The Battle of Blair Mountain, Largest US Labor Uprising: Aug. 25- Sept. 2, 1921

[appalachiablue]

(4 mins). Wiki, Ed. The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in US history and is the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early- 20th c. labor disputes in Appalachia.
For 5 days from late Aug. to early Sept. 1921, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers who were backed by coal mine operators during the miners' attempt to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields when tensions rose between workers and mine management.
The battle ended after approximately one million rounds were fired, and the US Army, represented by the West Virginia Army National Guard led by McDowell County native William Eubanks, intervened by presidential order. (Short documentary about the events)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
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- SCRIP. Miners, loggers and other workers were often paid in company scrip instead of US currency which was used to purchase goods at the local company- owned store. - Wiki. A scrip is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit. Scrips have been created and used for a variety of reasons, including exploitative payment of employees under truck systems; or for use in local commerce at times when regular currency was unavailable, for example in remote coal towns, military bases, ships on long voyages, or occupied countries in wartime...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip
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'America’s Company Towns, Then and Now,' Smithsonian Mag., Sept. 4, 2015. - Edit. A look at these small towns across the US shows the good, the bad & the ugly of the industrial boom.
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During the Industrial Revolution, company towns—communities built by businesses—sprouted up across the country. These places ranged from the awful to the enviable. Towns built by coal companies, for example, were often more on the prison camp end of the spectrum in terms of poverty and abuse. Settlements like Hershey, Penn., built by the chocolate company, were meant to be closer to paradise—to woo workers with fancy amenities rather than mistreat them.
Although some businesses offered idyllic-looking settings, a bevy of companies once made more money from swindling their workers than from what they mined or produced.
During the boom in textile, coal, steel and other industries, workers often earned what’s called scrip instead of real money: a kind of credit they couldn’t spend anywhere but the company store, where prices were often higher than elsewhere.
Companies in these places often required that workers live in barebones company housing and send their kids to company-built schools, where the boss’s perspective was king..Company towns in KY and WV were the pits: barebone settlements, harsh conditions, poverty...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/americas-company-towns-then-and-now-180956382/

- The Battle of Blair Mountain 1921, The Great War Series with Jesse Alexander, (22 mins).

[3Hotdogs]

1. Reminds me of the movie, "Matewan."

[appalachiablue]

2. Yes, events in Matewan in Mingo Co. were key to to the Blair Mt Battle

in adjacent Logan County in late Aug. 1921.

In Mingo Co. tensions were mounting between the striking miners who were evicted from their homes, the powerful coal companies with their hired Baldwin- Felts detective agents, and local law enforcement and officials.

The push for better working conditions and unionization of coal miners in southern WV, especially in Logan, Mingo and McDowell counties had been growing for 10 plus years with the involvement of John L Lewis, the United Mine Workers (UMW), Mother Jones, and others.

Matewan's Police Chief, Sid Hatfield in Mingo County was supportive of the evicted miners. When Sid and his deputy Ed Chambers were assassinated in nearby McDowell Co. on Aug.1, 1921 it kicked off the large miners march and Battle of Blair Mountain in next door Logan County, Aug. 25- Sept. 2, 1921.

Director John Sayles 1987 film 'Matewan' on the story is well done with a fine cast. Thanks for replying.
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Wiki. Battle of Matewan.. Tom Felts, the last remaining (Baldwin) Felts brother, sent undercover operatives to collect evidence to convict Sid Hatfield and his men.

When the charges against Hatfield and 22 others for the murder of Albert Felts were dismissed, Baldwin–Felts detectives assassinated Hatfield and his deputy Ed Chambers on August 1, 1921, on the steps of the McDowell County courthouse located in Welch, West Virginia. Of those defendants whose charges were not dismissed, all were acquitted.

Less than a month later, miners from the state gathered in Charleston. They were even more determined to organize the southern coal fields, and began the march to Logan County. Thousands of miners joined them along the way, culminating in what was to become known as the Battle of Blair Mountain...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan

Trailer, Matewan, 1987. Director, John Sayles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan

[appalachiablue]

3. The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, Matewan, WV

In partnership with the Matewan Public Library, we’ve planned a special outing for our coalfield kids and families. Following a book reading from Cora’s Faces Behind the Dust, kids will participate in a special craft led by our town librarian, Kathi Sherrill. We’re also planning a show-and-tell of Mine Wars era artifacts as well as a scavenger hunt throughout the Museum. We’ll be providing lunch, too!

- See More, https://wvminewars.org/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. From August 25 to September 2, 1921, the Battle of Blair Mountain occurred.

American Experience

The Mine Wars

In the spring of {1921}, efforts by West Virginia coal miners to join a union leads to the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War.

AIRED SEPTEMBER 3, 2019
The Mine Wars
THE DESIRE FOR DIGNITY RUNS DEEP.

Film Description
At the dawn of the 20th century, coal was the fuel that powered the nation. Yet few Americans thought much about the men who blasted the black rock from underground and hauled it to the surface. The Mine Wars tells the overlooked story of the miners in the mountains of southern West Virginia — native mountaineers, African American migrants, and European immigrants — who came together in a protracted struggle for their rights. Decades of violence, strikes, assassinations and marches accompanied their attempts to form a union, culminating in the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. The West Virginia mine wars raised profound questions about what freedom and democracy meant to working people in an industrial society.

Battle of Blair Mountain

Part of the West Virginia Coal Wars


Cover of The Washington Times with the headline that the US airfleet has been sent into West Virginia.

{The Washington Times that is currently being published is a different newspaper entirely.}

Date: August 25 to September 2, 1921
Location: Logan County, West Virginia

The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and one of the largest organized armed uprisings since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia. Up to 100 people were killed, and many more arrested. The United Mine Workers saw major declines in membership, but the long-term publicity led to some improvements in working conditions.

For five days from late August to early September 1921, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers (called the Logan Defenders) who were backed by coal mine operators during the miners' attempt to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields when tensions rose between workers and mine management. The battle ended after approximately one million rounds were fired and the United States Army intervened by presidential order, which was represented by the West Virginia National Guard.

{snip}

Legacy

In the short term the battle was an overwhelming victory for coal industry owners and management. UMW membership plummeted from more than 50,000 miners to approximately 10,000 over the next several years, and it was not until 1935—following the Great Depression and the beginning of the New Deal under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt—that the UMW fully organized in southern West Virginia.

{snip}

Future of site

Starting in the summer of 2006 a local hobby archeologist, Kenneth King, led a team of professional archeologists to further investigate the battlefield. King and the team's initial survey "mapped 15 combat sites and discovered more than a thousand artifacts, from rifle and shotgun shell casings to coins and batteries [and] little sign of disturbance" to the site, challenging earlier surveys conducted by Arch. In April 2008, Blair Mountain was chosen for the list of protected places on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

The site was accepted, and added to the NRHP list on March 30, 2009, although clerical errors by the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) failed to notarize all objections. In mid-2010, "Subsidiaries of two of the United States' largest coal producers — Arch Coal, Inc., and Massey Energy Company, ... — hold permits to blast and strip-mine huge chunks of the upper slopes and ridge of Blair Mountain, removing much of the mountaintop.", National Geographic reported.

In October 2012 a federal district judge ruled that a coalition of preservation groups did not have standing to sue to protect the historic site. On August 26, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 to overturn the ruling and returned the case.

In April 2016 the order to remove the Blair Mountain battlefield from the National Register was overturned by a federal court, and the further decision to add the site back to the register was turned over to the Keeper of the National Register. On June 27, 2018, the Keeper's Office decided that the 2009 decision to remove the site from its listings was "erroneous" and issued a statement confirming that as of that date the site was again on the National Register.

{snip}

Mon Sep 4, 2023: From August 25 to September 2, 1921, the Battle of Blair Mountain occurred.

Wed Sep 4, 2019: August 25 to September 2, 1921: the Battle of Blair Mountain

Hat tip, my local PBS station, which is showing "The Mine Wars."