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Morewood_massacre Latitude and Longitude:

40°08′54″N 79°33′47″W / 40.148323°N 79.563137°W / 40.148323; -79.563137
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Morewood Massacre
Miners and their families getting evicted from company housing during the strike.
DateFebruary 10 – May 26, 1891 [1]
Location
GoalsHigher wages
Eight-hour day
Methods Strikes, protests, demonstrations
Resulted inUnsuccessful
Parties
United Mine Workers
Coal miners
Lead figures

Captain Loar
Henry Clay Frick (Owner)
Andrew Carnegie (Owner)

Number
16,000
Casualties and losses
9

The Morewood massacre was an armed labor-union conflict in Morewood, Pennsylvania, in Westmoreland County, west of the present-day borough Mount Pleasant in 1891.

Casualties and causes

Workers attack the coke ovens to stop work at the mines during the strike

Nine coke workers were shot and killed during a strike for higher wages and an eight-hour work day. [3] [4] [5]

The United Mine Workers union, formed only the previous year, organized the strike against the local coke works owned by industrialist Henry Clay Frick. After a work stoppage beginning on February 10, [6] weeks of increasing unrest, and evictions of mining families from company-controlled property, a crowd of about a thousand strikers accompanied by a brass band marched on the company store. [7] Deputized members of the 10th regiment of the National Guard under the command of Captain Loar fired several volleys [8] into the crowd, killing six strikers outright and fatally wounding three more. [7] Thousands attended their funeral.

A Pennsylvania state historical marker describing the Morewood event was erected in 2000 on Route 981 (Morewood Road) near the Route 119 overpass. [9]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ Vivian, Cassandra (June 2017). Coal Mine and Coke Oven Reclamation and Preservation Project Phase II: Early Coal Mines of Henry Clay Frick (PDF). Westmoreland Fayette Historical Society.
  2. ^ Vivian, Cassandra (June 2017). Coal Mine and Coke Oven Reclamation and Preservation Project Phase II: Early Coal Mines of Henry Clay Frick (PDF). Westmoreland Fayette Historical Society.
  3. ^ Washlaski, Raymond A.; Ryan P. Washlaski; Peter E. Starry Jr (2006-11-12). "Massacre at Morewood Mine & Coke Works, (Coal Miners Strike of 1891)". Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania. {{ cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= ( help)
  4. ^ "Morewood Massacre". ExplorePAhistory.com. WITF, Inc. ( Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  5. ^ Napsha, Joe. "Lecture explores deadly 1891 coal miner strike outside Mt. Pleasant". Trib Live. Tribune-Review. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  6. ^ Vivian, Cassandra (June 2017). Coal Mine and Coke Oven Reclamation and Preservation Project Phase II: Early Coal Mines of Henry Clay Frick (PDF). Westmoreland Fayette Historical Society.
  7. ^ a b "Massacre at Morewood Mine & Coke Works, Morewood, East Huntingdon Twp.,Westmoreland Co., PA, USA". 2008-10-19. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  8. ^ Official Documents, Comprising the Department and Other Reports Made to the Governor, Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, Volume 4. State of Pennsylvania. 1892. p. D - 8.
  9. ^ http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-2CB[ bare URL]

External links

40°08′54″N 79°33′47″W / 40.148323°N 79.563137°W / 40.148323; -79.563137