The Battle of Virden, Illinois

On the 12^th of October 128 years ago this month, the Battle of Virden (AKA the Virden Massacre or Virden Mine Riot) occurred in Sangamon and Macoupin counties.

After the seven-year-old United Mine Workers’ national strike the year before, there had been major wins for the union – including an eight-hour workday, better pay, and the end of overpriced company stores – and almost all of Illinois’ coal-mine operators settled with the union.

But not the Chicago-Virden Coal Co., which locked out its workers, hired armed guards to patrol the mine, and, later, to accompany African-American scabs recruited from Birmingham, Ala., to cross picket lines and open the mine.

In August 1898, miners in Virden and Pana started a months-long standoff against the mine owners, their private guards and dozens of deputies, as workers continued to demand better pay and recognition of the union.  Miners from throughout the state reinforced local miners.

“Coal diggers all over the state responded with a massive show of solidarity,” said Carl Weinberg of the Illinois Labor History Society.

Also, African-American union miners from Springfield came to strengthen strikers’ picket lines, and a group of Black union miners in Alabama denounced coal operators’ racist scheme.

But on October 12, 1898, a northbound train pulled into Virden with about 100 African-American potential scabs from Birmingham via East St. Louis. There, it had taken on hired strikebreakers from the Thiel Detective Service armed with Winchester rifles and orders to protect the scabs. After stopping on the Chicago & Alton Railroad tracks outside the mine, strikers tried to surround the train, and gunfire erupted from all sides.

By the end of the firefight, 5 detectives/ guards and 8 striking mine workers were killed, with 5 guards and more than 30 miners wounded.

Gov. John Henry Tanner ordered the Illinois National Guard to prevent any more scabs from arriving in the state. He said that if another rail car carried them into the state, he would “shoot it to pieces with Gatling guns.” Following those orders, the captain in charge of the Illinois Guard promised: “If any negros are brought into [the area] while I am in charge, and if they refuse orders to retreat when ordered to do so, I will order my men to fire.”

Eventually, the company ended the lockout and agreed to a wage increase, and the state became a stronghold of union power in coal country for decades. In Illinois, UMWA membership grew from fewer than 400 to more than 30,000.