Transcript of “Enough for Coxey’s Army”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Delisa Staten calling from Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
Welcome to the show, Delisa. What can we do for you?
Well, I had a question about a phrase that my mother-in-law used frequently.
When she would prepare a large amount of food, for example, if we would be there for a meal on a weekend or something, she might say, I hope you’re hungry because I have enough for Cox’s Army.
And I’ve never heard anyone else use that phrase, but I’ve found myself using it sometimes these days as I’ve prepared food for my own family.
So I thought I’d give you a call and see if you’ve heard other people say that before.
Enough food for Cox’s Army? That’s C-O-X apostrophe, yes? Cox’s?
Well, that’s the way it sounded to me, you know, so I don’t know if that’s the way to say it or not, but that’s what I would hear her say.
And Jalisa, was that always about food or did she use it in other ways?
I think she might have used it in other ways, too. Anytime she had like an abundance of something, she would use that phrase.
Okay. Yeah, that makes sense.
The name Cox here has undergone a bit of a transformation over the years. Just so you know, your mother-in-law wasn’t the only person to use that expression. It’s got history to it.
There was a depression during the 1890s, and a fellow by the name of Jacob Coxey, that’s C-O-X-E-Y, rallied the unemployed men of the nation to march on Washington, D.C., to demand relief from the government.
To demand welfare of some kind, payments or rations or food or whatever that they could get, jobs even. And these men came from around the country in groups large and small.
A lot of them were farmers or laborers. And all of them, though, had this common characteristic that they’d been hit hard by this depression.
They had lost jobs. They’d lost farms, maybe houses, property. But as they came from around the country, they depended upon the generosity of others for their food and shelter.
So, for example, in Massillon, Ohio, where the march started, the mayor gave them food and lodging. In Pittsburgh, the city council passed a resolution to give them food and shelter.
And in Washington, D.C., the Salvation Army also gave them food and clothing. But in some places, they overwhelmed the resources that were available.
There wasn’t enough food to go around. They were arrested or the people didn’t agree with their goals, considered them to be just lazy men who were looking for a handout without earning it.
And in one place in Montana, the Coxieites, as they were known, they stole a train. So they weren’t all up to, they didn’t all have the best motives.
So as you might expect, there were a lot of different political opinions about this. And this was all over the newspapers for a very long time.
Cox’s Army became kind of the default term for these people because it really felt like they were literally marching as an army might upon Washington to make a claim.
And some people were worried that they were going to do something akin to military damage on the town and upon the officials there.
Yeah, and the army got bigger and bigger as they got closer.
Yeah, yeah. So they, yeah, the army, the men, it was almost all men that gathered in Washington.
As they approached Washington, the group became kind of astonishingly larger and began to worry officials.
Any place that these men passed through, they stripped clean because there were not a lot of resources for them.
And whether they were given the food or they stole it or promised to pay it back with IOUs, there was not a lot of food left when they passed through.
So Cox’s Army became known as a group of men who were hard to feed. And the whole point of this is, this is where the expression comes from.
To feed Cox’s Army required a lot of food and a lot of resources.
Sure.
Well, I appreciate that. I love your show, and I listen to it every chance I get.
And when I heard your phone number to call, I thought, well, this is my chance to find out where this came from.
So that’s great. I appreciate it.
Well, thank you so much, Delisa. You take care of yourself.
Okay. Y’all have a great day.
Bye.
You too.
Bye-bye.
There have been other Cox’s who have been said to be the source of Cox’s Army, but they’re all later than this, and they are not the source of the expression Cox’s Army.
So it is definitely Jacob Coxie who first organized this march on Washington in the 1890s.
