The Homestead Strike Execution

My mother rarely spoke of her father’s time in the service, but she kept a brass military button in the small ceramic dish where she left her keys. It was a standard-issue infantry button, its gold plating worn down to the dull green of oxidized copper. I found myself rolling that button between my thumb and forefinger this afternoon before sliding open the drawer labeled ATROCITIES. The folder inside is thin, containing only a handful of contemporary newspaper clippings and a typed summary of the events of July 23, 1892, in Homestead, Pennsylvania.

The Homestead Strike is well-documented as a watershed moment in American labor history, but the dossier focuses on a smaller, more intimate horror that occurred during the subsequent military occupation. Following the violent clashes between striking steelworkers and Pinkerton detectives, the Pennsylvania National Guard was deployed to maintain order. They established Camp Sam Black.

When news reached the camp that the anarchist Alexander Berkman had attempted to assassinate Carnegie Steel chairman Henry Clay Frick, Private William L. Iams of Company K, 10th Regiment, reacted publicly. According to the record, Iams shouted, “Three cheers for the man who shot Frick!” though some contemporary accounts dispute his exact phrasing, claiming he called out, “Hooray for the anarchist!”

The reaction from his commanding officers was swift and deliberately severe. Colonel Alexander L. Hawkins and Major General George R. Snowden ordered immediate punishment to deter any potential mutiny among the ranks. Iams was bound by his thumbs and suspended, his toes barely brushing the dirt. He was kept in this position for nineteen to twenty minutes until his body went limp and he lost consciousness.

Once cut down, the camp surgeon revived him, but the ritual of disgrace was not complete. The officers ordered half of Iams’s head and face to be shaved. He was stripped of his uniform, forced into mismatched civilian rags, and drummed out of Camp Sam Black to the discordant notes of the “Rogues’ March.”

The incident, widely condemned by critics as a barbaric “military execution” of discipline, led to a highly publicized legal battle. Iams later attempted to prosecute his commanding officers for assault, but a civilian jury ultimately acquitted them. My mother’s notes on the margins of the folder are sparse, noting only the terrifying ease with which constitutional protections dissolve under the pretext of military order.

It is 02:41 now. The air in this room has grown remarkably still, almost heavy. There is a faint, metallic smell near the desk—a brief, sharp scent of copper and ozone, like an old appliance that has run for too long. But it fades when I stand up to check the window lock.

I am sending this to Lukas over the line. If it only exists here, it doesn’t exist.

>>> BEGIN CAPTURE
FILE ATROCITIES/1892/HOM-187
SUBJECT: military discipline at Camp Sam Black, July 1892
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Pennsylvania National Guard deployed to Homestead, Pennsylvania.
established Camp Sam Black during steelworker strike.
July 23, 1892: Alexander Berkman attempts to assassinate Henry Clay
Frick.
Private William L. Iams of Company K, 10th Regiment reacts.
Iams shouts support for the attacker.
Colonel Alexander L. Hawkins and Major General George R. Snowden order
punishment.
Iams bound by thumbs and suspended for 19 to 20 minutes.
subject lost consciousness. revived by camp surgeon.
half of Iams's head and face shaved.
stripped of uniform, dressed in civilian rags.
drummed out of camp to "Rogues' March".
subsequent civilian lawsuit against officers ended in acquittal.
>>> END CAPTURE