The governor, at behest of the coal operators, had asked the War Department to intervene. Five hundred soldiers from an infantry regiment out of Camp Sherman, Ohio—the first federal troops to step foot in the Tug Valley since the Civil War. Their canvas tents bloomed overnight, their guns oiled bright beneath the sun. No public assemblies would be permitted, no parades. No rallies or picket lines. The soldiers patrolled the roads with fixed bayonets. They greeted every train at the station, ensuring the influx of strikebreakers—scabs—wouldn’t be harassed. They guarded every mine.
