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Woodstock Herald, January 28, 1880

Pictured above is one of the many articles printed in local, state, and national newspapers describing a race riot that occurred at Liberty Furnace and Columbia Furnaces in 1880. These items provide a detailed overview of the events that sparked this incident, the hostilities that occurred, the response of local authorities, and the aftermath.

According to the sources, the riot began around 2:30PM on January 27, 1880. Five armed men stormed the Columbia Furnace Ore Bank and stopped worked there. The group, which grew to over 40 individuals, then proceeded to Liberty Furnace where they fired on the workers. Two African Americans were wounded. The rioters then occupied the area.

The individuals involved attacked the works over the issue of “colored labor.” The decision to employ African Americans to smelt iron was not a new one. Shenandoah County’s furnaces had been using black labor since before the Civil War when slaves filled many positions. After the war these individuals and their descendants continued to work in the field. However local whites felt they were stealing valuable jobs. So they resorted to violence.

Local authorities responded quickly. The Wissler family, owner of both furnaces, sent word of the riot to Woodstock. By 5:00PM Justice J.H. Grabill issued a warrant ordering the arrest of those involved. Sheriff Hoshur and his deputies traveled to the area but found the situation was too much for them to handle. So they called out the militia and county’s company arrived on the afternoon of the 28th. The rioters retreated from the furnaces and hid in the brush after exchanging fire with the soldiers. Captain Magruder, commander of the militia, began to make plans to attack the next day and asked for reinforcements. The Governor activated the militia in Fredrick and Rockingham Counties.

However the owners of the furnaces decided to take action that would end the violence and prevent further damage. They contacted the rioters and offered to fire all African American workers if they would lay down their arms and return to work. The protesters agreed and the riot ended. No one was ever prosecuted.

The only people who suffered were the African Americans who lost their jobs and the local black community. Local whites agreed that the decision to fire them was the correct one. The only rights they were willing to defend was the right of the owners to hire who they wanted, not African American’s right to work. The Woodstock Herald observed “their discharge was a matter of necessity” and “importing [African Americans] into a section of the country where families of women and children are frequently left alone…at a time when the apprehensions of the people have been aroused by outrages almost daily committed by negroes” was a terrible mistake. The Wissler brothers also chimed in and stated “they prefer white to negro labor” and had only hired the African Americans because they could not find enough white labor.

Without jobs, and in a hostile community, the African Americans involved quickly began to leave the area. By the end of the 19th century the size of the black community had shrunk dramatically as individuals moved to other areas to find work and better lives. Today, the small size of our local minority community is a legacy of this migration and the riot that sparked it.