Patton and the Bonus March of 1932 Did you know that George S. Patton once battled fellow World War I veterans in the streets of  Washington D.C.? The Great Depression of the 1930s spread economic misery, despair, and heartbreak across America. By 1932, nearly one-third of working Americans were unemployed and desperate for relief. Many veterans of World War I felt that the federal government owed them a particular debt for their sacrifice and service during the war. They began to organize and demand that Congress approve an early payment of pension funds that was not due until 1945.   Bonus veterans from Jeannette, Pennsylvania, 1932. In the summer of 1932, about 20,000 unemployed veterans and their families traveled to Washington D.C. from across the United States to lobby Congress. Some of these "Bonus Marchers" camped out in shacks and tents, which they mockingly called "Hoovervilles" after President Herbert Hoover. Others occupied abandoned and partially dismantled buildings near the Capitol. Bonus Marchers' camp in Washington, D.C., 1932. Although the marchers were not disorderly or unruly, the Hoover administration and local officials feared this group of around 5,000 might turn into a mob. The tense situation exploded on July 28, 1932, when a marcher was killed during a scuffle with police, and federal troops were called in to restore order.  Our US Army Sent To Evict The Bonus Army  One of the first federal officers to arrive in Washington D.C.  was Major George S. Patton. His cavalry troops met up with infantry at the Ellipse, near the White House. Patton and the federal troops, equipped with gas masks, bayonets and sabers, marched up Pennsylvania Avenue, firing gas grenades and charging and subduing the angry crowd. Later that night, Patton and the federal troops cleared out the marchers' camp in Anacostia, with some tents and shacks catching fire in the process. By the following morning, most marchers had left Washington D.C., but the incident left bitter memories and affected Patton deeply. He called it the "most distasteful form of service" and later wrote several papers on how federal troops could restore order quickly with the least possible bloodshed. Soldiers evicting World War I veterans from their camps, Washington, D.C.,1932. The Bonus Army Village Burns With White House Dome In Background