Whiskey Men with Slaves

Foreword:  The recent revelation that Jack Daniels was taught how to make good bourbon by a slave has resulted in efforts by historians to research more thoroughly the role that enslaved blacks played in the development of the American whiskey industry.  According to one author, many distilleries in the Mountain South employed at least three slaves.  Presented here as part of the series grouping whiskey men into categories are four examples of distillers, both large and small, who manufactured whiskey with slave labor.

We begin with the Father of Our Country, George Washington.  Washington was a farmer at heart.  Upon returning to Mount Vernon after his presidency, he threw himself wholeheartedly into the agricultural activities of the plantation, including growing corn and rye wheat.  At the urging of his farm manager, James Anderson,  a Scotsman with experience making whiskey both in his homeland and in Virginia, Washington began commercial distilling.  Anderson had advised George that Mount Vernon’s crops, combined with his large gristmill and abundant water supply, would be a profitable venture.  Always looking for ways to make the estate pay off, Washington agreed.

As a result in 1897 the cooperage at Washington’s grist mill, 2.7 miles from the plantation house, was converted to distilling and two stills bought and put into operation.  Success came quickly and Anderson was able to convince Washington to increase production.  That fall construction began on a building large enough to hold five stills.  The foundation was laid from large rocks brought from the Falls of the Potomac where Washington was trying to build a canal.  The walls were of sandstone quarried right on the plantation itself.  George also invested heavily in the interior.  He bought five large copper kettles, 50 mash tubs, five work tubes and a boiler.  Shown below is an artist’s concept of the original complex.

The extensive, back-breaking labor involved in this project was provided almost entirely by slaves.  They constructed the distillery and then, under the guidance of Anderson’s son, were responsible for operating the machinery of the distilling process, as well as making the barrels for holding the finished product.  We know the names of those African slaves:   Hanson, Peter, Nat, Daniel, James and Timothy.  They made it possible for Washington between 1798 and 1799 to produce 11,000 gallons of whiskey, valued in that day at more than $7,000 (equivalent today to several hundred thousand dollars).  The distillery also made brandy using locally grown apples peaches and persimmons.

The success of Washingtons’s distillery was short-lived.  After his sudden death in 1799, the facility was closed and the buildings allowed to fall into disrepair, ultimately to be dismantled and the site obliterated.  Early in this century a multi-million dollar grant from the Distilled Spirits Council of America (DICUS) allowed the distillery as conceived and operated by Washington to be recreated on the original site and opened to the public in 2005.  True to the history, African-Americans are cast in the role of the distillery workers.

About the same time that Washington was distilling, Elijah Pepper, a native of Virginia, moved more than 500 miles west to Kentucky, settling near the town of Versailles, Woodford County, and about 1797 built a distillery, almost certainly with slave labor.  Census records for 1810 indicate that the Elijah owned nine enslaved blacks, some of whom worked in making whiskey as well doing as field labor.  

With the success of his enterprise, Pepper over the next ten years was able to increase his slave holdings to twelve, seven males and five females.  Owning more hands for field work allowed Elijah to increase his land holdings to 350 acres. Over the next ten years he was able to buy even more slaves.  The 1830 census recorded him now with twenty-five, thirteen males and twelve females.  With the help of those blacks he steadily was increasing the production of his distillery.

With his death in 1831 the distillery, its equipment, stored whiskey and the slaves devolved upon his widow, Sarah O’Bannon Pepper, who later sold her interest to her son, Oscar N. Pepper.  After buying out his siblings, Oscar, once again using slave labor, replaced the log structure of his father’s distillery to build a new facility, a one-and-a half story rectangular facility that allowed him to expanded whiskey production significantly.  Shown below is is an artist’s concept of the rebuilt Pepper distillery.

Oscar’s wealth included twelve male and eleven female slaves, some of them inherited from Elijah.  An 1859 Woodford County document recorded that two of his slave women had given birth in August, a girl christened Maria and a boy Willie.  Oscar Pepper is listed in the column for the father’s name.  My guess is that because slaves were considered property, not persons, Oscar’s name appears there as owner.  Three years later, with the outbreak of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, the slave era ended in Kentucky.  Nevertheless, the Peppers continued to operate the distillery until 1878 when the effects of a bankruptcy passed it to non-family ownership.

Today archeologists are attempting to reconstruct the Pepper distilling site.  The family home has been returned to its original state and outbuildings have been identified.  To date, however, efforts to find the location of the slave quarters have been unavailing.

To reach Arkansas, William Looney and his family were forced to endure a trek through much of Tennessee, bringing with them their young children and a few slaves.  Perhaps exhausted from the journey, they stopped in the far northeast of the state on the Eleven Point River where Looney settled on the west bank.  In contrast to the large landowners elsewhere in Arkansas, he was a yeoman farmer who also used several slaves to help him built and run a small distillery, likely similar to the scene shown below.

When compared to Washington and the Peppers, Looney was a small operator, prospering economically and socially by making and selling whiskey primarily to his neighbors.  Looney’s liquor warehouse and tavern, originally built with slave labor and shown here under restoration, is accounted the oldest commercial building in the state of Arkansas.

When Looney died in 1846 at about the age of 61, he was one of the richest men in Randolph County with extensive land holdings, owning thirteen slaves and considerable livestock.  Moreover, he had been sought out for public office.  During a period from about 1816 to 1825, he served as justice of the peace and magistrate in two local townships. 

Similar good fortune acceded to Looney’s tavern.  After his death his widow converted the building to a dwelling. Later it was donated to a local college. In recent years the structure has been restored as a tavern by a grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council.  On the National Register of Historical Places,  Looney Tavern has become an important tourist destination in Northeast Arkansas.  The role of slaves in its original construction, however, does not appear to have been highlighted.

Like Looney, Levi Price, shown here, was a farmer/distiller whose output of whiskey was modest, meant largely for local consumption.  He launched himself in business in Frederick County, Maryland, when he was only 23 and reputedly had only 93 cents to his name.  His early financial success apparently resulted in innovations he made in the distilling process.  He recognized that any form of adulteration led to objectionable tastes in the newly made “raw” whiskey of his day.  Using care in the cleanliness of his process and a reputed “secret method” or two, he was able to manufacture a product that had the taste and smoothness of an aged whiskey while being newly distilled.  By eliminating most of the aging process, he saved money and was able to sell his whiskey for less than the competition.

In all these efforts, Price had the help of slaves and later freed blacks.  They assisted with the distilling process, made barrels, and rolled them out to the wagons of customers.  Shown here is the Price house in the process of its second restoration as an historical residence. Behind the house can be seen a field stone building that has been identified as slave quarters. 

Maryland dragged its feet on antislavery measures.  The state failed to act until 1864 when it conducted a emancipation referendum that only narrowly passed.  The vote tipped only after the absentee ballots of local soldiers in the Union army were counted.  Freedom day for enslaved blacks in Maryland came on November 1, 1864. The change seems not to have bothered Price who continued to prosper.  After his death the quality of his whiskey was recognized in a brand of rye issued under his name.

These four examples of whiskey men with slaves could be multiplied dozens of times.  Likely most distillery operations in the Mountain or Deep South employed African and Native American slaves in the pre-Civil War era.  Renewed interest in the role they played in the development of the U.S. liquor industry should, I believe, lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of their contributions.

Note:  More complete posts on each of these whiskey men can be found on this blog:   George Washington, March 2017;  The Peppers, January 21, 2017;  William Looney, July 16, 2013; and Levi Price, September 26, 2015.

Afterword: After posting this article I came across a picture that indicates the participation of American blacks in distilling.  Above is a photo of the first meeting of the Kentucky Distilling Association in 1880.  Gathered are many of the top distillers in the state.  Note the number of African-Americans included in the group.  

Levi Price: Farmer-Distiller of Maryland

      
The production of whiskey before the American Revolution was insignificant.   Rum was the drink of choice for our rebellious forefathers.  But rum had to be imported from the Caribbean and was expensive.  What lay at hand in the USA were abundant fields of rye, wheat and corn.   Recognition spread that a good way to add value to a ton of grain was to turn it into gallons of whiskey.   Often the farmer who grew the crop also did the distilling.  Levi Price of Maryland, shown here, epitomizes that farmer-distiller.

Price was born on October 22, 1835, in Frederick County, Maryland,  in what was then the Urbana District, near the present community of Hyattstown.   His father was Elijah Price,  a well-known farmer who himself had been born in that locale.  His mother was Sarah Ann Wolfe.   There is little information on Levi Price’s early life and education but he showed early signs of being a canny businessman. 

In an article on the distiller in the Sept. 30, 1904, “The Citizen” newspaper of Frederick City,  the anonymous author claimed that when Price launched himself into business in 1858 at the age of 23 he had only 93 cents to his name.  His initial enterprise was to rehabilitate an old mill where he began a small flour milling operation.   Its financial success apparently allowed him to woo and win Laura Virginia McElfresh of Hyattstown.  Ms. McElfresh was related to an old and distinguished Virginia family with ties to Revolutionary War stalwarts.   She would bear him 10 children -- three sons and seven daughters.

Price’s milling venture proved so successful that in 1867 he had the financial strength to build a three story high distillery at the point where Bennett Creek crosses Green Valley Road.  Shown here, the site is still called “Price’s Ford.”  He seems to have succeeded rapidly in the whiskey trade. The 1904 newspaper states:  “Levi Price has undoubtedly engaged in a business which he is well suited for,  and long years of experience and an accurate knowledge of grain has helped make him what he is.”

In 1879 Price built the Green Valley Flouring Mills and began manufacturing a product he called “Fine Family Flour,”  a product that commanded a substantial regional market. For a time he operated a general merchandise store in   He also bought up surrounding acres,  probably to grow sufficient grain for his distillery and mill.  At his death he owned 525 acres of prime farm land.  But it was whiskey that made Levi rich.   His principal brand,  called “Pure Rye Double Copper Distilled Whiskey,”  not only was popular locally but had a regional and eventually earned a modest national reputation.
Price’s profitability may have resulted from some innovations he made in the distilling process itself.   He recognized that any form of adulteration led to objectionable tastes common in the newly made, “raw” whiskey of his day.   By using care in the cleanliness of his process and perhaps a “secret” method or two,  he apparently was able to manufacture a product that had the taste and smoothness of an aged whiskey while being newly distilled.   By eliminating most of the aging process,  he saved money and was able to sell his whiskey for less than the competition.

In 1878,  as sales rose and the production of his Maryland rye at an all-time high,  Price talked the county into constructing a road that ever since has borne the name of his distillery.   The road ran north to Ijamsville MD where a railroad station was located and south to Damascus in Montgomery County.  There it linked with other roads that led to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.   Buyers from as far north as New York City could take the B&O  (now CSX) train to Ijamsville or Monrovia MD and reach the farm distillery by horse and buggy.

To cater to these travelers,  Price converted a cottage that stood near the distillery on Green Valley Road into the distillery office and an overnight guest house.  By the time the whiskey had been tasted and business transacted,  it often was too late for buyers to return to the evening train.  They were offered a place to stay at the rear of the cottage.  They also ate at the Price family table. 

The cottage, shown here in renovation,  which dates from the  1860s,  still stands.  It is known widely as “Thistle Hill” -- perhaps because of its stained glass windows  -- and is on the Maryland historical register.  It features an overly wide front door that may have been constructed to accommodate barrels of whiskey being rolled in and out.  Near the cottage are the ruins of a barn that was used to house the horses needed to transport the whiskey barrels to the railroad stations.  Still standing is Levi Price’s house, shown here, a large frame structure on the bluff overlooking the creek. Field stone slave quarters loom behind.  The Levi Price house, which has been restored at least twice,  also is on the Maryland historical register.

Perhaps compensating for his own lack of formal schooling, Price is reported to have invested heavily in his children’s education. None of them, however,  appear to have involved themselves in the distillery operations.  Preceded in death by his wife in 1902,  Price died in 1909 at the age of 74.   His progeny were not willing or able to continue the business and it was soon sold to another party -- Reuben Lichtenstein.

Lichtenstein was not a farmer-distiller.  Born in 1838 in Wolfernheim, Germany,  he came to the U.S. at the age of 14, settling in Virginia.  He joined the Confederate cause and served as an infantryman in the 19th Virginia.   After the war Lichtenstein moved to Cumberland, Maryland,  and opened a liquor business.  Like many other whiskey distributors and dealers,  he seems to have hankered to own a distillery.  When the Price operation came on the market shortly after Levi Price’s death,  Reuben purchased it,  along with the Levi Price house which he sold shortly thereafter.  

Evidence is that Lichtenstein directed the distillery from afar,  continuing to live in Cumberland.  Lichtenstein also is reported to have rebuilt and expanded the distillery.   His marketing materials named “Levi Price Pure Rye”  as his flagship brand and cited it as the product of the Lichtenstein Co., Distillers, Cumberland.  It is shown here on giveaway pen knife.  Also shown here is a paper labeled Levi Price quart brand whiskey that bears Lichtenstein’s name.  The label claims that the distillery was founded in 1840.   This clearly is a fabrication since Price would only have been five years old in that year. 

Although Reuben died at the age of 77 in 1916,  before the onset of Prohibition,  one or more of his five sons kept the operation going for the next four years.  Here the picture grows murky about the fate of the distillery.  Some locals say the family sold off its stored whiskey in the 1920s and ultimately the distillery was torn down.  A far more interesting fate is the one most widely believed by neighbors.  When Prohibition ended in 1934,  the story goes, the Lichtenstein boys attempted to put the distillery back in operation.   The move enraged “Drys” in nearby Hyattstown,  already smarting from Repeal.   They set a wagon full of straw on fire and rolled it downhill into the distillery.  It reputedly burned to the ground.

That is the account believed by local historian Edward Lee Knowles, who himself was a subsequent owner of the Levi Price house.   To a reporter in 1978 he showed how the earth around the distillery site was full of charred wood,  indicating a fire.   This version also appears in a publication of the Friends of Historic Hyattstown.  But even Knowles admitted that his search of local newspapers of that time revealed no mention of the distillery burning.  Was it hushed up?  As a result,  what happened to the farm distillery that Levi Price founded continues to be something of a mystery.