Were federal troops used during the Pullman strike?

Answer 1

President Grover Cleveland order the use of U.S. Army troops during the Pullman Strike. He followed the advice of Attorney General Richard Olney, but only the President can order the use of federal troops.

Answer 2

Yes.

The Pullman Strike crippled railroad traffic nationwide. It began in May 1894 when workers at the Pullman Palace Car factory near Chicago Illinois walked out. They had asked to negotiate their decreased wages and the fact that the prices and rents in the Pullman "company town" where they were required to live and shop had remained steady, but they were ignored. Some of the workers belonged to the American Railway Union (ARU) and asked for its help. When the ARU's attempt to have the dispute arbitrated failed, it announced that its members would no longer work on trains that included Pullman cars.

Within four days, over 125,000 workers had joined the boycott, and another 125,000 soon followed. Inconvenience, a few acts of vandalism by striking workers, and the sheer number of striking workers frightened the public. In early July, the federal government reacted with an injunction basically forbidding all boycott activity. When this had no effect, President Grover Cleveland sent in United States Marshals and about 12,000 U.S. Army troops, justifying this drastic action on the grounds that the strike interfered with the delivery of the U.S. Mail and threatened public safety. 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. The soldiers worked with local authorities and got the trains running again. By mid-July both the boycott and the union were done. ARU president Eugene Victor Debs was arrested and jailed for disobeying the injunction.