Today is the 149th anniversary of the U.S.’s first national labor uprising.

Four years into the Long Depression, rail workers in West Virginia, facing their third wage cut of the year, call a strike and obstruct freight traffic. The strike quickly spreads to over a dozen states, disrupting transport and commerce countrywide. Strikers confront police, militias and National Guard, often fatally. Railcars and railway buildings are set on fire. President Hayes sends federal troops city-to-city to force an end to the action.

After 52 days, at least 130 workers have been killed. Strikers give up their demands.

Cities nationwide respond by building armories for their local National Guard units. The next year, the Posse Comitatus Act is enacted, limiting the domestic use of federal troops.