Mingo Creek Church
Union Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This area has been called the cradle of the Whiskey Rebellion. Here in the 1790s, a log Presbyterian meetinghouse stood near the site of the present church. Used by the Mingo Creek Society after its formation in February 1794, it became a nerve center for protest against the whiskey excise tax. Society members were active in militia musters held on these grounds; some are now buried in the churchyard.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
This ground has been called the cradle of the Whiskey Rebellion. In the 1790s a log Presbyterian meetinghouse stood near the present church, and after the Mingo Creek Society formed in February 1794 it became the organizing heart of resistance to the federal whiskey tax. Society members mustered as militia on these very grounds; some now rest in the churchyard nearby.
Why it matters
Here the frontier's grievance against a distant government took organized form, making this quiet meetinghouse a birthplace of the first armed challenge to the authority of the United States.
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Related events
- · Formation of the Mingo Creek Society, February 1794
- · Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Monongahela
Monongahela, PA · est. 1947
Monongahela is remembered as the oldest settlement in its valley, a river town whose life turned on the water from the very start. Devore's Ferry, chartered in 1775, made it a crossing and transportation hub long before the town was laid out in 1796 as Williamsport, and it became a city in 1873. From its banks countless pioneers pushed off to begin the river journey westward.
Monongahela
Monongahela, PA · est. 1947
Monongahela is remembered as the oldest settlement in its valley, a river town whose life turned on the water from the very start. Devore's Ferry, chartered in 1775, made it a crossing and transportation hub long before the town was laid out in 1796 as Williamsport, and it became a city in 1873. From its banks countless pioneers pushed off to begin the river journey westward.
Monongahela
Monongahela, PA · est. 1947
Monongahela is remembered as the oldest settlement in its valley, a river town whose life turned on the water from the very start. Devore's Ferry, chartered in 1775, made it a crossing and transportation hub long before the town was laid out in 1796 as Williamsport, and it became a city in 1873. From its banks countless pioneers pushed off to begin the river journey westward.
Whiskey Point
Monongahela, PA · est. 1949
On this bluff above the Monongahela in August 1794, hundreds of angry frontier farmers gathered at the height of the Whiskey Rebellion, furious over the new federal excise tax on the whiskey they distilled from surplus grain. Albert Gallatin, a rising western Pennsylvania statesman, used his persuasive gifts to steer the crowd away from armed defiance and toward a peaceful path. The moment helped defuse a crisis that had threatened to become open civil conflict against the young national government.