The Largest Labor Battle in American History

100 years ago, West Virginia coal miners fought a hot war on U.S. soil against robber barons and the government

Armed miners pose with their rifles in Mingo County, WV c. 1921

The Battle of Blair Mountain was a short-lived but pitched fight between organized West Virginian coal miners and their union-busting corporate employers. In September 1921, an estimated 10,000 armed workers marched to face a force of over 30,000 private mercenaries and federal soldiers in the heart of Appalachia. It stands as the single largest insurrection in American history since the Civil War. It’s also the reason we have the term “rednecks”.

Workers typically pulled 10–12 hour shifts in poorly ventilated mines with inadequate safety measures.

Why They Fought: The Struggle for a Union

As with many industries in the early 20th century, workers started to realize the benefits of creating a union. Mine work in West Virginia was hell — workers had to put up with low pay and the possibility of death every day. One historian estimated West Virginia coal miners had a higher chance of death than the average American soldier in World War One.

Organizing under the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), they could force their employers to bargain for higher wages, safer conditions, and independence from company rule.

But companies had official anti-union agendas and used brutal force to repress their formation. Any man suspected of joining the UMWA was blacklisted. So deeply were the mine-owners afraid that a union would raise the cost of labor that they employed entire private armies to maintain order and keep tabs on workers in the camps.

Private security agencies were the hired muscle of coal companies, and often refused to play by the rules.

Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts, two of the biggest private agencies, were notorious for ruthlessly firing into crowds of striking miners, sometimes killing women and children too (see: Ludlow Massacre).

But usually, private agents were responsible for finding and evicting suspected union members. Eviction agents would inevitably lay the groundwork for the Battle of Blair Mountain.

Artistic depiction of Sheriff Sidney “Two-Gun Sid” Hatfield.

The Matewan Massacre: Prelude to the Battle of Blair Mountain

The Matewan Massacre was the event that settled many West Virginians’ minds to take up arms against the unjust rule of the coal companies.

On the morning of May 19, 1920 thirteen Baldwin-Felts agents working for the Stone Mountain Coal Co. arrived in the small mining town of Matewan, WV to evict union members from their homes. The townspeople angrily watched detectives cast families out of the settlement. After they finished, they were confronted by the town’s sheriff: Sidney “Two-Gun Sid” Hatfield, a towering mountain man and a staunch supporter of the UMWA.

When Hatfield tried to stop the agents their leader — Albert Felts — produced a forged warrant for Hatfield’s arrest. Not buying the ploy, Hatfield called in the Mayor, Cabell Testerman, to take a look. When Testerman confirmed the warrant was fake, all hell broke loose.

Felts, without a moment’s hesitation, pulled his revolver and blasted Mayor Testerman.

Hatfield responded by shooting Felts and running for cover. Local miners and townspeople returned fire on the detectives, killing six of the thirteen Baldwin-Felts agents and suffering two losses of their own. The remaining agents fled the scene, and Hatfield finished off Felts with a single bullet.

After driving the Baldwin-Felts detectives out of Matewan, workers around West Virginia doubled their resolve to finally organize the state and improve their conditions.

After the death of Sid Hatfield, West Virginian miners resolved to march and set up the union by force.

A Grand Fight

Following the Battle of Matewan, workers felt both hope and outrage. Hopeful, that they might finally organize, and incensed about the shootings. Sid Hatfield had been taken to court over Albert Felts’ murder and — to the unionists favor — he was acquitted.

However, not seconds after he received the verdict, Hatfield was ruthlessly gunned down by vengeful Baldwin-Felts agents on the steps of the courthouse. His best friend, Ed Chambers, was shot in the back of the head in front of his wife.

At that moment, all the anger that had built up from the coal companies’ years of abuse and killings manifested. Miners around the state mobilized and determined to march on Logan County to set up the union by force.

The miners used whatever guns they had, but some arms were donated by unions and the Socialist Party.

On the miners’ side were 20,000 men, 10,000 of which would eventually fight. Many of them had fought in World War I and knew their way around a battlefield. Supporters loaned several machine guns and they were all equipped with rifles. The miners lacked uniforms, but each man donned a distinctive red bandana around his neck — the origin of the term “redneck”.

On the companies’ side were 30,000 men sporting the latest in weaponry: automatic rifles, artillery — even B-1 military airplanes loaded with chemical bombs. Two-thousand of these men were contractors, the largest private military force assembled in US history. The rest of the force consisted of lawmen and active-duty soldiers.

With the Bolshevik Revolution occurring 3 years earlier, Blair Mountain terrified the nation’s elite.

Following some minor skirmishes, the first real fighting began on August 29, 1921. Bill Blizzard — the union commander — led his force to meet company militias just south of Sharples near Blair Mountain.

For a week straight, miners exchanged fire with the opposition. Historians estimate close to a million rounds were spent, killing roughly 100 unionists and 50 company men. Throughout the battle, federal bombers dispersed gas and explosive shells on the workers’ fortifications, but to little avail.

The miners fought on and were prepared to continue the action until the government troops arrived. But Blizzard instructed his men to stand down — the feds would show no mercy on their smaller force if they persisted. Besides, they had shared trenches with many of the same soldiers in France four years earlier.

Effectively, the battle was over.

Following the battle, 985 union members were arrested on treason and murder charges.

Aftermath: The Poor Man’s Struggle Continues

After union forces surrendered, many were jailed for treason. But most ended up evading the law or being acquitted.

The Battle of Blair Mountain could be interpreted as a win or a loss for the labor movement. On one hand, they proved to the coal companies they were powerful and serious about their demands. On the other, the companies could use the violence as a justification to crack down on unions. This seems to be political violence’s inevitable result — nobody wins.

In the end, the Battle of Blair Mountain reminds us of the ongoing struggle of American workers to achieve dignity and a voice.

Main Sources:

Bailey, R. J. (2001). Matewan before the massacre: Politics, coal, and the roots of conflict in Mingo County, 1793–1920. Morgantown, W. Va., WV: West Virginia University Libraries.

Boissoneault, L. (2017, April 25). The Coal Mining Massacre America Forgot. Retrieved August 05, 2020, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-matewan-massacre-was-epicenter-20th-century-mine-wars-180963026/

Corbin, D. (1997). The West Virginia mine wars: An anthology. Martinsburg, WV, WV: Appalachian Editions.

West Virginia, S. (2019). West Virginia’s Mine Wars. Retrieved August 05, 2020, from http://www.wvculture.org/history/archives/minewars.html