1835

November 25 – Andrew Carnegie is born.

1848

May – Carnegie and his family migrate to the United States.

1849

December 19 – Henry Clay Frick is born.

1885

January 2 – The New York Times dubs Carnegie the “Millionaire Socialist.”

1886

April – The first of Carnegie’s articles endorsing the right of workers to unionize appears in Forum. A second article appears in the same publication four months later.

1889

July – Carnegie and Frick settle a strike and lockout at the Homestead works by signing a three-year contract that recognizes the workers’ right to collective bargaining.

1892

June – Frick offers the union a “take it or leave it” contract, setting a deadline of June 24, and then refuses to negotiate. The union rejects his offer.

1892

June 25 – Frick orders notices posted at Homestead that the company will no longer deal with the union, only individual workers. That same day he contacts the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to arrange for private guards (“Pinkertons”) to be dispatched to Homestead to guard the company’s property.

1892

June 29 – Frick begins shutting down various departments at Homestead, a process completed the following day, at which point the workers are locked out.

1892

July 6 – The Pinkerton agents try to take control of the closed Homestead works; hours of bloody fighting ensue, and the striking workers and townspeople prevent the Pinkertons from entering the works.

1892

July 12 – The Pennsylvania state militia arrives in the town to restore order and return the works to Carnegie Steel. They remain until October 13.

1892

July 23 – In an attempt to aid the strikers, an anarchist named Alexander Berkman tries to assassinate Henry Clay Frick. Frick survives the attempt and Berkman is sentenced to 22 years in Western State Penitentiary.

1892

November 20 – Economic necessity forces the workers to return to work, and they vote to end the strike.