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Brooklyn Moonshine War
This story is based on actual events.
America has always had a conflicted relationship with alcohol. However, the revenue generated by alcohol taxes offset anti-alcohol sentiments.
For example, in 1791, the then-new country faced a revolt over taxes, known as The Whiskey Rebellion, a violent tax protest that began in 1791 and ended in 1794. This so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. Also, 140 years later, Prohibition was imposed to curtail the use of alcohol but ended to a large degree because of the lost tax revenue, among other factors.
Which brings us to our story. From Smithsonian Magazine (Nov 2014)
All Content © 2025 Arthur Shapiro. All Rights Reserved. No Reproductions Without Express Written Consent By Arthur Shapiro
To fund the Civil War, the federal government had taxed alcohol for the first time since 1817. In 1862, it levied a 20-cent tax per 100-proof gallon. In 1865-68, it spiked to $2, equivalent to $30 today. (Now it’s $13.50.) According to a congressional report in 1866, that exceeded the market rate, making the tax patently unjust. It was also an inducement to fraud.
Among the places in the country where the government looked to collect taxes was Brooklyn, N.Y. Between 14 and 20 distilleries were in an area known as Irish Town, also known as the Fifth Ward, near the Brooklyn Navy Yard (now known as Vinegar Hill).
In 1867, the government collected only roughly $22,000 when the tax should have been $1,225,000. Desperate for revenue after the war, the U.S. government tried unsuccessfully to collect taxes from distillers in Brooklyn. Most attempts ended in resistance at best and near-riots at worst.
By 1868, a former Army General named Alfred Pleasonton became a leader in the newly formed Bureau of Internal Revenue, the precursor to the Internal Revenue Service.
Frustrated by repeated failed efforts to collect taxes, Pleasonton’s deputy, Colonel Clifford Thompson, and other Civil War senior officers invaded Brooklyn. The ‘expedition’ consisted of a cadre of tax collectors, scores of US Marshalls, and 1,500 soldiers (some reports say 2,000) who left various forts in the New York area to raid Brooklyn. The mission was to collect the taxes, destroy the stills, and confiscate the liquor.
For their part, the distillers, mostly Irish, were focused on making a living and trying to achieve the American Dream, which was hard enough without the additional burden of “unfair” taxes.
The invasion occurred on December 4, 1869, at 6:00 AM, as the troops landed and marched into Irish Town.
The Irish who came to America before the Civil War (mainly in the 1850s) faced hardships and discrimination, were treated as second-class citizens, could only get the worst jobs, were poorly paid, and lived in poverty and squalor in slums.
The Civil War made things worse. They were often drafted, some as soon as they got off the ships that brought them here.
In addition to the economic and social hardships they faced, the Irish were also the targets of violence during the Civil War. In some cases, Irish immigrants were attacked by mobs of anti-immigrant groups. In other cases, they were discriminated against by employers and landlords.
In 1863, a mob attacked Irish immigrants in New York City. The attack, which became known as the Draft Riots, resulted in the deaths of over 100 people, many of whom were Irish.
After the war, many Irish immigrants found they could not find jobs or were evicted from their homes. This was due in part to the economic dislocations of the war and in part to the ongoing discrimination against the Irish.
This is the fictional story of distillers Liam and Colleen O’Brien, who thought they finally made it in America, albeit as moonshiners, until that fateful day.