Benjamin Wells
Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Nearby was the house of this collector of excise tax on whiskey. In the summer of 1794, after the Whiskey Rebellion had turned violent, his house was burned down by an angry crowd. Wells had spurned previous warnings by excise tax protectors.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Near this spot in Fayette County stood the home of Benjamin Wells, a federal collector of the deeply unpopular excise tax on whiskey. In the summer of 1794, as the Whiskey Rebellion turned violent across western Pennsylvania, an angry crowd burned his house after he ignored their warnings. The attack was part of the frontier resistance that ultimately drew a federalized militia and President Washington's personal attention.
Why it matters
Wells's burned house marks a flashpoint in the young republic's first great test of whether the new federal government could enforce its laws on a defiant frontier.
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Related people
- · Benjamin Wells
Related events
- · Whiskey Rebellion
Themes & tags
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