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Dry January? Not on the Frontier

Liquor chest of Rufus Putnam ca 1775 at Campus Martius Museum. (Photo provided)

Some people today observe “Dry January,” abstaining from alcohol for health and financial reasons. No Dry January in early Ohio; alcohol was a basic necessity. Frontier life was tough. Liquor helped round off the rough edges – keeping spirits up by pouring spirits down, one could say.

American history books omit most references to alcohol. You probably didn’t know that George Washington and Revolutionary War soldiers enjoyed their spirits; from September 1775 to June 1776 the cost exceeded $6,000 ($100,000 or more today). He was also a major distiller at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson was a wine connoisseur who with guests consumed 1,203 bottles of wine at Monticello in two years. Planning meetings for Marietta’s settlement were enlivened by imbibing at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston, pictured below.

Alcohol was a tradition in England that carried over to America. Water was unsanitary. In the 1790s the average person drank the equivalent of 7 ounces of liquor a day, triple today’s consumption. Scholars of “spiritual” history point out fascinating aspects of drinking:

– The Mayflower with pilgrims landed at Massachusetts instead of Virginia because beer ran low. Really? True, though navigation error was a factor. Beer was the only reliable beverage at sea because fresh water usually turned brackish. Mayflower sailors needed enough for their return trip to England.

“…most of the founding fathers were buzzed, if not flat-out hammered, when they formulated the ideals…for their new country.” Ethan De Siefe, 2014.

Bunch of Grapes Tavern where Ohio Company planners met. (Photo provided)

“Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy.” Ben Franklin.

“Alcohol lubricated social events…Craftsmen drank at work…students enjoyed malted beverages…Harvard had its own brewery.” Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio Vol II.

Alcohol was important in Marietta: Liquor rations for the soldiers at Fort Harmar and Ohio Company surveyors included a gill (4 ounces) of rum daily. Imagine having a job that provides 4 ounces of booze each day. People used portable wooden liquor cabinets for socializing; Rufus Putnam’s is on display at Campus Martius Museum.

Joseph Buell, a soldier at Fort Harmar, kept a journal. May 1, 1786, May Day: “…drinking, carousing, and firing guns.” July 4, 1786, “…soldiers got extra rations of liquor and allowed to get as drunk as they pleased.” Buell later ran a tavern with his soldier friend Levi Munsell. Colonel John May’s journal described the first July 4th celebration at Marietta. There was a sumptuous feast and toasts, 13 of them, each followed by a healthy swig and a head-clearing discharge of a 6 pounder cannon.

Our ancestors drank a variety of beverages: beer, wine, rum, whiskey, cider, and more. Some mixed drinks had quirky names:

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– Stone Fence. A bracing blend of rum and cider. Ethan Allen and the legendary Green Mountain Boys imbibed this for liquid courage before raiding Fort Ticonderoga.

– Flip. A blend of beer, rum, molasses, and eggs or cream whipped into a froth by plunging a hot fire poker (called a flip dog) into the mixture.

– Rattleskull. English slang for a chatty person, a potent blend of 3-4 oz. of a rum/brandy mix poured into a pint of stout porter ale, flavored with lime and nutmeg. One colonial drink expert said this “bad-ass drink is a dangerously smooth and stultifying concoction.”

– Calibogus. A mix of dark rum and spruce beer (beer made with the needles of a spruce tree). Sailors drank it to ward off scurvy from lack of vitamin C.

Everyone drank in those days. Some spoke out against the social and health damage from excessive drinking. Few listened. The temperance movement was decades away. Drinking remained America’s favorite pastime.

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