Music: Sid Hatfield. The Southern West Virginia Coal Wars

The West Virginia Coal Wars (clic here Wiki) (1920-21), also known as the Mine Wars, arose out of a dispute between coal companies and miners. It represents one of the first times that the United States Federal Government violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1874 [1].

On May 19, 1920, a shootout in Matewan, West Virginia, (known as the Matewan Massacre) between hired goons and miners, who were to later join the United Mine Workers of America, sparked what became known as the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest insurrection in the United States since the American Civil War.

Every year, the shootout is re-enacted in Matewan, West Virginia.

These events are dramatized in John Sayles' 1987 film "Matewan".