Whiskey Reliant! Women Defiant!: A History of the Notorious Wayne County Indiana 1874 Anti-Whiskey War!

In the winter of 1874, Wayne County, Indiana, became the unlikely stage of one of the most serious and unintentionally hilarious moral battles in American history. The Women's Christian Temperance Crusade was the largest coordinated nationwide protest movement by women in the 19th century. Starting in Ohio, it swept westward to the Indiana border county of Wayne, where local churchwomen stormed saloons armed with ironclad gospel resolve to save drunkards from "fiery lakes" and to shut down the "Satanic bile." Barkeeps were baffled, drunkards were amused, and newspapers had a field day. The scenes that resulted were anything but solemn. Told through lively 19th-century newspaper accounts, this book captures the Wayne County crusade in all its earnest zeal, cultural tension, and unintentional comedy. For four months, east-central Indiana found itself on the world stage - caught between moral uplift and slapstick chaos. This tale of courage, conflict, and conviction is a forgotten chapter of American history - one that still echoes in today's debate over morality, community, religious certitude and the power of collective action, whether it's an adherence to Skull Bang whiskey or Bible doxology. As one local drunk memorably put it, "We lean on Skull Bang for support. Church ladies lean on Bibles for the same reason."