We’re extremely excited about this new artifact loan from museum supporter Eddie Harless: a genuine red miner’s bandana from the Mine Wars era! We only know of one other such bandana on public display, at the West Virginia State Museum.
Red bandanas were a symbol of union solidarity during the Mine Wars era. During the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, which saw two irregular armies fighting without issued uniforms, the unionist miners identified themselves with red bandanas while the “defensive” forces positioned along the Spruce Fork ridge line (including Blair Mountain) wore white armbands.
These bandanas gave rise to the slang term “rednecks”, referring to the multiracial, multiethnic collective that rose up in solidarity with each other to fight for their right to unionize.
a 100-year-old symbol of solidarity
This bandana belonged to Hub Bane (b. 1899), the grandfather of donor Ed Harless (pictured below). Bane was living at the coal camp at Burnwell, West Virginia during the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek Strikes (1912-13) and experienced the evictions and violence that defined that era of the Mine Wars firsthand.
In the lead-up to the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, there was an encampment of gathering unionist miners at Hernshaw, West Virginia, north of the eventual battlefield. 21 years old that summer, Bane walked from his home in Burnwell to join the Hernshaw encampment wearing this bandana and carrying his rifle, a 2lb bag of flour, and “catridges” (cartridges) for his gun. For unknown reasons, he chose to return home and not to join the march when miners decamped and began moving south towards Mingo County.
We’ll have this gem on display later this year once we’re able to build a custom display for it… stay tuned! Want to support preservation efforts like this one? Click here to learn more about becoming a card-carrying member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum!
