Coxey's Army was an 1894 protest march to Washington, D.C. organized by businessman Jacob S. Coxey as a response to the severe economic hardship caused by the Panic of 1893.
Coxey planned for the march to leave his hometown of Massillon, Ohio on Easter Sunday 1894. His "army" of unemployed workers would march to the U.S. Capitol to confront Congress, demanding legislation that would create jobs.
The march garnered a large amount of press coverage, as dispatches carried by telegraph appeared in newspapers across America. Some of the coverage was negative, with the marchers sometimes described as "vagrants" or a "hobo army."
Yet newspaper mentions of hundreds or even thousands of local residents welcoming marchers as they camped near their towns indicated widespread public support for the protest.
About 400 men who finished the march reached Washington after walking for five weeks. About 10,000 spectators and supporters watched them march to the Capitol building on May 1, 1894. When the police blocked the march, Coxey and others climbed a fence and were arrested for trespassing on the Capitol lawn.
Coxey's Army did not achieve any of the legislative goals Coxey had advocated, but the outpouring of support for the unemployed made an impact on public opinion.
