Battle of Blair Mountain

Battle of Blair Mountain
Part of the West Virginia Coal Wars
Cover of The Washington Times with the headline that the US airfleet had been sent into West Virginia.
Date	August 25 to September 2, 1921
Location	Logan County, West Virginia 37°51′45″N 81°51′23″W / 37.86250°N 81.85639°W / 37.86250; -81.85639
Resulted in	Tactical law enforcement–military victory Bill Blizzard acquitted of treason Most arrested miners are acquitted or receive short prison sentences
Parties
Striking coal miners United Mine Workers Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency Logan County Sheriff's Department West Virginia State Police United States Army West Virginia Army National Guard
Lead figures
Bill Blizzard Mother Jones Don Chafin William Eubanks
Number
10,000 3,000 27,000
Casualties and losses
inconclusive[a] 985 arrested Chafin: Inconclusive[a] Army: 4 killed[1]

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The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and is the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War.^[3][4] The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia.

For five days from late August to early September 1921, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers (called the Logan Defenders)^[5] who were backed by coal mine operators during the miners' attempt to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields when tensions rose between workers and mine management. The battle ended after approximately one million rounds were fired,^[6] and the United States Army, represented by the West Virginia Army National Guard led by McDowell County native William Eubanks,^[7] intervened by presidential order.^[8]

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