The Battle of Blair Mountain (WV Mine Wars: Social Change in Appalachia series)

Today we discuss the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed insurrection on US soil. In the process, we'll discuss Logan County Don Chafin's rise in power and opposition to the UMWA and unions in the Tug Fork. We'll explore how Frank Keeney, Fred Mooney, and Bill Blizzard led (at different times) the miners armed march to Blair. We'll also explore the involvement of the Air Service in this event. We will further explore the outcomes of the Battle on Blair Mountain on the union as a whole and the long-term impacts on the site of the Battlefield itself. Chapters 0:00 let's get started 0:40 power in the coalfields 1:25 who is Don Chafin? 4:50 what shaped the start of the battle? 8:40 the Armed March begins 11:45 intermission 11:52 First blood is drawn 14:22 The return of Bill Blizzard 15:38 The "Redneck" army forms 17:00 Chafin's army forms 19:23 Day One 20:55 Day Two (Day of the Planes) 23:46 Day Three 24:45 The outcomes 26:51 the resultant decline in unionism 28:12 Postscript on battle over protecting Blair Mountain 30:27 what's next? Photo credits Thumbnail credits: starryai.com is awesome. Go check it out. Documentary credits: 1. Photo of fighting on Blair Mountain. Public domain, originally in Washington Post. https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-am... 2. Image of Don Chafin. Public domain. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/sher... 3. map of Kermit from googleearth which is awesome. 4. Map of Tug Fork region by Kmusser. Creative Domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tug_For... 5. Map to Logan from Google Maps. 6. Image of Cornwell. Public domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J.... 7. Image of Major Thomas Davis. Public domain. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articl... 8. Image of Keeney and Mooney. Public domain. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/pain... 9. Image of Gen Bandholtz. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... 10. Image of Bill Blizzard. Public domain. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/majo... 11. Map of Charleston-Lens Creek-Jeffry-Blair area. Googleearth. 12. Image of Martin MB-2. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... 13. Image of Airco DH-4. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... 14. Image of munitions from battle. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... 15. Image of battle map from Blair Mountain. Image by Heidi Perov for WV Humanities Council. Used for educational purposes. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/media/...