During the Depression of the 1890s, Jacob Coxey created an army
of 100 unemployed men. The group left Massillon, Ohio on Easter
Sunday, March 25, 1894 on their way to the capital in Washington,
DC. Coxey planned to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the steps of
the Capital Building, where a list of grievances, along with a plan
for a national road improvement program to create jobs for the
unemployed would be presented to the government. The army traveled
from Ohio to Pennsylvania and then into Maryland. Coxey addressed
spectators along the way and the ranks of the army grew to 500
unemployed men.
On April 9, 1894, a concerned Frostburg mayor considered how the
town should receive the army. Newspaper accounts indicated the army
was infested with crooks and toughs. They chose to guard the town
by passing along kindness through an offering of $100. Coxey's army
arrived on April 14th and Frostburg began to fill with curious and
interested citizens. They arranged for the weary men to rest in
comfort at Revenscroft's Opera House.
By 9:00 on Sunday, April 15th, the men left Frostburg headed
down the road toward the Narrows Park baseball field which would
serve as the next camp location. Hundreds of curious sightseers
crowded the road to watch the group of unkempt, weary and footsore
men.
On Monday, April 16th, the army woke early and the vast horde of
men stripped to the waist to bathe in the river below the camp.
Then they played a game of baseball. Following that, an important
decision was announced. Since they needed to be in DC on May 1st,
they had 4 mountains to cross in 15 days. They hired C&O canal
boats to take the army part of the distance to miss the
mountains.
On Tuesday, April 17th, the men began the move through
Cumberland to the loading wharf at the Western Terminus of the
C&O Canal. After boarding the men, supplies and horses, the
canal boats got underway bound for Williamsport, MD.
Coxey's Army arrived on schedule but before the marchers could
present their petition, the police rushed them, and Coxey and other
leaders were arrested from trampling on the grass. Fortunately,
Coxey's ideas ultimately would become part of President Franklin
Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs.
Among the people observing the march was L.Frank Baum, before he
gained fame. There are political interpretations of his book, the
Wonderful Wizard of Oz written 1900, which has often been related
to Coxey's Army. In his novel, Dorothy, the Scarecrow (the American
farmer), Tin Woodman (the industrial worker), and Cowardly Lion,
(political leader), march on the Yellow Brick Road to Oz, the
Capital, demanding relief from the Wizard, who is interpreted to be
the President. This Road in itself is interpreted to be symbolizing
gold bricks which precipitated the Panic of 1893.