Thomas Gaddis

He was born December 28, 1742, in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia and married Hannah Rice in 1764; the same year he built Fort Gaddis, a refuge from the Indians, located on the Catawba Trail.

[2] Thomas Gaddis was appointed captain of the Monongalia County militia on August 23, 1776 and by September 9th had raised a company of militia and proceeded to build what was afterwards known as Fort Liberty in Monongalia County[3] (two miles south of present day Uniontown PA at Fort Gaddis), where they were stationed from September 1776 to January 1777.

[9][10][11] In August 1777, Gaddis and Colonel Zackquill Morgan learned that a substantial number of settlers in the Redstone area, an region south of Pittsburgh, had taken an oath of allegiance to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom and were plotting on Great Britain's behalf.

Gaddis informed Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Brown at Redstone Old Fort, on the Monongahela River, requesting him to place an extra guard on the powder magazine.

In a dispatch to Brown, he wrote: Dear Sir, A certain person was at my house on Monday the 25th last, and he made oath to me that the Tories have joined themselves together for to cut off the inhabitants, and we know not what hour they will rise.

The other majors of the expedition, committed to destroying Indian towns along the Sandusky River, included David Williamson, John B. McClelland, and James Brenton.

Their dissatisfaction derived, at least in part, from the very same factors that characterized their experience leading up to the Revolutionary War; a sense of isolation and alienation from government authorities who failed to represent or consider their special needs and interests.

The excise tax, passed in July 1791, placed a burden on western farmers who converted excess grain into whiskey, which was easier to transport and much more marketable.

In July 1794, 7,000 local militia men organized to march on the town of Pittsburgh whose citizens they believed supported the tax.

The mob was appeased with the banishment of several of the most offensive townspeople, but news of the uprising prompted George Washington to call up a 15,000-man force to march on Western Pennsylvania.

Most likely, his offense was covered in the general pardon by President Washington and Pennsylvania Governor, Thomas Mifflin issued to those implicated in the insurrection and who had not subsequently been indicted or convicted.