Having no market for their grain, they were compelled to preserve it by converting it into whiskey.

The still was the necessary appendage of every farm.
The tax was light, but payable in money, of which there was little or none.

Its imposition, therefore, coupled with the declaration of its oppressive nature by the Pennsylvania legislature, excited a spirit of determined opposition near akin to revolution.
Unpopular in all the western part of the State, Hamilton's bill was especially odious to the people of Washington County.

The first meeting in opposition to it was held at Red Stone Old Fort or Brownsville, the site of one of those ancient remains of the mound-builders which abound in the western valleys.

It was easily reached by Braddock's Road, the chief highway of the country.