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Frustration Grows
"Weekly layoffs, wage cuts, strikes, evictions, bread-lines, hunger and poverty increased, frustrating workers and angering community leaders."
~Unknown -
Electoral College declares Hayes winner of the Presidential Election
"Last evening attended Croghan Lodge International Order of Odd Fellows.Election of officers. Chosen Noble Grand. These social org anizations have a number of good results. All who attend are educated in self-government. This in a marked way. They bind society together. The well-to-do and the poor should be brought together as much as possible. The separation into classes--castes--is our danger. It is the danger of all civilizations."
-Rutheford B. Hayes -
Rutherford B Hayes Inaugurated as 19th US President
In 1877 Rutheford B. Hayes elected President of the United States of America. HIs election was controversial, he won the electoral votes but didn't win the popular votes. Many feared his leadership would impact the already struggling railroad industry. -
The Beginning of the Great Railroad Strike
It began in Martinburg, Virginia on July 4, 1877. The Strike had a tremendous impact on railroad workers and unions throughout the U.S. despite the fact that the entire strike only lasted 45 days. -
Wage Cuts Announcement
"RESOLVED That a reduction of ten per cent, be made in the present compensation of 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 16th, instant." ~ Official Declaration of Wage Cuts, Rutherford B. Hayes
(Announcement of the Wage Cuts Letter to the Workers) -
Railroad Workers Begin Protest
Additional wage cuts by President Hayes simply exasperated striking workers further, resulting in a series of riotous protest. -
Railroad Workers Stopped Trains from B&O Railroad
"On July 16, railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, walked off the job to protest a 10 percent wage cut leveled by their employer, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Strikes to protest cutbacks in the midst of a period of nationwide economic depression soon spread westward across the country. News of attempts to control boisterous crowds fueled worker protest and sporadic violence." ~Encyclopedia of Chicago -
Riot of 1877: Ruins and Rioters
"In July 1877, after refusing to negotiate with striking workers in Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Railroad brought in militia from Philadelphia to end the walkout. When the Philadelphia militia fired into a crowd killing 20, enraged Pittsburghers attacked the troops and burned the rail yards. By the time the rioting ended, some 40 people had died, and one hundred. locomotives and 1,000 rail cars been destroyed." ~Robert Bruce -
Pennslyania Railroad's Massive Fire
The devastating fire was one of the most siginificant events of the strike. -
No Rides on the Reading
"On the night of July 22, rioters burned down the Reading's Lebanon Valley Railroad bridge, which carried the Reading line across the Schuylkill River." ~Exploring PA History -
Train Movement delayed by Violent Strikers
"Burning Of The Lebanon Valley Railroad Bridge By The Rioters," ~Harper's Weekly" -
Strike Ends
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began and ended when President Hayes sent federal troops from city to city to stop the violent strikes. 45 days after the start the Great Upheaval was over. -
President Hayes issued a Proclamation
"Now, therefore, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, do hereby admonish all good citizens of the United States,........and I do hereby warn all persons engaged in or connected with said domestic violence and obstruction of the law to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes on or before 12 o'clock noon of the 19th day of July instant."
-Rutherford B. Hayes -
Pennsylvania's Governor called every regiment to suppress the strike
Strikers became violent so the Governor had no choice but to suppress the strike. -
Time to Take Force
"Several strikers were arrested and some were not, due to their violent striking"
~Unknown
