soldiers' home

A veterans' retirement home and a historic landmark since 1973, located in Washington, D.C. was purchased by the U.S. Government in 1851 and used by President Abraham Lincoln and his family as a summer home from 1862 to 1864. Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation at the home. It has also been known as Anderson Cottage since 1884, when it was named after Brevet Maj. Robert Anderson, a Civil War commander who advocated the establishment of a home for soldiers.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

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.

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Many of the original old soldiers' homes were constructed in high Victorian style, like the New Hampshire Soldiers' Home in Tilton, New Hampshire.

An old soldiers' home is a veteran's hospital or an institution devoted to the care of the widows and orphans of a nation's soldiers, sailors and marines, etc.

United States

The first national old soldiers' home in the U.S. was established in Washington, D.C. in 1851. The Old Soldier's Home (Washington), now known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home, was the site of President Abraham Lincoln's summer home during the Civil War and is adjacent to National Cemetery, the first federal military cemetery in the U.S. President Lincoln's Cottage has been designated a National Monument, and recently underwent renovation. It reopened to the public on President's Day, February 18, 2008.

The Home has remained in continuous use since its establishment in 1851. It is funded through a small monthly contribution from the pay of members of the U.S. Armed Services. It is located on a beautiful 250-acre (1.0 km²) wooded campus overlooking the U.S. Capitol in the heart of D.C. and continues to serve as a retirement home for U.S. enlisted men and women.

Within the United States, most old soldiers' homes were established following the Civil War with state monies. The old soldiers' home system was not replaced by the Veterans Administration. The VA is federal and the old soldiers' homes are run by states. Confederate soldiers were supported entirely at the state level with no funds from the federal government against which they had fought.

List of old soldiers' homes within the United States

It was not unusual for old soldiers to live out their old age and die under the institutional care of the home, including at the Soldiers' Home in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California.

• Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home (Illinois Veterans Home), Quincy, Illinois
• Indiana State Soldiers Home, West Lafayette, Indiana
• Iowa Veterans Home, Marshalltown, Iowa
• Los Angeles Disabled Veterans Home, Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California
• Kansas State Soldiers' Home, Leavenworth, Kansas
• Michigan Soldiers' Home, Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Missouri State Federal Soldiers' Home, St. James, Missouri
• Minnesota Veterans Home, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Montana State Soldiers' Home, Columbia Falls, Montana
• New Hampshire Soldiers' Home, Tilton, New Hampshire
• New York State Soldiers and Sailors Home, Bath, New York
• Soldiers' Home, Chelsea, Massachusetts
• Rhode Island Soldiers' Home, Bristol, Rhode Island
• Soldiers and Sailors' Home, Grand Island, Nebraska
• Soldiers' Home, Danville, Illinois
• National Soldiers' Home, Dayton, Ohio
• National Soldiers' Home, Johnson City, Tennessee
• Soldiers' Home, Hampton, Virginia
• Soldiers' Home, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Soldiers' Home, Orting, Washington
• Soldiers' Home, Sandusky, Ohio
• Soldiers' Home, Washington, D.C.
• South Dakota State Soldiers' Home, Hot Springs, South Dakota
• Vermont Soldiers' Home, Bennington, Vermont
• Armed Forces Retirement Home, Washington, D.C.
• Veterans Home of California, Yountville, California
• Wisconsin Veterans Home at King, King, Wisconsin [1]
• Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove, Union Grove, Wisconsin [2]

Scott Building and Anderson's Cottage, Soldiers' Home, Washington, D.C.

Soldiers home in Dayton, Ohio

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