PATIENT
The largest armed labor uprising
DATES
Late Aug. to Sept. 4, 1921
SIZE
About 10,000 miners (estimate)
KEY IDEA
Who really dropped the bombs
CHIEF COMPLAINT
People say the U.S. government bombed its own citizens here, and that it was the only place it ever fired on them. Is either true?
HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS
Union coal miners marched toward Logan County to free jailed miners and fought Sheriff Don Chafin's deputies on a ridge for several days. The governor asked for federal help under Article IV of the Constitution, President Harding issued a proclamation ordering them to disperse, and Army troops arrived and ended it. The miners surrendered to the federal troops. Homemade bombs did fall from the air, but from private planes the sheriff hired.
REVIEW OF SYSTEMS
THE BOMBS
From private planes chartered by the sheriff's side: tear gas and explosives packed with metal. Reportedly no casualties.
ARMY PLANES
Sent to observe, reportedly unarmed under General Bandholtz's orders. Whether any federal aircraft dropped anything is disputed in some accounts.
DEATHS
Estimates run from about 20 to about 100. Never confirmed.
'ONLY PLACE'
Not true. Pullman (1894) and the Bonus Army (1932) are other cases of force used on civilians.
AFTERMATH
Treason and murder trials, mostly acquittals, and a crushed union. Laws protecting organizing came in 1932 and 1935.
PHYSICAL EXAM — STYLE & STRUCTURE
- —The Constitution (Art. IV, sec. 4) has the federal government protect states against domestic violence when the governor asks.
- —The National Park Service says the miners were not rebelling against the federal government.
- —'Redneck' was not coined at Blair Mountain. The miners wore red bandannas, which popularized one use of it.
- —The battle site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
ASSESSMENT & PLAN
Ask who dropped the bombs, and who was holding the weapons in any 'the government fired on its own people' story. Every claim is tagged Settled, Disputed or Popular myth with a source, and the live argument (rebels or defenders of their rights) shows both sides at equal length in the full Study Guide.