‘The Great Uprising’ sparked labor activism

One hundred forty-nine years ago this month, what started on July 16, 1877, as a local protest about repeated wage cuts by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Martinsburg, W. Va., within weeks became America's first nationwide strike, halting commerce across 14 states, involving other unions, and sparking violent clashes between workers and troops.

Within days, Pittsburgh’s local militia was ordered to fire on strikers and refused,  but state militia attacked, killing 20 people and causing riots, the burning of rail yards and $5 million in damages. Maryland troops on July 21 shot into Baltimore crowds, killing 9 and provoking a shutdown of railroads.

In Illinois, railroad workers stopped rail transportation and the week of July 20 saw general strikes hit Chicago and East St. Louis, joined by workers in lumber and meatpacking. That culminated in “the Battle of the Viaduct” on July 26, when – after three days of fighting, armed forces shot at thousands ofmstrikers and supporters, killing 30 and injuring about 200 other men, women and children.

By early September, Republican U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes deployed federal troops to restore order, but the months-long battles ushered in an era of class conflict in the industrial age.