Note: This is the first in a series on the “When Miners March Traveling Museum” by Wess Harris.

LAKE CITY, Tenn. – On Oct. 26, a reception to celebrate the life of Charles “Boomer” Winfrey was held for his family, friends, colleagues and admirers. The gathering was held at the Coal Creek Miners Museum that he founded.

Mr. Winfrey, 76, passed away on Oct. 6. His death is clearly a loss to those who loved him, met him and were lifelong learners interested in learning all he knew – which was unmatched – about the beginning of the Coal Wars.

Fortunately, he graciously agreed to an interview after going into Hospice care and just days before he passed. He was engaged as ever in a phone interview sharing what and why he has spent his life teaching about the extraordinary history of the community in which he was born.

He was expert at focusing on the important events and their significance of this season of miner unrest and mine disasters. Indeed, this town’s evolving names reflect it’s complex history. At the time of the these first coal wars, the community was known as Coal Creek. Years later, it became Lake City. More recently, it changed its name again, this time to Rocky Top.

The Convict Lease System

East Tennessee is not generally the place one thinks of as the starting point of the Coal Wars between miners and mine operators. Make no mistake about it though. It was, as miners engaged mine owners and then the Tennessee National Guard in numerous skirmishes and guerrilla actions following the Civil War, noted Mr. Winfrey.

“This was a shooting war!” exclaimed Mr. Winfrey. He continued, “But it wasn’t about forming a Union. There was none until 1891.” Though miners did strike and generally create havoc for their company and political overlords for a season, Mr. Winfrey made clear that the struggle was not about Union organizing, emphasizing, “It was about the Convict Lease System.”

The reason? Tennessee’s industrialists and politicians conspired to replace slavery with prison labor. Mr. Winfrey shared, “About every state in the old Confederacy put it in place. They found it as a convenient way to replace slavery. They started passing laws that would sentence someone to a year in prison, making them eligible to serve their sentence as mine laborers. They picked on blacks especially.” Indeed, soon after the program was initiated, the black prison population increased by more than 10,000 people, mostly all arrested, “tried” and imprisoned on trumped-up charges.

In 1877, the Knoxville Iron Works opened the first coal mine in Coal Creek. Well before 1891, the use of convicts to replace miners had begun. “Nobody paid attention until 1891,” noted Mr. Winfrey. “But at the Briceville Company town the prisoners were required to destroy the miners’ houses and build a stockade for themselves. That was too much for the miners. They loaded up the trains and told the governor not to send back any more convicts.”

He continued, “The governor sent them back and returned with them. After he left, the miners again overcame the guards, but this time freed the prisoners and told them, ‘Kentucky is that way fellas.”

That was when the militia was sent in. A fort was built overlooking the town, though miners more familiar with their home territory went to higher ground, constantly harassing the militia. By 1892, though, the firepower of the state militia was too much and the ongoing battle finally ended. “They lost the battle, but they won the war,” offered Mr. Winfrey, explaining, “It was the end of convict lease system. Once this happened in Tennessee, the other states could see the writing on the wall.” The last state to abandon the system was Alabama in 1913.

Essentially, said Winfrey, “They realized that maintaining a standing army was too expensive.” Indeed, the state of Tennessee built the Brushy Mountain State Prison as a replacement to the Convict Lease System.

Mine Disasters

The Coal Creek Mine War was just one of the deadly challenges facing the miners of East Tennessee in the post-Civil War industrial age. In 1902, 216 miners died at the Fraterville Mine, killing most of the community’s men and boys. “Everybody in town lost somebody in Fraterville,” shared Mr. Winfrey. “Over 200 souls. It was dereliction of duty. The real tragedy is that many suffocated.”

In nearby Briceville nine years later, on Dec. 9, 1911 in the Cross Mountain Mine Disaster, 84 people died. Winfrey noted, “However, five were rescued, testing the newly minted U.S. Bureau of Mines, created the year before. Those who were rescued benefited from the recently invented self-contained breathing apparatus and use of canaries.”

There are important lessons from the early days of coal mining labor strife in East Tennessee, observed Winfrey. Of the Convict Lease System he said, “This was the first time that people had rose up against this in armed opposition and it was done away with.” He noted that the tragic mine disasters led to the establishment of federal oversight of mine safety and led to improvement in safety practices.

“These are the important legacies of the Coal Creek War,” concluded Mr. Winfrey.

Learn More

Check out Andy Harness’s outstanding video about the history of the Convict Lease System on the Coal Creek Miners Museum website.

Read about Brushy Mountain State Prison.

See an interview video of Mr. Winfrey by Rural Assembly.

Read a brief biography of and tribute to Mr. Winfrey from the Student Health Coalition

© Michael M. Barrick, 2023. Feature photo from Harpers Weekly magazine drawing from time of Coal Creek War. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2023. Photo of cannon on Militia Hill during Coal Creek War, Retrieved Nov. 3, 2023