Soldiers' Home

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SOLDIERS' HOME

SOLDIERS' HOME. The United States Naval Home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the first home for disabled veterans. Authorized in 1811 but not completed and occupied until 1831, the home sheltered "disabled and decrepit Navy officers, seamen and Marines." Modern-day applicants must have served during wartime in the navy, marine corps, or coast guard, and be disabled. Each member of the navy and marine corps contributes a small amount per month for the support of the home, which is also subsidized by fines imposed on navy personnel.

A bill introduced by Jefferson Davis, then a senator from Mississippi, and eventually approved by Congress on 3 March 1851, authorized the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home in Washington, D.C. In addition to serving as a place of residence for both men and women veterans, the home provides medical treatment, nursing, and hospital care as required. Enlisted members and warrant officers of the regular army and air force who have had twenty years of service are eligible. War veterans with fewer than twenty years of service also qualify. Enlisted members and warrant officers of the regular army and air force contribute a small fraction of their monthly earnings to support the home, which also benefits from court-martial fines, unclaimed estates of deceased members, and a portion of the post funds of the army and air force. From 1862 to 1864 President Abraham Lincoln used this home as his summer residence.

On 3 March 1865 Congress created the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, an agency to provide a place of residence, complete medical treatment, and hospital care. On 21 March 1866, Congress amended the original act. The first home under its auspices opened in Augusta, Maine, and soon thereafter, others were established in Dayton, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Hampton, Virginia. By 1930 seven more branches existed, bringing total capacity to approximately twenty-five thousand. In 1923, accommodations for women veterans became available. In 1930 the National Home, the Veterans Bureau, and the Pension Bureau of the Department of the Interior consolidated to form the Veterans Administration (VA). By 1975 the VA had provided additional domiciliary care at eighteen field stations, four of which admitted women veterans.

By the mid-1970s most states and the District of Columbia operated soldiers' homes. All provided residential and nursing care, and some offered hospital care. States receive a subsidy from the VA for the care of eligible veterans and for the construction of nursing homes and the improvement of existing buildings. Some homes admit spouses, widows, and mothers of veterans. At many homes, residents must pay to the institution any personal income in excess of a certain amount.

Thirteen southern states maintained homes for Confederate veterans. These homes, which received no federal support, closed in the 1920s and 1930s. Missouri and Oklahoma maintained separate homes for Union and Confederate veterans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hyman, Harold M. American Singularity: The 1787 Northwest Ordinance, the 1862 Homestead and Morrill Acts, and the 1944 G.I. Bill. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986.

Kelly, Patrick J. Creating a National Home: Building the Veterans' Welfare State, 1860–1900. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997.

Resch, John Phillips. Suffering Soldiers: Revolutionary War Veterans, Moral Sentiment, and Political Culture in the Early Republic. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999.

Rosenburg, R. B. Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers' Homes in the New South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.

AngelaEllis

Carl S.McCarthy