Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-21-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— >20 Blanchard. We accept and follow the WB Div. of Culture and History Battle of Tug page.

— >20 Cowell, Gretchen. “The Matewan Massacre and the Three Day Battle.” Coal Mine Wars.

— ~20 Kilkearny, Desmond. “The Battle of Blair Mountain.” Chaparral. (no date)

— >20 WV Division of Culture and History. “May 12, 1921: Three Days Battle of the Tug.”

–6-10 Lima News, OH. “Governors Plead for Troops to End Mine War.” 5-15-1921, 1.[1]

— >4 Laurie. The Role of Federal… “The West Virginia Coal Mine Wars, 1919-1921,” 313.

— 3 Savage, Lon. “Battle of the Tug.” Thunder in the Mountains. 1990.

Narrative Information

Cowell: “….Besides Blair Mountain, the biggest battle was the Three Day Battle of the Tug River, from May 12 through May 14, 1921.

“For those three days gunfire poured down on the Tug River Valley and the Big Sandy from Huntington to Matewan, with pro-union men on the West Virginia side and anti-union men on the other, and towns, coal camps and hamlets caught in the middle, their citizens hiding under their beds afraid to go out to get food. No one knows exactly who was shooting, it is not the sort of activity anyone admits to, but there were hundreds of shooters and at least twenty people killed. The West Virginia government asked for federal troops, but the shooting ended and the shooters melted away. According to testimony before a Senate investigating committee, it took eight days to bring the bodies out of the woods. Around Matewan, three people were killed, a man who went out to find food for his family, an anti-union Prohibition officer, and a sixteen year old boy who lay wounded on a railroad bridge with no one able to reach him for two days before he died.

“The Three Day Battle is a sad episode in American history, and as much anti-immigrant slaughter as pro-labor fight. Maybe it’s a chapter we would rather forget, more like a chapter from the recent Bosnian civil war than from our own glorious history. But would it be a good idea for Bosnian history books to recite only the glorious episodes of their history, and to forget their civil war ever occurred? It’s nothing to celebrate, and union struggles, like the Bosnian civil war, still get people all riled up, but they should not be forgotten completely.” (Cowell, Gretchen. “The Matewan Massacre and the Three Day Battle.” Coal Mine Wars.)

Kilkearny: “The sustained outbreak of violence came to be known as the “Three Days’ Battle,” and estimates ran as high as twenty deaths on both sides.” (Kilkearny, Desmond. “The Battle of Blair Mountain.” Chaparral. (no date).)

Savage: “In January 1920, the United Mine Workers of America launched a campaign to unionize southern West Virginia, including the Tug Fork coalfield. The local coal operators were determined to keep the UMW out. Miners who joined the union were fired, evicted from their company-owned houses, and replaced by nonunion workers. Many fought back with guns in what developed into the Battle of the Tug, or the Three Days Battle of May 1921. Violence usually involving gunfire from the mountains at working miners in the valley, erupted sporadically through much of 1920 and into the spring of 1921.

“On May 12–14, 1921, bullets peppered down on about a dozen mining towns in the Matewan-Williamson area, and nonunion miners fired back. Deputy sheriffs, mine guards, the recently created West Virginia State Police, and Kentucky National Guardsmen joined the fray. Thousands of shots were fired from rifles, pistols, and even machine guns. Bullets clipped telephone wires and ripped through homes as families cowered in fear. Bridges and tipples were dynamited. Businesses and schools closed. Three people were shot and killed. Sid Hatfield was involved in the battle, though he was noted as punching one of the coal operators adding yet another charge against him.

“The Battle of the Tug ended on May 15 when State Police arranged a truce, with the aid of a physician who crawled under fire through the Kentucky mountains to make contact with the insurgents. During the fighting, Governor Ephraim Franklin Morgan asked President Harding to send federal troops ‘‘to prevent wanton slaughter of innocent citizens.’’ Although Morgan’s request was denied, it set the stage for sending federal troops into West Virginia in September.”

(Savage, Lon. “Battle of the Tug.” Thunder in the Mountains. 1990.)

West Virginia Division of Culture and History: “West Virginia’s mine wars reached their violent peak in 1921 as the United Mine Workers pitched an all-out effort to organize the southern coalfields. A state of war had existed in Mingo County since the Matewan Massacre in May 1920, earning the region the name “Bloody Mingo.” Governor John Cornwell had deployed the National Guard and state police, temporarily quieting the fray. When the troops were withdrawn, UMW District 17 leader Frank Keeney geared up for another organizing effort.

“Vowing to shut down non-union mines, on May 12, union miners opened fire on various coal towns around Matewan. Police, mine guards, and non-union miners returned the fire, beginning the Three Days Battle of the Tug. Employing military tactics, union supporters isolated the town of Merrimac, blowing up its power plant and severing telephone and telegraph lines.

“The battle raged ten miles up the Tug River, involving the towns of Blackberry City, Alden, Sprigg, New Howard, and Rawl, and even spread across the river into Kentucky. The fighting ended on the 15th when police negotiated a truce. At least 20 people were killed during the 3-day battle. Frank Keeney told a U.S. Senate investigating committee that it took eight days to bring the dead out of the woods.

“After the battle, President Warren Harding debated sending in federal troops to quell tensions. However, military leaders on the scene felt the situation had been defused and advised against martial law. In August, violence again erupted when union miners marched on Blair Mountain in response to the murder of Sid Hatfield, who had become a labor hero after the Matewan Massacre. After several days of fighting, Harding finally dispatched troops to West Virginia in September, forcing the miners to lay down their weapons. Blair Mountain ended the mine wars in southern West Virginia and also halted the UMW’s organization efforts. It was another 12 years before the UMW was welcomed into Logan and Mingo counties.”

(West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Archives & History. “Time Trail, West Virginia” May 1998 Programs. “May 12, 1921: Three Days Battle of the Tug.”)

Newspapers:

May 13: “By United Press. Camp Sherman, Ohio. – Orders were received today for federal forces here to be prepared to move into Mingo county, Went Virginia, to quell guerilla warfare. Maj. Gen. Reid, commander of the fifth army corps area, notified Col. Herman Hall, commander, to hold the 19th Infantry regiment in readiness. The regiment strength is 575 men and includes rifles, trench mortars, howitzers, motor and medical sections. Trains were waiting here to transport the troops on a moments notice.

“By Associated Press. Williamson, W. Va. — Mountain warfare, which raged all of yesterday [12^th] and Intermittently throughout the night over a seven mile front in the West Virginia-Kentucky coal strike region, was resumed with vigor this morning. Reports sent to Capt. Brockus of the state police at headquarters here said heavy firing was in progress at McCarr, Kentucky, the eastern end of the trouble zone, and at Merrimac, W. Va., where yesterday’s shooting started.

“Sporadic rifle firing could be heard along tho West Virginia and Kentucky borders at Matewan.

“An unidentified man was killed on the bridge leading from McCarr to the West Virginia bank of the Tug River this morning, bringing the known casualties to three killed and two wounded.

“Williamson, W. Va.– Guerilla warfare, with all odds apparently favoring the forces opposing the state was waged Thursday night in the grim mountains of the strike torn Mingo county coalfield. Early Thursday at the little mining town of Merrimac, four miles from here, a fusillade of shots was poured from the mountainside successively into Merrimac, Rawl, Sprigg and Matewan, W. Va., and McCarr, Ky.

“All available state police and deputy sheriffs centered here were rushed to the scene, but according to late reports they had been unable to check the shooting.

“Harry V. Saton, a state prohibition officer and merchant at Sprigg, was killed by a bullet from the mountains and Noah Phillips and a man named Calvert, employes of the White Star Coal company commissary at Merrimac, have been seriously wounded. Rumors of other killings and woundings have been received at headquarters of the state police here but have not been confirmed.

“Thursday night about twenty state police were reported to be working their way over the mountains between Merrimac and Rawl, seeking to get above and outflank their bidder foes.

“Thursday’s outbreak, the worst since the Matewan battle of May 19, 1920, in which ten persons were killed, had all the appearance of a prearranged attack.

“The towns visited with the hail of lead are within seven miles of each other and lie in a narrow valley on the banks of the Tug river, which here separates West Virginia from Kentucky. The firing came from the mountains on both sides of the river, police said….

“The state police ware virtually helpless on Thursday, as the attacking forces in the mountains were completely screened by foliage and boulders, while the police, in order to attempt a direct attack, would have been obliged to cross the open valley and climb the ragged slopes in full view of the hidden marksmen….

“Charleston, W. Va. — Gov. Morgan, in a statement Thursday night, blamed striking coal miners of the Mingo fields for the new outbreak of violence which led him Thursday night to appeal for federal troops to re-establish order along the Kentucky border. “Some of the men who were indicted for the Mattawan shootings of May 19, 1920, have been receiving ammunition,” the governor said. “The towns attacked used to be occupied by the families of the miners and many of their people remain there yet but mainly the inhabitants now are non-strikers or new employees and their guards”.” (Sheboygan Press, WI. “War Over Seven Mile Front in State of West Virginia.” 5-13-1921, 1.

May 16: “International News Service. Williamson, W. Va., May 16….The body of Clarence Spender, colored, was found this morning on the railroad tracks at Devon. He had been shot. The body of an unidentified man was found in Tug river, Just below Chattaroy….” (Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, OH. “Kentucky Guardsmen Round up Leaders of Battle in Mine Region.” 5-16-1921, 1.)

Sources

Cowell, Gretchen. “The Matewan Massacre and the Three Day Battle.” Coal Mine Wars. Accessed 7-29-2012 at: http://www.coalminewars.net/Matewan_Massacre.html

Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, OH. “Kentucky Guardsmen Round up Leaders of Battle in Mine Region.” 5-16-1921, 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=3374341

Kilkearny, Desmond. “The Battle of Blair Mountain.” Chaparral. (no date). Accessed 7-31-2012 at: http://www.glendale.edu/chaparral/apr05/blair.htm

Laurie, Clayton Davis and Ronald H. Cole. The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders, 1877-1945 (Army Historical Series). Chapter 2, “The Great Railway Strike of 1877.” Washington DC: Center of Military History, United States Army. 1997. Partially Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=1_GyX9su4nIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0

Lima News, OH. “Governors Plead for Troops to End Mine War.” 5-15-1921, 1. Accessed 7-29-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=15979072

Savage, Lon. “Battle of the Tug.” Thunder in the Mountains. 1990. Accessed 7-29-2012 at: http://blairmountainreenactment.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/battle-of-the-tug/

Sheboygan Press, WI. “War Over Seven Mile Front in State of West Virginia.” 5-13-1921, 1. Accessed 7-29-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=6082006

West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Archives & History. “Time Trail, West Virginia” May 1998 Programs. “May 19, 1920: Matewan Massacre.” Accessed 7-27-2012 at: http://www.wvculture.org/history/timetrl/ttmay.html#0519

[1] States that ‘Six were know dead,” and reports of “more than ten had been killed during the three days’ fighting.”

1921 — May 12-15, Battle of the Tug, coal mine labor conflict, Mingo County, WV — 20