Battle of Matewan

The dead included the detective agency's founder's two brothers and Matewan's mayor Cabell Testerman, who supported the union.

29 morning train to evict families that had been living at the Stone Mountain Coal Camp on the outskirts of town.

As the detectives made their way to the train depot, they were intercepted by Matewan Chief of Police Sid Hatfield, who claimed to have arrest warrants from the Mingo County sheriff.

Hatfield, a native of the Tug River Valley, was a supporter of the miners' attempts to organize the UMWA in the southern coalfields of West Virginia.

[2] Unbeknownst to the detectives, they had been surrounded by armed miners, who watched intently from the windows, doorways, and roofs of the businesses that lined Mate Street.

Accounts vary as to who actually fired the first shot and the ensuing gun battle left seven detectives and three townspeople dead, including the Felts brothers and Testerman.

This incident, along with events such as the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado six years earlier, marked an important turning point in the battle for miners' rights.

A few months before the battle at Matewan, union miners in other parts of the country went on strike, receiving a full 27 percent pay increase for their efforts.

Lewis recognized that the area was ripe for change, and planned to organize the coal fields of southern Appalachia.

In turn, the Stone Mountain Coal Corporation hired their own enforcers, the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency, dubbed the "Baldwin Thugs" by the miners.

[7] On the day of the fight, a group of the Baldwin–Felts enforcers arrived to evict families living at the mountain coal camp, just outside Matewan.

Hatfield, Burgraff, and Mayor Cabell Testerman met with the detectives on the porch of the Chambers Hardware Store.

The Matewan massacre is officially recognized by a Historic Highway marker produced by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.