John Henry (folklore)

Lore & Background

According to legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel driver was measured in a race against a steam-powered rock drill, a race that he won only to die in victory with a hammer in hand as his heart gave out from stress. Various locations, including Big Bend Tunnel in West Virginia, Lewis Tunnel in Virginia, and Coosa Mountain Tunnel in Alabama, have been suggested as the site of the contest. A real hammerman would have needed to work in tandem with a shaker, who would hold a chisel-like drill against mountain rock, but John Henry's shaker is seldom if ever mentioned in the tale. Some retellings recast John Henry as a railroad worker driving spikes into railway tracks, and his mechanical opponent as a primitive rail fastening system.

Reader's Guide

The historical accuracy of many aspects of the John Henry legend is subject to debate. Sociologist Guy Benton Johnson investigated the legend in the late 1920s and concluded that John Henry might have worked on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's Big Bend Tunnel, but that 'one can make out a case either for or against' it. Johnson interviewed a man named Neal Miller who claimed to have witnessed the contest and described the steam drill in detail. However, the C&O's chief engineer stated that no steam drills were ever used in that tunnel, and documentation had been destroyed by fire. Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson later found prison records indicating a John William Henry who was a convict laborer on the C&O Railway, and argued the contest took place at Lewis Tunnel, where prisoners worked beside steam drills. Nelson also suggests that John Henry died of silicosis from dust created by the drills and blasting, rather than from exhaustion. The tale has been used as a symbol in labor movements, the Civil Rights Movement, and during World War II in U.S. government propaganda as a symbol of social tolerance and diversity.

Did You Know?

• John Henry is said to have worked as a 'steel-driving man,' hammering a steel drill into rock to make holes for explosives in railroad tunnel construction.
• Sociologist Guy Benton Johnson interviewed a man named Neal Miller who claimed to have witnessed the contest between John Henry and a steam drill at Big Bend Tunnel.
• Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson found prison records of a John William Henry who was a convict laborer on the C&O Railway, and argued the contest took place at Lewis Tunnel.
• The C&O Railroad's chief engineer stated that no steam drills were ever used in Big Bend Tunnel, and that all related papers had been destroyed by fire.