The 1877 Railroad Strike—buildings at Camden Yards and the B & O MuseumRevised 1/2010

1815-1845: Working on the Railroad and Haven with the Catholic ChurchThe period 1815-1845 led up to the great potato famine. When Napoleon

Bonaparte controlled much of the European continent, the British were forced to depend more heavily on Ireland for food. As demand and agricultural prices increased, Ireland prospered. With the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, the boom ended; Ireland went into an agricultural recession. As the prices of Irish goods declined, the British government increased taxes between 1816 and the mid-1830s to pay off war debts. Many Irish became landless laborers; many were evicted from their homes. Immigration to America increased. As more Irish settled in Maryland, especially in and around Baltimore, they sent word and money back home to relatives. A migration chain was created as more Irish came.

The port of entry into Maryland was Locust Point in Baltimore where the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad built an “Immigrant Pier.” Upon arrival, many Irish immigrants traveled directly west. Starting in the late 1820s, many Irish immigrants went to work building the B&O Railroad westward. Many settled with their families in west Baltimore around Mt. Clare Station. St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, built in 1842, became a main place of worship for the Irish. Many lived in row houses near Mt. Clare Station. Several of those row houses on Lemmon Street today form the Irish Shrine Memorial, a museum of Irish immigrant life. Those Irish who settled in the Fells Point area of Baltimore helped build St. Patrick’s Church in 1796; it still stands at Broadway and Bank.

Among the states, Maryland had a reputation for tolerance; yet the Irish still encountered discrimination. The nativist “Know-Nothing Party” made life unpleasant for Irish immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s. Rural Irish immigrants had a rude awakening when they landed in urban Protestant America. One institution that the Irish could turn to was the Catholic Church. The Church provided schools, a social life, and assistance. Irish societies, such as the Hibernian Society of Baltimore founded in 1803, also established schools and gave assistance. While these institutions assisted the Irish, they also had the effect of isolating immigrants and prolonging their assimilation into society. Yet, given the vehement discrimination of the time, most Irish saw them as saviors.1845-1850: The Great Hunger

Lasting only five years, the period 1845-1850 was a defining era for most Irish Americans. The huge Irish emigration of this time was linked to An Gorta Mor (The Great Hunger), often called The Famine. The partial failure of the potato crop in 1845 and total failures in 1846 and 1848 led to Ireland’s enormous human tragedy. Between 1.1 and 1.5 million died of hunger. Over 2 million left Ireland, about 70 percent for the United States.

One ship that brought Irish immigrants to Baltimore was the Jeanie Johnston. Between 1848 and 1855 the Jeanie Johnston made 16 voyages from Ireland to Quebec, New York, and Baltimore. No crew or passengers were ever lost, a remarkable record. The average length of the journey from Ireland to Baltimore was about 47 days. The transatlantic fare was about 3 pounds ($4.50); this was about six month’s wages then. A

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replica of the Jeanie Johnston made its maiden voyage to the United States and visited Baltimore in 2003.

1850-1921: AssimilationFrom 1850 to the end of World War I, the Irish continued to migrate to Maryland. As

in the Famine years, most of these immigrants were Catholics. Many arriving in the early 1860s fought in the Civil War, sometimes on Maryland soil in places such as Antietam. During the remainder of this period, Irish immigrants arriving in Baltimore began to disperse throughout central Maryland. The Irish settled in Belair, Cockeysville, Catonsville, Rockville, and numerous towns. They put Irish place names on the Maryland landscape, for example, Dundalk, Darlington, and Dublin. They spread west to New Market and northwest to Whitehall. Others followed the railroad and settled in the railroad and coal mining towns of Cumberland and Frostburg.

—James E. DiLisioTowson University

http://www.mdoe.org/irish_immig.html ______________________________________________________________________

1877 railroad strike—The development of the “history” of the city of Baltimore demonstrates how workers history is obscured. The emphasis on this strike also shows the low level of workers activity in contemporary Baltimore, so that we have to reach back 128 years for significant activity

Strike was part of the first “national” strike by workers in the US against the first “national” industry—the railroads—and demonstrated the importance of community support for workplace activities, like strikes, because these monopolies, like Wal-Mart and General Motors, gouged everyone--workers, small businessmen, and communities—and had extensive political control.

Railroads expanded dramatically during the Civil War, and in the period of economic expansion that followed the Civil War—the Golden Spike was driven in Promontory Point, UT in 1869—as the first chartered rail common carrier in US, the B&O had its first run in 1827—Mt. Clare station built in 1851—the Camden Station (now Camden Yards baseball park and warehouse) was a major junction for railroads running north and south by 1861—

From its first run in 1827 to Ellicott City, the B & O was an enormous economic project, whose history is best described in the Olson history of Baltimore, as she describes how the development of the railroad “transformed the city as a living space.” (102)--the expansion of the railroad combined “imports” from England—“the technological momentum of the shift to iron, coal and steam”—and, as a consequence, huge immigration from Ireland after the Starvation of 1845-47 (which may have been hastened by the importing of diseased potatoes from Baltimore).

Olson claims that “the steam locomotive was the model for the factory, and the factory was the model for the modern swelling, the public institution, and the social structure.” (103)

The B & O extended its lines to Cumberland in 1845 and to Wheeling, WVA and the Ohio River (1853), as Johns Hopkins and George Peabody were able to obtain municipal and state financing, goaded on by continuing competition with the C & O Canal, (Olson 105). The B & O constructed large shops to equip the western division (1848-1852) and built 190

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locomotives at the car shops adjoining Mount Clare, and at its peak employed 1,000 workers (Olson, p. 105), and every machine shop in Baltimore had car orders—B & O also built 60 bridges for the Cumberland-Wheeling section, at the Mount Clare shops—built the Camden Station, in 1856 at a cost of $ 200,000.00 ($4,564,268.00 in today’s dollars) and then the President Street Station, located at President and Fleet Streets (the oldest surviving railroad station in the US, which was a Civil War museum until it closed in 2007) which was corrected to Camden Station by tracks which ran along Pratt St. Trains, like the one carrying union troops on April 19, 1861, were sent into President Street Station, where the engines were uncoupled so horses could drag the train along the tracks to Camden Station.

Olsen notes that the production of this rolling stock was “a one-shot affair” so that after 1852, the economy of the city collapsed and even the repair work moved to Wheeling and Martinsburg, WVA—some of the local talents left: Ross Winans, for example, went to Russia and built the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

The expansion required thousands of unskilled workers to lay the tracks, and attracted growth--the huge immigration of unskilled workers, mainly from Ireland and southern Europe—this movement was not limited to the railroads but to most working-class activities. In Moby-Dick, Melville notes that “at the present day not one in two of the many thousand men employed before the mast employed in the American whale fishery, are Americans born, though pretty near all the officers are. . . . in all these cases the native Americans liberally provide the brains, the rest of the world are generously supplying the muscles.” (Moby-Dick, p.118)

President John Work Garrett of the B & O described them as Irish immigrants as “young enough to bear fatigue and exposure”—believed that married men were more stable--the conditions on the road were terrible—wages were low, hours were long (15-18 hours/day), men often worked only three or four days a week, safety was chaotic, pay was often several months in arrears, and often workers had to live in company “houses,” usually shacks or tenements—could not “dead head” on trains, so either had to pay way back to home base or had to wait far away, paying for a room in a company hotel and as much as 30 cents for a meal until another train needed a worker—in Baltimore, the workers lived where they worked, in row houses on Pratt and Lombard St, and in the crowded alleys in Poppleton, south of the Mount Clare yard—created communities of churches, intermarriage and—alas—saloons—Tom Ward notes, in his tour of the Irish Railroad Workers Shrine, that even these conditions were better than the ones found in places like immigrant neighborhoods of New York City—the Irish workers were able to buy the small row houses, originally two, then 2 ½, and eventually a full three stories high, well above the tenements of NYC, which were owned by landlords and who stuffed many families into the buildings

Worker organizations:1. Brotherhood of Railway Conductors (1868)—forbade members to strike on penalty of

expulsion, and scabbed during the 1877 strike2. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineermen (1873)3. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (1863) had a more militant attitude—conducted

two strikes in April, 1877, against wage cuts—President Frederick Gowen of the Pennsylvania Railroad (also busy as the prosecutor of the Mollies) demanded that, as a condition of employment, all engineers withdraw from the union--the engineers had to give in because a “surprise” strike, set for April 14, 1877, had been infiltrated by the Pinkertons, who are a whole “worker” history of their own, including GM

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The Panic of 1873 brought hardship across the country, as hundreds of thousands of workers were thrown out of work, and many thousands were completely destitute-- but especially in the overcapitalized railroad industry—the “robber barons,” though the term was not used until 1934 when Matthew Josephson wrote a history of the period called The Robber Barons, continued to increase their wealth even as workers suffered—on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, capitalized at almost $ 90 million, more than $ 50 million consisted of security gifts made by Cornelius Vanderbilt to himself and his family

1877 was “the trough of the depression” (Yellin, p. 17) despite hopes for a recovery—in order to maintain dividends, railroads had cut the already miserable wages—Olson says that “in the best of times the firemen and brakemen received $ 3.00 a day (engineers and conductors more), and by overtime, they could make ten or eleven days a week.” (194)—Olson also mentions the high rate of accidents both in the shops and in the landslides on the tunnels under construction—by 1873, overtime was cut and a day’s pay was cut to $2.25, and then to $1.75, with extensive layoffs and resultant stretch-out—the first wage cuts brought protests in Cumberland, so Garrett sent William Keyser, the VP, as the head of a posse to arrest the leaders “in their beds,” as Olson describes it (195)—In his autobiography, Recollections of Busy Life, Keyser said:

I confess, when I think of the poor, almost squalid cabins, and the justness of the ground of the complaint, I should feel ashamed of the whole transaction, were it not that I was solely governed by a sense of duty, and the knowledge that it only required a single spark. . . to start an explosion” (quoted Olson, p. 195)

Even though the B & O had borrowed a lot of money from J.P. Morgan, the company paid its interest and the annual 10% dividends--New York Central paid 10% dividends while the Central Pacific, servicing the San Joaquin valley in California, paid 7% despite the severe drought in the area--already had antagonized other groups in the country

Farmers resented the exorbitant freight rates—the National Grange Patrons of Husbandry (1867) and grown by 1874 into the Granger movement, later associated with the Populist Party, with 22,000 granges with 800,000 members

Small businessmen, who were forced to pay exorbitant rates Mine owners, in competition with “captive mines,” were either gouged or refused

transportationTrainmen’s Union (June 2, 1877)—organized specifically in response to the wage

cuts and the weakness of the craft unions—included all railway workers (engineers, conductors, brakemen, firemen, trackmen, shopmen) in one union—a young brakeman named Robert A. Ammon became the leader and first fulltime organizer, and spread the organization down the rail lines of the B & O and the Pennsylvania Railroad, and to all of the lines radiating from Pittsburgh—called a strike for June 27 but fell apart before it started, due to internal dissension—

As a symbol of the times, June 21, 1877 was popularly known as “the day of the rope,” when ten coal miners were hanged, six in Pottsville, PA and four in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) PA, for their participation in the Molly Maguires

B & O Strike—provoked by second round of wage cuts of 10% on July 11, 1877, reducing pay to $ 1.58 a day, and the men were often getting only 14-18 days work each month, so that wages were only about 25% of what they had been in 1873--stock dividends at the same time were increased by 10%--

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In the minutes of the Board for Wednesday, 11th of July 1877, the Committee on Finance resolved and recommended the same to the Board for adoption:

“Whereas, The depression in the general business interests of the Country continues seriously affecting the usual earnings of railway Companies, and rendering a further reduction of expenses necessary; therefore, be it

Resolved, a further reduction of ten per cent be made in the present compensation of all officers and employees, of every grade in the service of the Company, where the amount received exceeds one dollar per day, to take effect on and after July 16 th, 1877, instant.

Resolved that the reduction shall apply to the Main Stem and Braches east of the Ohio River, and to the Trans Ohio Divisions, and that it shall embrace all roads leased or operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company,It is hoped and believed that all persons in the service of the Company will appreciate the necessity of, and concur cordially in this action, which on motion of Mr. Chester, seconded by Mr. Nicholas, were unanimously accepted.”

The remainder of the minutes were the usual reports, with no hint of the enormous implications of the wage cut.

In closing the meeting, Garrett noted that “in consequence of the absence of many members from their homes during August, a quorum rarely met in that month, he suggested therefore that when the Board adjourns, it adjourns to meet at the regular monthly period in September next. The suggestion was approved and on the motion, the Board adjourned to meet on the second Wednesday in September.” (Minutes of B & O in archive)

Monday, July 16--Wage scale, with the drastic reductions, went into effect at the beginning of the work week and 40 workers in Baltimore refused to man the trains—although they were replaced, strikers gathered at Camden Junction, outside the city, stopped a freight train and persuaded the fireman to get off—40 policemen showed up and another fireman was recruited—

Martinsburg, WVA—25-30 firemen abandoned their trains, drawing a large crowd of families and supporters—the mayor arrested the strike leaders but the crowd released them by force—trains could not be restarted and even though the passenger trains continued to run, all freight traffic was stopped—VP King, of the B & O, wired Governor Matthews of WV, who sent two companies of militia, stationed at Martinsburg—after a short scuffle, the militia broke down and began to fraternize with the strikers----the governor tried to reach Martinsburg himself with two more companies of militia but were blocked at Grafton, WV because of the hostility of the citizens—the strike spread to other towns, and even picked up solidarity from some inland boatmen on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, which ran along the Potomac River from western Maryland into the Washington, D.C. area—eventually 70 trains were blockaded, with 1,200 loaded cars

The Baltimore Sun: “There is no disguising the fact that the strikers in all their lawful acts have the fullest support of the community. . . .The singular part of the disturbances is the very active part taken by the women, who are the wives or mothers of the firemen. They look famished and wild, and declare for starvation rather than have their people work for the reduced wages. Better to starve outright, say they, than to die by slow starvation.” (July 22, 1877—quoted Yellin, p. 24-25) but Olson quotes The Sun that the workers were trying to

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“coerce the company” and “were in conflict with the federal government as well as the governor of West Virginia” (Olson, 195)

It was also a time for the expansion of capital into the south—President Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in a controversial election in 1876 with a promise to withdraw federal troops from the south, effectively ending federal protection for Reconstruction, but President Hayes responded quickly for requests to send federal troops to break the railroad workers strike

Wednesday, July 18--Colonel Sharp, the B & O Master of Transportation, wired Governor Mathews to ask President Hayes for federal troops—on Wednesday, July 18, 400 U.S. troops left Washington and Fort McHenry for Martinsburg because the B & O had steamer and ship companies waiting in Baltimore harbor for freight loads of livestock, grain, coal and petroleum—it was the first (but not, unfortunately, the last) time federal troops were used to break a strike; as a historical note, federal troops have never been used in support of strikers

July 18-Receipt of note from White House, 3:20 p.m., “Dispatch received. The matter shall have prompt attention.” R.B. Hayes

July 18 (yellow copy) from JWG to Wm Keyser. :”I received a very satisfactory response from President Hayes and feel assured that our entire line will be promptly under full control and business at once be effectively reorganized. It is unfortunate that so many of our men have been so misguided as to their real interests. All men of good judgment in the service; who understand alike their duties and their interests will undoubtedly go to work under the protection that will now be thoroughly furnished by the Supreme Power of our country.”

July 18, 10:20 p.m. to JWG from Keyser [yellow copy] “The M. of T. reports that the canal boatmen have been with the strikers throughout the day. The strikers have forbidden the . . .-lating Engine from going to the coal chute at Martinsburg. Their headquarters are in the yard, and they have pickets stationed all around the yard to watch everything that is done. They are in possession of the of the Martinsburg Militia, as that body surrendered them, being largely composed of strikers and in sympathy with them.” DIFFICULT to read, but includes the info that “federal troops from Fort McHenry left Locust Point at 7:40 p.m. and arrived in Washington at 9:06 p.m. They number 75 in all, under the command of Capt. Rogers. The force furnished from Washington numbered 130, exclusive of officers total from Baltimore and Washington say 225. Troops left Washington at 10 p.m. Troops are armed with rifles and artillery.

“The M. of T. says that it is his suspicion that as soon as the strikers are dispersed, they will adopt a bushwhacking war along the line, both in Maryland and West Virginia. They are well armed and have notified enginemen that if they attempt to work at the 10% reduction they may [blurred]

“Davies reports that all quiet at Grafton but unable to move a train and says most of the Conductors are around for duty but have been warned that they must not fill the places of brakemen or firemen.

“I have seen Mr. Wilson and arranged for additional watchmen on the bridges, etc. I have also cautioned the men in change of the troop trains to run carefully expecting to meet the crossing bridges, culverts, switches, etc. The plan is now to run the trains from Washington at 10 a p.m. as second section of the No. 2 to Harpers Ferry, leaving there about 4:30 a.m. “

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July 18 Letter to JWG from Geo. W McCrary, Sec. of War in Washington, D.C.. “All available troops at the Arsenal in this city and McHenry, Balto, will be ordered to Martinsburg to suppress insurrection. Your company will be expected to furnish transportation from both points.”

July 18. Letter from Delaplain in Cumberland. “Gov. Matthews. All quite [sic] here. Nothing of importance from Martinsburg. Dispatch from sharp at Martinsburg indicates a rather calmer state of things than existed last night.”

Thursday, July 19—federal troops arrived in Martinsburg, and tried to run trains in both directions—east to Baltimore and west to Cumberland, MD—strikers, led by Richard Zepp, pleaded with engineers, including his brother, not to run the trains but troops ran them off with bayonets—the strike had been spontaneous to this point but that night, groups met to establish solidarity up and down the line—in Keyser, WVA, black and white workers met together--the union offered to negotiate with the company but President Garrett refused, offering medals to loyal workers and placing them first on promotion lists—in Grafton, WV, the striking firemen had all been fired but in Baltimore “they were reported to be quiet, orderly and sober.” (Olson, p. 195)

Friday, July 20—Governor John Carroll of MD came in from his country home in Howard County to meet Garrett at Camden Station and mustered the state militia at the Fifth Regiment Armory (at the second floor of the Richmond Market, between Linden and Read Streets) and Sixth Regiment Armory (at Fayette Street, now the main P.O.)—in late afternoon, crowds gathered at Camden Station so as the first contingent of 150 militiamen arrived, the captain and Garrett persuaded Carroll to call out larger companies

Gov. Carroll, used “Big Sam,” a new general alarm bell, rung for the first time at 6:25 p.m. as workers were leaving factories in the vicinity--ordered the Fifth Regiment, comprised of 200 men, to march on to Linden Avenue “with eleven drummers, and a good humored crowd had ‘many pleasant bye-byes for the boys going to the wars.’” (Olson, p. 196) but they were bombarded with bricks by the crowd of several thousand gathered around Camden Station--the troops entered the train but the crowd persuaded the engineer not to work

The Sixth Regiment had problems in its area, as a crowd gathered and used loose paving stones, loosened because the streets were torn up to allow installation of gas pipes, to break every window on the Front Street side of the armory—at 8:15 p.m., the 220 troops, armed with Springfield rifles, left the building in pairs through a narrow door and began to march toward Camden Yards, and were assaulted as they left the building by a narrow door—citizens/rabble/mob/workers heroes threw bricks and the soldiers fired into the crowd—more shots at corner of Gay and Front Streets (site of Baltimore City Hall today) and then troops turned into Baltimore Street and more shots were fired near Baltimore and Holliday Streets (City Hall) and marched on to Howard Street and then to Camden Yards—10 people were killed, all innocent bystanders—The Baltimore Massacre—according to The Sun, among the dead was 14-year-old William Haurand, a newsboy working to support his invalid mother and family—“his brains were blown out on the corner of Baltimore and Holliday Streets”—Foner estimated that only 59 militiamen made it to Camden Yards and that the others simply went home—

When these troops reached the station around 10:00 p.m., there was a crowd (or “mob,” depending on which side you are on) estimated at 15,000 (more than regularly attend an Orioles game at the same location) who had forced the engineer and fireman off a train that was waiting with its steam up and then “stoned and disabled the engine at the Barre

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Street crossing” (Olson, p. 196) and tore up tracks along Ohio avenue to Cross Street so the militia could not leave—also set fire to three cars attached to an engine and set on fire the south end of the station, the dispatchers’ station at Lee Street after driving out the telegraph operators, and several sheds—firemen put out the fire before the main station was set on fire but the crowds cut some of the hoses and put out the fire engine (Olson, p. 196)—the action drove away the engineers

Gov. Carroll, supported by Baltimore Mayor Ferdinand Latrobe and John King, Jr., the vice-president of the B & O, also wired President Haynes for federal troops, now insisting that the troops were needed more in Baltimore than in Cumberland—the Governor issued a proclamation criticizing “a spirit of lawlessness, which, if not suppressed, must end in the ruin of vast interests and the destruction of large amounts of the property of our citizens.”(Baltimore Sun, July 21, 1877, quoted in Olson, p. 196)—while the officials were trapped inside Camden Station, two companies were dispatched from NYC

Letter of July 20, 1877 to JW Garrett. “I sympathize with you. Sorry I am unable to help you. We are having a serious difficulty on our own line. I am hopeful of soon subduing it. I trust you see and end to your troubles.” s/ H.J.Jewett (pres. Of Erie RR)

Letter n.d. from Henry E. Johnston, from Wheatlands, near Lancaster, PA, to JWG: “Allow me to suggest, in order to put a speedy stop to the recent demonstrations of the strikers in W. Va, that you obtain authority from the Postmaster General for each freight train to carry a special U.S. mail bag-the same of the US authority that now prevented the strikers from obstructing the passenger (mail) trains would deter them from interfering with the freight trains carrying the U.S. mail. If they did, they would be answerable to the severe penalties applicable to such a crime and the President would feel fully authorized to use the whole authority of the Government to disperse the strikers and punish them accordingly. My pecuniary interest . . . earnest sympathy I have in the success of a corporation, in which as a Marylander, I have always taken much interest, as well as my sincere fraternal regards. . .”

July 20, 1877—letter to JWG from E.A. Gallaher, “re. marking each freight train as a mail train” also suggesting that “making each freight train a mail train by carrying even one bag of U.S. Mail (papers or even a few unimportant letters) and swearing in conductors (for the time) as a postal … agent ” would intimidate the strikersResponse on Johnston letter on July 19 from VP: President, I do not think that this would amount to much. We have got freight trains today with the troops on and we will see how that works. It will be better than the mail bag. I think everything is being done that can be done at present.”

Note of July 20, 1877 (6:50 a.m.) from Gov. John Carroll, “Dispatch received too late for early train. I will be in Balto at half past nine to confer with you.”

Letter of July 20, 1877 to JWG, from Comte de Monierie, 252 10 th Avenue “Re. Supply of men to the road.” “You will remember that on the occasion of the last strike which happened in your road, I offered to you to provide you with men to take the place of the strikers. Today I renew my offer. I want nothing for my services except a situation in your employment as conductor, clerk, etc. I am an old railroad man, having been some years in the Eastern R.W. in France as brakeman, chief of train station Master and Inspector and in the Erie RR as brakeman, train foreman and milk account. I am well educated and speak five languages. I have the best of references. Now you will forgive me for the following suggestions. When I joined the Erie Railway, a strike was in progress. I

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applied to Col. Berstrand (sp?), then Superintendent of the I Division and told him that the best plan to carry out the wishes of the Co. was to hire new men and pay them the old wages $2.00 a day for a while and afterwards to reduce it to the rate proposed by the Co. $ 1.75. This plan was adopted new men were hired to take the place of strikers who were discharged. The Erie suffered very little damages and has had the double advantage to get rid of the troublesome employees and to come to what was intended viz: a reduction of wages without further annoyance and the proof is that my plan was excessively good it is that wages on this Road have been reduced necessarily from 2 dol. to 1.58 without much grumbling. The second advantage is that men imported from New York will be totally strangers to the localities and outside of their influence. New men will be compelled to stay where work is to be found as RR men know very well and that as winter is coming near by a great many hands who work in this country in the summer and railroading in the winter will be ready to take their places if they are foolish enough to strike, in consequence of a reduction in wages.” Signed “your obedient and . . .servant, Cte de Monierie

Saturday, July 21—2,000 federal troops had come into Baltimore, with 500 additional marines on war ships and a federal revenue cutter was guarding the “bonded warehouses” at Locust point. On Saturday night, a crowd tried to burn the Mount Clare foundry but was dispersed—at 2 a.m. on Sunday, they tried to set fire to a coal train and attacked police and fire from a hill near the Carey Street Bridge

Saturday, July 21 in Pittsburgh was one of the most famous episodes in the strike (featured in Army of Starvation) as Governor John Hartranft ordered out the state militia from Philadelphia to support the local sheriff—there was no violence but no trains left the city—strike extended to Buffalo and Hornellsville, NY—

“The city of Pittsburgh was completely controlled by a howling mob, whose deeds of violence were written in fire and blood,” according to Harper’s Weekly—on the afternoon of July 21, Sheriff Fife tried to arrest some of the strikers and was stoned, and then troops and strikers fired at each other—workers thronged into the streets, and some rolling-mill workers broke into the Great Western Gun Works and took 200 rifles—by 7 p.m., the Philadelphia militia withdrew into the round house—just before midnight, the strikers torched the roundhouse

July 21 (Saturday)—President Hayes, a “Law and order” candidate” issued a proclamation warning strikers to disperse within 24 hours—a big issue was that most of the US Army was west of the Mississippi dealing with the Native Americans and federal troops had not been paid since July 1 since Congress had adjourned without voting an army appropriations bill

Sunday, July 22—an oil train in Baltimore was set on fire, all New York militia were called up and Governor Hartranft ordered out every regiment in the state—pitched battles all across the Commonwealth of PA—in a conflict in Reading, 10 men were killed

Monday, July 23—the city of Baltimore was occupied by federal troops—700 at Camden Yards with two Gatling guns and field pieces to guard company property—the strike in Baltimore, at least, was finished—eventually 195 “rioters” were arrested and charged

Wednesday, July 25—according to Harpers, “hardly a road was running from the Hudson to the Mississippi and from Canada to Virginia”—“heavy rioting” in St. Louis and in Chicago—in San Francisco, a mob attacked Chinese workers and set fire to lumber yards—

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On July 26, a delegation of strikers asked Governor Carroll for arbitration but the B & O refused, and began to aggressively try to open the roads using federal troops—bonuses of $ 50 each (at a time when a railroad worker on the B & O earned $ 400/year) for the first two trains run from Grafton to Cumberland—

Friday, July 27—the New York Central was again running and the state militia was sent homeCopy of letter to Col. H. K. Douglass. “The facts are these. The troops arrived safe, and were quartered in the shops. A freight train came in all right and then as a second section approached the town a large crowd went down to meet the train and they stopped the engine and then jumped on the engine; forced the Engineerman and Fireman to get off; chased conductor into a cornfield, while the brakeman, a [] cool fellow, ran back to stop the oncoming train. He did stop it and told them to move back, which was done. In the meantime, the mob reversed the second engine and let her back a half or three quarters of a mile, drew the fires, disconnected the hose, pulled the bolt line (?) and played the devil. When the crowd first started I asked the sheriff to go at once but he [illegible] get near until too late. In the meantime, Col. Litchfield got a company aboard a caboose and engine, under command of Capt. Wilson, and went in pursuit, found the Engine and train, but the rioters had fled. Col. Litchfield was a prompt as a . The sheriff delayed.” s/ J.K. Owen

B & O strikers met with William Keyser, second VP, at Cross Street Market, to hear company response to proposals—Keyser was prominently involved in The Consolidated Coal Company (a B & O subsidiary), as well as the copper mill and smelter in canton—In a speech to the assembled workers, Keyser stated: “It will be our pleasure, after you return to work, to investigate your minor [!!] grievances” but made no concessions and did not rescind the 10% wage cut—Keyser also claimed that the short hours and wages cuts were caused by “too many men of your class in the service, thereby lessening the ability of each man to earn a competency” (Olson, p.196) and proposed layoffs. In a summation, Keyser denounced the strikers:” You men who I see before me have been the cause of this great disturbance. The whole foundation of the social fabric has been shaken . . . and [you] will be held rigidly accountable.” (Baltimore Sun, quoted in Olson, p. 196-197)—Olson claims, without citation, that “the strikers listened respectfully. Some objected and cheered their leaders. Some were said to have shaken hands with Keyser.” (Olson, p. 197)

Sunday, July 29, to President. “My theory is that we will open right through Cumberland to Parkersburg and [illeg]. I have telegraphed Sharp to make no attempt (as he is evidently weak as regards troops) to Keyser until I reach there, so nothing can be gained by doing any attempts to move trains resulting in a failure would be disastrous and as it is Sunday, there will be no expectation of moving them before we can get them off by the early morning.” s/2nd V.P. My intentions are to go direct through to Keyser and have my interviews with the strikers and try to satisfy them, so as to get a sufficiency of loyal men. The great point is to get loyal men to take out the trains as otherwise the Military can be of little use. July 29(?—n.d.) President. I get off in a half hour with 100 troops. Getty has 400 in command. This, I am sure, will be enough. Barry could not get more, unless Gov. Mathews, upon Getty’s requisition, asks for them and then the Secretary of war must

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refer to Hancock, so time will be lost. 500 are plenty if handled properly. I go through Keyser today. Will get meeting with the strikers and I hope to have some effect. We will move strong and you may feel sure we will succeed if only we can control loyal men enough, of which I think there is no reasonable doubt.” S/Wm. KeyserMonday, July 30--—“President. We succeeded in getting off between twenty and thirty loyal men from here tonight for Keyser. I think we will have no trouble moving our trains from there tomorrow. (s) Supt Telegraph

To Garrett from John King announcing the regular run of trains from Keyser, Martinsburg, Cumberland, Grafton and Parkersburg—“The difficulty of getting trains west from Keyser, I understand to be the want of firemen. Those men who left Keyser eastward are primarily Second Division men who went up last night.”—clearly the strike has been broken except for the stragglers among the firemen

August 1—lines basically reopened and strikers drifted back to workStrike was over on the B & O—continued in Pittsburgh, where the Trainman’s Union

was most effectively organized, and on July 21-22, federal troops were trapped and torched in the roundhouse—in PA towns like Altoona, Harrisburg, Reading, Johnstown and Bethlehem, the notorious Coal and Iron Police were used and Governor Hartramft campaigned from city to city by railroad, like a general, opening the rail lines—series of confrontations with sympathizers, even in Philadelphia, with the Workingmen’s Party, whose meetings were prohibited—eventually 10,000 troops were spread out along the rails and Governor Hartramft traveled into Pittsburgh commanding four troop trains, with a Gatling gun mounted on a gondola car in front of the engine

As a historical note, Governor Hartramft had been supported as a Democrat when he ran for governor of Pennsylvania by Jack Kehoe, who was the most famous member of the Molly Maguires and on December 18, 1878, he signed Kehoe’s death warrant—in the election of November, 1878, Terrence V. Powderly was elected mayor of Scranton on the Greenback Party—(as a second historical trivia, Governor Hartramft issued a reprieve but sent it too late and Kehoe was hanged in Pottsville for the 1862 murder of Frank Langdon)

Other strikes took place in July on the New York Central and on the Erie Railroad, and in each case, state militia and federal troops were used to break the strike—The New York Times referred to the strikers and their supporters as “roughs, hoodlums, rioters, mob, suspicious looking individuals, bad characters, thieves, blacklegs, looters, communists, rabble, labor-reform agitators, dangerous class of people, gangs, tramps, drunken section-men, law-breakers, threatening crowd, bummers, ruffians, loafers, bullies, vagabonds, cowardly mob, bands of worthless fellows, incendiaries, enemies of society, reckless crowd, malcontents, wretched people, robber mob, riffraff, terrible fellows, felons, loud-mouthed orators, brigands, idiots and—of course, rapscallions” (quoted Yellin, p. 32-33)

Eventually the strike spread as far as St. Louis and Chicago—when Governor Cullom of IL wired President Hayes for federal troops, a special courier was sent to Sioux country and General Phil Sheridan was ordered with his forces to go to Chicago to break the strike—one of the strike supporters in Chicago, as part of the Workingmen’s Party (founded in July, 1876—to celebrate 100 years of the U.S.) was Albert Parsons, who would be hung for the Haymarket incident in 1886

By August 1, the strike had been completely broken, although it has been called “the largest single industrial uprising in U.S. history (Gillett, p. 11)--set a pattern for railroad strikes that continued for another 20 years, until the Pullman strike of 1894—also began a

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worker’s movement that created craft unions, which affiliated with the American Federation of Labor in 1886, as well as industrial/community unions that brought the more radical The Knights of Labor—workers began to understand that temporary executive committees and scattered mass meetings, with no strike benefit structure, were not strong enough to deal with large capitalists—Foner also claims (p. 474) that workers now saw that they could trust neither of the capitalist parties, a lesson long since forgotten—

Letter of September 1, 1877 to Tom Scott from Donnelly---lists 120 cars “on your road in July last”—“92 box and 28 gondolas”—burned and wants Pennsylvania Railroad to reimburse B & O--

In early 1878, Governor Carroll requested the state legislature to tax the city to pay for the suppression of the strike. He had borrowed $ 85,000.00 from Alex Brown, at 6%, to equip and pay for the troops and also ordered a regiment to Hancock to put down the strike of the boatmen on the C & O Canal, making this final statement: “No political platforms can be of any use to the working man or furnish him with work. In a free country like ours, the relations of capital and labor must always adjust themselves, and are regulated by conditions which politicians cannot control.” (American, January 3, 1878, quoted in Olson, p. 197)

B & O instituted a relief program for workers, emulating The Pullman Corporation, which was dramatically expanding by providing fully-staffed sleeper cars for railroads—in 1880, B & O instituted a relief plan: workers contributed a day’s pay/month and received 52 weeks of sick pay and indefinite pay for recovery from accidents—MD workers comp was not established until 1913—workers also got a death benefit—in 1884, the country’s first pension plan with a retirement age of 65 was implemented by the B&O Railroad

THE BUILDINGSCamden Station—a monument to corporate welfare, the structure was renovated in

the late 1980s, and opened in April, 1992 as Oriole Park at Camden Yards, a baseball stadium and warehouse

The B&O Museum—a roundhouse designed by noted Baltimore architect Ephraim Francis Baldwin, and often referred to as “Baldwin’s Cathedral,” and built in 1884. Some of Baldwin's remaining architecture includes the B&O warehouse at Camden Yards, the B&O stations at Laurel, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Sykesville (now a restaurant bearing his name), his masterpiece at Point of Rocks, and also the station at Oakland, in Garrett County, MD.

Baldwin was a devout Roman Catholic, and his great dream was to build a cathedral for the City of Baltimore. Unfortunately, the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1821, and the Cathedral of Mary our Queen would not be built until the 1950's. It is said that Baldwin realized this, and since this was to be the largest building he would ever be called upon to design, he threw all his ecclesiastical zeal into it.

Thomas Ward, a retired judge, recently had the decency, combined with Irish patriotism, to preserve two row houses occupied by railroad workers.

Inside a tiny room in Southwest Baltimore is the subtle decor often found in an Irish immigrant family home in the 1850s - plain linen, a Catholic crucifix over the quilted bed and sky-blue paint on the walls.

It's in this narrow, restored rowhouse in the 900 block of Lemmon St., where several Irish-American families had lived, that city leaders came yesterday to dedicate Baltimore's first Irish museum and to reflect on a struggling people who became a part of the city's population.

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Baltimore Sun. June 18, 2002John Garrett’s mansion, built in 1857 and purchased by Garrett in 1878, is called

Evergreen House, located at 4545 North Charles Street. The former residence of Garrett and his wife, Alice Warder Garrett, Evergreen is a now a 48-room historic house museum located on 26 acres and administered by Johns Hopkins University, even though it is situated on North Charles Street between Loyola College and The College of Notre Dame.

Bibliography:

Philip S. Foner. History of the Labor Movement in the United States (vol. 1) (1947)Sylvia Gillett. “Camden Yards and the Strike of 1877” in The Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History (1991)Samuel Yellin. American Labor Struggles, 1877-1934 (1936)Sherry H. OIson. Baltimore: The Building of an American City (1997)Bill Barry. “The Molly Maguires” The St. James Encyclopedia of Labor History Worldwide (2003)Irish immigrants in Baltimore. http://oriole.umd.edu/~mddlmddl/791/communities/html/irishi.htmlIrish immigrants in Baltimorehttp://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000131/html/t131.html The Irish Shrine at Lemmon Streethttp://www.irishshrine.org/ B & O Railroad Museum. http://www.steamlocomotive.com/bomuseum/

Bill BarryDirector of Labor StudiesThe Community College of Baltimore County7200 Sollers Point RoadDundalk, MD 21222((443) 840-3563bbarry@ccbcmd.edu

copyright. Bill Barry. 2009

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