In 1894, the U.S. was in an economic depression, an Ohio businessman named Jacob Coxey led a march on Washington to protest national economic policies. This motley crew came to be known as Coxey’s army, and the phrases “enough food to feed Coxey’s army,” or “enough grub to feed Coxey’s army,” meaning “a whole lot of food,” showed up in print soon after. Both Coxey’s army and Cox’s army have also been applied to any ragtag group, the latter influenced by a much bigger march on Washington in 1932, that was led, as it happens, by Father James Renshaw Cox. This is part of a complete episode.
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