The Coal Wars were a series of
armed
Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American Thoroughbred gelding race horse who was the American Horse of the Year in 1947 and Champion Older Male Horse in both 1946 and 1947. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in ...
labor conflicts in the United States, roughly between 1890 and 1930. Although they occurred mainly in the
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
, particularly in
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
, there was a significant amount of violence in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
after the turn of the century.
History
The Coal Wars were the result of economic
exploitation of workers during a period of social transformation in the coalfields. Beginning in 1870–1880, coal operators had established the
company town
A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...
system. Coal operators paid private detectives as well as public law enforcement agents to ensure that union organizers were kept out of the region. In order to accomplish this objective, agents of the coal operators used intimidation, harassment, espionage and even murder. Throughout the early 20th century, coal miners attempted to overthrow this system and engaged in a series of strikes, including the
Paint Creek–Cabin Creek strike of 1912, and the
Battle of Evarts, which coal operators attempted to stop through violent means. Mining families lived under the terror of
Baldwin–Felts detective agents who were professional strikebreakers under the hire of coal operators. During that dispute, agents drove a heavily armored train through a tent colony at night, opening fire on women, men, and children with a machine gun. They would repeat this type of tactic during the
Ludlow Massacre in Colorado the next year, with even more disastrous results.
By 1920, the
United Mine Workers of America
The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...
(UMWA) organized most of West Virginia and Colorado. The southern West Virginia coalfields, however, remained non-unionized bastions of coal operator power. In early 1920, UMW president
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the d ...
targeted
Mingo County
Mingo County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,568. Its county seat and largest city is Williamson. Created in 1895, Mingo is West Virginia's newest county, named for the historic Iroq ...
for organizing. Certain aspects of Mingo made it more attractive to union leaders than neighboring
Logan County Logan County is the name of ten current counties and one former county in the United States:
* Logan County, Arkansas
* Logan County, Colorado
* Logan County, Idaho (1889–1895)
* Logan County, Illinois
* Logan County, Kansas
* Logan County, ...
, which was under the control of the vehemently anti-union Sheriff
Don Chafin and his deputized army. Mingo's political structure was more independent, and some politicians were pro-union. Cabell Testerman, the mayor of the independent town of Matewan was one supporter of the union cause. He appointed 27-year-old
Sid Hatfield as town police chief. As a teenager, Hatfield had worked in the coalmines and he was sympathetic to the miners' condition. Although he was not a relative of the infamous
Hatfield & McCoy Hatfields, he used the connection to his advantage. These men provided union organizers an opportunity to gain a foothold, and unionizing accelerated rapidly in the county.
In response to the organizing efforts, coal operators used every means to block the union. One of their primary tactics of combating the union was firing union sympathizers, blacklisting them, and evicting them from their homes. Their legal argument for evictions is best stated by S.B. Avis, a coal company lawyer; "It is like a servant lives at your house. If the servant leaves your employment, if you discharge him, you ask him to get out of the servants' quarters. It is a question of master and servant." The UMW set up tent colonies for the homeless miner families, and soon a mass of idle and angry miners was concentrated in a small area along the Tug Fork River. Even with the coal operators' suppression, by early May 3,000 out of 4,000 Mingo miners had joined the union. At the Stone Mountain Coal Company mine near Matewan, every single worker unionized, and was subsequently fired and evicted.
West Virginia coal wars
The coal wars of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century were a particularly important part of West Virginia's State History. The
Paint Creek–Cabin Creek strike of 1912 involved numerous labor leaders, including
Mary Harris Jones
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
, also known as "Mother" Jones. The next major event of the mine wars in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
was the
Matewan Massacre
''Matewan'' () is a 1987 American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, and starring Chris Cooper (in his film debut), James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell and Will Oldham, with David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp in supporting ...
on May 19, 1920.
The massacre only exacerbated tensions between miners, their allies, and coal operators. In West Virginia, the mine wars would come to a head at the
Battle of Blair Mountain
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Co ...
in 1921. This armed conflict pitched organized miners against detectives, policemen, and eventually, the United States Army. The result of the battle was a loss for the West Virginia miners, and the crushing of organized labor aspirations in the state. Miners would not be allowed to organize again until the 1930s.
See also
*
Battle of Blair Mountain
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Co ...
*
Coal strike of 1902
The Coal strike of 1902 (also known as the anthracite coal strike) was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania. Miners struck for higher wages, shorter workdays, and the recognition of ...
*
Colorado Labor Wars
The Colorado Labor Wars were a series of labor strikes in 1903 and 1904 in the U.S. state of Colorado, by gold and silver miners and mill workers represented by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Opposing the WFM were associations of mi ...
*
Copper Country strike of 1913–1914
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish- ...
*
Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894
The Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894 was a five-month strike action, strike by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States. It resulted in a victory for the trade union, union and ...
*
Harlan County War
The Harlan County War, or Bloody Harlan, was a series of coal industry skirmishes, executions, bombings and strikes (both attempted and realized) that took place in Harlan County, Kentucky, during the 1930s. The incidents involved coal miners ...
*
Illinois coal wars
*
Mining in the United States
Mining in the United States has been active since the beginning of colonial times, but became a major industry in the 19th century with a number of new mineral discoveries causing a series of mining rushes. In 2015, the value of coal, metals, and i ...
*
Molly Maguires
The Molly Maguires were an Irish 19th-century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the Eastern United States, best known for their activism among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania. After a seri ...
*
List of worker deaths in United States labor disputes
*
Railroad Wars
*
Range war
A range war or range conflict is a type of usually violent conflict, most commonly in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the American West. The subject of these conflicts was control of "open range", or range land freely used for cattle grazing, ...
*
Sheep Wars
References
Sources
*Bailey, Rebecca (2008). ''Matewan Before the Massacre: Politice, Coal, and the Roots of Conflict in a West Virginia Mining Community''. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press.
*Corbin, David (2011). ''Gun Thugs, Rednecks, and Radicals: A Documentary History of the West Virginia Mine Wars''. Oakland: PM Press.
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{{American Labor Conflicts
Coal mining in the United States
Coal mining in Appalachia
Labor disputes in the United States
1890s in the United States
1900s in the United States
1910s in the United States
1920s in the United States
History of coal mining
Industrial history of the United States
Internal wars of the United States