Railroad workers were deeply dissatisfied with their wages and working conditions, and a strike was called by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. It began in West Virginia and then quickly spread to other states, ultimately involving some 100,000 workers.
George Pullman, wealthy railroad owner and industrialist, was one of the main figures opposed to the strikers' demands. He refused to negotiate, and he called in federal troops to suppress the strike. President Rutherford B. Hayes also sided with the railroad owners, and he ordered the use of federal troops to break the strike.
The strike ended in defeat for the workers, and it marked the beginning of a long period of decline for the labor movement in the United States.