Remember that the military is only required to follow lawful orders. The question is whether resigning as a group or simply refusing to obey the orders would be more effective.

The Insurrection Act was past in the context of civilian rioters preventing troops from reaching Washington DC to defend the city against Confederate armies.

Two later 19th century examples are interesting. During the Railroad Strike of 1877 soldiers who had freshly returned from the South where they were defending the rights of Blacks were used to crush strikers.

Again during the Pullman strike of 1894 the Supreme Court intervened with an injunction to order the strike to stop. Eugene Debs, the strike leader and future Socialist presidential candidate was jailed without a trial. Furthermore the government sent in troops against the will of local authorities. Most historians believe that the subsequent violence was triggered by the presence of federal troops.

If you haven't read it, Nell Irvin Painter's "Standing at Armageddon" is an outstanding summary of the struggle for equality and the relentless use of federal troops to maintain the power of business leaders from 1877 to 1919.

The parallels between the Gilded Age and today are eerie.