7. The Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921
When you study the struggle for workers’ rights, you hear about peaceful strikes and picket lines. Rarely do you learn about the time American laborers fought a literal shooting war against an army of private detectives and federal troops. The Battle of Blair Mountain, fought in the coalfields of West Virginia in the late summer of 1921, remains the largest labor uprising in American history.
Coal miners in Logan County lived in crushing poverty under the iron grip of the coal companies. They lived in company-owned housing and were paid in company scrip—fake currency only valid at company stores. When miners attempted to unionize to secure basic human rights, the coal operators hired ruthless private detectives and the corrupt local sheriff, Don Chafin, to crush them.
Following the assassination of a pro-union police chief, outrage boiled over. Ten thousand armed coal miners, many wearing red bandanas around their necks (which popularized the term “redneck”), marched toward Logan County to overthrow the sheriff and free imprisoned union men. Sheriff Chafin organized a private army of 3,000 mine guards and lawmen to stop them. For five days, brutal trench warfare consumed Blair Mountain. The coal companies even hired private biplanes to drop homemade bombs and tear gas on the American workers below.
The battle only ended when President Warren G. Harding declared martial law (the temporary imposition of direct military control over normal civilian functions) and deployed federal troops. While the miners were forced to surrender, their fierce resistance brought national attention to the horrific conditions in the coalfields, eventually paving the way for the robust labor protections established during the Great Depression.
