Tennessee's Coal Creek War: Another Fight for Freedom (Paperback)

~ (Author) "After the last snow had fled the slag piles but before the first iris or dogwood bloomed, the Boyds packed their wagon and turned their..." (more)
Key Phrases: branch prisons, brass tokens, free miners, Coal Creek, Professor Brimer, Grandma Dolan (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Magnolia Hill Press (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964223104
• ISBN-13: 978-0964223103
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,853,703 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historical Novel - Fighting for Jobs, November 23, 2000

By	"mensetmanus" (Oak Ridge, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This book is about Tennesseean's war for their jobs in the Anderson County mining region around 1891-1892. It is an historical novel. It tells an interesting fictional story based on factual events during the war between free miners and coal companies supported by the State of Tennessee Militia. The miners wanted to enforce the new state laws giving them the right to have a miner check-weigh the coal they produced, and to be paid their wages in US Dollars rather than in company scrip. The coal companies tried to get the miners to waive their rights. When the miners refused, the companies expanded the use of convict laborers, including ex-slaves, who were leased from the state. The miners took up arms to fight for their rights and against what they saw as a threat to their families' lives (or life, liberty and pursuit of happiness). The state abolished the prison labor leasing system in 1893, and Brushy Mountain State Prison (Correctional Complex) was opened in 1896 on the northwest side of this area, in Petros, TN. The private mines returned to using free miners, and the prison then used convict labor in a State mine near the prison.