Homestead Strike experts: want location of mill, island of Pinkertons

[oscar111]

Hi you experts,
the Yahoo map of homestead does not show any carnegie steel mill.
{google maps unusable}

Please help this newbie to union history!

The map shows some river, with an upside down U curve in it. I read a Main street below the curve, coming up northward, then bending forty five degrees or so NW, where it crosses that river. Ther is a large park {i think} under that bend in the river.

Please help me - where was the mill, and the island from which the pinkerton army floated out, to ignominious defeat?

find no carnegie steel in the yellow pages online for homestead. What happened to it?

For "Union tourism"... ie those seeking to tour union history ground, or to do it online, would be nice to have a map online for each major strike with event locations marked.

Bunches of thanks,
ignorant peasant oscar, nosing around in history

[pnorman]

1. There are close to 10,000 hits for "Homestead Strike",

but here's one to get started with: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/carnegie/strike.html There are several good links off that page. The map is here: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/carnegie/map.html

Here are a few more sites of interest:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7672/homestead.html
http://www.horizonshelpr.org/socsci/labor1890/handouts/homestead.html

Let me know if you need more details. I'm far from being omniscient on this subject, but I have enough knowledge at hand to be able to make an efficient web-search.

AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL.

pnorman

[aquart]

2. The original Pinkerton charter forbade this kind of work.

This genius enterprise took place after Allan Pinkerton died, under the administration of his sons, particularly William.

[pnorman]

3. I didn't know that!

I'll keep an eye on this thread.

pnorman

[happyslug]

4. Yes, he hired other people to beat up union workers in the 1860s.

The Pinkerton's were ALWAYS anti-union, the changes his sons made had to deal with HOW the anti-union activities took place NOT if it took place. After Homestead the tactics changed again for one of the "problems" during Homestead was the refusal of the Sheriff of Allegheny County to Deputize the Pinkerton's (Or more likely to admit AFTERWARD that he had done so). The Pinkerton's always said they had been deputized, but the Sheriff always denied it (Most citizens of the time believed the Pinkerton's). Given the most citizens of Pennsylvania believed the Pinkerton's HAD been Deputized and OPPOSED that deputized, the State Assembly passed a law requiring all Deputies or other la enforcements officers be a resident of Pennsylvania for one year BEFORE they could become a law enforcement officer (This remains the law in Pennsylvania to this day).

Now in 1892 you must understand two under-reported facts, first that the Pinkerton's could (and did) raise up to a Battalion of "Detectives". These were trained as troops to fire on and remove strikers. It was larger than most police departments of the time period. When a "Detective" shoot someone he was given a ticket out of the state and the Pinkerton's would NOT cooperate with any investigation including telling la enforcement officers the name of the shooter/Agent and even if the shooter/agent worked for Pinkerton's (and NEVER gave out the Agent's name or home address or what train they put him on).

The second factor was the Pennsylvania Militia. By 1892 it was the largest and best equipment military force in the New World. It was the only Divisional size unit in the US (The Regular US Army did not maintain units larger than regiments prior to 1939 during peacetime, and the Marines were not used in formation larger than companies prior to 1917). This gives you an idea on how important the Pennsylvania Militia was during this strike and that it had been reformed after the 1877 General Strike.

Also do research on the infamous Second Telegram of Carnegie to Frick. During the Strike Various GOP Politicians interceded with Carnegie as to the strike on the grounds it was hurting the GOP in the 1892 Presidential election. In front of them he wrote a Telegram to Frick to be fair with the Strikers. After the GOP delegation had left Carnegie sent the Second telegram confirming the fact he agreed with Frick on Breaking the Union. The Second Telegram was later denied by Carnegie and was not found out till decades after the Strike. Carnegie kept it hidden for it hurt his reputation a s being pro-worker, but it came out after his death to show he agreed with Frick to break the Union.

[oscar111]

5. Carnegie seems to have used a "False Front"

of pro union, while being in fact,

highly anti.

Like bush being a devout imitator of Christ.

False Fronts are a major item, in understand the actions of criminal types, from muggers as they live in other spheres of their life {wife and kids and churchgoing} , to presidents.

[happyslug]

6. The best book I found on the Homestead Strike was the first one written

Arthur G. Burgoyne wrote his "The Homestead Strike of 1892" in 1893. He had been a local reporter and tried to be even-handed (Given that the majority of people of the Pittsburgh area supported the Strikers and the Strikers tried to stay within the law while Frick owned the law, Burgoyne was and is accused of being pro-union, he was NOT, it is simply the fact that the Union had the better moral argument at the time and Burgoyne pointed that out). I tried to find it on-line for the copy write should be expired, but all I found was places to buy the book including Amazon.com, not the book itself. I check Project Gutenberg for the book the book is NOT listed.

As to the books itself, it is the best book on Homestead I have read. It suffers from several disadvantages, first since the existence of Carnegie's second telegram did not come out till years later Burgoyne did not (for he could not) report it. Second the full effect of what happened afterwards was not felt for years. For example Frick vowed NEVER to re-hire the Strikers, his inability to get the plant back up without them forced Carnegie to replace Frick with Charles Schwab (No, NOT the Charles Schwab of today's discount Brokerage firms but Charles M. Schwab of Carnegie Steel, US Steel and Bethlehem Steel who died $300,000 in debt in 1939).

Charles Schwab managed to get the Homestead plant back up by firing all of the Striker Breakers that Frick had vowed to keep, and re-hired all of the Strikers that Frick had vowed NEVER to re-hire (Schwab rehired almost all of the strikers Except for the Union leadership). Schwab needed people who could work steel, the Strikers could, the Striker Breakers could not (Through most of the strikers were gone by 1900 once Schwab had the plant up and running had re-trained their replacements).

Second, while Carnegie wanted the Union broken, he did NOT want the men broken. This was a fine line Carnegie had followed since the 1860s. To avoid going over that line he had agreed to a contract in 1888, but in 1892 he still wanted the Union Broke, but was concerned as HOW the union was broken, as to breaking the union. After 1892 Carnegie's heart was never again in steel. His connection with his men was gone. He continued with Steel tell he sold his interest in 1901.

In my opinion Carnegie never forgave Frick for going over the line and breaking the men when Frick broke the Union. The problem was Carnegie did not want to accept the fact to break the union he had to break the men. In 1888 Carnegie had backed down when he had to choose between backing down and breaking the men. In 1892 he left it up to Frick. Frick was anti-union to the core and would do anything to break a union, legal illegal, moral or immoral. Carnegie hired Frick to break the Union and Frick did so. When Carnegie found out the cost he put the blame on Frick and never forgave him. Carnegie's previous right hand man, Captain Bill Jones had seen the effect of breaking the Union in the Edgar Thompson Works in 1887 and seems to have been the influence on Carnegie to sign a Union Contract in 1888 for the Homestead works. Captain Jones was killed in an industrial accident in 1889, leaving no one in Management that had any real connection with the workers. Jones had been Carnegie's connection, and seems to have advised Carnegie to accept the union At Edgar Thompson works in the early 1880s and Homestead in 1888 (But seems to be the way out with the crushing of the Union in Edgar Thompson in 1887).

Captain Jones is an interesting character in himself. He had left Cambria Steel do to missing a promotion he thought he should have received, and than was hired by Carnegie and became his right hand man in producing steel. Jones was offered stock, but refused he wanted to be on the same level as his workers, a wage earner. Carnegie obliged him and paid him $20,000 a year (In 1880s, the same rate the President of the US was getting, the highest rate of pay at the time period).

What would have happened had Jones not been killed in 1889? Could he have convinced Carnegie to back off? He was the only man that could have.

For more on Charles M. Schwab
http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=1958

Some articles that Mention "Captain" Bill Jones (William R. Jones) I have NOT found a decent bio on Captain Jones on the net:
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/tech/management/IncreasingEfficiencyinBusiness/chap3.html
History of the Edgar Thomson Works (Till 1916): Mentions Caption Jones:
http://www.15122.com/3Rivers/History/BraddocksField/EdgarThomson.htm

[happyslug]

7. No island at that time.

The Monongahela had been dredged and damed since the 1830s but starting in the 1880s the Army Corp of Engineers finally started to take over the River's lock and dams for commercial traffic. At the time of the Homestead Strike some privately owned Locks and Dams still existed on the Monongahela and some maps showed old island that had not existed for decades. According to the reports of the time period no island is mentioned, just the landing AT THE MILL. Some Pinkerton's apparently tried to swim to the other side but the current was to strong, the rifle fire was to intense and the Strikers even used a Civil War Cannon to shoot at the Pinkerton's (The Strike Leaders when their saw the Cannon in use ran to it and had the would be cannoners stop, but came close to hitting the barge, not bad given that the powder their were using was NOT designed for Cannon use and they were shotting down hill on a bobbing object. By the way this is one of the reasons they are no Civil War Cannons in the Pittsburgh Area as war memorials, management freed people would used them in some future labor dispute).

[RPM]

8. Carnegie Steel

Was acquired in 1901 by JP Morgan as the cornerstone for the creation of U.S. Steel. US Steel was capitalized at $1.4 Billion, which at the time, meade it the world's largest corporation ever, in terms of market capitalization. Of the $1.4B I believe about half of that was to purchase Carnegie's plants, most notably the Mon Valley plants at Homestead, Duquesne and Braddock - the last of which is still functioning today under the ownership of US Steel. Of the $700M, Carnegie got about 3/4 of it - making him the worlds richest man. The libraries were part of his efforts to spend all of tha money before his death.

Duquesne has become a industrial brownfield development, while Homestead has become a shopping development (scary little microcosm of the last 125 years of american history... - From making plate for ship and beans for sky scrapers to selling cheap shit made in china).

If you have any questions about the Homestead Strike, I suggest you read William Serrin's "Homestead-the Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town" Good detail on the strike, the history of american laobr and capital, and the history of this interesting little town. Feel free to pepper me with questions should you have any.

BTW - you can still find some of the graves for the men killed at homestead strik at the graveyard at the top of the hill in homestead.