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One in four laborers in New York were out of work in the winter of 1873-1874. Thousands of American businesses failed, defaulting on more than a billion dollars of debt. Unemployment rose dramatically, reaching 14 percent by 1876, many more were severely underemployed, and wages overall dropped to 45% of their previous level. The failure of the Jay Cooke bank in New York was followed quickly by that of Henry Clews, and this set off a chain reaction of bank failures, temporarily closing the New York stock market. The Long Depression, beginning in the United States with the financial Panic of 1873 and lasting 65 months, became the longest economic contraction in American history, including the later more famous, 45-month-long Great Depression of the 1930s. Other improvements were implemented later. In 1884, it established a worker pension plan. With public attention on workers' wages and conditions, the B&O in 1880 founded an Employee Relief Association to provide death benefits and some health care. Fearing the social disruption, many cities built armories to support the local National Guard units these defensive buildings still stand as symbols of the effort to suppress the labor unrest of this period. Labor continued to work to organize into unions to work for better wages and conditions. With the intervention of federal troops in several locations, most of the strikes were suppressed by early August. Disruption was widespread and at its height, the strikes were supported by about 100,000 workers. The city and state governments were aided by unofficial militias, the National Guard, federal troops and private militias organized by the railroads, who all fought against the workers. Some locals feared that workers were rising in revolution such as the Paris Commune of 1871, while others joined their efforts against the railroads.Īt the time, the workers were not represented by trade unions.

In Martinsburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and other cities, workers burned down and destroyed both physical facilities and the rolling stock of the railroads-engines and railroad cars. An estimated 100 people were killed in the unrest across the country. Because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in numerous other cities, in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, into Illinois and Missouri, also went out on strike. This strike finally ended 52 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the first strike that spread across multiple different states in the U.S. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, 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.

Harlan County War 1931–1939 ( Battle of Evarts).Colorado Coal Strike 1927–28 ( Columbine Mine massacre).UMW General Coal Strike 1922 ( Herrin massacre).West Virginia coal wars 1912–21 ( Battle of Matewan, Battle of Blair Mountain).Colorado Coalfield War 1913–14 ( Ludlow Massacre, The 10-Day War).

Illinois coal wars 1898–1900 ( Battle of Virden, Pana riot, Carterville Mine Riot).