The Great Railroad Strike: America's First Class War

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July 16, 1877. Railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia refused to move the trains. Within two weeks, the strike had spread to 14 states, over 100 people were dead, and $150 million in railroad property had been destroyed in Pittsburgh alone. President Rutherford Hayes sent federal troops to fire on American workers — the first time since the Civil War that soldiers opened fire on civilians on American soil. This was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, and it established a pattern that would define American labor relations for the next 50 years.

This video reconstructs how a 10% wage cut — the fourth in three years — triggered the first general strike in American history. You'll see how striking workers blocked trains in Martinsburg, how state militia refused to fire on neighbors, how Philadelphia troops shot into crowds in Pittsburgh killing twenty people, and how the enraged mob responded by burning 39 buildings, 104 locomotives, and 1,200 freight cars in a single night. By the time federal troops restored order, the wage cuts remained in place, but both sides had learned what the other was capable of.

The Pullman Strike of 1894. The Colorado coal wars. The Steel Strike of 1919. Every major labor conflict for the next half-century followed the 1877 pattern: workers strike, property threatened, federal troops deployed, strikes broken. The modern National Guard was reorganized specifically to handle labor unrest after Pittsburgh burned. When you see debates today about essential workers, strike breaking, and federal intervention in labor disputes, you're watching arguments that were settled with bullets in 1877.

Over 100 dead. Nothing changed. Except the certainty that next time, the soldiers would be ready sooner.

📑 CHAPTERS
0:00 - Introduction
1:03 - The Wage Cuts Begin
2:25 - Martinsburg to Baltimore
4:06 - Pittsburgh Burns
6:59 - Federal Force Breaks the Strike
8:19 - What Changed After 1877
14:00 - The Legacy of Violence

📜 SOURCES & REFERENCES
Robert V. Bruce – "1877: Year of Violence" (1959)
Philip S. Foner – "The Great Labor Uprising of 1877" (1977)
David O. Stowell – "Streets, Railroads, and the Great Strike of 1877" (1999)
Harper's Weekly – Contemporary Illustrations and Coverage (July-August 1877)
New York Times – Strike Coverage (July-August 1877)
Congressional Hearings – Testimony on Railroad Strikes (1877-1878)

#gildedage #laborhistory #railroadstrike #1877 #americanhistory #workerhistory #nationalguard #pittsburgh #documentary #economichistory