Starting in July of 1794, there was a rebellion that started in the Manongahela Valley in western Pennsylvania. It all started with the excise tax placed on distilled liquor, known as whiskey, which was recommended to by Alexander Hamilton to Congress as a further addition to his Financial Plan. The tax didn't have much of an affect on the large whiskey producers because the more one could produce, the less they would be taxed, about 6 cents per gallon. But the people in the west had more trouble with this because they would have to pay the 9 cent per gallon tax year round even if they only made it once or twice a year. The farmers and backwoodsmen in the region started rioting and attacked and tortured the excise tax collectors in their counties. They destroyed any man's whiskey still who paid the tax. They would even steal the mail going out of the town to see who was against the rebels. One man was killed as a result of the rebellion. .
When the man was killed, Washington realized that immediate action needed to be taken. Since there was no formal national army, he gathered militiamen from Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He was going to command the combined forces of 12,000 men. Accompanying him were, Alexander Hamilton and Governor Henry Lee(VA). They set out to the Manongahela Valley with a list of men that were involved in the rebellion,including Hugh Henry Brackenridge and Albert Gallatin. While they were camped in Reading, Pennsylvania, Washington recieved word of General Wayne's victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. A short while later, two negotiators rode into the encampment. Washington met with them and demanded that they go back and tell the leaders of the rebellion that it was over. When the rebels received news that Washington himself was riding with the army, they quickly stopped their foolishness, for pure fear of Washington, and the rebellion was over as quickly as it started.