From "Invalid Corps" to Full Active Duty: America's Disabled Soldiers Return to War

By Kayla M. Pittman, 7-14-15

Curator Dr. Katherine Ott invited students in Dr. Samuel J. Redman's Museum/Historic Site Interpretation Seminar to explore the museum's disability history collections and write blog posts sharing their research.

I wanted much to go to war
and went to be examined;
the surgeon looked me o'er and o'er
my back and chest he hammered.
Said he, "You're not the man for me,
Your lungs are much affected,
And likewise both your eyes are cock'd
And otherwise defected."
"So now I’m with the invalids,
and cannot go and fight sir,
The doctor told me so, you know,
And so it must be right, sir!"

Despite being jeered by songs like the one above (which appears in "The Civil War Letters of Colonel Charles F. Johnson: Invalid Corps" edited by Fred Pelka) and nicknamed "the Condemned Yanks" and "the Cripple Brigade," the Union Army's Invalid Corps eventually grew to twice the size the U.S. Army had been prior to the Civil War. In desperate need to free up fighting men for the front lines, the Union established the Invalid Corps in April of 1863.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine's online exhibition, Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War, states that the Corps filled its ranks with soldiers who had sustained combat wounds in the line of duty and was divided into two battalions based on physical ability. Men with less severe physical disabilities were assigned to the First Battalion. The First Battalion preformed garrison duty and even engaged in combat, whereas men who were more severely disabled were assigned to the Second Battalion. Soldiers serving in the Second Battalion were given duties as nurses, cooks, and clerks. Upwards of 1,400 men rejoined the war effort by joining the Corps even after they had been honorably discharged for their injuries.

Despite its formation as a "corps of Honor," the Invalid Corp was confronted with humiliation on a daily basis. The sky-blue uniforms of the Corps defined them apart from the regular army. As stated in Union Soldiers and the Northern Home Front, edited by Paul A. Cimbala and Randall M. Miller, the Corps' association with convalescent camps and hospitals was also problematic as many in the regular army viewed those locations as "asylums for shirks and cowards." But above all, the name Invalid Corps evoked shame and stigma.

The military used the initials I.C., meaning "inspected, condemned," to stamp items considered damaged and substandard. Soldiers serving in the Invalid Corps pushed back against the association between the military shorthand of I.C. and the name of their Corps. Their objections lead the Adjunct General's Office to ultimately change the Invalid Corp's official title to The Veteran Reserve Corps in 1864 and to command the purchase of regulation dark blue uniforms. By the end of the war, the Corps boasted 1,000 officers in command of over 60,000 enlisted men. Despite an outpouring of public support, the War Department officially disbanded the Corps in March of 1869.

By the conclusion of World War I, the federal government re-adopted the idea of putting disabled soldiers back to work although none returned to war. As stated on the American Association of People with Disabilities webpage, "After World War I, several laws were enacted recognizing for the first time the country's obligation to individuals injured in service." Both the Smith-Hughes Act and the Smith-Sears Veterans Rehabilitation Acts promoted the vocational rehabilitation of injured veterans. In the 20th century, disabled peoples were seen as broken and in need of fixing. Progressive Era federal policy makers believed that work rehabilitation would "cure" disability by reconstructing war cripples.

Today, developments in prosthetics have allowed the tradition of wounded men returning to war to resume. According to U.S. News and World Report, the Army has returned upwards of 167 soldiers with major amputations to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on active duty.

Of this number, some have gone back to the front lines while others have support roles. A study conducted by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has shown that soldiers from combat units have a greater return rate than those in non-combat units. Soldiers with disabilities wishing to return to the battle must petition for active duty assignment and pass examination by the Physical Evaluation Board. Of 395 amputees who went before the Board between 2000 and 2006, 16.5% returned to active duty, which is a 14.2% increase since the 1980s. Throughout the ages military men have continued to don their uniforms and return to the battle despite physical disabilities. Developments in prosthetics and rehabilitation have made this reality more apparent than ever as an increasing number of America’s wounded warriors soldier on.

Kayla M. Pittman is a graduate student in the History Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Image: In 1865, Company D of the 10th U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps was photographed in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

From: americanhistory.si.edu

Read more about the Invalid Corps at www.CivilWarRx.com

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What Happened to Civil War Soldiers After the War?

By:Chris, 6-6-11

Much has been written about the hardships of soldiering during the Civil War. However, what of the soldier when he returned home after the war? How did he reintegrate into society and what was left waiting for him? By the 1880s soldiers began to reminiscence about the war in memoirs and regimental histories. But yet there was still a population in both the North and South that drifted from soldier home to soldier home, from town to town, jail to jail and some (perhaps many) living their last days in insane asylums.

Most returned home, picked up the pieces, and moved on. But some could never find that peace.

The first step was returning home. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers traveled by train, horse and foot. Southern soldiers often had the hardest time getting back to their loved ones. Upon returning home, some soldiers might have found that the life they had left behind was gone.

James S. Dupray served honorably with the 12th Iowa Volunteer Regiment, he returned home to “find neither wife or children to greet me.” But that was not the truly stunning news for his “children [were] scattered one in one place and [one] another” and his “Dear wife in her grave.” The loss was almost more than James could bare, “I had nothing to live for and I wanted to lie down in the grave by her side…” Still for his children he soldiered on, selling all the property he had left (totaling $600) and putting it all into an investment property.” When home, one of the more difficult adjustments involved dealing with those who did not “do their duty” and fight for the Union. Dupray noted how those “loyal men [who] enlisted & gave in defence of their country, leaving the traitors at home to rule matters there.”

Families were often waiting in earnest for the return of love ones only to discover that the boy who left for war returned almost unrecognizable. Polly Razey McColley wrote to her son concerning the return from the war of his brother:

"He could not talk hardly any. I think he was out of his head when he first came home for when we saw him coming we went to meet him and Emily (his twin sister) got to him first and I see he could hardly walk and when I got to him I said Emery are you well and took hold of his hand. He said, yes I was never weller in my life…"

Soldiers who were either unwanted or unwilling to stay at home drifted from place to place. Many found their way West and to the Frontier. There some found peace, bought land, and settled down. However, others, such as a veteran name “Len” found themselves in deep trouble. He was put on trial for murder and it was found that “He is not violent but seems to be almost wholly devoid of his mental faculties.” They were not even sure who he was for sometime:

“Len,” is sixty odd years of age and a veteran of the Civil war, on account of which service he receives a pension. He was unable to tell anything of his relatives, but from papers found among his effects it is evident that he has a nephew, a lawyer and prominent citizen of Reading, Pennsylvania.

At one asylum, James Trainor, a Civil War veteran was reported in 1884 as being “insane suffering from Chronic Mania. This man is insane and [amaisotic]. Is unable to give an account of the date of the war, and yet says he was in the army, but knows not if he was in the Confederate or Federal army, if the war took place 5 or 50 years ago.” It is not know if he had a head injury or was simply ruined from his war experiences.

Yet another story that deserves to be presented in its entirety:

“This Is A Hard Way To Use A Man…”

You can’t help but feel sympathy for Uncle Con when you read through his 136-page Civil War pension file. He really was a poor old guy who was a bit overtaken by life. The file itself is a fascinating combination of dry bureaucratic government correspondence, personal letters dictated by Uncle Con, letters and documents from his sister, nieces and nephews and finally, the documents from his funeral and burial in 1917.

Uncle Con’s letters are primarily to various government officials inquiring about the status of his pension payments while he was institutionalized in a string of Soldier’s Homes and insane asylums between 1902 and 1916. What appears to have happened is that Con’s pension checks were, by law, sent to the institutions he was in to pay for his room and board. However, Uncle Con was convinced that he was being unjustly deprived of his money. To the government’s credit, each of his complaints was followed up and documented to show where his money was going.

His rambling letters show someone who was confused and a little paranoid. But they also show flashes of clarity and awareness and give crucial clues about his background to help fill in some of the large blank spots in his history. In spite of any mental illness, the letters also indicate that his treatment in these various homes consisted — not surprisingly — more of warehousing than care. The Soldier’s Homes may have given state-of-the-art care in their day, but seem to have been prone to the shortfalls common to many institutional care facilities even today.

Though records for insane asylums are often limited if not missing, it appears that a significant number of old veterans ended up being wards of the state in some fashion or another.

If it wasn’t the veteran putting himself in the asylum there are even records I have come across where a wife or family will admit their loved one and sometimes under false pretenses in order to gain access to their pension.

Larry M. Logue’s To Appomattox and Beyond : the Civil War Soldier in War and Peace (Chicago : I.R. Dee, c1996.) devotes several chapters to the Civil War soldier after the war. Here are some of his findings:

In 1879 the U.S. Surgeon General estimated that 45,000 veterans were addicted to morphine.

Newspapers often reported of destitute ex-soldiers and of veteran suicides.

By 1870 at least 3,200 veterans were staying in soldier homes in the North.

We also know that Southern soldiers returned to a defeated and often destitute home. It would be years until individual Southern states initiated pension plans, and the aid given could never match what the Union soldier received. Soldiers who suffered the amputation of a limb in both North and South faced hardships and destitution. luckily for the Northern soldier the soldier home and pension plans kept them afloat.

From: soldierstudies.org

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Returning to the Army

From: nlm.nih.gov

The Invalid Corps was established by the federal government in 1863 to employ disabled veterans in war-related work. Soldiers were divided up into two battalions, based on the extent of their injuries. The first carried weapons and fought in combat. The second, made up of men with more serious impairments, served as nurses, cooks, and prison guards. Despite the rigorous workload, members of the Invalid Corps (known as the “Cripple Brigade” among their former comrades ), were not offered the generous financial awards granted to re-enlisting soldiers and new recruits in the Union. Nicknamed “Inspected-Condemned” after the initials stamped on faulty goods, the Invalid Corps was renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps in 1864 to put an end to the mockery.

Image 1: Black and white poster of text reading: MEN WANTED FOR THE INVALID CORPS.
Recruitment poster for the Invalid Corps, 1860s

Image 2: Black and white photoraph of a large group of uniformed solders standing in front, and on the balcony, of a white, two-story building. Company D, 10th US Veteran Reserve Corps, Washington D.C., 1865

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Sacrifices Forgotten - Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War

From: nlm.nih.gov

The selflessness of soldiers fostered great respect in the years after the war. Pension payments were increased regularly, and men pursuing political office often found that their obvious injury proved useful in attracting voters. Yet as Americans sought to put the memory of the conflict behind them, they increasingly ignored the plight of aging, disabled, impoverished veterans. Instead, memorializing the dead and asserting national patriotism became the focus of Civil War remembrances, and the image of the disabled soldier became one of a money-grabbing dependent.

Image: "Puck" magazine, 20 December 1882. By the 1880s support for the veteran was diminishing, as seen in this representation of a Union soldier grasping, ironically with many arms, at government funds.

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February 13, 1863: Soldiers' Home in Memphis

From: "Civil War Medicine: Care and Comfort of the Wounded" by Robert E. Denney

On this date, the Western Sanitary Commission opened a Soldier's Home in Memphis, Tenn, in the buildings and grounds that were the former home of a Confederate officer. The grounds, containing about six acres, contained a large mansion which had a great hall, a front porch, a large piazza in the rear, many large rooms, and an excellent kitchen Many large trees were on the grounds and nearly three acres were set aside for gardens. Only discharged and invalid soldiers were permitted to stay at the Home, which served as a way station. Because of so many of this category of soldier arriving by steamer, the Western Sanitary Commission in conjunction with the United States Sanitary Commission fitted a temporary "lodge" near the steamboat landing where arriving "guests" could be housed overnight before being transferred to the Home. The Home at Memphis had been donated at no cost to the government, nor to the Commission. The government furnished rations that were supplemented by the Commission. The Memphis Home was place in charge of Mr. O.E. Waters,, with Miss A.L. Ostram serving as Matron. In a three-month period (February-April), this facility furnished lodgings to 1976 "guests" and served over 4000 meals.

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This Woman Is the Last Civil War Pensioner Alive

Sam Frizell
May 10, 2014

The last living child of a Civil War veteran, Irene Triplett still receives a monthly pension from the federal government

Irene Triplett, 84, receives a $73.13 monthly pension payment from the Department of Veteran Affairs every month. It’s for her father’s military service—in the American Civil War.

Triplett is the last child of any Civil War veteran to still receive benefits for the conflict that ended a century-and-a-half ago, the Wall Street Journal reports. Triplett’s father, Mose Triplett, was born in 1846 and joined the Confederate forces in 1862 before deserting and signing up with the Union. In the 1920s, he married a women 50 years his junior, who later gave birth to Irene.

16 widows and children of veterans from the 1898 Spanish-American War still receive benefits from the VA. While the last World War I veteran died in 2011, 4,038 widows and children still get monthly payments for their family members’ service in that conflict.

From: time.com

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The Civil War: The Origins of Veterans’ Health Care

by Jerome W. Mapp

When the Civil War ended its bloody run on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, Va., more than 600,000 of the 2.4 million Union and Confederate troops were either killed in combat or by disease. Thousands more would require long-term care for their mental or physical wounds of war. America’s costliest and bloodiest conflict would have a profound effect on health care for Veterans.

When the Civil War began on April 12, 1861, it is estimated America had 80,000 Veterans from previous conflicts, who were treated at a handful of Veterans homes scattered across the nation. The Civil War added more than 1.9 million Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines to the rolls.

After the war, benefits for Civil War Veterans were restricted to those Veterans who had fought on the Union side; Confederate soldiers were not legally recognized as Veterans until 1958, when they were pardoned by the U.S. Congress for taking up arms against the nation.

According to Darlene Richardson, historian for the Veterans Health Administration, pre-Civil War Veterans received long-term treatment at a handful of Soldiers and Sailors homes scattered around the country.

“One of the original homes for veterans was the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia, which was established in 1811 and officially opened in 1834, it housed sick and disabled naval officers, seamen, and Marines.” according to Richardson.

“The National Soldiers Home, established in 1851, in [northeast Washington] D.C., housed Veterans of the War With Mexico (1846-1848) until the Civil War began, when Union soldiers received care there, too.” The National Soldiers Home today is known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) Washington, D.C.

In the 1960s, the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia closed and a new facility known as the U.S. Naval Home was constructed in Gulfport, Miss. Congress merged operations of the U.S. Naval Home with the National Soldiers Home into one administrative unit in 1991 and the National Soldiers Home was renamed as the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH). Today, both facilities house men and women of all military branches.

St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in southeast Washington, D.C., authorized in 1855, was originally called the Government Hospital for the Insane, and was actively used during the Civil War. Union and Confederate Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, including African-American troops, were treated at the hospital. President Abraham Lincoln, a frequent visitor to the hospital, noted that the many casualties created by the war often resulted in overcrowding at the hospital. Tents were erected behind the hospital to handle the overflow of combat casualties.

In 1865, with so many Veterans needing long-term care, Lincoln appealed to Congress and the nation in his second Inaugural address, “…to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.” Those words later became the motto of the Veterans Administration, which became the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989.

“Lincoln’s efforts resulted in creation of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) in March 1865, which established a national government home for Veterans of the Union’s volunteer forces. The National Asylum was overseen by a Board of 12 managers. Eventually there were 11 National Homes.” Richardson said. “In 1873, they [the board] renamed it the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers because the word asylum was starting to have negative connotations.”

The eleven NHDVS properties established between 1865-1930 were known as: the Eastern Branch in Togus, Maine (now Togus VA medical Center); the Northwestern Branch in Milwaukee, Wis. (now Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center); the Central Branch in Dayton, Ohio (now Dayton VA Medical Center); the Southern Branch in Hampton, Va. (now Hampton VA Medical Center); the Western Branch in Leavenworth, Kan. (now Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center); the Pacific Branch in West Los Angeles, Calif. (now Greater Los Angeles Healthcare system-West Los Angeles Healthcare Center); the Marion Branch in Marion, Ind. (now VA Northern Indiana Health Care system); the Danville Branch in Danville, Ill. (now VA Illiana Health Care System); the Battle Mountain Sanitarium in Hot Springs, S.D. (now VA Black Hills Health Care System); the Mountain Home Branch in Johnson City, Tenn. (now Mountain Home VA Medical Center); and the Bath Branch in Bath, N.Y. (now Bath VA Medical Center).

Initially, each home served as little more than a domiciliary (soldiers’ home) that provided medical care. Over time, the homes offered recreational activities, libraries, and church services. According to the 1900 board of manager's annual report, several homes maintained theaters, libraries, and billiard halls.

Some of the homes offered Veterans games such as dominoes, checkers, chess, backgammon, cards, boating, skating, pool, and croquet. At the homes’ theaters, Veterans were entertained with concerts, comedies, melodramas, musicals, vaudeville, and lectures.

When the Veterans Administration was established in 1930, all 11 homes, plus three newly authorized homes in St. Petersburg, Fla., Biloxi, Miss., and Roseburg, Ore., became part of VA.

Four of the original National Homes are currently under consideration for designation as National Historical Landmarks. They are: the Northwestern Branch (Milwaukee, Wis.), the Western Branch (Leavenworth, Ks.), the Mountain Home Branch (Johnson City, Tenn.) and the Battle Mountain Sanitarium (Hot Springs, S.D.).

The organization of aid to America’s Veterans has changed over the decades, but our respect and sentiment for their contributions remains the same. VA is proud to carry on America’s legacy of caring for its military Veterans.

Image: Civil War Veterans receive medical treatment at the Bath Branch of the National Soldiers Home in Bath, N.Y. VHA Historical Photo

From: va.gov

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Appropriating Allowances for Maimed Confederate Soldiers (No. 48)

OFFICE OF SURGEON GENERAL UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 9, 1890.

Appropriating Allowances for Maimed Confederate Soldiers (No. 48)

        AN ACT to amend an act, approved October 24, 1887, entitled "An act to carry into effect the last clause of article 7, section 1, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of 1877 and the amendments thereto."
        SECTION I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Georgia, That the act approved October, 24, 1887, entitled "An act to carry into effect the last clause of article 7, section I, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of 1877, as amended by vote of the people October, 1886," be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking therefrom the first section of said act, and inserting in lieu thereof the following, to-wit: "That any person who enlisted in the military service of the Confederate States, or of this State, during the civil war between the States of the United States, who was a bona fide citizen of this State on the 26th day of October 1886, who lost a limb or limbs while engaged in said military service, occasioned by reason of such military service, or who may have thus received wounds or injuries which afterward caused the loss of a limb or limbs," or who may have been permanently injured while in said service, and who may be a bona fide citizen of this State at the time of making application for the benefits herein provided for, shall be entitled to receive, once a year, the following allowances or pay for the purposes expressed in article 7, section 1, paragraph 1 (and the amendment thereto), of the Constitution of 1877, to wit:
        For total loss of sight, one hundred and fifty dollars.
        For total loss of sight of one eye, thirty dollars.
        For total loss of hearing, thirty dollars.
        For loss of all of a foot or loss of leg, one hundred dollars.
        For loss of all of a hand or loss of arm, one hundred dollars.
        For loss of both hands or both arms, one hundred and fifty dollars.
        For loss of both feet or both legs, one hundred and fifty dollars.
        For the loss of one hand or foot, and one arm or leg by same person, one hundred and fifty dollars.
        For permanent injuries from wounds whereby a leg is rendered substantially and essentially useless, fifty dollars.
        For permanent injuries from wounds whereby an arm is rendered substantially and essentially useless, fifty dollars.
        For the loss of one finger or one toe, five dollars.
        For the loss of two fingers or two toes, ten dollars.
        For the loss of three fingers or three toes, fifteen dollars.
        For the loss of four fingers or four toes, twenty dollars.
        For the loss of four fingers and thumb, or five toes, twenty-five dollars.
        For other permanent injury from wounds or disease, contracted during the service, and while in line of duty as a soldier, whereby the person injured or diseased has been rendered practically incompetent to perform the ordinary manual avocations of life, fifty dollars.
        The applicant shall also procure the sworn statements of two reputable physicians of his own country, showing precisely how he has been wounded and the extent of the disability resulting from the wound or injury or disease described. All of said affidavits shall be certified to be genuine by the Ordinary of the county where made, and he shall in his certificate state that all the witnesses who testily to applicants' proofs are persons of respectability and good reputation, and that their statements are worthy of belief, and also that the attesting officer or officers are duly authorized to attest said proofs and that their signatures thereto are genuine.
        SEC. IV. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That said act be further amended by adding: That the beneficiaries under the Acts of 1879 and the acts amendatory thereof, granting allowances to ex-Confederate soldiers who lost a limb or limbs in the service, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, at the time the next payments are made to other disabled beneficiaries under the Act of 1887. And the sum necessary to make the payments provided by this act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
        SEC. V. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all laws and parts of (*) laws in conflict with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.
Approved December 24, 1888.

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Veterans Health Administration

The first Federal agency to provide medical care to veterans was the Naval Home in Philadelphia, PA. The home was created in 1812 and was followed by the creation of Soldiers Home in 1853 and St. Elizabeth's Hospital in 1855. Congress created the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in 1865 in response to the high number of Civil War casualties. These homes were initially intended to be room and board for disabled veterans. However, by the late 1920s, the homes were providing a level of care comparable to hospital care.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the medical assistance program of the VA through the administration and operation of numerous VA medical centers (VAMC), Outpatient Clinics (OPC), Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC), and VA Community Living Centers (VA Nursing Home) Programs.

The VHA is distinct from the U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System of which it is not a part.

The VHA division has more employees than all other elements of the VA combined.

From: wikipedia.org

IMAGE: Soldiers Home, Philadelphia

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The Civil War: The Origins of Veterans’ Health Care

From: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Va.gov

When the Civil War ended its bloody run on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, Va., more than 600,000 of the 2.4 million Union and Confederate troops were either killed in combat or by disease. Thousands more would require long-term care for their mental or physical wounds of war. America’s costliest and bloodiest conflict would have a profound effect on health care for Veterans.

When the Civil War began on April 12, 1861, it is estimated America had 80,000 Veterans from previous conflicts, who were treated at a handful of Veterans homes scattered across the nation. The Civil War added more than 1.9 million Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines to the rolls.

After the war, benefits for Civil War Veterans were restricted to those Veterans who had fought on the Union side; Confederate soldiers were not legally recognized as Veterans until 1958, when they were pardoned by the U.S. Congress for taking up arms against the nation.

According to Darlene Richardson, historian for the Veterans Health Administration, pre-Civil War Veterans received long-term treatment at a handful of Soldiers and Sailors homes scattered around the country.

“The National Soldiers Home, established in 1851, in [northeast Washington] D.C., housed Veterans of the War With Mexico (1846-1848) until the Civil War began, when Union soldiers received care there, too.” The National Soldiers Home today is known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) Washington, D.C.

In the 1960s, the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia closed and a new facility known as the U.S. Naval Home was constructed in Gulfport, Miss. Congress merged operations of the U.S. Naval Home with the National Soldiers Home into one administrative unit in 1991 and the National Soldiers Home was renamed as the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH). Today, both facilities house men and women of all military branches.

St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in southeast Washington, D.C., authorized in 1855, was originally called the Government Hospital for the Insane, and was actively used during the Civil War. Union and Confederate Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, including African-American troops, were treated at the hospital. President Abraham Lincoln, a frequent visitor to the hospital, noted that the many casualties created by the war often resulted in overcrowding at the hospital. Tents were erected behind the hospital to handle the overflow of combat casualties.

In 1865, with so many Veterans needing long-term care, Lincoln appealed to Congress and the nation in his second Inaugural address, “…to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.” Those words later became the motto of the Veterans Administration, which became the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989.

“Lincoln’s efforts resulted in creation of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) in March 1865, which established a national government home for Veterans of the Union’s volunteer forces. The National Asylum was overseen by a Board of 12 managers. Eventually there were 11 National Homes.” Richardson said. “In 1873, they [the board] renamed it the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers because the word asylum was starting to have negative connotations.”

The eleven NHDVS properties established between 1865-1930 were known as: the Eastern Branch in Togus, Maine (now Togus VA Medical Center); the Northwestern Branch in Milwaukee, Wis. (now Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center); the Central Branch in Dayton, Ohio (now Dayton VA Medical Center); the Southern Branch in Hampton, Va. (now Hampton VA Medical Center); the Western Branch in Leavenworth, Kan. (now Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center); the Pacific Branch in West Los Angeles, Calif. (now Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System-West Los Angeles Healthcare Center); the Marion Branch in Marion, Ind. (now VA Northern Indiana Health Care System); the Danville Branch in Danville, Ill. (now VA Illiana Health Care System); the Battle Mountain Sanitarium in Hot Springs, S.D. (now VA Black Hills Health Care System); the Mountain Home Branch in Johnson City, Tenn. (now Mountain Home VA Medical Center); and the Bath Branch in Bath, N.Y. (now Bath VA Medical Center).

Initially, each home served as little more than a domiciliary (soldiers’ home) that provided medical care. Over time, the homes offered recreational activities, libraries, and church services. According to the 1900 board of manager's annual report, several homes maintained theaters, libraries, and billiard halls.

Some of the homes offered Veterans games such as dominoes, checkers, chess, backgammon, cards, boating, skating, pool, and croquet. At the homes’ theaters, Veterans were entertained with concerts, comedies, melodramas, musicals, vaudeville, and lectures.

When the Veterans Administration was established in 1930, all 11 homes, plus three newly authorized homes in St. Petersburg, Fla., Biloxi, Miss., and Roseburg, Ore., became part of VA.

Four of the original National Homes are currently under consideration for designation as National Historical Landmarks. They are: the Northwestern Branch (Milwaukee, Wis.), the Western Branch (Leavenworth, Ks.), the Mountain Home Branch (Johnson City, Tenn.) and the Battle Mountain Sanitarium (Hot Springs, S.D.).

The organization of aid to America’s Veterans has changed over the decades, but our respect and sentiment for their contributions remains the same. VA is proud to carry on America’s legacy of caring for its military Veterans.

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