| Battle of Blair Mountain | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Labor Unions |
 Law EnforcementWest Virginia National Guard | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
50-100 killed 985 arrested |
3 Solders killed 10-30 Law Enforcers killed | ||||||
The Battle of Blair Mountain was a workers' uprising against the United States in 1921. The US Army and West Virginia National Guard were sent to fight the miners.
It was the largest armed uprising in the US since the Civil War.[1]
Background
After the end of the First World War, demand for coal dropped. About 3,000 miners who had not been unionized before joined the United Mine Workers (UMWA).
On May 19, 1920, agents from the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency arrived in Matewan in Mingo County, West Virginia. A fight broke out between the detectives and Police Chief Sid Hatfield, a supporter of the UMWA, who had organized miners to ambush the detectives. Two miners, the mayor, and seven detectives were killed. Three thousand people attended Hatfield's funeral and an army of ten thousand miners soon gathered.
The miners were armed with shotguns, rifles, pistols, and revolvers. In the town of Gallagher, they seized a Gatling gun and a machine gun along with 10,000 rounds of ammunition. Police tried to block them by digging trenches and setting up roadblocks. At a pass near Blair Mountain, police and strikebreakers blocked the road with machine guns.[2]
Battle
The United States Air Force sent biplanes for reconnaissance and County Sheriff Don Chafin hired private planes to drop bombs and tear gas on the striking miners. On September 2, the miners surrendered after the planes and national guard arrived.[2]
Leftover bombs from World War I were used.[3]
References
- ↑ Chuck Kinder (2005). Last Mountain Dancer: Hard-Earned Lessons in Love, Loss, and Honky-Tonk Outlaw Life (p. 149). New York City: Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780786716531
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Battle of Blair Mountain: 100th Anniversary of the Biggest Labor Uprising in the US" (2021-08-29). Politsturm. Archived from the original on 2021-08-29. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
- ↑ George D. Torok (2004). A guide to historic coal towns of the Big Sandy River Valley (p. 48). Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 9781572332829