Macpherson's Blues: Philadelphia's Federalist Legionary Corps, 1794-1800

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Philad, 1794-1800

  Frontier protesters used intimidation and violence to prevent Federal officials from collecting the excise tax on corn whiskey, the cash crop of most western Pennsylvania farmers, beginning in 1791.  Events escalated in July 1794 when Federal marshal David Lenox was nearly killed by a mob of rifle-armed rebels, after attempting to serve writs  of appearance on farmer-distillers who refused to pay the tax.  President Washington called out the Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey militia to quell the revolt, as the small, regular Legion of the United States was engaged in a campaign against the Ohio Valley Indians.

            William Macpherson, a former Continental officer,  raised a new corps of volunteer militia to respond to this challenge to Federal authority.  Dubbed "Macpherson's Blues" by virtue of their simple, but elegant, blue uniforms (double-breasted jackets with red trim and bearskin-crested, round hats), the Blues marched west under the militia army commanded by President Washington.  Returning home with accolades for their role in suppressing such perceived sedition, the Blues (originally intending to disband after the threat had passed),  voted to continue the organization and it soon grew in size and was unrivalled for its smartness in discipline and drill.

            By 1798, when Blues were again mobilized for Federal service (during the Northampton Insurrection and the Quasi-War), it boasted more than 350 members, formed in a legionary corps consisting of four companies of light infantry, one rifle company, and one grenadier company, with two troops of horse attached (one being the famous First City Troop).  It occupied the post of honor, in advance of the hearse, during the Washington mock-funeral procession held in that city on 26th December 1799, to mourn the deceased Father of His Country, as seen in the famous William Birch engraving.

            This small archive of Macpherson's Blues manuscripts consists of three items:  the Minute Book of the Committee of Elections, the roster of the original Blues of 1794, and the roster of the reorganized corps of 1798, at which time the unit was fully aligned with the Federalist party in its political leanings.  The rosters are literally a "Who's Who" of  the first families of Philadelphia (the Allens, the Bayntons, the Biddles, the Dietrich's, the Frazers, the Mifflins, the Shippens, the Whartons, the Willings, etc.).  Artists Henry Benbridge and John Raphael Smith are listed among the members, as is John Watson of  Watson's Annals of Philadelphia fame.  The Minute Book (with marbled covers), contains entries for each proposed member with his sponsor, and the results of the committee vote, from 1795 to 1799.   The Blues were disbanded following the close of the Quasi-War in 1800.