In anticipation of this eventuality, the company had arranged to have three hundred Pinkerton men act as guards.

They arrived in Pittsburgh during the night of the 5th of July and embarked on barges which were towed up the river to Homestead.

As they approached, the strikers turned out to meet them, and an engagement ensued in which men were killed or wounded on both sides and the Pinkerton men were defeated and driven away.

For a short time, the strikers were in complete possession of the town and of the company's property.

They preserved order fairly well but kept a strict watch that no strike breakers should approach or attempt to resume work.