Battle of Blair Mountain

The Story of America's Largest Labor Uprising

The Battle of Blair Mountain covers a profoundly significant but long-neglected slice of American history-the largest uprising on American soil since the Civil War. In 1921, some 10,000 West Virginia coal miners, outraged over years of brutality and lawless exploitation, picked up their Winchesters and marched against their tormentors, the powerful mine owners who ruled their corrupt state. For ten days the miners fought a pitched battle against an opposing legion of deputies, state police, and makeshift militia.