We have read about many gunfights and, many mining conflicts. As far as gunfights, the Shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona in 1882 comes to mind. The Earps and Clantons. And as far as mining tragedies, there's many cave-ins, explosions and deaths by gas in the shafts that are there to read about. But there is a gun battle that is connected to mining in West Virginia and actually took more lives than the OK Corral shootout but many have never heard about it. It's the Matewan Battle where several detectives and a town mayor were killed in the streets.

From 1900 to the late 1920s, there was a lot of bad feelings in the coal mining communities in the south. Miners were being treated badly as they worked long hours in deep coal mines for very little pay. Actually, some for no pay as they were payed in what was called "scrip" which was a form of currency that could ONLY be used in the stores owned and operated by the coal companies. It was a way for the companies to keep their money and not have to pay the miners in regular US greenbacks. It worked as long as you shopped at the company owned stores. However, outside of the town, it was absolutely worthless. So no one could vacation, no one could travel, no one could buy a single item that was not in the company store.

This fact, along with several others caused much trouble between the miners and their employers. Miners began to rally for unions and this began the wars of the coalfields.

The Matewan Battle was one of the conflicts that resulted. It was a bloody day in town. It left the town's mayor dead and several of it's police force arrested. This blog tells the story and shows the images of the day in Matewan that has been largely forgotten.