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Tennessee's Coal Creek War | Minisode

Tennessee's Coal Creek War | Minisode

Released Monday, 13th May 2024
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Tennessee's Coal Creek War | Minisode

Tennessee's Coal Creek War | Minisode

Tennessee's Coal Creek War | Minisode

Tennessee's Coal Creek War | Minisode

Monday, 13th May 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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Welcome to From Beneath the Hollywood Sign.

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did until he dislocated her jaw line. Or

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My name's my host of the

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Pirate History podcast. Southern.

1:11

Gothic is a podcast that

1:13

explores the history behind some

1:15

of the American South's darkest

1:17

days, greatest mysteries and most

1:19

chilling ghost stories. On

1:38

our most recent episode, we went

1:40

on down to Alabama to honor

1:42

the man whose lives were lost

1:44

in the explosion at the Banner

1:46

Coal Mine. And as

1:49

we discuss these men, they wore

1:51

an everyday coal miners who risk

1:53

their wives for a paycheck. Most.

1:56

Were convicts least to the Pride

1:58

Consolidated Coal Company. By the

2:00

state. Unfortunately, this

2:02

was not an isolated instance

2:04

by any means and this

2:07

exploited even corrupt system of

2:09

convict we seen ran rampant

2:11

until World War Two. Now

2:15

while Alabama was one of the

2:18

biggest offenders and also the last

2:20

state to abolish the practice, Other

2:23

states followed their own trajectory, sin.

2:26

Here in Tennessee Convict we

2:28

seen was outlawed. His early

2:30

is eighteen Ninety Four. But.

2:33

Your work is they didn't do it out of

2:35

the goodness of their heart. Rather,

2:38

It was the result of a

2:40

violent uprising of free minors known

2:42

as the Coal Creek War. Following

2:54

the Civil War, shrewd businessman purchased

2:56

hundreds of acres of land out

2:59

nice Tennessee to gain control of

3:01

the deep veins of coal and

3:03

iron ore in the mountains cumberland

3:06

plot So. At

3:08

first hundreds of local folks

3:10

were hired on as minors,

3:12

which made an incredible impact

3:14

on these once isolated communities

3:16

by offering steady jobs with

3:18

regular pay. But

3:21

as we know, mining coal

3:23

exactly the safest, most lucrative

3:25

gig aside from the dangerous

3:27

working conditions in the long

3:29

hours, miners were often paid

3:32

extremely low wages and in

3:34

many cases they were paid

3:36

and what was called company

3:38

scrip instead of cash. These

3:41

were tokens that could only

3:43

be used at company owned

3:45

stores, which often inflated prices.

3:48

As a result, men became trapped in

3:51

a cycle of debt that they could

3:53

never work their way out. Us. So.

3:55

Strikes or com and at coal mines all

3:58

across the nation, not just the South, But.

4:01

What was different here was the

4:03

way the company's dealt with the

4:05

striking and unionized workers. They just

4:08

shut down the minds and reopened.

4:10

With. Least convict A labour. Well.

4:16

In July of Eighty Ninety One. Miners.

4:19

In the Coal Creek Valley, the

4:21

most lucrative mining region in a

4:23

state of Tennessee. Decided enough was

4:25

enough. On.

4:28

The night of July fourteenth, three

4:30

hundred men armed to the teeth,

4:32

descended upon the Stockade and Bryce

4:35

feel where the convicts would replace

4:37

them several weeks before were housed.

4:41

Completely. Outnumbered and undoubtedly outgunned,

4:43

the guards didn't put up a

4:45

fight and they surrendered the convicts

4:47

to the men who then marched

4:50

them out to the train station

4:52

and center mall back east to

4:54

Knoxville and a brazen display of

4:57

defiance against the coal companies. They.

5:00

Then send a telegram the Governor

5:03

Buchanan asking for him to intervene

5:05

on their behalf, which they believed

5:07

he would since he ran on

5:09

a pro labor campaign. But to

5:12

their surprise, the Governor's response to

5:14

the situation was not on their

5:16

behalf. On

5:19

July sixteenth, the personally join

5:21

several companies of the state

5:23

militia and. Escorted the convicts

5:25

back to Bryce Fill for the

5:27

minds to be reopened. There

5:29

he asked for the free minor stuff.

5:32

Bear with him and remain peaceful That

5:34

he really was a champion of their

5:36

movement, but. It. Was his job to

5:38

enforce the law? Is it was written? Why?

5:41

I could do nothing else. Provides a

5:44

power to change the law. White Van

5:46

I could have done something Bryce felt,

5:48

but as it was, I did what

5:50

I considered my duty. Or

5:53

see the was carried out and. That.

5:55

Is just what I did. The

5:59

governor laugh the following day, but

6:01

one hundred seven militiamen remain with

6:04

the convicts. The Bryce Fill Stockade.

6:06

Commanded. By Colonel Granville

6:08

Severe. But. Y'all

6:11

those one hundred seven men weren't

6:13

gonna be doing too much because.

6:16

After. Buchanan's response. Minors.

6:19

From as far away as Kentucky

6:21

came down to the Coal Craig

6:23

Valley to take part in what

6:25

was next. On

6:31

July twentieth, armed minors again descended

6:34

on the price will start aid,

6:36

but this time it's estimated that

6:38

there were about two thousand men

6:41

in their ranks. Severe had no

6:43

choice but to surrender, which he

6:46

willingly did as long as they

6:48

promise not to destroy company property.

6:51

So once again, convicts were sent

6:53

back to Knoxville and are trained.

6:56

But this time those two thousand

6:58

men did not stop. And rice

7:00

bill they continued their march out

7:02

Coal Creek and did the same

7:04

the stockade there. Now

7:08

governors and was forced and so

7:10

he struck a deal with the

7:12

miners, promising to hold a special

7:15

session of the state legislature to

7:17

put an end to convict We

7:19

see. As. Long as they

7:21

would agree to a sixty day

7:23

truce and allow the mining operations

7:26

to continue uninterrupted. So

7:28

they did just that. But.

7:30

In the end, Things. Did not

7:32

go as they hoped back in Nashville.

7:38

Rather, Than abolishing the states

7:40

convict leasing system. The. State

7:42

legislature did the opposite. They.

7:45

Passed a law explicitly targeting

7:47

miners who interfered with it.

7:50

During. The Governor the power to

7:52

take any action necessary. To. Protect

7:54

the system as it was. Well.

7:58

You can probably tell what. The

8:00

next. The. Miners declared

8:02

an all out war. First,

8:13

once. Again, sees the Stargate

8:16

bryce go and call Creek

8:18

but now it was not

8:20

peaceful. Company buildings were destroyed

8:22

and looted. Fire said in

8:24

over three hundred convicts were

8:26

released for the minors. didn't

8:28

send him back to Knoxville

8:30

like they had before. They

8:33

let those convicts go entirely,

8:35

even supplying the man with

8:37

food and clothes so that

8:39

they could integrate back into

8:41

society. Then.

8:43

Two days later, another one hundred

8:46

fifty three convicts were freed from

8:48

the stockade at All Over Springs,

8:50

which was also burned to the

8:52

ground. By.

8:55

Now folks from all over Appalachia

8:57

were coming down to join with

9:00

the minors and. On

9:02

January First, Eighteen Ninety Two.

9:04

When. Gov. Buchanan returns convicts

9:06

to Call Creek. He

9:08

does it with an occupying army

9:10

of militiamen. Commanded by

9:12

Jake Killer Anderson. These.

9:15

Men than builds of forward on

9:18

what would become known as Militia

9:20

Hill overlooking Cool Creek and. Be.

9:22

Outfitted the aptly named Ford

9:24

Anderson with a gatling gun.

9:27

And intense rapid firing. Early

9:30

machine got. Then.

9:32

Over the next few months,

9:35

the situation abd in flowed

9:37

with periods of peace in

9:39

violence, but by August the

9:41

insurrection spread west and escalated

9:43

once again, When. A group

9:45

of men raided and destroyed or

9:47

Tracy City. Start Date: Inspired

9:50

by the successful Malaya Neither Group

9:53

attack, the Inman started several days

9:55

later, forcing coke ovens and minds

9:58

to be shut down. Over

10:00

the state. Back.

10:02

At all over Springs though, a shootout

10:05

took place and for once the militia

10:07

held their ground. but it wasn't for

10:09

a walk. In less

10:12

than twenty four hours, fifteen hundred

10:14

miners return to Oliver Springs and.

10:17

On. August Eighteenth, Eighty Ninety Two,

10:19

the militia captain was taken

10:22

hostage. It's

10:24

still. A Cold Creek War.

10:26

Continued. On. Eventually,

10:30

after almost two years of fighting.

10:33

Both. The Tennessee State Government, and

10:35

the mining companies. I just had

10:38

enough. After all, the

10:40

states profits from leasing out these

10:42

prisoners had an entirely erased by

10:44

the cost of keeping the militia

10:46

there to protect them. So

10:49

the state legislature went ahead and

10:51

allowed to convict least contracts to

10:53

expire and. On January first,

10:55

Eighteen Ninety Four, the convict a

10:58

leasing system came to an end

11:00

in the State of Tennessee. What's.

11:03

Interesting here though is that this

11:06

didn't happen in response to the

11:08

horrific conditions of minds are ethical

11:11

considerations and civil rights issues regarding

11:13

be exploited of nature of the

11:15

system. Rather, Here

11:18

in Tennessee. It ended because

11:20

the system which is no longer

11:22

a lucrative. Two

11:36

years. Later and eighteen Ninety six,

11:39

the Brushing Mountain State Penitentiary

11:41

opened it's doors to how's

11:43

the Convicts Or once least,

11:45

to the minds. But.

11:47

This facility wasn't just jail, it

11:50

was also a coal mine for

11:52

the state. You

11:54

see, Tennessee might have abolished we

11:56

see now prisoners, but that didn't

11:58

mean they couldn't. Rocket off convict

12:01

a labor done for the state

12:03

itself. Can

12:05

cause y'all Today Brushing Mountain

12:08

State Penitentiary is considered one

12:10

of Tennessee's most haunted locations.

12:14

The will probably get into that another time.

12:19

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