The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865, in the United States by Congress to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in the Union forces in the American Civil War. Initially, the Asylum, later called the Home, was planned to have three branches: in the Northeast, in the central area north of the Ohio River, and in what was then considered the Northwest, the present upper Midwest.
The Board of Managers, charged with governance of the Home, added seven more branches between 1870 and 1907 as broader eligibility requirements allowed more veterans to apply for admission. The effects of World War I, which resulted in a new veteran population of over five million men and women, brought dramatic changes to the National Home and all other governmental agencies responsible for veterans' benefits. In 1930 the Veterans Administration was established, to consolidate all veterans' programs into a single Federal agency. The several wars since then in the 20th and 21st centuries have resulted in more veterans needing services.
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 were thought to temporarily have conditions that could be cured or corrected.Rothman, David J, The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic, Boston, MA 1971, pg. 131-13 But, the term had some negative connotations. In January 1873, the Board of Managers gained approval of the name, 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 government offered land grants to veterans as compensation for their service, particularly following the Revolutionary War, when it used the land grant system to develop unsettled 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 offer of free land kept the pension system relatively small until after the Civil War.
In 1811 the United States Navy was authorized by Congress to establish a permanent shelter for its veterans; construction was started in 1827. The United States Sailors' Home, located in Philadelphia as part of the Navy Yard, was opened in 1833.Cetina, Judith Gladys, A History of Veterans' Homes in the United States, 1811-1930, Ph.D. Diss., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 1977, pg. 30-39 In 1827, Secretary of War James Barbour suggested a similar institution for the Army, but Congressional lack of interest and funding meant such a project was delayed.Cetina (1977), History of Veterans' Homes, pg. 39-53
In 1851, legislation introduced by Jefferson Davis, senator from Mississippi and former secretary of war, was enacted by Congress. It appropriated funds for construction of the United States Soldiers' Home. The Soldiers' Home was open to all men who were regular or volunteer members of the army with 20 years' service and who had contributed to the home's support through pay withdrawals.
When the Soldiers' Home was being organized in 1851 and 1852, it was intended to have at least four branches. 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.Paul R. Goode, The United States Soldiers' Home, Richmond, VA 1957, pg. 24-26, pg. 45-46 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.Goode, Soldiers' Home, pg. 99
The Civil War was the first event in the history of the United States considered to be national in the scale of citizen involvement, and in its effects on the daily lives of people communities in both the North and the South. The Civil War was a war of volunteers and draftees, 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; it secured permission from President Lincoln in the summer of 1861 to deliver medical supplies to the battle front, build field hospitals staffed with volunteer nurses (mostly women), and raise funds to support the commission's programs.For the work of the Sanitary Commission: William Q. Maxwell, Lincoln's Fifth Wheel: The Political History of the United States Sanitary Commission, London, 1956 As the war continued, civilian leaders began to address the issue of caring for the numerous veterans who would require assistance once the war ended. Members of the Sanitary Commission favored the pension system rather than permanent institutional care for the disabled veteran; the commission feared that a permanent institution would become a poorhouse for veterans.Robert Bremner, The Public Good: Philanthropy and Welfare in the Civil War Era Other groups favored as strongly the establishment of a soldiers' asylum, to ensure provision of quality care. The groups gathered information on European military asylums, particularly the Invalides in Paris. They tended to find evidence to support their opinions on either side of the concept of a soldiers' asylum.Cetina, History of Veterans' Homes, pg. 61-72
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. The creation of a national institution to serve the veterans was an affirmation of that national victory. When the institution was established, supporters likely had a limited awareness of the potential need among future veterans. But, more than 2,000,000 men served in the Union Army, a third of the white men of military age (13 to 43 years old in 1860).Maris A. Vinovskis, "Have Social Historians Lost the Civil War? Some Preliminary Demographic Speculations," Toward A Social History of the American Civil War, Cambridge, 1990, pg. 9 If the number of men disabled in service equaled a sixth of the soldiers who died in the war, the number eligible for admission to the National Asylum would have been more than 300,000.
Board of Managers (1866–1916) It took time for the new institution to be organized, including design and construction of the building. The original corporation could not secure a quorum for a year after being authorized. In March 1866, Congress passed new legislation to replace the 100-member corporation with a twelve-member board of managers, a more manageable group. Still, they had to select the sites, arrange supervision of construction projects, and designate local officials while serving as unpaid volunteers of an independent Federal agency. The managers of the Asylum looked to past models and local efforts to guide the creation of the institution.
The Board of Managers of the National Asylum met for the first time in Washington, D.C. on May 16, 1866. Their first priority was the selection of sites for the three branches of the national institution, based on geographic distribution. They established criteria for site evaluation: a healthy site with fresh air and ample water supply, located 3 to from a city, and consisting of a tract of at least , connected to the city by a railroad.Board of Managers of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Proceedings, May 16, 1866, p.2 The Board issued a bulletin to newspapers and to governors of the northern states requesting proposals for sites to be donated or sold for use by the branches. Proposals were due before July 12. In addition, the Board advertised for plans, specifications, and estimates for the construction of asylum buildings.
At the September 1866 Board meeting, General Benjamin Butler, the President of the Board, proposed the purchase of a bankrupt resort at Togus, Maine, near Augusta, as the eastern branch of the Asylum. In regards to a Milwaukee location or a northwestern branch, the Board directed that an executive committee visit the city to select a site. Possible locations for a central branch were discussed.
At the December 7, 1866 meeting of the Board, the executive committee announced its approval of a Milwaukee location. The Board directed them to return to Milwaukee to purchase a site and arrange for the construction of asylum buildings, as well as the transfer of veterans currently housed in the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home in Milwaukee, operated by the Lady Managers of the Home Society.Board of Managers of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Proceedings, December 7, 1866, p.7 At the same meeting, the Board approved the purchase of the Togus site. Veterans had already been moved into the former hotel on the site in November 1866. The Central Branch location in Dayton, Ohio, was not selected until September 1867.Dayton's soldiers' home was among the country's first to care for veterans , by Lisa Powell, staff writer, Dayton Daily News, 24 May 2019. Accessed March 2020.
The selection of the sites for the three branches was based on three motivations: practical, political and economic. First, the Board needed sites ready to be used immediately before the second winter after the war, and before the time of the November 1866 elections. The Togus site, having been a resort, had a sufficient number of buildings appropriate for housing the disabled veterans. Choosing Dayton as the Central Branch site satisfied the powerful Ohio faction in Congress, as well as the numerous Union generals from Ohio, particularly William Tecumseh Sherman. Locating the Northwestern Branch at Milwaukee resulted in the Board of Managers gaining a large cash donation from the Ladies Managers, enabling them both to purchase a site and have funds left to begin construction.