"Work, give us work": Jacob Coxey and the Industrial Army Movement of 1894

The depression that began in 1893 caused widespread economic suffering throughout the country and triggered a march of unemployed men from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C. Known in the press as "Coxey's Army"--led, ironically, by successful businessman Jacob Coxey--the marchers demanded that the federal government create jobs for idled workers. But Coxey's march overshadowed a much larger story.

In late March 1894, other "armies" of the unemployed mobilized on the Pacific Coast and in ...