Manuscript Group 343, William Gould (fl. 1794), Militia Officer Diary, 1794
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Manuscript Group 343, William Gould
(fl. 1794), Militia Officer
Diary, 1794,
0.05 linear feet / 1 volume
Call Number: MG 343
Concerns military expedition into western
Pennsylvania to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. Gould served from
September 3 to December 24, 1794 as Major, 1st Battalion, Capt. Isaiah Wool’s
Company of Infantry, 2nd Regiment, New Jersey Detached Militia.
Gift of Lucius D. Baldwin, ca. 1847.
The seeds of the Pennsylvania
Insurrection, or the Whiskey Rebellion, were planted with the passing of laws in
1791 placing excise taxes on the distilled liquor. The taxes angered the
inhabitants of western Pennsylvania and led them to harass Deputy Inspectors of
the United States and other federal officials in that region. In May of
1794, Congress called for militias to be raised to deal with the insurrection
and asked for 4,318 New Jerseyans. The militias were to be raised from
existing militias and when needed from the conscription of able-bodied men as
young as 18 years of age. The militia men served three month long tours of
duty and were paid the same as United States Army regulars. Militia units
from four states including New Jersey and Pennsylvania were sent to western
Pennsylvania and quelled the rebellion in the fall of 1794.
William Gould (fl. 1794) was a major in
the First Battalion, Second Regiment of the New Jersey Detached Militia
and took part in the Pennsylvania Expedition from September 3, 1794 until he was
discharged on December 24, 1794.
Source:
Records of Officers and Men of New Jersey
in Wars: 1791-1815 (Trenton, New
Jersey: State Gazette Publishing, 1909).
Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 28 (New
York, New York: Americana Corporation, 1972).
This collection was the gift of Lucius
Baldwin, circa 1847.
This diary kept by William Gould in 1794,
measures 0.05 linear feet. In the initial pages of the diary Gould
transcribed the words of a song about the Jersey Blues; the master roll of the
Second Regiment of the New Jersey Infantry on October 20, 1794; and orders from
General Anthony White. In his daily entries Gould describes the terrain,
the towns, the attitudes of the people, and the number of miles marched.
On Friday, October 3, 1794, Gould notes that he, Major Isaac Kipp (fl. 1794),
and Colonel Jonathan Forman (fl. 1794) were invited to dine with President
George Washington in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Processed by James Lewis, June 2001 as part of the “Farm to City”
project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.
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