Thread by @martyrmade

Today is 100th anniversary of the surrender of West Virginia miners to federal troops at Blair Mountain, ending the largest labor uprising in US history, and the most serious insurrection since the Civil War.

THREAD

The Battle of Blair Mountain was only the climax in a decades-long battle between mining communities and the coal mine operators who controlled their lives and were intent on preventing unionization.

America was still being built, and regional economics was inextricably tied to infrastructure expansion. Coal mines closer to accessible rail & industry had an inherent advantage over mines in southern West Virginia & Kentucky, and the difference came out of the hides of workers.

America demanded coal to run industry, power ships and trains, and heat homes. An observer might expect that the regions providing this precious resource would be prosperous. Instead, they were inhabited by workers often treated little better than slaves (and more expendable).

When miners in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other northern states unionized, the companies resisted but soon gave way. But the operators further south believed their survival depended on lower wages, and were ready to fight attempts to organize by any means.

In 1914, when miners in Ludlow, CO were striking for better wages & conditions, the Rockefeller-owned company employed mercenaries & the National Guard. They set fire to a miners’ camp and fired machine guns into tents, killing between 15-20 people, almost all women & children.

By 1920, miners had been organized as far south of northern West Virginia. The UMWA was intent on pushing south, because the non-union mines were putting wage pressure on the operations who’d allowed unionization. So the campaign began.

The response from mine operators was swift. Mercenaries from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency were brought in to intimidate miners and expel anyone who talked of unions. The miners called them “gun thugs.”

In southern West Virginia, operators had total control over miners’ lives. 75% lives in company housing. They were paid in company scrip for the company store. When a miner was fired, he was thrown out of his home with his family immediately.

The organizing drive of 1920 led to hundreds of miners being evicted. The stories are harrowing. Whole families violently expelled into the winter cold. Tent camps full of evicted miners sprang up. Children in snow with no shoes. Little fuel or food.

But the miners had an effective voice in local government. His name was Sid Hatfield, son of one of the famous clans of the Hatfield-McCoy vendetta. Sid was a former miner, and now chief of police in Matewan, WV. He was fighter, and not one to take an insult lying down.

One day, gun thugs showed up to evict miners, Sid intervened. The mercs presented a warrant, so Sid went to fetch the mayor, who declared it phony. A confrontation and gunfight ensued. 10 men were killed - 3 locals & 7 mercs, including 2 brothers of the co-owner of merc agency.

The locals said the thugs had started the shooting by killing the mayor, but the powerful coal operators ensured Sid and his deputized locals were charged with the murders. The jury found them not guilty.

But miners were still out in the cold. They they watched as the operators imported labor to replace them. Often, miners were immigrants recruited right on the New York docks and sent down as scabs. The West Virginia miners let them know they were unwelcome.

Federal troops were called in quell the violence during the winter. The miners were patriots, and many were veterans of WW1. Relations w/the troops were cordial, and the Army provided food & order relief to homeless miners’ families in the camps.

But once the federal troops departed, the violence picked up. In May 1921, the miners made a play to shut down the non-union mines. A 3 day battle ensued between union miners, replacements, state police, & militia. Assassinations occurred. Tensions were maxed out.

Sid Hatfield was a local folk hero for standing up for miner’s rights. He was also the leading candidate for county constable. But in August 1921, Baldwin-Felts assassins murdered him and his friend Ed Chambers in broad daylight. It was the Gavrilo Princip moment of Mine Wars.

The men were murdered before the eyes of their wives. The West Virginia miners had had enough. Veteran organizers like Frank Keeney said they’d never organize the southern WVA mines piecemeal and would have to march south in a defensible force. 10k armed miners answered the call.

These were not professional activists. They didn’t have grand theories. They didn’t read Marx. These were working men - white, black, recent immigrants - who had abused and seen their families abused under slave conditions for too long, and they’d had enough.

Mother Jones, the 90-yr-old famous labor firebrand and veteran of the 1912-13 WVA mine strikes, arrived to show support but soon realized that “her boys” had been pushed over the edge. She pleaded with them not to march on Logan & Mingo Counties, fearing a massacre. (Me & her :)

It was too late. They’d been pushed too far. They headed south, marching nearly 50 miles with military discipline, under the command of miners who’d served in WW1. They were led by UMWA District 17 president Bill Blizzard (seated).

Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin, a corrupt stooge of the coal operators who’d accepted hundreds of thousands in bribes for his violent suppression of miners’ strikes, prepared defenses at Blair Mountain.

The miners, now 13,000 strong, engaged Chafin’s force, consisting of private mercenaries, state and local police, and random citizens conscripted to fight the miners under threat of arrest. It was the largest privately-run military force in the country. But it wasn’t enough.

The next day, President Warren Harding ordered the US Army to intervene. Federal troops mobilized and headed to West Virginia. The new weapon of air power was used to drop bombs and chemical weapons on the striking miners.

That’s right: The first known use of terror bombing civilians happened in West Virginia. Not wanting to fight the US Army, the miners decided to head home. But Sheriff Chafin wanted blood. After retreating miners were shot by Chafin’s men, the enraged miners turned back to fight.

Battle was joined on Aug 29, w/miners attacking entrenched positions armed w/machine guns, while being attacked w/bombs and chemicals from the air. It raged until the Army showed up in force on Sept 2. Many war veteran miners refused to fire on soldiers, the rest followed suit.

Finally, the miners went home. But it wasn’t the end. Federal troops harassed and robbed miners. 985 men were arrested, many were tried for treason. The coal mine operators decimated the union in the aftermath and executed violent reprisals.

The Battle of Blair Mountain is a story of a working community standing up to the combined might of capital & state power. Up to 100 miners were killed. The mines of southern West Virginia were unionized in 1933 following federal legislation giving them the lawful right to do so.

Never forget that the rights & privileges we take for granted today were not given, but TAKEN. The only reason we and our children are not working 14 hour days in slave conditions is that working men and women bled for us. Glory to the martyrs & heroes of labor! Never forget!

Addendum: As some have mentioned, this is where the term “redneck” comes from! The red bandana worn around the neck was the uniform item of the rebel miners. #redneckrebellion

Apparently there are a lot of stories for where redneck came from. First time I remember hearing it as a kid was in that Garth Brooks song Alabama Clay. Well, here in WV everyone insists it was the miners, so you all can argue it out.

Turns out people got real strong feelings about the origin of this term! Well, I’m just reporting what I’m told, maybe some WVA locals are BSing my California a$$!