ly through the western counties. Fayette County
was not exempt from it. The collector's house was broken into, and his
commission taken from him by armed men; the sheriff refused to serve the
writs against the rioters of the spring. Since these disturbances there
had been no trouble in this county. But the malcontents elsewhere rose
in arms, riots ensued, and the safety of the whole community was
compromised. The news reaching Fayette, the distillers held a meeting at
Uniontown, the county seat, on July 20. Both Gallatin and Smilie were
present, and by their advice it was agreed to submit to the laws. The
neighboring counties were less fortunate. On July 21 the Washington
County committee was summoned to meet at Mingo Creek Meeting-house. On
the 23d there was a large assemblage of people, including a number of
those who had been concerned in burning the house of the Pittsburgh
inspector. James Marshall, the same who opposed the ratification of the
federal Constitution, David Bradford, the "empty drum," and Judge
Brackenridge of Pittsburgh, attended this meeting. Bradford, the most
unscrupulous of the leaders, sought to shirk his responsibility, but was
intimidated by threats, and thereafter did not dare to turn back.
Brackenridge was present to counsel the insurgents to moderation. In
spite of his efforts the meeting ended in an invitation, which the
officers had not the boldness to sign, to the townships of the four
western counties of Pennsylvania and the adjoining counties of Virginia
to send representatives to a general meeting on August 14, at
Parkinson's Ferry on the Monongahela, in Washington County. Bradford,
determined to aggravate the disturbance, stopped the mail at Greensburg,
on the road between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and robbed it of the
Washington and Pittsburgh letters, some of which he published, to the
alarm of their authors.

On July 28 a circular signed by Bradford, Marshall, and others was sent
out from Cannonsburg to the militia of the county, whom it summoned for
personal service, and likewise called for volunteers to rendezvous the
following Wednesday, July 30, at their respective places of meeting,
thence to march to Braddock's Field, on the Monongahela, the usual
rendezvous of the militia, about eight miles south of Pittsburgh, by two
o'clock of Friday, August 1. It closed in these words, "Here is an
expedition proposed in which you will have an opportunity for displaying
your military ta