A History of Logan

By Bruce Jolly

Logan, West Virginia has a history and reputation far exceeding what one would expect from a town currently having less than 1,800 people.^[1] The city is widely known for fierce violence, major disasters, and political corruption, as well as being the center of major economic wealth.

Logan is in a region of very rugged terrain in southwestern West Virginia. The valleys are narrow and there is little land suitable for agriculture. The river adjoining the city, the Guyandotte, is too shallow for major transportation. Crossing what is now southern West Virginia, by any means, has always been challenging.

Faced with the geographical barriers, Indians usually avoided the area around the future city of Logan. An exception was a small native village under the leadership of Aracoma, the daughter of Shawnee Chief Cornstalk. According to legend, Aracoma was married to Boling Baker, a white deserter from Braddock’s ill-fated expedition of 1755. In 1765, the village was established on “the Island”, where a large creek flows into the Guyandotte. This island adjoined the future site of the city of Logan.

In the spring of 1780, Boling Baker led a party east from the Shawnee village for the purpose of stealing horses from settlers on the Bluestone River. The theft was successful, but soon ninety militiamen were in pursuit. An attack to recover the horses was led by William Madison and John Breckenridge.^[2] The Indian village was destroyed and Aracoma was killed. Baker was not in the village and his fate remains unknown.^[3]

It appears that Breckenridge saw opportunity in the area, since, in the period after 1794, settlers purchased land from him in the current vicinity of Logan. The pioneering families came mostly from Washington and Montgomery counties, Virginia and Pike County, Kentucky.^[4] They were fiercely independent people, capable of surviving a rugged life. “Every man carried a gun, knew how to use it, and knew that he had to rely upon himself for protection. It was a long time before the wild animals and Indians disappeared and law and order became established. In the meantime, the lesson of self-reliance had been learned; each man had been a law unto himself too long to be able to forget it and look to civil law for protection.”^[5]

“Logan County was created by the Virginia General Assembly, May 7, 1824, from parts of Giles, Tazewell, Cabell, and Kanawha counties.”^[6] The county was named after the Chief Logan, a famous Mingo leader. “The county seat, first named Lawnville and, later, Logan Court House, was laid out in 1827.”^[7] The name was changed to Aracoma in 1853, when the city was chartered by the Virginia Assembly. The first mayor was Thomas Dunn English, a physician, lawyer, and poet who had moved to the area in 1852. English had heard reports of large coal reserves and virgin timber near the town. He quickly became a political and commercial leader. “By 1853, English had bought 27 coal leases and incorporated two coal companies.”^[8] Efforts to promote his ventures failed, largely due to the lack of transportation, and English left in 1856.

Logan County experienced guerrilla warfare during the Civil War. The county, with only 202 slaves^[9], had voted in favor of secession in May, 1861. The vote was 518 for and 63 against.^[10] Company D, 36th Virginia Infantry was organized at Aracoma in June, 1861.^[11] The city was occupied and burned by Union forces in 1862.^[12]

Among the returning Logan County Confederate veterans in 1865 was Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield. Contrary to his “hillbilly” image, Hatfield was a locally respected landowner and timberman. His family and friends became involved in a bloody feud with the Union sympathizing McCoys of Kentucky. The feud lasted from the late 1870s through 1891. Before the fighting ended, many lives were lost and the governors of both West Virginia and Kentucky were heavily engaged.

The population of Logan County grew slowly. The 1830 census showed 3,680 people in the county and, by 1900, there were only 6,955 residents. This changed rapidly when the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad constructed a line from Huntington to Logan in 1904.^[13] in the next twenty years, the Logan County coal fields boomed. Spurred on by the industrial needs of World War I, “coal camps” were created in valleys throughout the county. By 1920, the population of Logan County had grown to 41,006 and by 1950, it reached 77,391.^[14] Immigrants from Wales, Italy, Spain, Hungary and Poland joined with Americans in the “melting pot” moving to the county. The city of Logan, the official name after 1907, became a thriving commercial center and the population increased to more than 5,000.^[15]

The “boom” years were not without difficulties. The United Mineworkers of America had organized the coalfields around Charleston, and were intent on bringing the union to Logan. Some 5,000 union members marched from the Charleston area and, for five days in late August and early September 1921, confronted 3,000 entrenched local police, state police, and coal operators on Blair Mountain, only a few miles from Logan. Many of the participants on both sides were World War I veterans. Remains of the battle are still seen on the mountain. It is the largest armed conflict in the United States since the Civil War. The battle ended after an estimated million rounds were fired, and troops of the United States Army intervened under presidential order.^[16] This was the start of a continuing conflict between the union and coal operators in the Logan field.

As expected, with a history for violence, Logan also has a tradition of political scandal and corruption. As a child, I watched my school principal, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, distribute pints of bourbon to voters. The voters had been given a marker by election officials who had watched them vote the “right way.” The story is told of John Kennedy asking a Logan political boss how much money he needed for Kennedy to carry the area in the 1960 Democratic primary. The boss replied “thirty-five,” meaning $3,500. Kennedy’s men returned with a suitcase containing $35,000, making it one of the largest cases of greasing of political palms in Logan history.^[17] In the same 1960 election, my mother, a Republican poll worker, was handed a $100 bill by the local Democratic chairman. According to my mother, his words were “I have so much Kennedy money I don’t know what to do with it all, so you Republicans might as well get some too,”

Disasters have been common throughout Logan’s history. I remember a tragic week in 1960, when 18 miners were trapped and lost their lives. Every mine in the county and the entire community pulled together in an unsuccessful rescue operation. In 1972, a dam used to filter wastewater from coal cleaning, broke and brought death to 125 people. Forest fires and Guyandotte floods have long been a problem for the city.

Since the 1960s, coal mining has declined, as has the city of Logan. The once-thriving commercial part of Logan has been replaced by a Wal-Mart at the end of town. Yet, the people continue onward with their lives. They have shown they can be strong and resilient in the face of adversity and obstacles. There’s much to learn from the history of my hometown. In spite of its rugged past, I’ll always be proud to say, “I’m from Logan.”

1 “Logan,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1440
2 I believe Madison was a brother of James Madison and Breckenridge became a future U.S. Attorney General and Senator, but have been unable to prove the connections.)
3 G.T. Swain, Princess Aracoma and the Settling of West Virginia (Chapmanville, WV Logan Novelties and Books, 2008), 18-25.
4 “Logan County,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1450
5 S.S. MacClintock, “The Kentucky Mountains and Their Feuds,” American Journal of Sociology Volume 7, Number 2 (1901): 171
6 Logan County,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1450
7 “Logan County,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1450
8 “Thomas Dunn English,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2205
9 “Census Year: 1860 State (W)VA County: Logan,” accessed September 24, 2012. http://us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/wv/logan/1860/slave.txt
10 “Virginia County Vote on the Secession Ordinance, May 23, 1861,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.newrivernotes.com/va/vasecesh.htm
11 “Logan Wildcats,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1451
12 “Logan County,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1450
13 “Logan County,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1450
14 “Logan County,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1450
15 “Logan,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1440
16 “Battle of Blair Mountain,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
17 “Political Scandals in Logan County, West Virginia,” accessed September 21, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_scandals_in_Logan_County,_West_Virginia

Note: In some cases, I have stated facts or opinions without giving credit. This is because I have lived through much of Logan’s history and have heard many stories of even earlier times. For example, I know that 18 men died in the Holden 22 mine accident, because I was attending Logan High School when it happened and had classmates who lost family members. I say “Devil Anse” Hatfield was well respected because I have been acquainted with several people who knew him well.