Today Blair Mountain is just that: a mountain. While many battlefields are the object of exhaustive study and veneration — places and times when power wobbled and blood was shed — Blair Mountain is still largely unexplored. Despite a burst of recent interest, for most West Virginians, the story of Blair Mountain barely even exists. My family has lived more or less continuously in West Virginia since our patriarch, John Hinkle, settled his brood near Seneca Rocks around 1760. By the 2020 census, West Virginia had shrunk enough to lose one of its three congressional seats, partially because people keep fleeing.

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Persons: Blair, John Hinkle, Ken Hechler, Joe Manchin Organizations: —, Army, West Virginians, Big Branch Locations: West Virginia, Seneca Rocks, Washington, Chicago