Thank you, Major Kirkpatrick!

When he was 18, Marylander Abraham Kirkpatrick killed a man in a fight and fled to Pittsburgh, the Dodge City of the original wild west. He had family money, which he used to buy property and establish himself. When the war broke out he was commissioned the 1st lieutenant of Captain William Croghan’s company of the 8th Virginia. He served the length of the war, and rose to the rank of major. Always happy to fight, in 1779 he permanently maimed a fellow officer in a duel. In the 1790s, he played a central role in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion, famously defending General John Neville’s home from an angry mob.

Despite his rough edges, Kirkpatrick became part of the Pittsburgh elite. He co-founded the Bank of Pittsburgh and ran an early steel mill. His grandson Abraham Kirkpatrick Lewis was a pioneer in the Pittsburgh coal business, shipping coal on flat boats all the way to new Orleans.
 
George Washington sent Abraham Kirkpatrick several bottles of imported wine to thank him for his service putting down the Whiskey Rebellion. One bottle (its contents evaporated into a dry sediment) survives, having been kept by the family for over two centuries. It was put up for auction earlier this year, but didn’t sell. Details about the object, including a high-definition image, are can be seen at the Skinner auction house website.

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