Mingo County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,839. Its county seat and largest city is Williamson. Created in 1895, Mingo is West Virginia's newest county, named for the historic Iroquoian Mingo people.
Thurmond is a town in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States, on the New River. The population was five at the 2010 census. During the heyday of coal mining in the New River Gorge, Thurmond was a prosperous town with a number of businesses and facilities for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
Welch is a city located in McDowell County in the State of West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,406 at the 2010 census. Incorporated as a city in 1893, it is the county seat of McDowell County.
Matewan is a town in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States at the confluence of the Tug Fork River and Mate Creek. The population was 499 at the 2010 census. The Norfolk Southern Railway's Pocahontas District passes through the town.
Hazel Jane Dickens was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-union, feminist songs. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that "Dickens didn’t just sing the anthems of labor, she lived them and her place on many a picket line, staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her into the cause." The New York Times extolled her as "a clarion-voiced advocate for coal miners and working people and a pioneer among women in bluegrass music." With Alice Gerrard, Dickens was one of the first women to record a bluegrass album.
Matewan is a 1987 American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, and starring Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell and Will Oldham, with David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp in supporting roles. The film dramatizes the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners' strike in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia.
The Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency was a private detective agency in the United States from the early 1890s to 1937. Members of the agency were central actors in the events that led to the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 and violent repression of labor union members as part of the Coal Wars in such places as the Pocahontas Coalfield region of West Virginia, the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike of 1912 in West Virginia, 1913-1914 Colorado Coalfield War, and the Battle of Matewan in 1920.
The Battle of Matewan was a shootout in the town of Matewan in Mingo County and the Pocahontas Coalfield mining district, in southern West Virginia. It occurred on May 19, 1920 between local coal miners and the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency. This event was a battle for miners' rights and concluded with ten dead and was a success for the Baldwin-Felts Detective agency. Whoever shot first is still unknown and is up for debate to this day.
Donald Leon Blankenship is an American business executive and political candidate. He was Chairman and CEO of the Massey Energy Company—the sixth-largest coal company in the United States—from 2000 until an explosion at one of his coal mines in 2010, costing him his position. He was a candidate for the United States Senate in West Virginia in 2018. He was the Constitution Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2020 election, alongside running mate Bill Mohr.
John Jacob Cornwell was a Democratic politician from Romney in Hampshire County, West Virginia. Cornwell served as the 15th Governor of the US state of West Virginia. Cornwell also served in the West Virginia Senate as a state senator (1899–1905).
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia. Up to 100 people were killed, and many more arrested. The United Mine Workers saw major declines in membership, but the long-term publicity led to some improvements in working conditions.
Pageton is a census-designated place (CDP) in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 187. Pageton is located on the Tug Fork Branch of the Norfolk and Western Railway, along the Pocahontas seam of rich bituminous coal. Pageton is located on State Route 161 between Thorpe and Anawalt.
The Paint Creek–Cabin Creek Strike, or the Paint Creek Mine War, was a confrontation between striking coal miners and coal operators in Kanawha County, West Virginia, centered on the area enclosed by two streams, Paint Creek and Cabin Creek.
The West Virginia coal wars (1912–21), also known as the mine wars, arose out of a dispute between coal companies and miners.
William Sidney "Sid" Hatfield, was Police Chief of Matewan, West Virginia during the Battle of Matewan, a shootout that followed a series of evictions carried out by detectives from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.
The Matewan Historic District encompasses the town center of the rural coal mining community of Matewan, West Virginia. Matewan was the scene of the Battle of Matewan on May 19, 1920, during a coal miners' strike, an event which led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest insurrection ever associated with the labor movement in the United States, and was depicted in the film Matewan. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
Vulcan is an unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States. Vulcan is located along the Tug Fork across from the state of Kentucky. The community was named after Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. Vulcan received international attention when they requested aid from the Soviet Union to replace a collapsed bridge, the only legal entrance and exit into the community.
The Coal Wars were a series of armed labor conflicts in the United States, roughly between 1890 and 1930. Although they occurred mainly in the East, particularly in Appalachia, there was a significant amount of violence in Colorado after the turn of the century.
Jean Battlo is an American playwright from West Virginia. She is known for writing plays on Appalachian themes and history, which have been performed in several states.
Charles Lively, also known as Charles Everett Lively, C.E. Lively and Everett Lively was a private detective who worked as a labor spy for the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency. Heo played an active role in the Coal Wars in Appalachia and Colorado during the early 20th Century.
