Coal Creek Miners shooting at Fort Anderson
Author: Daniel Hoge
Interviewer: Haylee Orlowski
In the 1890s the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company was using convicts leased by the government to break coal miners strikes and to force the miners to sign a contract that would take their rights. At first the miners wanted to have the legislature reverse the convict leasing laws. They aggressively lobbied the Governor to call an emergency session. When the legislature did meet they choose to do nothing and increase protection of the convicts who were taking the miners place. Violence ensued with hundreds of convicts illegally released and deaths on both sides. Culture, apathy, and depression all are factors in the Tennessee Convict War.