DISTILLERS AND PROHIBITIONISTS: SOCIAL CONFLICT AND THE RISE OF ANTI- ALCOHOL REFORM IN APPALACHIAN NORTH CAROLINA, 1790-1908 by BRUCE E. STEWART (Under the Direction of John C. Inscoe) ABSTRACT This dissertation chronicles the changing images of alcohol distillers in Appalachian North Carolina during the nineteenth century. Although moonshiners broke the law by refusing to pay the federal liquor tax, local communities did not initially view them as criminals following the Civil War. In fact, antebellum distillers were a well-respected, vital part of western North Carolina. During Reconstruction, they continued to garner the support of most mountain residents by opposing the newly reenacted federal liquor tax. Many mountain whites, whether Republican or Democratic, opposed liquor taxation because it threatened to increase federal authority and destroy an important local industry. Consequently, the moonshiner, by combatting the national government, became a celebrated figure in western North Carolina. After 1876, however, the status of liquor manufacturers (both licit and illicit) underwent a major overhaul. Mountain whites who did not distill alcohol increasingly believed that moonshiners were criminals on the fringes of society. Why did this change in attitude occur? To answer this question, I probe into the impact that industrialization had on mountain society, examine how federal liquor taxation affected party politics in southern Appalachia, and describe the rise of the prohibition movement in western North Carolina. These phenomena, combined with mainstream media’s negative portrayal of mountain society, helped to spark a local movement against legal and illegal distillers following Reconstruction. This anti-distiller crusade was both a reflection and a function of a cultural rift between urban and rural highlanders that had been growing since the late antebellum period. By the 1880s, distillers – the moonshiners, in particular – had become symbols of what was wrong with mountain society, thereby providing local townspeople and “outsiders” with an excuse to reform rural Carolina highlanders. Writ large, this study provides an excellent opportunity to view the development and impact of class conflict in southern Appalachia during the nineteenth century. INDEX WORDS: Southern Appalachia, American South, New South, North Carolina, Civil War, Reconstruction, Temperance, Prohibition, Sons of Temperance, Dispensary, Whiskey, Alcohol, Distilling, Moonshining, Liquor Law Enforcement, Ku Klux Klan, White Caps, Women’s Christian Temperance Union, Industrialization, Religion, Zebulon Vance DISTILLERS AND PROHIBITIONISTS: SOCIAL CONFLICT AND THE RISE OF ANTI- ALCOHOL REFORM IN APPALACHIAN NORTH CAROLINA, 1790-1908 by BRUCE E. STEWART B.A., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1999 M.A., Western Carolina University, 2001 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2007 © 2007 Bruce E. Stewart All Rights Reserved DISTILLERS AND PROHIBITIONISTS: SOCIAL CONFLICT AND THE RISE OF ANTI- ALCOHOL REFORM IN APPALACHIAN NORTH CAROLINA, 1790-1908 by BRUCE E. STEWART Major Professor: John C. Inscoe Committee: Kathleen Clark Stephen Mihm Paul Sutter Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2007 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, William and Miriam Stewart. iv ACKOWLEDGEMENTS Numerous people assisted me in my effort to research and write this history. I begin by thanking my dissertation committee: John Inscoe, Paul Sutter, Kathleen Clark, and Stephen Mihm. Over the past six years, I have had the honor to work under the tutelage of Professor Inscoe. He is not only one of the leading scholars in Appalachian history, but is also one of the nicest people I have ever met. John graciously critiqued and edited my chapters while sharing his rich insight on life and politics in western North Carolina. I will always be indebted to him. I also want to express my gratitude to Paul, who introduced me to the exciting field of Environmental history. In preparing this work, I received help and encouragement from a number of my peers at the University of Georgia, Western Carolina University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I would like to single out a handful of individuals who were especially encouraging over the years, and whose work or comments or enthusiasm have inspired me to forge ahead with the project. Drs. Pete Carmichael, Chuck Holden, and Richard Starnes served as my first mentors and I would not have completed this dissertation without their support and guidance. At Western Carolina University and the University of Georgia, I have had the opportunity to work with several talented graduate students. You know who you are, and I thank you profusely. However, I would like to give special thanks to Rod Steward, Heather Murray, Daniel Menestres, Vince Castano, Tim Van Cleave, Greg McLamb, John Barlow, Judkin Browning, Albert Way, Irene Holliman, Robert Luckett, Alexander Macaulay, Chris Manganiello, Duncan Maysilles, Solomon Smith, Jim Giesen, Anne Marshall, John Keeling, Frank Forts, John Hayes, v Justin Nystrom, Ichiro Miyata, Barton Myers, Mary Ella Engel, John Paul Hill, Darren Grem, and (last but not least) Steve Nash. Finally, I am incredibly fortunate to have a loving and supporting family. Thanks then go to my brothers, William and Jason; my whole gang of uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, and nieces; my grandmother; my step-mom; and my parents, William and Miriam. I wish that I could have given this dissertation to my mother, who sadly passed away during my first year at UGA. I would also like to thank Tuna and Shiraz, whose antics have been a welcome distraction from the tedium of writing. Lastly, I am grateful for all of the support that Karen Strait has given me. She is my best friend. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................ix LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................xii INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 PART 1: THE BEGINNING OF ANTI-ALCOHOL REFORM, 1790-1860...............................11 CHAPTER 1 “THIS COUNTRY IMPROVES IN CULTIVATION, WICKEDNESS, MILLS, AND STILL”: DISTILLING AND DRINKING DURING THE ANTEBELLUM PERIOD...................................................................................................................12 2 SELECT MEN OF SOBER AND INDUSTRIOUS HABITS: ALCOHOL REFORM AND SOCIAL CONFLICT DURING THE LATE ANTEBELLUM PERIOD.....41 PART 2: THE GOLDEN AGE OF MOONSHINING, 1861-1876...............................................91 CHAPTER 3 “IS THERE ANY WAY TO GET AT THE DISTILLERS?”: THE FALL AND RISE OF THE MOONSHINERS, 1861-1868..................................................................92 4 “THEY TAX US AND GIVE US NEGRO CIVIL RIGHTS”: MOONSHINER VIOLENCE AND THE POLITICS OF FEDERAL LIQUOR TAXATION, 1868- 1876........................................................................................................................129 PART 3: THE ROAD TO PROHIBITION, 1870-1908..............................................................167 vii CHAPTER 5 CIVILIZATION REQUIRES PROHIBITION: THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR THE MOONSHINERS, 1870-1882.............................................................168 6 “THESE BIG-BONED, SEMI-BARBARIAN PEOPLE”: THE CREATION OF VIOLENT APPALACHIA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, 1878-1890..............214 7 “AFLOAT ON THE TIDE OF IMPROVEMENT”: THE UPLIFT MOVEMENT AND RISE OF PROHIBITION SENTIMENT IN RURAL COMMUNITIES...249 8 THESE DISTILLERS DON’T GIVE A DARN: A POLITICAL HISTORY OF PROHIBITION, 1882-1908...................................................................................281 EPILOGUE..................................................................................................................................313 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................317 viii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1.1. Percentage of Population and Gallons of Whiskey Produced in the Mountain Region Compared to North Carolina as a Whole between 1810 and 1840...........................................29 Table 1.2. Per Capita Percentage and Gallons of Whiskey Produced within Western North Carolina in 1840........................................................................................................................30 Table 2.1. Mountain Communities with a Population of Over 100 by 1855................................49 Table 3.1. Liquor Tax Revenue Collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the State of North Carolina, 1866-1869 (in Dollars)..................................................................................118 Table 3.2. Percentage Decrease of Corn Production in Western North Carolina between 1860 and 1870 (in Bushels).............................................................................................................125 Table 5.1. Capital Invested in Manufacturing between 1870 and 1880 (in Dollars)..................174 Table 5.2. Officers Killed and Wounded in the Suppression of Illicit Distillation between 1876 and 1880..................................................................................................................................190 Table 5.3. Total Number of Cases Involving Moonshining in Western North Carolina’s Western District Court between 1873 and 1879...................................................................................192 Table 5.4. Percentage Decrease or Increase of Farm Size in Western North Carolina between 1870 and 1880 (in Acres)........................................................................................................197 Table 5.5. Percentage Decrease or Increase of the Cash Value of Farms in Western North Carolina between 1870 and 1880 (in Dollars)........................................................................198 Table 5.6. Percentage of Votes For and Against Prohibition in the Mountain Region Compared ix