Mountaintop: Coal Mine Wars in West Virginia

Touted as one of the largest civil uprisings in American history, thousands of coal miners in West Virginia rose up against mining owners because of poor wages and poor treatment. In nearby Logan County, police and miners clashed as fighting erupted at Blair Mountain. Miners, unified by their appalling treatment inside these mines, fought bravely for a week. The situation became so dangerous for nearby civilians that President Harding sent federal troops and warplanes to quell the uprising.

Irish born Mary Harris Jones, known as “Mother” Jones, was a constant presence in the labor movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Jones once testified before Congress that she lived “where the big thieves are wringing their dollars out of the blood and bone of my poor, miserable people.” As the “angel of miners,” she witnessed many major labor events including the Ludlow Massacre and the March of the Mill Children. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.

Story told to reporters by the man that killed Sid Hatfield on the steps of the courthouse in Welch, claiming Sid and Deputy Ed Chambers shot first.