Matewan Before the Massacre: Politics, Coal, and the Roots of Conflict in Mingo County, 1793-1920

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2001 Matewan Before the Massacre: Politics, Coal, and the Roots of Conflict in Mingo County, 1793-1920 Rebecca J. Bailey Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Part of the Political History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Bailey, Rebecca J., "Matewan Before the Massacre: Politics, Coal, and the Roots of Conflict in Mingo County, 1793-1920" (2001). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7148. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/7148 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Matewan Before the Massacre: Politics, Coal, and the Roots of Conflict in Mingo County, 1793-1920 Rebecca J. Bailey Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Modern American History Ronald Lewis, Ph.D., Chair Van Dempsey, Ed.D. Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Kenneth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Barbara Howe, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, WV 2001 Keywords: West Virginia, mine war, Hatfield-McCoy feud, Sid Hatfield, Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency Copyright 2001 Rebecca J. Bailey UMI Number: 3022034 Copyright 2001 by Bailey, Rebecca J. All rights reserved. ________________________________________________________ UMI Microform 3022034 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ____________________________________________________________ Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 ABSTRACT Matewan Before The Massacre: Politics, Coal, and the Roots of Conflict in Mingo County, 1793-1920 Rebecca J. Bailey On May 19, 1920, gunshots rang through the streets of Matewan, West Virginia, in an event soon known as the “Matewan Massacre.” Most historians of West Virginia and Appalachia see this event as the beginning of a long series of events known as the second mine wars. This dissertation argues that this event was, rather, the culmination of an even longer series of events that unfolded in Mingo County, dating back at least to the Civil War, and setting the stage for the second mine war. Equally important, while it is outside the scope of this dissertation, the conflicts in Mingo County’s history that crystallized around the massacre continued to resonate throughout the twentieth century while the county’s residents worked to balance their lives against the public’s knowledge of the best known events of their history, including the massacre and the earlier Hatfield-McCoy feud. This dissertation’s strength is that it provides the first comprehensive history of the area that became Mingo County in 1895, a history that begins here in the late eighteenth century and continues to the massacre. The dissertation interweaves the area’s economic history, including the development of coal mining and struggles over land ownership; labor history, including early efforts at unionization; transportation history, including the role of the N &W Railroad; political history, including the role of political factions in the county’s two major communities — Matewan and Williamson — and the impact of the state’s governors and legislatures on the county; and history of violence, including the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Equally important, this dissertation argues that the history of the southern West Virginia coalfields is far more complex than we have believed previously. Mingo County did not have the large immigrant population of its neighbors. Nor did it have the large-scale mining operations that could withstand fluctuations in the coal markets better than did the small mines in Mingo County. The dissertation draws on extensive use of county court records, local newspapers, oral history interviews, correspondence with a Matewan local historian, and the papers of coal company owners to address the question of why the massacre happened in Matewan on that date — a question that can only be answered by knowing the history of the county before that date. Acknowledgments Unfortunate circumstances prevent me from being able to express fully my gratitude to all who in many ways contributed to the completion of this dissertation. But to anyone who might seek to find their names on this page please allow me to say simply I remember you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart. I just hope that someday I will have the opportunity to thank the people who did not expect to be acknowledged here. iii For the people of Matewan and Mingo County, who gave my education a purpose. For Momma, Daddy, and the rest of my family, because they give me roots. But most and last, For Bill, You showed me my wings and then gave me the sky. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Introduction xii-xxxvi PART I THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE TUG VALLEY, 1671-1894 1-78 Chapter 1 BEFORE THE RAILROAD CAME: LIFE IN THE TUG 2-31 VALLEY, 1793-1880s I. Antebellum Life in the Tug Valley: Geography and Human 3-15 Enterprise, 1793-1860 II. The Civil War and Its Aftermath Set the Stage for the 15-27 Industrialization of the Tug Valley, 1860-1888 III. Conclusion 27-31 Chapter 2 THE ARRIVAL OF THE RAILROAD AND THE 32-78 INDUSTRIAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE TUG VALLEY, 1888-1894 I. Development Follows The Path of the Ohio Extension, 33-40 1888-1894 II. The Reconfiguration of Logan County Politics, 1890-1894 41-53 III. The Panic of 1893 and the King Land Case (1894-1913) 53-71 IV. Industrialization Alters the Economy of the Tug Valley, 71-76 1888-1894 V. Conclusion 76-78 PART II THE INDUSTRIAL TRANSITION, 1895-1911 79-208 Chapter 3 THE CREATION OF MINGO AND THE PATTERN OF 80-126 COUNTY POLITICS, 1895-1911 I. The Creation of Mingo County: A Reexamination 82-87 II. The Pattern of County Politics Emerges, 1895-1902 88-98 III. Factionalism Undermines the Influence of the Coal Men, 98-113 1904-1911 IV. The Rise of the “Hatfield Machine,” 1895-1911 113-126 v V. Conclusion 126-127 Chapter 4 CRISIS AND CONFLICT SHAPES THE THACKER COAL 128-173 FIELD, 1895-1911 I. The Panic of 1893 Affects Industrial Development and 129-147 Relations, 1895-1896 II. The New Century Brings New Struggles in the Thacker 148-172 Coal Field, 1900-1911 III. Conclusion 172-173 Chapter 5 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF A PERIPHERY: 174-210 INDUSTRIALIZATION’S SOCIAL IMPACT ON MINGO COUNTY, 1895-1911 I. The Railroad and Coal Industries Transform the Social 174-187 Landscape of Mingo County II. Industrialization and the Culture of Honor: Greed, Violence, 188-208 and the Law, 1895-1911 III. Conclusion 208-210 PART III THE DESCENT INTO CRISIS, 1912-1920 211-487 Chapter 6 THE PROGRESSIVE ERA?: MINGO’S POLITICAL 212-280 MACHINES AND FACTION WARS, 1912-1920 I. The Hatfield Machine and Republican Control, 1912-1916 214-234 II. The Faction Wars of Mingo’s Democrats, 1912-1916 234-258 III. The Republican Decline and Democratic Ascendance, 258-279 1916-1920 IV. Conclusion 279-280 Chapter 7 STORM CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON: THE 281-312 WILLIAMSON-THACKER COAL FIELD FALLS BEHIND, 1912-1916 I. The Intensification of Long-Standing Systemic Industrial 281-288 Problems, 1912-1916 II. The First Mine War and Its Impact on the Williamson- 288-300 Thacker Coal Field, 1912-1913 vi III. The Unexpected Results of Coal Industry Reforms, 1912- 301-311 1916 IV. Conclusion 311-312 Chapter 8 WORLD WAR I AND THE MARGINALIZATION OF THE 313-345 WILLIAMSON-THACKER COAL FIELD, 1914-1919 I. The Boom Before America’s Entry in the War 314-318 II. Wartime Regulation Transforms Coal Industry Relations 318-323 III. The Establishment of the Fuel Administration and the 323-333 Effect of its Policies IV. Federal Regulation Fails to Benefit the Williamson- 333-342 Thacker Field V. Conclusion 342-345 Chapter 9 WORLD WAR I AND THE ESCALATION OF CLASS 346-417 TENSIONS IN MINGO COUNTY I. Wartime Policies and the Ascendance of Mingo’s “Better 347-357 Classes” II. The Persistence of Traditional Patterns of Violence and 357-363 Conflict Resolution III. The War’s Impact on the Local Social Infrastructure 363-385 IV. Benevolent Paternalism and Wartime Policies Sow the 385-398 Seeds of the Miners’ Discontent V. The War Revives the Desire to Unionize Southern West 398-414 Virginia VI. Conclusion 414-417 Chapter 10 “THE WORST HAS COME”: THE MATEWAN 418-487 MASSACRE, MAY 19, 1920 I. Prelude to Tragedy: The Convergence of Contributory 418-439 Factors, January - May, 1920 II. The Matewan Massacre and Its Local Impact, 1920-1960s 439-461 III. Repercussions: The Massacre’s Influence on Subsequent 461-483 State and National Developments, 1920-1933 IV. Conclusion 483-487 vii CONCLUSION Construction of the Matewan Myth: Elevation Through 488-504 Denigration Bibliography 505-530 viii LIST OF MAPS Map 1 The Tug Valley Border Country 553 Map 2 Mingo County, West Virginia, ca. 1895 554 Map 3 Coal Fields of the Norfolk & Western Territory 555 Map 4 The Southern West Virginia Coal Fields, ca.

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