Annals of the great strikes in the United States : A reliable history and…
"Annals of the great strikes in the United States" by J. A. Dacus is a historical account written in the late 19th century. The work examines the causes, spread, and suppression of the nationwide labor upheavals of 1877, especially the railroad strikes, riots, and official responses. Mixing narrative reportage with commentary on capital–labor relations and radical movements, it aims to record events while arguing for law and order. It will interest readers
of American labor history and those curious about how business, workers, and government collided in a national crisis. The opening of the work frames the 1877 strikes as an epoch-making, largely spontaneous uprising that tested American self-government, then states the author’s aim to compile a reliable, fact-checked record. It launches with an essay on capital and labor, warning that cheap wages imperil social order, urging broader prosperity, and criticizing railroad magnates and “watered stock,” while identifying wage cuts as the immediate spark. The narrative then traces how a 10 percent reduction on the Baltimore and Ohio triggered walkouts at Camden Junction and Martinsburg, where trains were halted, militia proved unreliable, and the governor appealed to the president, who issued a proclamation and sent regular troops under General French. Despite federal protection, crews refused to run trains, the strike spread to other towns, and crowds of sympathizers, canal-boatmen, and tramps swelled the unrest. In Baltimore, rising tension, incendiary meetings by radical groups, and mass gatherings led authorities to keep militia in the city; as troops marched toward Camden Station, mobs stoned them and the soldiers fired volleys, leaving dead and wounded and plunging the city into a night of terror. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Dacus, J. A. (Joseph A.), 1838-1885 |
|---|---|
| LoC No. | 08000146 |
| Title | Annals of the great strikes in the United States : A reliable history and graphic description of the causes and thrilling events of the labor strikes and riots of 1877 |
| Original Publication | Chicago: L.T. Palmer, 1877. |
| Credits | Richard Tonsing, Carla Foust, Turgut Dincer, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | HD: Social sciences: Economic history and conditions, Production |
| Subject | Railroad Strike, U.S., 1877 |
| Subject | Strikes and lockouts -- United States -- History -- 19th century |
| Subject | Labor movement -- United States -- History |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77297 |
| Release Date | Nov 22, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 331 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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