affected those states that had organized either National Guard units or sizeable constabulary forces. West Virginia, however, lacked both.8

Meanwhile, in January 1920, the UMW moved its unionization campaign from Logan to Mingo County. During the nationwide walkout in the coal industry in November 1919, while unionized mines were idle, the non-unionized mines of southern West Virginia continued to produce coal thereby undermining the UMW's strike effort. UMW President John L. Lewis and union officials in West Virginia were determined that this situation would not recur, and began a massive effort to organize miners in Mingo County -- an effort that included a visit and rousing speeches by labor organizer and union celebrity Mother Jones. The coal companies responded to the new UMW campaign by wholesale firings of unionminers, which resulted in the closing of many operations, and increased harassment of union organizers.

When operators hired Baldwin-Felts detectives from Bluefield to evict the families of fired union miners from company housing and tent colonies near the town of Matewan, they encountered resistance from Chief of Police Sid Hatfield. Tensions between Baldwin-Felts detectives and Hatfield continued through the spring until a confrontation took place on the main street of Matewan on May 19, 1920. When Hatfield tried to arrest the detectives for illegally evicting miners from their homes and illegally carrying weapons in his jurisdiction, a gunfight ensued between the detectives and Hatfield, who was assisted by a number of armed miners waiting in ambush for the hated detective force. In the shootout that followed, ten people died