People protesting taxes is nothing new, but instead of tea perhaps they should be referring to whiskey.

The new United States found itself buried in debt after the Revolutionary War. One means of paying off the debt was to impose a 7 cents per gallon tax on the manufacturing of whiskey. That was OK with larger distillers in the eastern part of the country, but whiskey was a cottage industry in the frontier counties to the west. The tax was imposed at the point of manufacture rather than the point of sale, was required in cash, and hard money was in short supply. The tax was widely resisted and evaded. One of the leaders of the resistance wrote under the pseudonym Tom the Tinker, intimidating and threatening people who aided tax collectors by any means. Tax collectors could not find accommodations and were sometimes attacked.

Events finally boiled over in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, particularly in western counties of Pennsylvania. Five hundred armed men attacked the fortified home of the Inspector of Revenue Brig. Gen. John Neville, a personal friend of President George Washington. One of the leaders of the rebellion was killed by federal troops helping to defend the home, but the house was captured by the rebels and burned.

Several thousand rebels assembled. In response, Washington, acting as commander-in-chief and using authority granted to him under the Militia Act of 1792, called out 12,950 militia from the eastern counties. The militia were placed under the command of Gen. Henry “Lighthorse” Lee, at that time governor of Virginia, and marched west to capture the rebels. Most of the rebels scattered, but 150 were arrested including 20 leaders whose names had been put on a list. Two were tried and convicted of treason, but were later pardoned. Tom the Tinker was never identified and remains a folk hero of tax resistors.

Audley Calhoun, an older brother of one of my ancestors, was originally from Pennsylvania and moved to Stuebenville, Ohio, by the early 1800s. He was 25 at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion, and it is not known if he or his father and brother (my ancestor) actively participated, although the Calhouns in my ancestry were known for being outspoken. His father, Thomas Calhoun, had been a private in the Westmoreland County Militia during the Revolutionary War. They were at the right age, living in the right location, and one can speculate that they might have been involved in the mob of 500.

The production of whiskey and other alcoholic beverages continued in the western counties and extended into Ohio and Kentucky. After moving to Ohio, Audley Calhoun was known for producing cherry bounce and peach brandy by the boatload. He sold his products along the river between Ohio and New Orleans and undoubtedly visited Vicksburg at some point in time. He would sell his flatboat in New Orleans, and return overland to Ohio to produce another load. On one trip he took along his brother-in-law, a Mr. Cole, who never returned, his fate unknown. It can not be determined if Audley ever paid taxes on his products. Audley died in 1859 at the age of 90 before the Civil War cut off river traffic and disrupted the flow of whiskey and other products.

Thomas Jefferson was opposed to taxes and, after his election in 1800, the whiskey tax was repealed, in 1801. However, continuing problems with the British led to the War of 1812. In 1813, the whiskey tax was re-enacted “to pay for the war.” The last shots in the war were fired in 1815, but politicians get addicted to spending money and 195 years later we still have the tax. Members of Congress seem to easily forget the original purpose of special taxes. Moonshiners in the same western counties, many probably descended from the original rebels, continue to evade the tax.

Some things become a family tradition.

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Fred E. Camfield is retired and lives in Vicksburg. E-mail reaches him at fecamfield@bellsouth.net.