Tragedy and War

Tweet

Sometimes I think it’s a misnomer to refer to the 1861-65 War Between the States as “THE Civil War.” There have been a number of wars in the United States that had nothing to do with secession. I went to the site of one such battle today. “Good ol’ Rocky Top.” You probably know that song. The town that’s now called Rocky Top used to be Lake City, Tennessee; and, long before that, “Coal Creek.” This is where one of the first mines in Tennessee was founded. Sadly, it’s also the site of the singular worst mining disaster in the southern United States, and the site of an armed conflict between miners and the government known as “the Coal Creek War.” There were actually two mining disasters in this tiny town. The first was in 1902, in which every miner (“officially” 182, but truthfully many more because children were in the mines helping their fathers, and in a lot of cases African-Americans weren’t counted among the labor force) was killed when the Fraterville mine exploded. Some of the men survived the blast, but suffocated before they could be rescued. The Coal Creek Miners Museum features a sheet that has EVERY farewell note that a miner managed to write before he succumbed to the lack of oxygen. That is somber and chilling, to say the very least. The museum, in the heart of Rocky Top, is dedicated to all three events: the Fraterville explosion of 1902, the 1911 Cross Mountain disaster, and the Coal Creek War. Exhibits include original artifacts from late 19th/early 20th century coal mining (picks, hats, etc.), the company scrip (I’ve talked about that before: the miners were paid in scrip that was unique to that mine’s company, so the money could ONLY be spent in that mine’s company store), different types of coal, and early self-contained breathing apparatuses. One of the lessons learned from the 1902 disaster was that people could survive an underground explosion. When the 1911 Cross Mountain explosion happened, these new breathing machines were used for the very first time in an attempt to rescue miners who might have been trapped by the explosion. While 85 miners died, five were rescued, marking the first successful rescue of miners. Then there was the war. if you’ve seen The Shawshank Redemption or Cool Hand Luke, you know a little about “prison labor. In the late 19th century some of the mine owners decided to “borrow” prisoners from the facility in Knoxville to work in the mines. When a recession hit, the mine owners continued to use the “free” prison labor as opposed to paying the miners. That led to the Coal Creek War. Miners organized and, with help from other miners from other states, barged into the mines, grabbed the prison labor, and put them on a train back to Knoxville. Along with that bold move, they sent the governor of Tennessee a letter saying there would be NO prison labor used in Coal Creek’s mines. The governor responded by sending the Tennessee National Guard in. On a hilltop overlooking the town they established Fort Anderson, an outpost to keep the armed miners from attacking the mines. Eventually, after a few dozen deaths in the skirmishes, the mine companies realized that the unskilled prisoners were no match for the skilled miners. Between that and the governor’s failure to be reelected in 1892, a law was passed forbidding prison labor in the mines. (If you remember a few years ago I went to the Brushy Mountain Prison in Tennessee…that prison was built as a direct result of the Coal Creek War!) There was lots to see. I’ve only scratched the surface of the deep ties that the town has to mining and labor disputes. As one man said in the educational film shown at the museum, “This town has more history per square inch than any place else I’ve ever been to.” PHOTO COLLAGE: (Top left) Cannon on the ridge at Fort Anderson, pointed toward the town (Top right) Cemetery monument for the victims of the 1902 mine disaster (Bottom left) The history of “flour sack dresses” explained with a dress made from a flour sack (Bottom right) Scrip on display as part of the exhibits.