In 1920, a rebellion among miners broke out in Mingo County, West Virginia after two mineworkers were assassinated on the McDowell County courthouse steps. President Warren G. Harding sent Gen. Bandholtz and Gen. Billy Mitchell to control the situation. Bandholtz threatened protesting mineworkers that they would be tried for treason. Mineworkers tried to compromise, saying that they would stop fighting if federal troops would come and enforce the law evenhandedly, but this was initially refused by Bandholtz. Eventually federal troops were deployed and mine workers quickly ceased fighting. Several treason trials were eventually held, at private expense, The prosecution failed to gain convictions and the trials of citizens outraged much of the larger US society.