the first shots of the whiskey rebellion are fired at u.s. marshal david lennox and general john neville. we think to scare them away although some accounts say, of course, from the neville side that they meant to kill them. these were the kind of men though that could have shot the eye out of a squirrel at 100 yards away so if they had meant to kill them they would be dead. >> bret: to alexander hamilton the tax revolt was a rebellion against federal authority itself and it needed to be quashed. >> this was so hamilton could demonstrate to everyone that the federal government was in charge of taxation no longer the states. >> bret: it took george washington himself to quell the rebels. >> george washington actually saddles up. it's the only recorded time in american history that the commander-in-chief actually serves as the commander-in-chief and rides out with his army. >> 12,900 and 50 soldiers came