ultimately blameless. Both Findley and H. H. Brackenridge’s Incidents tell the story of General Morgan. The claim of Judge Peters that he held men on little evidence out of fear of troop revolt is cited secondhand by H. M. Brackenridge, who also describes the prisoner escort, quoting the eyewitness James Carnahan. Hamilton’s reassurances to Washington are in his letter of 10/25/94, in his Papers. For Hamilton’s attitude about prosecution, compare his enthusiastic presuppression letter to Washington of 9/2/94, with its long list of prominent suspects and predictions of prosecuting them, with the desultoriness regarding prosecution in his letters of 11/11/94 and 11/15/94; the latter focuses on the need to maintain a military force at the Forks. The Powers interrogation is related by H. M. Brackenridge, the John Hamilton arrest by Findley. Holt is the source of the idea that many of the detainees’ names might appear only on militia lists.
Brackenridge’s suspense and interrogation. Brackenridge’s Incidents. David Bradford’s letter to Craig appears in H. M. Brackenridge. I’ve inserted in Brackenridge’s thoughts about flying to the Indians the reference to Mamachtaga. Ross’s reviewing Brackenridge’s handwriting is told secondhand by Brackenridge, whose dialogue I repeat, breaking it up—and I’ve added Ross’s emphasis on William Bradford’s first name.
The rebels in Philadelphia. Henry Marie Brackenridge includes excerpts from the diary of Robert Porter, one of the detainees sent to Philadelphia, who describes the journey and arrival. Slaughter and Holt, citing the Philadelphia Gazette, describe the president as viewing the prisoners on Christmas Day, but Baldwin gives 12/17/1794 as the date of the same Gazette article; apparently the president was actually observing the return of a horse regiment to the city and did not review the prisoners on Christmas.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THAT SO-CALLED WHISKEY REBELLION
“That so-called whiskey rebellion.” Adapted from Ewing’s title.
The trials. Many writers in the rebellion cover the trial phase; Holt is the major source on legal issues involved.
Occupation and tax collection in the west. Many sources describe the occupation in greater detail than I do; Fennell discusses continued tax recalcitrance.
Hamilton on the Whiskey Rebellion. Hamilton wrote two letters to his sister-in-law Angelica Church regarding the rebellion, important because his flirtatious relationship with Church, reviving the exuberance of youth, inspired unusual freedom. In the letter of 10/23/1794, he reassures her that “the insurrection will do us a great deal of good and add to the solidity of everything in this country.” In the letter of 12/8/94—which, I follow Bouton in noting, contains the first known use of “whiskey insurrection,” a phrase that determined the place of the rebellion in the public mind—he says, “Our insurrection is most happily terminated. Government has gained from it reputation and strength,” and goes on to refer with pride and satisfaction to the “flourishing” condition of the nation’s finances. Both letters are in his Papers. “Put Virginia to the test”: Hamilton to Sedgwick, 2/2/99, also in Papers. Some biographers write off this letter as mere venting; Ellis, in Chapter Five of Founding Brothers, takes it seriously, as the letter’s tone seems to warrant; Hamilton makes a direct connection between his new military ambitions and his suppression of the whiskey rebels. For Hamilton’s role in the quasi-war with France, see Kohn and Elkins and McKitrick.
Washington’s lands and still. “George Washington’s Distillery” has a wealth of archaeological and other information. Slaughter cites Washington’s letter to Ross of 3/14/1794 on the improvement in western Pennsylvania real estate holdings and estimates the increase in value at about 50 percent.
Randolph’s resignation. In “Vindication,” Randolph tells the story. Elkins and McKitrick have illuminating detail.
Findley as proto-Jacksonian. Wood discusses Findley as a new kind of professional politician in the context of post-revolutionary American ideas about social mobility.
Brackenridge’s later career. See Marder and Newlin, as well as Ellis in After the Revolution. For Neville’s hiring Brackenridge to prosecute excise cases: deposition of John Wells, 12/29/1815, in the Benjamin Wells Claims, HR 21A–G3.1.
Husband’s death. Jones and Lazenby tell the story; Lazenby’s notes describe Emmy’s and John’s presence at the tavern, based on Husband-family accounts. I follow Fennell in calling prophecy Husband’s profession. The letter to Emmy is quoted by Lazenby; according to The History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, in 1906 the original letter had recently been in existence.
SOURCES
ARCHIVES
Tench Coxe Letters, RG 58 NC 151–57, Series II, Reel 61; National Archives.
Tench Coxe Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Isaac Craig Papers, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Craig-Neville Papers, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Mary Elinor Lazenby Papers, Darlington Library, University of Pittsburgh.
Rawle Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
John Irwin Scull Archive, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Wallace Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Wells Claims, HR 17A–F7.1, HR 21A–G3.1, HR 22A–G3.1; National Archives.
Whiskey Rebellion Collection, Library of Congress.
Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Papers, Connecticut Historical Society.
Yeates Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
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