On Election Day, Washington was away with the militia. Therefore he sent a friend, Lieutenant Charles Smith, to tend to the election in his absence. Smith appeared at the polling place in Frederick County ready for some last minute campaigning. Unlike Washington’s opponents, who showed up armed with a single gallon of liquor, Smith arrived with a horse drawn wagon loaded with 160 gallons of various liquors. This included 28 gallons of rum, 50 gallons of rum punch, 34 gallons of wine, 46 gallons of beer and two gallons of hard cider. He also had a number of mugs from which the voters could drink.
Washington had spent several weeks making the liquor himself. That’s right! George Washington, like many farmers of the day, was a moonshiner. He was ready to kick this campaign into high gear and give new meaning to the term political party.
As the voters appeared Smith offered them a few drinks to quench their thirst. He invited them to drink to their heart’s content. Many of the voters who appeared that day clearly were not Washington supporters. But, after a few large mugs of whiskey they began to warm up to ol’ George. Smith took this last opportunity to make one final speech on Washington’s behalf to the inebriated constituents. The drunks, that is, the voters who had only hours before disliked George Washington, were now applauding him. No one knows how many voters got drunk that day. But all 160 gallons of liquor was consumed in the festive event.