125 Year Anniversary Of Virden Gun Battle Observed Oct. 8 - Commemoration Battle To Be Held At Noon
MT. OLIVE, Ill. - A gun battle took place on October 12, 1898, in Virden, Illinois, and this year is the 125th anniversary of that event; October 8, in Union Miners Cemetery, located at 5585 Mt Olive Rd, Mt Olive, a commemoration of the battle will be held at noon. A recap: The coal mines in IL and the region had refused to bargain fairly with their UMWA-represented workers. One of the miners' demands was an 8-hour workday. The mines all settled except for the Chicago/Virden mine, so the strike became a lockout. The mine recruited unsuspecting miners from Alabama. Their advertisement said they wanted black coal miners. Virden was not prejudiced, but companies trying to sow division among workers is a tactic that continues into modern times. It is a tactic the UMWA has faced many times. A self-appointed UMWA organizer, “General" Alexander Bradley, had a contingent of miners at Virden when the train arrived carrying the replacement workers. Nobody said who fired the first shot,
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