For more than a century the Blizzard family has been integral to the struggle for miners’ rights.  Early in the 20th century, Timothy (Ma Blizzard’s husband) fought for the Union in the New River Coalfields.  Prudence may well be the reason they settled in Eskdale on Cabin Creek.  Ma Blizzard was frequently joined by Mother Jones on Paint and Cabin Creeks.  The women fed by day and fought by night during the 1911-13 battles.

Even as a youngster, Ma’s son Bill, born in 1892, often went to the woods to “shoot something” to feed striking miners camped in their yard.  Within a few short years Bill Blizzard emerged to lead thousands of miners in a 50-mile march and the ensuing 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed conflict in the United States since the Civil War.  The battle was sparked by the murder of Sid Hatfield, the pro-Union Matewan Chief of Police.  But the real cause of the conflict was the oppressive socio-economic system imposed on the miners by the coal operators.

Following the Battle, several hundred Union miners were shipped to Charles Town and tried on a variety of charges designed to result in mass hangings.  A mere five years after the Russian Revolution, American capitalists were in no mood to tolerate an uppity labor movement.  Thanks to brilliant tactics of our hero, Bill Blizzard, such as playing baseball with the friends and families of the jurors and faithfully attending church (Hallelujah!), there would be no hangings.  Tested and trusted Union leaders emerged who would go on to organize West Virginia mines for the UMWA a decade later as FDR and the New Deal made organizing relatively safe.

Miners kept a code of silence that shaded events on Blair Mountain and the Trials for decades.  The victory of Blair Mountain is best understood today as having three outcomes:

      – Our Union was winning on the battlefield

      – Won in the courtroom, and

      – Emerged with a leadership cadre that successfully organized West Virginia in the early ‘30s and continued to lead the miners of West Virginia beyond mid-century.

Bill Blizzard retired as president of UMWA District 17 in 1955 after a career of unflinching loyalty to our Union and legendary and oft-controversial leader John L. Lewis.

Bill’s son, William C. Blizzard wrote When Miners March in the early 1950s.  It is the definitive account of the West Virginia mine wars of the early 20th Century–who shot whom, when, where and why.  Too controversial to publish in the ‘50s, his book finally saw the light of day in 2004 after Wess Harris rescued it from a cluttered closet in WCB’s ancient single-wide.  At age 87, William C. enjoyed a belated notoriety and was featured on the History Channel.  He delighted in meeting with students and having them join him on picket lines.  William C. Blizzard died in December of 2009, but his book and the Blizzard legacy live on.

This photo from 2009 in Charles Town at the celebration of the court house restoration is an artifact as is the subject, William C. Blizzard. WCB was a featured guest and here is beaming at kind words from Warren McGraw speaking to the crowd. WCB is holding the first edition of WHEN MINERS MARCH, his definitive history of our Union’s early struggles in West Virginia.

WCB was a tireless researcher and brilliant intellect. At the age of 90 he could still translate Latin and delighted in his ability to use words to paint pictures. He was in the courtroom 100 years ago when his father Bill was acquitted.

William C. Blizzard’s Eagle Scout Sash, which disputes the notion that his father, Bill Blizzard, was an ardent socialist….a “fact” from the historians at the West Virginia State Museum.  No self-respecting socialist would allow his son to be an Eagle Scout!