The Battle of Homestead

The Battle of Homestead. . , What was the Battle of Homestead?, The Battle of Homestead took place here at the Pump House on July 6, 1892. It was a critically important conflict between industrialists and organized labor that ultimately cost ten lives., On June 29, Carnegie Steel Works' manager Henry Clay Frick shut down the plant, locking out workers. He then declared that the company would no longer recognize the workers' union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, after its three-year contract expired on June 30., The union responded by rallying the community, uniting unionists, nonunionists, and townspeople in collective action. Working people stood up to defend their jobs, their community, their union, and the right to associate freely., In turn, Frick hired Pinkerton armed guards, who arrived here on river barges with instructions to clear the way for strikebreakers. The standoff between the Pinkerton guards and the angry townspeople soon became violent. A fierce daylong battle ensued, resulting in the deaths of seven workers and three Pinkertons. The workers stood their ground and finally won the day.,

Who Were the Known Casualties of the Battle?, Workers and Homestead Citizens: , Peter Ferris (Faris) . John E. Morris . George Rutter . Joseph Sotak . Henry Striegel . Silas Wain . Thomas Weldon, Pinkertons: , Thomas J. Connor(s) . J.W. Kline . Edward A. R. Speer.

, What happened after the battle?, Workers ultimately lost the labor dispute, their union, and many of their constitutional rights when the state militia intervened to occupy the town and protect strikebreakers. Anti-union corporate power became entrenched in Homestead and throughout the communities of the nation's steel industry., It took more than 44 years before Homestead steelworkers and others successfully unionized through the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) of the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO)., Why is the Pump House important today?, The Pump House symbolizes the sacrifices and struggles American workers endured - and continue to endure - to secure their fundamental human rights as workers and as citizens., (Sidebar):, "I do not wish this little affair at Homestead to be considered a war between labor and capital. That was a war, if so styled, between laboring men, because these Pinkertons and their associates were there... under pay, and the person who employed that force was safely placed away by the money that he has wrung from the sweat of the men employed in that mill, employing in their stead workmen to go there and kill the men who made his money.", -John McLuckie , Steelworker, and the mayor of the Borough of Homestead. House Report #2447, July 13, 1892