| Morewood Massacre | |
| Date: | February 10 – May 26, 1891[1] |
| Place: | Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania |
| Goals: | Higher wages Eight-hour day |
| Methods: | Strikes, protests, demonstrations |
| Result: | Unsuccessful |
| Side1: | United Mine Workers Coal miners |
| Side2: | Frick Coke Company Pinkerton detectives[2] Penn. National Guard |
| Leadfigures2: | Captain Loar Henry Clay Frick (Owner) Andrew Carnegie (Owner) |
| Howmany1: | 16,000 |
| Casualties1: | 9 |
The Morewood massacre was an armed labor-union conflict in Morewood, Pennsylvania, in Westmoreland County, west of the present-day borough Mount Pleasant in 1891.
Nine coke workers were shot and killed during a strike for higher wages and an eight-hour work day.[3] [4] [5]
The United Mine Workers union, formed only the previous year, organized the strike against the local coke works owned by industrialist Henry Clay Frick. After a work stoppage beginning on February 10,[6] weeks of increasing unrest, and evictions of mining families from company-controlled property, a crowd of about a thousand strikers accompanied by a brass band marched on the company store.[7] Deputized members of the 10th regiment of the National Guard under the command of Captain Loar fired several volleys [8] into the crowd, killing six strikers outright and fatally wounding three more.[7] Thousands attended their funeral.
A Pennsylvania state historical marker describing the Morewood event was erected in 2000 on Route 981 (Morewood Road) near the Route 119 overpass.[9]