The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest that began in 1791 during the presidency of George Washington. The Mingo Creek Society, also known as the Whiskey Boys, was especially outraged by a federal tax levied on each gallon of whiskey they produced and each whiskey still, a tax intended to repay debts accumulated by the states during the Revolutionary War. Rebels met at the Mingo Creek Meeting House to discuss the tax and plan their strategy. John Holcroft, an active insurgent, used the name "Tom the Tinker" to threaten farmers who complied with the tax, and John Gaston, a Revolutionary War veteran, delivered "Tom the Tinker" letters to the Pittsburgh Gazette for publication. 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 on foot to Philadelphia for trial, where he was acquitted. Major James McFarlane led hundreds of militiamen to Bower Hill to force the local tax collector to resign and was killed in an exchange of gunfire. David Hamilton offered excise officers hospitality and whiskey with Jamaica ginger when they came to seize his still, and after they fell asleep, he and his neighbors rushed the still and whiskey to safety, giving Ginger Hill its name. Reverend Ralston was the first pastor of Mingo Creek Presbyterian Church. The Constitution of the United States Government and the power of the presidency survived the challenge of the Whiskey Boys of southwestern Pennsylvania, and after the rebellion was defeated, President Washington proclaimed February 19, 1795, a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer.
