Re-enactors work together to tell both sides of infamous Whiskey Rebellion

Observer-Reporter
Woodville Plantation re-enactors, from left, Dave Frankowski, Don Ragaller and Rob Windhorst march in the community parade during the Whiskey Rebellion Festival in Washington.
In every great story, there are heroes and villains. Figuring out who was what during the infamous Whiskey Insurrection between the rebel farmers and the federal government’s troops is a little more difficult to decipher, depending on which side of the taxation line you fall.
On one hand, there are frontier farmers who feel like a tyrannical federal government in Philadelphia is imposing an unjust excise tax on the grain alcohol they sell and use to barter for goods. On the other side, there’s President George Washington who must decide how to put down the first real uprising against his fledgling government that is only a few years old.
But without both sides represented, there’s no way to properly tell the story of the Whiskey Rebellion that reached a climax throughout Western Pennsylvania in 1794.
And so it was a unique partnership between Woodville Plantation in Collier Township and the Washington County Historical Society in Washington that formed to tell the full story of the rebellion with both sides accurately and fairly represented.

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Washington County Historical Society Executive Director Clay Kilgore leads his group of rebel farmers with re-enactor Rob Windhorst as a prisoner during the 2014 Whiskey Rebellion Festival.
“It ties us together,” says Clay Kilgore, director of the historical society and co-organizer of the annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival in Washington. “Yeah, we’re different counties, but the history’s the same. Southwestern Pennsylvania’s history is all tied together, and we’re all telling the same story.”
During the annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival, which takes place this year on the streets of Washington from July 5 to 8, a rag-tag bunch of farmers trade musket fire with federal troops, harass government officials and ultimately tar and feather the tax collector. Kilgore, who is one of the re-enactors involved in the street theater, says it couldn’t be done without the volunteers from Woodville Plantation as they portray federal government soldiers with Wayne’s Fourth SubLegion in Pittsburgh.
“We really try to tell the federal side of things and the farmers’ side,” Kilgore says. “They give us that viewpoint that maybe isn’t as popular because it’s the government. But they allow us to tell the overall story and the federal government’s argument.”

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Re-enactors portraying soldiers stand guard at Woodville Plantation in Collier Township.
Then, the week after the festival, Kilgore brings his rowdy bunch of farmers up to Woodville Plantation where the Neville House Associates hold their own Whiskey Rebellion Day bash July 15.
“We can do the exact opposite, this time with the farmers’ view that they don’t have,” Kilgore says. “It allows us to teach history and give a full account rather than a biased history.”
It’s been a tradition the farmers and military re-enactors have been building on for the past several years, Neville House Associates President Bob Eckle says.
“It’s absolutely important because people get to see both sides of the story correctly and accurately,” Eckle says. “We both have to work in tandem, because if we don’t, it’ll be mis-portrayed.”
The tale of the farmers is especially important for the Woodville organization because of the battle and fiery destruction of tax collector John Neville’s house on Bower Hill in Scott Township.
Each year, the two sides depict how a dozen brave soldiers from Wayne’s SubLegion were sent from Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh in July 1794 to protect the Neville mansion. On the first day of the battle, the soldiers were able to stop the advance of 50 to 100 farmers, protecting the house. Oliver Miller Jr. was shot and killed in the battle – possibly by John Neville – along with two others.
“That just incited the rebels,” Eckle says. “They went back to the camp near where South Hills Village is today and filled up on whiskey and came back loaded for bear. It gets pretty rowdy.”

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Woodville Plantation
Those rebel ranks swelled to more than 500 farmers the following day for the second battle as they quickly defeated the soldiers and burned Neville’s house to the ground while he and his family retreated to nearby Woodville Plantation.
“They just overwhelmed the house,” Eckle says.
It was the first time federal troops had fired on American citizens in the young nation’s history, Kilgore says. The victory was the pinnacle for the rebels and their uprising, but ultimately a turning point in the insurrection.
“Up until this point, the farmers have the lead,” Kilgore says. “The government isn’t sure how to handle it. It looks like a win because they defeat Neville, burned down his home and fend off the soldiers. But it’s really the beginning of the end.”
Months later, President Washington ordered nearly 13,000 federal troops to march on Western Pennsylvania in order to quell the rebellion.
This year’s Woodville Plantation will be from 1 to 5 p.m. July 15 on the organization’s property at 1375 Washington Pike near Bridgeville. There will be a full day of events at the plantation with military encampments, drills, demonstrations and the re-enactments of the two-day battle at Bower Hill that ended with the Neville House burning to the ground.
For more information, go online to www.woodvilleplantation.org.

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Observer-Reporter
Woodville Plantation members Rob Windhorst, Dan Ragaller and Bob Zimmerman fall in line during a re-enactment.