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ORIGINAL 1894 ARMY REPORT ON PULLMAN STRIKE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
HISTORICAL HANDWRITTEN U.S. ARMY REPORT ON THE PULLMAN STRIKE OF 1894. SUPER DETAILS IN THIS ACCOUNT OF THE INCIDENT by 10th Infantry Captain John Franklin Stretch, commanding Co. F, to Lt. W. N Blow, adjutant of the 15th Infantry. There are five 8 x 14 pages handwritten in ink. Fold lines, otherwise quite good condition as shown in scan of first & last pages. Old paper has large watermark dated 1891.
A full transcription of this richly detailed US Army document follows:
Camp at Fort Sheridan, Ill.
July 28, 1894
1st Lieutenant W. Blow 15th Infantry Adjutant, 15 Infty
Sir;
In accordance with circular letter of this date informing me that written report called for from me had not been received I have the honor to state that the letter calling for same never reached me and I also have the honor to make the following report of operations of my Company "F", 10 Infry between the dates of July 7 & 19, 1894.
In obedience to orders received on the evening of July 6, 1894 from Colonel E. A.(?) Grafton(?) 15th Infantry commanding Camp in Lake Front, Chicago, I broke camp early in the morning of July 7, 1894 and marched to Rock Island RR Depot, Chicago, there took train to 51st Street and reported to Captain C. H. Conrad 15th Infantry for duty.
A location for camping the command was selected at the Fort Wayne RR yards a block or two from the Rock Island RR Crossing on 51st Street, from which place it was intended TO GUARD BOTH CROSSINGS AND YARDS--Immediately after arriving at Fort Wayne RR yards some FREIGHT CARS WERE DISCOVERED BURNING HAVING BEEN SET ON FIRE PRESUMABLY BY THE STRIKERS--Half of my company was sent to put out the fire and clear the yard. This having been accomplished the company proceeded to put up its tents before this was completed ANOTHER FIRE WAS STARTED IN CARS UP NEAR 47TH STREET. The other half of the company proceeded to double time to the fire and were still engaged in putting it out and DRIVING THE PEOPLE AWAY when telegraphic orders were received to proceed with the company to the Grand Central Depot, Chicago where further orders would await me.
FOUR ARRESTS OF CITIZENS WERE MADE by the officer in charge of the platoon putting out the fire referred to above BUT AS THEY PROVED TO BE EMPLOYEES OF ROAD AND WERE RECOGNIZED AS SUCH BY THE OFFICIALS OF THE ROAD, THEY WERE RELEASED.
On receipt of the order directing me to proceed to the Grand Central Depot the portion of the company which was out guarding the cars was called in, the camp struck, and equipage transported to the 51st Street crossing of the Rock Island RR Depot from where it marched to the Grand Central Depot. On arrival at the Depot I found orders directing me to ESCORT MAIL TRAINS TO AND FROM THIS DEPOT--KEEP THE MAIL DELIVERED which duty was carried out and was continued until orders received on the night of the 18th of July, 1894 directed me to join the command in the camp on Lake Front which I did early in the morning of the 19th of July, 1894.
While at the Grand Central Depot the company was quartered in a large room of the Depot the Railroad officials furnishing means for cooking and the company using its own rations and doing its own cooking.
The through mail trains were on the B & O RR, four mail trains leaving the Depot daily at 6:05 a.m.--10:45 a.m.--3 p.m.--and at 6:45 p.m.
THE ENTIRE COMPANY WAS TAKEN OUT ON THE FIRST TRIP FOR MORE EFFECT, ON THE SPECIAL TRAIN FURNISHED US WHICH ALSO CARRIED THE DEPUTY U.S. MARSHALS, and which ran a short distance ahead of the regular train. After the first trip, half of the company was sent out under a Commissioned Officer with each mail train--the Escort going as far out as South Chicago each trip (20 miles) and escorting back the incoming mail train. This duty of escorting trains amounted to BEING ON GUARD CONTINUOUSLY as the part of the company remaining at the Depot was kept constantly together ready to take a Special Engine and Car to go to the assistance of the Escort in case of trouble, telegraphic communications in regard to progress of mail train being kept up.
Reports by telegraph were made to the commanding officer Camp in the Lake Front three times daily at about 8 a.m., 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. The company while performing this duty RECEIVED A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF ABUSE FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE BAD NEIGHBORHOODS THROUGH WHICH THE ROAD RAN, BUT WERE NOT STONED, NOR DID THE STRIKERS SUCCEED IN UNCOUPLING THE CARS as great care was taken to prevent anything of this nature.
The company or a portion (half) of it was on the road nearly all the time between 6 a.m. and 10 o'clock p.m.. ON ONE OCCASION SOME EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND WAS PLACED ON THE TRACK, WHICH EXPLODED WHEN STRUCK BY THE ENGINE OF THE TROOP TRAIN, DAMAGING THE PILOT OF THE ENGINE BUT DOING NO OTHER DAMAGE.
THE MAILS WENT THROUGH with but slight delay this being sometimes caused by accidental wrecks due to improper switching or handling by new employees of the road. The Lieutenants with my company viz. 1st Lt. C. J. T. Clarke, 10 Infty, 2 Lt. M. R. Peterson, 10 Infty, 2 Lt. J. E. Normoyle, 23rd Infty, and 2 Lt. A. C. Dalton, 22 Infty were intelligent and energetic and gave me able assistance.
Very Respectfully Your Obedt Servant J. F. Stretch Capt. 10th
Infty Co. "F".
THE PULLMAN STRIKE occurred when 50,000 Pullman Palace Car Company workers went on a wildcat strike in Illinois on May 11, 1894.
The owner of the company, George Pullman housed his workers in a company town by Lake Calumet (Pullman, Chicago). In this "company town," everything was owned by the corporation, including both the houses and local stores.
During the major economic downturn of the early 1890s, George Pullman cut wages without an equivalent decrease in rent and other expenses. Discontented workers joined the American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs, which supported their strike by launching a boycott of all Pullman cars. On July 5th, the buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition around the Court of Honor were torched.
The strike was broken up by United States Marshals and some 2,000 United States Army troops, commanded by Nelson Miles, sent in by President Grover Cleveland on the basis that the strike interfered with the delivery of U.S. Mail. During the course of the strike, 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. An estimated $80,000 worth of property was damaged, and Debs was tried for, and found guilty of, interfering with the mail. He was sent to prison for six months.
At the time of his arrest, Debs was not a Socialist. However, during his time in prison, he read the works of Karl Marx. After his release in 1895, he became the leading Socialist figure in America. He ran for President for the first of five times in 1900.
John Franklin Stretch graduated from West Point. He made Captain in 1884. He retired as a Colonel in 1902. William Nivison Blow, Jr., was an 1876 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. He was appointed in 1898 a major of the 4th Virginia Volunteer Infantry, with which he served in Cuba till Jan. 11 1900. After the Spanish American War he served in both China and the Philippines. In 1907, he died in Norfolk, VA.
Lieutenants Peterson & Normoyle were also graduates of West Point.
This is just A GREAT ORIGINAL US ARMY REPORT OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LABOR STRIKES IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Price= $450.00
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