Blair Footsteps - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Blair Footsteps Tour #1: Marmet

In August 1921, Marmet was the launching point for the largest labor uprising in United States history. As many as 10,000 armed coal miners mustered in the hollows around Marmet to prepare for a southward march on Mingo County. The march's objective was to free over a hundred union miners imprisoned under a state of martial law declared in Mingo County earlier that spring by West Virginia Governor Ephraim Morgan. En route to Mingo's county seat of Williamson, the miners fought a three-day pitched battle against anti-union forces at Blair Mountain, Logan County, organized by Sheriff Don Chafin.-----This entry is a digital companion to the Blair Footsteps exhibit trail, available to the public from August 30 - September 11, 2021 as part of the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial. The map location of this entry indicates where the temporary exhibit can be found. The Marmet Station of Blair Footsteps can be found at the entry to Ben Morris athletic field at the corner of Route 60 and 86th St., across the street from George Buckley Community Center.

2. Blair Footsteps Tour #2: Racine

Racine was an important waypoint for armed West Virginia coal miners on their expedition to Mingo County in the summer of 1921. On Wednesday, August 24 they began their advance up Lens Creek. In Racine they reassembled and gathered supplies, many of them camping along nearby Indian Creek. At Racine and neighboring Peytona, they turned to briefly follow the Big Coal River westward before pivoting south again toward Mingo.-----This entry is a digital companion to the Blair Footsteps exhibit trail, available to the public from August 30 - September 11, 2021 as part of the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial. The map location of this entry indicates where the temporary exhibit can be found. The Racine Station of Blair Footsteps is located at the entrance to the baseball field at John Slack Park, across from the swimming pool.

3. Blair Footsteps Tour #3: Madison

The armed march of roughly 10,000 West Virginia coal miners—called the "Red Neck Army," for the red bandannas they wore to identify themselves—nearly ended without violence at a baseball field in Danville-Madison on August 26, 1921. That afternoon, as miners crowded the streets of this small town, UMWA District 17 leaders Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney arrived with a message from U.S. Army General Henry H. Bandholtz, who had just arrived in Charleston, West Virginia with the stern admonition that military force would be used to suppress the miners if they continued their intended assault on Logan and Mingo counties. Keeney and Mooney succeeded in turning most of the Red Necks back, but the effort proved vain when news arrived of a West Virginia State Police raid on union miners in nearby Sharples.-----This entry is a digital companion to the Blair Footsteps exhibit trail, available to the public from August 30 - September 11, 2021 as part of the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial. The map location of this entry indicates where the temporary exhibit can be found. The Madison Station of Blair Footsteps is located across the street from the Bituminous Coal Heritage Foundation Museum in downtown Madison.

4. Blair Footsteps Tour #4: Clothier

In late August and early September 1921, the mining towns of Clothier, Jeffrey, and Sharples became staging grounds for the advancing "Red Neck Army" of union miners as they closed in on the battleground at Blair Mountain. Hospitals, ammunition depots, and rest areas were set up to support the attacks on Sheriff Don Chafin's 3,000 "Logan Defenders" holding miles of entrenchments on Spruce Fork Ridge.When the march nearly disbanded without a fight a few days before, on August 26, the impending conflict was reignited by a West Virginia State Police raid on union miners in Sharples. Miner Lewis White later seized a train at gunpoint in Clothier and had it driven to Madison, where he rounded up a number of miners and continued the advance on Logan. ------------------This entry is a digital companion to the Blair Footsteps exhibit trail, available to the public from August 30 - September 11, 2021 as part of the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial. The map location of this entry indicates where the temporary exhibit can be found. The Clothier Station of Blair Footsteps is located at the end of Coal Valley Road, just off of WV Highway 17, at the UMWA Local 2935 hall.

5. Blair Footsteps Tour #5: Blair

As August 1921 came to a close, over two decades of labor unrest in the West Virginia coal fields culminated in a showdown near the small town of Blair. A battle with an estimated 8,000-20,000 combatants raged for three days in the mountains and gullies around Blair Mountain, as pro-union forces attempted a pincer movement to flank the long line of entrenchments held by the "Logan Defenders" along fifteen miles of Spruce Fork Ridge and Blair Mountain's twin peaks. The town of Blair itself served as a forward command post and supply depot for miners attacking the slopes of Blair Mountain.--------------This entry is a digital companion to the Blair Footsteps exhibit trail, available to the public from August 30 - September 11, 2021 as part of the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial. The map location of this entry indicates where the temporary exhibit can be found. The Blair Station of Blair Footsteps is located next the Blair Post Office, just off of WV Highway 17 near the center of the town of Blair.

6. Blair Footsteps Tour #6: Logan

While the marching miners of 1921 never made it as far as Logan, the city played a crucial role in Sheriff Don Chafin's defense of Blair Mountain and Spruce Fork Ridge during the battle of late August and early September. Not only did the city serve as an assembly point and supply depot for 3,000 deputies, State Police, and hastily activated West Virginia National Guard troops commanded by Colonel William Eubank of the National Guard, Chafin and Eubank set up their command post at downtown Logan's Aracoma Hotel. At the close of the battle, U.S. Army troops disembarked from trains in Logan and moved onto the battlefield to begin disarming miners on September 3, 1921.-------------------------------This entry is a digital companion to the Blair Footsteps exhibit trail, available to the public from August 30 - September 11, 2021 as part of the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial. The map location of this entry indicates where the temporary exhibit can be found. The Logan Station of Blair Footsteps is located at the entrance to the Logan Area Public Library, near Logan Middle School.

This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.

Blair Footsteps

Created by Eric McLaughlin on August 8th 2021, 9:56:43 pm.

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Description

This driving tour guides visitors along the "Blair Footsteps Centennial Interpretive Trail," six outdoor exhibit stations on the route of the 1921 miners' march to the Battle of Blair Mountain—the epic culmination of organized labor's decades-long fight for American freedoms in southern West Virginia, where 10,000 armed miners fought 3,000 deputies, State Police, and National Guardsmen along the ridges of the Boone-Logan County border. Each station is located near where these earthshaking events really happened a century ago. All-weather roadside displays include enlarged photographs and vivid text that bring to life some of what occurred at each stage of the march. The exhibits will be available to the public from August 30 to September 11. Cellular service can be limited for certain portions of the route, so downloading the tour as a PDF or printing a paper copy is recommended. Blair Footsteps is a project of the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia and is funded in part by a grant from the Coal Heritage Area Authority.

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