COXEY'S ARMY

a group of unemployed who marched to Washington, D.C., in the depression year of 1894. It was the only one of several groups that had set out for the U.S. capital to actually reach its destination. Led by Jacob S. Coxey, a businessman, it left Massillon, Ohio, on March 25, 1894, with about 100 men and arrived in Washington on May 1 with about 500. Coxey hoped to persuade Congress to authorize a vast program of public works, financed by a substantial increase of the money in circulation, to provide jobs for the unemployed; but despite the publicity his group received, it had no impact on public policy. The venture came to an ignominous end when Coxey and some of his followers were arrested for trespassing on the lawns at the Capitol.