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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Southern Colorado breaks into civil war as striking coal miners battle the Colorado National Guard. The strike, involving human rights, power and money, wreaks violence, death and destruction to tens of thousands of people and their homes, only to end a year later in failure. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| September 23, 1913 | After their demands are ignored, 9,000 coal miners in Colorado begin striking and violence erupts. |
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| October 28, 1913 | Martial law declared as Colorado Governor Elias Ammon orders the Colorado National Guard to the coalfields. Guards hold off strikers with machine guns and high-powered rifles. |
| November 27, 1913 | Governor Ammon permits mine operators to bring in strikebreakers due to money problems and violence intensifies. |
| April 20, 1914 | Ludlow Massacre occurs and the Colorado National Guard attacks a tent city killing 24, nearly half of which are children. |
| April 20 - 30, 1914 | The Colorado Civil War culminates into intense warfare between miners and guards while spanning 80 miles of coalfields. |
| April 24, 1914 | Governor Ammon asks President Woodrow Wilson for aid. A temporary, unenforceable truce is called. |
| April 28, 1914 | President Wilson orders federal troops to Colorado. Both sides are forced to disarm and violence ends. |
| December 1914 | Strike officially ends. Coal miners are defeated. |
| May 3, 1915 | Union Leader John R. Lawson is sentenced to life in prison for murder. |
| September 1915 | John D. Rockefeller, Jr. visits Colorado mines in hopes of improving relations. |
| June 4, 1917 | The Colorado State Supreme Court overturns the conviction of John R. Lawson. |
