History Book Deleted Scenes I

Every so often I stumble across articles and websites dedicated to little known events in history. I store their subject matters away until I can spring them on unsuspecting friends and relatives, under the pretense of really fascinating history. Not everyone finds them as interesting as I do, so this becomes the alternative method of sharing what I've found. Today, let's look at the Battle of Bloody Mingo.

Bloody Mingo

After watching the movie October Sky, I became interested in a reference made by a character to Bloody Mingo. I looked it up and found it was a nickname for Mingo County, West Virginia, which was involved in a conflict referred to by some as the Coal Wars. Between 1920-1921 there were frequent clashes between members of the United Mine Workers of America, who were trying to get safer working conditions, better wages, and shorter working hours, and the private armies of the coal companies, who ostensibly fought on the grounds that it was their patriotic duty to prevent Communism. In May 1920, a particularly important battle or massacre, depending on who you ask, occured at Matewan, Mingo County, WV. There, miners, backed by Police Chief Sid Hatfield and 14 private detectives hired by the Stone Mountain Coal Company, engaged in a brief gun battle. The detectives had been forcibly evicting union sympathizers from their company-owned homes, and Hatfield was trying to arrest them, saying they had no legal right to evict anyone. In the end, the Mayor of Matewan, four miners, and seven detectives were killed. Hatfield became a hero to the miners. He was acquitted of murder charges, but while standing trial for conspiracy he was shot on the court house steps by the surviving detectives from the Battle/Massacre of Matewan. The men who killed him were not sought by authorities. This led to the Battle of Blair Mountain. A subject for another one of these posts.