Don Chafin
American politician (1887–1954)
Don Chafin (June 26, 1887 – August 9, 1954) was an American sheriff and a commander in the Battle of Blair Mountain. As sheriff of Logan County, West Virginia, Chafin was a fierce opponent of unionization and received hundreds of thousands of dollars from coal mine operators in bribes for his violent suppression of the United Mine Workers union.
Chafin's most notable anti-union measures came during the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, when he organized an effort to prevent armed miners from crossing through Logan County. He assembled a force of thousands of local townspeople, sheriff's deputies, and national guardsmen. His forces successfully prevented the advance of the miners until federal troops intervened and forced the latter to disperse. As a result of his actions, Chafin became a hero of the mine operators and an enemy of the miners.
In 1924, Chafin was arrested in connection with moonshining and sentenced to two years in federal prison, of which he served 10 months. While in prison, he lost much of his influence in Logan County. After his release, however, Chafin managed to regain some power in the Democratic Party of West Virginia, becoming a lobbyist for the coal industry. In 1936, he moved to Huntington, West Virginia, where he was a wealthy and well-known figure until his death in 1954.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5292409. VIAF identifies the subject as 137623574. The Library of Congress control number is no2010125404. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1887, 1954, 1921 and 1924.
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This entry incorporates text from “Don Chafin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.