Since his death in 1873 at age 26, the musical idea of the
indomitable steelworker John Henry has inspired our imaginations. Labor
unions, miners and railroad workers, especially, have taken him as
their Everyman. As such, the man who “whupped” a steam drill has become
synonymous with triumphant human spirit.
But who was John Henry? Before publication of Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry: the Untold Story of an American Legend by historian Scott Reynolds Nelson, speculation was that John Henry was an amalgam of archetypes, or maybe a real man who had died in Alabama, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi -- even the Caribbean.
Scott Nelson’s painstaking research and unimpeachable primary sources now give us a more definitive view. The facts are these: John Henry was 19 when sentenced to 10 years in Virginia Penitentiary. Along with other convicts, his labor was leased to the C&O Railroad at Lewis Tunnel in Virginia, where he became a driller. One day, a boss brought in a steam drill to run alongside the convicts’ manual labor. All but John Henry balked. He swore no machine could beat a man as he raced the machine. Before the contest was over, he had drilled 13 feet, the steam drill just nine. Moments later, he collapsed and died. His last request was for a cool glass of water.
In telling this complex tale of a doomed convict, Nelson also draws a disturbing portrait of an agrarian America driving relentlessly toward industrialization. To Americans, progress meant higher living standards; to the railroad barons, it meant pushing their empires relentlessly westward.
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