A Century Ago, Miners Fought in a Bloody Uprising. Few Know About It Today.

BLAIR, W.Va. — On the enarthrosis of a lonely agelong of road miles into the hills, a motion stands successful the weeds. “Battle of Blair Mt.,” it says, informing the tumbledown cinder artifact gathering crossed the roadworthy that here, 100 years ago, was the largest equipped labour uprising successful U.S. history.

In precocious August 1921, thousands of rifle-bearing ember miners marched to this thickly wooded ridge successful confederate West Virginia, a run that was ignited by the daylight assassinations of national sympathizers but had been gathering for years successful the oppressive despair of the ember fields. The miners’ service was met astatine Blair Mountain by thousands of men who volunteered to combat with the Logan County sheriff, who was successful the wage of the ember companies. Over 12 miles and 5 days, the sheriff’s men fought the miners, strafing the hillsides with machine-gun occurrence and dropping homemade bombs from planes. There were astatine slightest 16 confirmed deaths successful the battle, though nary 1 knows precisely however galore were killed earlier the US Army marched successful to enactment a halt to the fighting.

The roadside marker and the spent ammunition casings recovered successful the hillsides are the lone reminders astatine Blair Mountain that this took place.

The service of miners that came to Blair Mountain was made up of Black and achromatic people, caller immigrants and radical with heavy roots successful Appalachia. They did perilous enactment nether conditions adjacent to indentured servitude: They were kept successful enactment by equipped guards and paid lone successful institution scrip, with their wage docked for the costs of housing, aesculapian attraction and the tools they utilized successful the mines. These conditions yet erupted successful the largest insurrection since the Civil War.

But portion determination are commemorations this play successful West Virginia, including talks, rallies and re-enactments, a period of soundlessness enforced by powerfulness and fearfulness has near the conflict astir forgotten elsewhere.

“It is 1 of the astir astonishing confrontations betwixt workers and bosses ever successful this state and nary 1 knows astir it,” said Cecil Roberts, the president of the United Mine Workers of America and a great-nephew of Bill Blizzard, who led the miners’ service successful 1921. “It seems to beryllium astir intolerable unless there’s a concerted effort for radical not to cognize astir it.”

The Mine Wars epoch was bloody, with astatine slightest 100 deaths successful shootouts and convulsive crackdowns. For astir of the 20th century, soundlessness astir it served communal interests. The participants kept quiescent retired of self-protection and solidarity. Mr. Blizzard was charged with treason and murder, though helium was acquitted, and immoderate of the astir salient labour leaders faced imperishable ostracism. Frank Keeney, who roused thousands to combat arsenic caput of the U.M.W.A. local, spent the second portion of his beingness arsenic a parking batch attendant.

Mr. Keeney’s great-grandson, Charles B. Keeney, a past prof astatine Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, had occupation getting his ain household to speech astir the uprising. Instead, helium learned astir it from stray remarks astatine household cookouts and from older strangers, who told him star-struck tales aft approaching him erstwhile they learned of his household connection.

But it was chiefly the ember manufacture and its supporters successful authorities government, Mr. Keeney and different historians said, w tried to smother immoderate nationalist treatment of the history. State officials demanded that immoderate notation of Blair Mountain beryllium stripped from national oral histories. A 1931 authorities instrumentality regulated the “study of societal problems” and for decades, the Mine Wars were left wholly retired of schoolhouse past textbooks. Today, the battlefield is owned successful ample portion by ember operators, who until precocious planned to portion excavation Blair Mountain itself.

This was narrowly averted successful 2018 aft Mr. Keeney and a radical called Friends of Blair Mountain succeeded in a nine-year campaign, resisted astatine virtually each turn, to person the tract placed connected the National Register of Historic Places. But adjacent that does not forestall logging oregon earthy state exploration, helium said.

“In an perfect world, it should beryllium a authorities park,” said Mr. Keeney. Instead, helium climbs done metallic gates blocking the roads into the upland to spot what concern activities whitethorn beryllium going connected extracurricular of nationalist view.

In caller decades, the Mine Wars person steadily drawn much attention, with a critically acclaimed movie; superior history books; an grounds successful the authorities museum; and explicit allusions to it during the 2018 authorities teachers’ strike.

Earlier this year, a great-grandson of 1 of the ember institution detectives adjacent showed up successful the small municipality of Matewan, erstwhile a citadel of national resistance, and began offering tours.

“There are 2 sides to each story,” said James Baldwin, who sits connected a seat successful beforehand of the Mexican restaurant, waiting to archer tourists of the “brave” detectives who were killed successful a shootout aft they evicted the families of striking miners from company-owned houses.

The past is being talked astir more, but inactive lone successful “bits and pieces,” said Stan Bumgardner, the exertion of Goldenseal, the authorities past magazine. “It’s missing successful the nationalist sphere.” The events of the Mine Wars are noted acold little vigorously than those of the tourist-pleasing Hatfield-McCoy feud, broadcast connected signs each implicit confederate West Virginia.

The main ngo of remembering Mine Wars past connected the crushed has remained with Mr. Keeney and his tiny cadre of activists, residents and retired national miners. In 2015, they opened the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, privately funded and located successful a union-owned gathering successful Matewan. They person besides organized the main events for the centennial of the Battle of Blair Mountain, including a re-enactment of the march this weekend. None of these are state-sponsored, though to the astonishment of the organizers, the West Virginia governor, Jim Justice, a billionaire proprietor of ember companies, issued a proclamation successful caller days successful which helium recognized the “significance” of the conflict arsenic a “fight for just attraction of moving peoples.”

Mr. Keeney said almighty interests were not the lone absorption to his cause. Past re-enactments of the march person been met with hostility and adjacent assault by radical on the route, galore of them ember families, who were angered by the engagement of environmentalists.

Mr. Roberts, who has spent overmuch of this summertime rallying hundreds of national ember miners connected onslaught successful Alabama, sees this arsenic a earthy effect of hard times. Decades of automation and changes successful the vigor marketplace person dried up the ember jobs successful West Virginia, and years of anti-union campaigns person frayed aged loyalties. People hopeless for enactment thin to presumption immoderate professional of the ember industry, including those championing oppressed miners of 100 years ago, arsenic a menace to their livelihoods.

Mr. Roberts cited a punctuation from Jay Gould, the Gilded Age railroad baron: “I tin prosecute 1 fractional of the moving people to termination the different half.”

Not agelong ago, a section historiographer recovered a papers successful the attic of the Logan County courthouse, listing hundreds of miners who were charged for taking portion successful the Battle of Blair Mountain. It whitethorn beryllium the lone database of its kind, said Mr. Keeney, who plans to excavation into it aft the centennial has passed. And it whitethorn connection surprises for radical passim the ember fields and scattered astir the state who had ne'er learned that their great-grandfathers had gone to warfare successful West Virginia a 100 years ago.