Battle Of Blair Mountain

G 1921 was the year Cadd9 G Seems like yesterday to me G* Let me tell you about what happened then Dsus4 Back in the mine country Cadd9 G We were fightin' hard to build a union Cadd9 Dsus4 'Cause at forty cents a ton Cadd9 G There was no way to feed a family Dsus4 G When the minin' day was done G The strike had lasted for a year Cadd9 G When they shot down Smilin' Sid G* He was a lawman who stood up for us miners Dsus4 That's the only crime he ever did Cadd9 G A hundred miners locked up with no trial Cadd9 Dsus4 There in Mingo-town Cadd9 G But the last straw came in Sharples Dsus4 G When they gunned the women down Cadd9 G We're marchin' on to Mingo Cadd9 G Dsus4 Ten thousand men and countin' Cadd9 G Dsus4 Here in the hills of West Virginia G At the Battle of Blair Mountain G We shouted through the hillsides Cadd9 G In every union hall G* We're marchin' on to Mingo Dsus4 Teach them a lesson, once and all Cadd9 G We commandeered every freight train Cadd9 Dsus4 To the Kentucky line Cadd9 G Took every car that crossed our path Dsus4 G And all the guns and ammo we could find G The union leaders tried to stop us Cadd9 G Mother Jones told us to turn back G* But we had learned ourselves from the gun thugs Dsus4 There's a time to talk and a time to attack Cadd9 G We had no leader, we didn't need one Cadd9 Dsus4 We all knew our way through Logan County Cadd9 G And we all knew once we got there Dsus4 G We're gonna hang Sheriff Chapin from a sour apple tree Cadd9 G We're marchin' on to Mingo Cadd9 G Dsus4 Ten thousand men and countin' Cadd9 G Dsus4 Here in the hills of West Virginia G At the Battle of Blair Mountain G We dug trenches and wore helmets Cadd9 G That we brought from the Argonne G* All the way from France to Logan Dsus4 We fought from dusk to dawn Cadd9 G They dropped explosives from their airplanes Cadd9 Dsus4 Such a thing you never saw Cadd9 G They shot us with machine guns Dsus4 G It was the operator's law G For three days and nights we fought them Cadd9 G The front was ten miles wide G* Every cop and scab in West Virginia Dsus4 Were there on the other side Cadd9 G President Harding sent in the Army Cadd9 Dsus4 And we left our line to them Cadd9 G But the hills of West Virginia Dsus4 G Will long remember when Cadd9 G We're marchin' on to Mingo Cadd9 G Dsus4 Ten thousand men and countin' Cadd9 G Dsus4 Here in the hills of West Virginia G At the Battle of Blair Mountain