The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year in order to be able to increase dividends to stockholders. It was the first strike that spread across multiple states in the U.S. The strike ended 52 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops. Because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois and Missouri, also went on strike. An estimated 126 to 160 people were killed in the unrest across the country.
West Virginia Governor Henry M. Mathews sent in militia forces to move the trains. One militiaman was shot by a striker while trying to operate a switch; the militiaman returned fire. Both were wounded, and the striker died. In the end, the militia failed to get the trains moving again, as strikebreakers were unwilling to operate them.
In Baltimore, the Fifth (“Dandy Fifth”) and Sixth Regiments of the former state militia, reorganized after the Civil War as the Maryland National Guard, were called up by Maryland Governor John Lee Carroll, at the request of the railroad. The Sixth assembled at its armory at East Fayette and North Front Streets and headed to Camden. It had to fight its way west through sympathetic Baltimore citizens, rioters and striking workers. The march erupted into bloodshed along Baltimore Street. It was a horrible scene, reminiscent of the worst of the bloody “Pratt Street Riots” of the Civil War era. When the outnumbered troops of the 6th Regiment finally fired volleys on an attacking crowd, they killed 10 civilians and wounded 25. The rioters injured several members of the National Guard, damaged B&O engines and train cars, and burned portions of the train station at South Howard and West Camden Streets. The National Guard was trapped in the Camden Yards and besieged by armed rioters. Hayes sent 2,000 federal troops and 600 U.S. Marines to Baltimore to restore order.
Pittsburgh became the site of the worst violence of the related strikes. Thomas Alexander Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad, described as one of the first robber barons, suggested that the strikers should be given “a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread”. On July 21, National Guard members bayoneted and fired on rock-throwing strikers, killing 20 people and wounding 29. Instead of calming the strikers, these actions made them even angrier which led them to fight back and force the National Guard to retreat into a railroad roundhouse. The strikers then set fires that burned down 39 buildings and destroyed equipment, including 104 locomotives and 1,245 freight and passenger cars. On July 22, the National Guard mounted an assault on the strikers, shooting their way out of the roundhouse and killing 20 more people on their way out of the city. After more than a month of rioting and bloodshed in Pittsburgh, Hayes sent in federal troops to end the strikes.
Maryland National Guard’s Sixth Regiment fighting its way west along main downtown commercial thoroughfare Baltimore Street through Baltimore, Maryland, July 20, 1877
Houseboat:
Umm…
Today is the birthday, in 1948, of Cat Stevens, singer, songwriter, who had the 1967 UK No.2 single ‘Matthew And Son’, and the 1972 UK No.9 & US No.6 single, ‘Morning Has Broken’. He wrote ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ covered by many artists including PP Arnold, Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow. Stevens converted to the Muslim religion in 1977 changing his name to Yusef Islam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmAOBosGlHY
