National Home For Disabled Volunteer Soldiers - Beginning of The National Home

Beginning of The National Home

The National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was originally called the National Asylum in the legislation approved by Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in March, 1865. The term "asylum" was used in the 19th century for institutions caring for dependent members of society, such as the insane and the poor, who temporarily suffered from conditions that could hopefully be cured or corrected. However, the term had negative connotations which the Board of Managers, in the early years of the National Asylum, did not want attached by the deserving disabled veterans of the Union Army. In January 1873, the name of the institution was changed to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

From the Revolutionary War through the Civil War, the small number of Veterans of American Wars had three sources of assistance from the Federal government. The vast amounts of land under the control of the government were offered to Veterans as land grants for their support after service. The land grant system also benefited the government in encouraging Veterans and their families to settle in undeveloped territories of the new nation. In 1833, the Federal government established the Bureau of Pensions which made small cash payments to veterans; the low numbers of the veteran population and the more attractive the offer of free land kept the pension system relatively small unit after the Civil War.

The United States Navy had been authorized by Congress to establish a permanent shelter for its veterans in 1811, with construction eventually being undertaken in 1827. The United States Sailors' Home, located in Philadelphia as part of the Navy Yard, was occupied in 1833. The idea of a similar institution for the Army was raised by the Secretary of War, James Barbour, in 1827, however, lack of interest and lack of funding on the part of Congress, delayed action on the realization of a soldiers' home. In 1851, legislation introduced by Jefferson Davis, senator from Mississippi and former secretary of war as well as a graduate from West Point, was enacted by Congress and funds were appropriated for the creation of the United States Soldiers’ Home. The Soldiers’ Home was open to all men who were regular or volunteer members of the army with twenty years service and had contributed to its support through pay contributions.

When the Soldiers’ Home was being organized in 1851 and 1852, it was intended to have at least four branches, and its organization and administration were based on the army’s command structure and staffed with regular army officers. The Soldiers’ Home was managed by a board of commissioners, although drawn from army officers; each branch had a governor, deputy governor, and secretary-treasure; the members were organized into companies and the daily routine followed the military schedule; all members wore uniforms; and workshops were provided for members wanting or required to work. When the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was being organized in 1866, the National Soldiers’ Home assisted the asylum’s board by explaining its regulations and offering suggestions.

The Civil War was the first experience in the history of the United States that was truly national in involvement of its citizens and in the impact on daily life in communities in both the north and the south. The Civil War was a war of volunteers, both military and civilian. Very early in the war, it became clear to social leaders in the North that new programs were required to deliver medical care to the wounded beyond what was available through the official military structure.

The leading civilian organization was the United States Sanitary Commission which had secured permission from President Lincoln in the summer of 1861 to deliver medical supplies to the battle front, to build adequate field hospitals staffed with volunteer nurses (mostly women), and to raise funds to support the commission’s programs. As the war continued, civilian leaders began to address the issue of caring for the larger number of veterans who would require assistance once the war ended. The Sanitary commission favored the pension system rather than permanent institutional care for the disabled veteran; the commission feared that a permanent institution would be nothing more than a poorhouse for veterans. Other groups were as strongly in favor of the establishment of a soldiers’ asylum as the Sanitary Commission as opposed to the concept. All the groups gathered information on European military asylums, particularly the Invalides in Paris, to use in either opposing or supporting the creation of a disabled volunteer soldiers’ asylum.

When President Lincoln signed legislation creating the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in March, 1865, the nation was in a period of heightened emotional response to the approaching peace. The victory of the Union was seen as the triumph of the nation, and the creation of a national institution to serve the defenders of the Union was an affirmation of that national victory. At the time of its creation, the supporters of the National Asylum probably had only limited awareness of the number of veterans who could potentially become members of the national Asylum. The number of troops which fought for the Union would have indicated the potential membership, over 2,000,000 men, a third of the white men of military age served in the Union Army(13 to 43 years old in 1860). If the number of men who were disabled in service through loss of limb, wounds, or disease equaled the sixth that died in the war, the number eligible for admission to the National Asylum would have been over 300,000.