North and South: Tales of Two Whiskey MenBy Jack Sullivan

Special to Bottles and Extras

The Civil War was the greatest nationalcataclysm of American history. Not onlydid it cause the country’s greatest numberof war deaths, it disrupted the lives ofmillions. This is the story of two mencaught up in the war, one a Southerner whowent North and survived a death camp; theother a Northerner who went South andfound prosperity. Both left notable legaciesin the whiskey trade. The Rebel was GeorgeShawhan; the Yankee was E.E. Dowham.

The Southerner Who Went NorthIn late July, 1863, Confederate General

John Hunt Morgan [Figure 1] brought theCivil War north to Indiana and Ohio.Morgan and his men on horseback pillagedand terrorized dozens of hamlets and towns,moving east from Indiana. A contemporarylithograph from Harper’s Magazinedepicted the attack by Morgan’s Raiders onWashington Court House, Ohio [Figure 2].The Southern horsemen ranged as far eastand north as Steubenville. With them wasa young giant with prodigious strengthnamed George Shawhan.

Born in 1843, Shawhan joined theConfederate army in Kentucky in 1862 atthe age of 19. He stood six feet five inchestall and weighed 250 pounds. This was at

Figure 1: General John Hunt Morgan.

Figure 2: Morgan’s Raiders at Washington Court House.

a time when American males averaged5 feet, 8 inches, and less than 150 pounds.With most of Morgan’s troop, Shawhanwas captured trying to cross the Ohio Riverinto West Virginia in August 1863. He wassent to Camp Douglas on the outskirts ofChicago, a prison facility known in theSouth as “Eight Acres of Hell.” Of the12,000 Confederate soldiers held there,more than 4,500 died. Shawhan was a

survivor.After the war, he returned to Kentucky,

got married, tried farming and quicklydecided that making whiskey was a betterway of life. It was an easy choice since hisfamily had been involved in distilling threegenerations back. His great-grandfather,Daniel Shawhan, had a working still nearPittsburgh where he made “MonongahelaRed.” Chafing under increasing taxation,he headed out with his family for BourbonCounty, Ky. There he is credited by somewith producing the first “bourbon” whiskey.

Daniel was followed by his son, John,in the distilling trade and John’s son,another Daniel, kept the tradition goingfor more decades and fathered George. TheShawhan Distillery later promoted awhiskey labeled “Shawhan Four GenerationRye,” the label shows pictures of fourdistillery-owning Shawhans with dates:Daniel (1786), John (1826), Daniel (1854),and George (1904) [Figure 3].

To Lone Jack, MissouriUnlike his forebears, however, George

Shawhan moved out of Kentucky, in 1872transplanting his family and mother to atown in Missouri named Lone Jack. It wasnamed for a large black jack tree that stood

Figure 3: Four Shawhanson a whiskey label.

near the intersection of the Missouri andOsage Rivers. A Shawhan whiskey labellater memorialized the tree. [Figure 4] Thescene of a bloody Civil War battle, LoneJack was noted for its good water and fertilesoil. Shawhan bought a farm, built a pond,and within a year, completed his firstdistillery. Initially it had a capacity of twobarrels a day, each holding 42 gallons.Figure 5 is an artist’s conception of theLone Jack distillery.

In Lone Jack, Shawhan’s strengthbecame legendary. It is reported that hecould raise a 400 pound barrel of whiskey,hold it by the rim caused by the protrusionof the staves, and drink from the bung holeto test its flavor. On one occasion, the storygoes, the tailgate of his wagon holding fullwhiskey barrels opened, spilling the cargoonto the street. Working alone, Shawhancorralled the big kegs and heaved themback onto the wagon. In the process hedislocated his shoulder and needed the helpof two friends to force it back into place.

The whiskey business was flourishingwhen disaster struck.

In September 1880 while makingapplejack, a boiler coil became stopped upwith apple mash. When pressure wasincreased to clear the coil, the boilerexploded. Instantly three of Shawhan’semployees, including a father and son, werekilled and six others seriously injured.Despite that setback the Shawhanenterprises grew steadily. He built threelarge barns where tobacco grown aroundLone Jack was dried, graded and made intoplugs, cigars and loose for rolling intocigarettes.

Shawhan also opened a saloon inKansas City. The story goes that the sameday the saloon set a record at the cashdrawer, his daughter, who had married aman named Homer Rowland, gave birth toa son. Grandfather George decreed that thename of the newborn should reflect thefamily’s business success. No one dareddisagree him and the boy was christened“Record Rowland.”

On To Weston, MissouriIn 1900 disaster struck again. In

January, around midnight, Shawhan’sdistillery caught fire and burned to theground. His warehouses were spared. Theyheld 800 barrels of whiskey at the time andprovided a valuable financial resource.This time the giant distiller decided againstrebuilding. Instead he moved to Weston,Missouri, and bought a distillery that had

Figure 5: Drawing of the Lone JackDistillery.

Figure 4: Lone Jack Whiskey label.

been founded by stage coach magnate, BenHolladay. Shown here is a postcard viewof the distillery in more recent days [Figure6]. The facility was located near a purelimestone spring and the quality of thewater caused Shawhan to enthuse that withhis whiskey formula he could “beat thoseBourbon County fellows all hollow.” Healso was withdrawing whiskey from hisLone Jack warehouses and bottling it underthe Shawhan Whiskey label.

Figure 6: Postcard vew of the WestonDistillery.

He began to advertise more widelyincluding one ad that showed him on thewhiskey label in his fedora hat [Figure 7].He expanded his brands to include “1786Shawhan Rye,” “Double Stamp,” “FourGeneration,” “Lone Jack,” “Old HolladayRye,” “Old Stamping Ground,, “SelectedStock,” “Shawhan,” “Shawhan WhiteCorn” and “Stone River.”

Figure 8: Shawhan advertising shot glass.

Among Shawhan’s merchandisingefforts were a series of shot glasses [Figure8] and other giveaways to importantcustomers. Throughout the late 1890s andearly 1900s his whiskey business continuedto grow. In 1898 Shawhan built a largehome in downtown Weston for his family.It is considered a classic example of“steamboat architecture” and survives todayas a Victorian style bed and breakfast[Figure 9].

In l907 Shawhan branched out,purchasing the Spring River Distillery atVerona, Missouri, and installing his son-in-law as manager. He sold his Weston

Figure 7: Shawhan Whiskey ad.

Figure 9: Shawhan Weston mansion.

distillery and the Shawhan brand name in1908 to the Singer family who operated thedistillery until Prohibition. Shawhancontinued to be involved in the Veronaoperation until his death in 1912 at the ageof 69. He is buried near Kansas City inLee’s Summit Cemetery.

The Legend Lives OnShawhan’s name was perpetuated by the

Singers and their successors in theirwhiskey labels for years [Figure 10].Although Prohibition interrupted

production, the OldShawhan brand nameemerged after Repealand eventually was soldto the Darling DistilleryCompany of JeffersonCounty, Kentucky.Advertised as a“Kentucky PioneerBrand,” it depicted aman in a coonskin hatrather than Shawhan’sfedora [Figure 11] andignoring the brand’sMissouri roots. OldShawhan whiskeycontinued to be sold intothe 1970s.

Long afterShawhan’s death he hascontinued to be of

interest to historians and to his fellowMissourians. The Kansas City Star once

Fig. 10: Bottleof Shawhan

Whiskey.

Figure 11: Post-Pro Old Shawhan label.

ran a full page feature story about himentitled, “Distiller Matched Brew’s Power,”referring to George’s legendary strength.The reporter interviewed grandson RecordRowland who declared: “Grandpa was aperson that always watched his temper, buthe was a very powerful man. He drank onlythree toddies a day and nobody could makea toddy like he could.”

The Northerner Who Went SouthAs Alexandria, a Virginia town with

strong Confederate sympathies, sufferedunder Union occupation during the CivilWar, a Yankee lad of 23 arrived in 1862from New Jersey to sell whiskey to thethirsty troops. Five years later he wouldinstigate a historic Supreme Court caseagainst local officials. Despite thisproblematic start, he became Alexandria’smayor and a leading citizen while founding

a liquor businessthat prospereduntil the advent ofProhibition. Hisname wasEmanuel Ethelbert(he muchpreferred “E.E.”)Downham, seenhere in maturity[Figure 12].

Downham is afairly common English name, although ourE.E. may also have had some Germanancestry. Census records indicate that asubstantial number of AmericanDownhams were in the liquor business andhis father, a native born American, likelywas among them. Certainly E.E.Downham, whose natal year was 1839, wasversed in the whiskey trade when he arrivedin Alexandria to set up shop amidst Yankee-hating Southern sympathizers.

E.E.’s promise as an “up-and-comer”must have been evident very early. In 1865,despite being a Northerner, he marriedSarah Miranda Price, the daughter ofGeorge Price, a leading Alexandriamerchant. The ceremony took place at thePrice mansion that stood at the northeastcorner of Fairfax and Cameron Streets.The couple would be married for 56 yearsand produce four sons and a daughter:Henry, (1868), Francis, known as Frank(1870), Horace (1874), Robert (1876), andMaude (1878).

Downham’s early business locationswere on the lower end of Alexandria’s KingStreet. Whether he truly was a distiller,

Fig. 12: E.E.Downham.

making whiskey directly from grain on hispremises, is open to question. More likelyhe was a “rectifier,” someone who boughtraw whiskey or grain alcohol from others,refined it, mixed it to taste, added color andflavor, bottled and labeled it. The resultingliquor was sold at both wholesale and retail.E.E. and his early partner, Henry Green,also dealt in beer and wine.

A Historic LawsuitIn 1867, in the wake of the Civil War,

the Alexandria City Council, seeking toraise additional revenues, put a series oftaxes on alcoholic beverages imported intothe City from outside the state, thusdiscriminating in favor of Virginia-madeproducts. When the young upstartDownham refused to pay the tax, theAlexandria City Council sued him and won.He appealed lower court decisions all theway to the U.S. Supreme Court. At issuewas an early test of the Interstate CommerceClause of the U.S. Constitution. While theCourt refused on a technicality to rule infavor of Downham, it asserted its right tohear the case, disputed by Alexandria, andclaimed jurisdiction to overturn local taxesthat violated the Commerce Clause. As aresult Downham v. Alexandria (1869)became an important legal precedent,frequently cited in cases up to the presentday.

Despite losing his suit against the city,Downham’s political clout in Alexandriawas growing. In 1868 Federal authoritiesissued a controversial decree that alldistillers and rectifiers should purchase astandard hydrometer, a device called theTice Meter, to measure the alcohol contentof their products. (Mark Twain called it “aten million dollar swindle.”) Downham wasone of a handful of liquor merchants whocomplied. When it was discovered that theTice Meter often was highly inaccurate, theIRS rescinded the requirement. Downhaminduced his congressman in 1873 tointroduce a special claims bill for $650 torepay him its cost [Figure 13]. Althoughthe bill died in committee, its introductionalone testified to his influence.

The following year, 1874, Downhamsought and won election from Alexandria’sThird Ward to the same City Council hehad sued seven years earlier. He servedthere for two terms before seeking officeon the Board of Aldermen and was electedthere for five two-year terms. Following thesudden death of Mayor Smoot by heartattack at Christmas 1887, the Board met to

Figure 13: Downham’s claims bill.

select an interim mayor from among theirnumber. On the sixth ballot, Downham waschosen. He was reelected in his own rightin 1890, serving a total of four years, andthen permanently retired from public office.

Downham’s Whiskey TradeThroughout this period Downham

continued his business in downtownAlexandria, beginning at 9 King Street andby 1881 moving to 13 King Street. Shownhere is an 1885 ad with the latter addressfrom E.E. Downham & Co. WholesaleLiquor Dealers. [Figure 14]. Four yearslater the firm moved to 107 King, Itfeatured a menu of whiskey brands, amongthem was “Old Mansion,” which used anillustration of Mount Vernon on the labeland on back-of-the-bar decanters [Figure15]. Others were “Old Dominion FamilyRye,” “Crystal Maize-Straight,” “Old KingCorn,” “”Mountain Corn” and “Old TripleXXX Maryland Whiskey” [Figure 16].

Figure 14: 1883 ad forthe Downham firm.

Fig. 15: Belle Haven“Mount Vernon”

decanter

The flagship brand was “Belle Haven Rye,” witha well-designed label featuring heads of grain.[Figure 17].

Shown here is a giveaway cork-screw with theslogan, “Pull for Downham Whiskey,” [Figure18]. The instrument also cited prices. Thecheapest drink was Old King Corn at $2 a gallon.Mountain Corn was $2.50 and Crystal Maize,$3.50 a gallon. Old Mansion sold for $1 a quartor $11 for a case of 12. Downham promised topay the freight on any order over $2.50.

The whiskey business proved lucrative andDownham moved his family into a home at 411Washington Street, the city’s most fashionable.It was a double house and he appears to haveowned both sides [Figure 19]. His residence isthe one with the white door.

Civic Pipe Dreams and ProhibitionWithin time, E.E. Downham brought sons

Robert and Henry into the business as heprogressively became involved in other activities.In 1899, for example, he participated in a schemeto honor George Washington in Alexandria witha giant equestrian statue. The project requiredraising money around the entire United States.Citizens elsewhere apparently were not convincedof its need and the statue was never built.

In 1907 Downham involved himself inanother grandiose project. He became an officerin an organization that aimed to turn Alexandria’sMount Vernon Avenue into “an Apian Way and aWestminster Abbey combined.” It called for thestreet to be sectioned by blocks representing eachState in the Union. The States thus honored, inturn, would finance buildings on their blocks thatwould feature their agricultural and manufactured

Figure 16:Maryland Triple

XXX Whiskey bottle

Figure 17: Belle Haven Rye bottle.

Figure 18: Downham corkscrew.

Figure 19: The Downham home.

products as well as state heroes.Hugely dependent on outsidefunding, once again Downham andhis Alexandria booster friends gotnowhere.

By 1915, E.E. Downham’sprincipal occupation was president of

the German Co-Operative BuildingAssociation, a building and loanorganization at 615 King Street. TheAssociation boasted of its founding in 1868and of being “thoroughly mutual andcooperative in its workings.”

In 1917, despite his Germanconnections, he was chosen as one of threeAlexandrians serving on the local draftboard for World War I. Meanwhile, withE.E.’s financial backing, son Robert boughtthe Lee-Fendall mansion, the birthplace ofConfederate General Lee, which still standsas a major Alexandria tourist attraction.Robert and Henry Downham by now werewere responsible for the daily operationsof the liquor business. By 1915 they hadmoved the company to 1229 King Street.

In 1918, Henry Downham died at age50, leaving a grieving mother and father.In 1920 National Prohibition closed downE.E. Downham & Co. forever. Downhamhimself died a year later at his WashingtonStreet home, age 82. His obituary in thelocal newspaper stated that his “long lifeof usefulness entitled him to the esteem andaffection” of all Alexandria citizens.

During Prohibition, with liquor banned,his son Robert turned to a new business asa clothier, hatter and haberdasher to thetown. Robert’s enterprise does not appearto have succeeded and several years laterhe was recorded working as a clerk inanother store. In 1936 the Lee-Fendallhouse was sold to John L. Lewis, the famoushead of the United Mine Workers. In 1937E.E.’s wife, Sarah, died of thecomplications of old age at 92, still livingat the family’s Washington Street address.

North and South UnitedNo evidence exists that Shawhan and

Downham ever met, but their lives bearsimilarities. Both got their start during thetumult of the Civil War. Both foundprosperity in the whiskey trade in the post-war period. Both became recognized andrespected figures in their respectivecommunities. Both businesses they builtby dint of hard work and dedication werekilled by National Prohibition. Finally,both whiskey men have left us with a legacyof collectable items to remember them andtheir remarkable stories.

*******************************Reference Notes: Material on GeorgeShawhan was drawn principally from afamily Internet site that containsinformative articles by Ronald Shawhanand Robert Francis. The site also containsseveral of the illustrations that appear here.The shot glass photo is courtesy of RobinPreston of pre-pro.com. Information aboutE.E. Downham was gathered from anumber of sources, using the Internet andthe Alexandria,Virginia Public Library.The pictures of Downham and hisWashington Street home are courtesy of theLibrary. The pictures of the Belle HavenRye bottle and corkscrew are through thecourtesy of Dr. Richard Lilienthal. Portionsof this article previously have appeared inthe Ohio Swirl and the Potomac Pontil.