The battle raged for 5 days until President Warren Harding deployed 2,100 troops, and the Army Air Service to restore order. Adding to the hardship was the use of company scrip by the Stone Mountain Coal Company, because the scrip could only be used for those goods the company sold through their company stores, thus the miners did not have actual money that could be used elsewhere. The sheriff and his deputy, The Autobiography of Mother Jones. While leaving the courthouse [following his acquittal] Hatfield was gunned down by Baldwin-Felts detectives further escalating the bloody conflict. Matewan Sheriff Sid Hatfield and Mayor Cabell Testerman When Sheriff Hatfield and Mayor Testerman stepped in to defend the miners Testerman was shot and a hail of gunfire ensued. "The Hatfields and the Baldwin-Felts." Over the next several months, striking miners and company supporters engaged in numerous “guerilla warfare” style firefights.Following the Matewan massacre, Sheriff Hatfield was On August 1st, 1921 Sheriff Hatfield was acquitted of the conspiracy charge though, sadly, his victory would be short lived. By 1900, coal became West Virginia's leading industry. Miners who tried to organize were often fired, beaten, or arrested for engaging in union activity.For the men who worked in the darkness of the mines—many of whom had fought in World War I—a fuse was lit that would ignite a war in the heart of Appalachia.Tensions between the miners and coal companies eventually came to a head on May 19th, 1920. This feud rocked the Tug Valley from the end of the Civil War to the 1880s. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Col, 1925.Kilkeary, Desmond. As workers across the country continue to rise up in support of better pay and basic human rights, Americans would be wise to learn from those who fought a century ago. Although the AMA ceased operations, workers continued their attempts to organize and later established the Founded in the early 1890’s, the Baldwin-Felts agency originally oversaw Baldwin-Felts agents used brutal tactics against the striking miners and—after months of a tense standoff—miners began arming themselves. Matewan is the home to some of America’s most colorful history. Chaparral. The miners began a On August 28th, 1921 10,000 miners began trading gunfire with Baldwin-Felts detectives and state police officers. The detectives carried out several evictions before they ate dinner at the Urias Hotel and, upon finishing, they walked to the train depot to catch the five o'clock train back to Bluefield, West Virginia.
Although the strike ended, skirmishes between miners and coal companies persisted for years.The Baldwin-Felts Agency would later go on to play a prominent role in the In April of 1914, anti-striker militia fired upon the wives and children of UMWA members fighting for the right to organize. 29 morning train in order to evict families that had been living at the Stone Mountain Coal Camp just on the outskirts of town. Companies built homes, stores, schools, churches and supported entire towns near the mines they operated.For laborers, the mines in West Virginia were some of the worst Much like today, corrupt politicians supported the coal companies and protected their wealthy owners. A contingent of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency arrived on the no. By 1865 historians estimate the country’s largest miner’s union [The American Miners Association] had over 20,000 members.
On one side, William Anderson, or “Devil Anse” Hatfield, was the father of 13 children in Logan, West Virginia. It is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The mayor at the time was On the day of the fight, a group of the Baldwin-Felts enforcers arrived to evict families living at the mountain coal camp, just outside of Matewan.
May 2005. 11 women and children were killed in this massacre.
This is when Matewan Chief of Police Matewan, founded in 1895, was a small independent town with only a few elected officials. The miners donned red handkerchiefs and soon became known as the “redneck army”.Coal companies responded by hiring planes to drop homemade chemical and shrapnel bombs on the miners. With the booming rush for coal in the industrial age also came movements to protect workers’ rights. When miners moved to attack the agents West Virginia Governor William E. Glasscock declared martial law and sent 1,200 troops to confiscate the miners’ weapons. Members of the redneck army were later indicted for treason, though, most were never convicted.Although the battle had ended, America’s coal wars were far from over. By the early 1900’s, coal companies had become so large they were the primary source of West Virginia’s income. The town sits at the heart of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud country and hosted the beginnings of a movement to reform fair working conditions and the right to unionize following the Mine Wars, Matewan Massacre and Battle of Blair Mountain in the early parts of the twentieth century. Today I found outabout the Battle of Matewan, also known as the Matewan Massacre. We must never forget the sacrifices made to ensure our right for representation.