The Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 was a conflict in West Virginia involving more than 10,000 union coal miners against armed forces directed by local authorities. For years, coal companies had opposed miners’ right to collectively bargain for better working conditions. Miners were evicted from their company-owned homes for joining a union, and union organizers were chased out of town by local law enforcement on the companies’ payroll. These tensions came to a head at the Battle of Blair Mountain, when miners faced machine gun fire and even aerial bombings. The conflict was put to an end by the arrival of federal troops.
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