Battle of Blair Mountain
Chafin's conflict with the unions became most pronounced during the Battle of Blair Mountain in August and September 1921. A strike, with its beginning in 1920, had led to increasing violence throughout southern West Virginia, including the Battle of Matewan. The growing violence led to a declaration of martial law in 1921, and a Congressional investigation into the circumstances in the area began, but it accomplished little. Then Sid Hatfield, the miners' hero from the Battle of Matewan, was killed on August 1 by Baldwin-Felts agents on the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch. After his murder and funeral, tensions erupted in southern West Virginia.
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Famous quotes containing the words battle, blair and/or mountain:
“It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth ... and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)