Sweet Madame Blue

Sleep sweetly in your humble graves,

Sleep, martyrs of a fallen cause.

Life In Civl War America - Eastern Acorn Press

Wartime is by nature abnormal. As Americans learned most recently from their Vietnam experience, even a distant war deranges the routine of life at home. Men leave to fight, and some never return. Episodes of heroism and cowardice, sacrifice and exploitation color the moral landscape in extremes. Civil liberties usually taken for granted are suddenly challenged, even restricted. Nothing in life seems to move in its normal groove so long as the war continues.

Civil war compounds these problems and adds new ones. The conflict is not remote but fought within a nation's own borders. Every casualty is a citizen, every piece of damage a national loss. The struggle pits brother against brother, friend against friend. The carnage of war drenches familiar landscape, leaving scars and wounds that will not heal for generations. It is as if some form of madness has seized the land and wreaks bloody destruction until it drops at last of exhaustion.

Northerners and Southerners faced common problems during four years of madness: how did they cope with the horrors and uncertainties of Civil War?

For most northerns the war was a distant but not remote event. Except for Lee's brief invasions of Maryland in 1862 and Pennsylvania in 1863, some fighting in the western border states, and a few raids, their cities and farms escaped the devastation that blighted large areas of the South. Seldom did the din of combat reach their ears or the menance of invading troops disturb their daily routines. Life went on, not as usual, but at least with a minimum of disruption.

But distance from the battlefield could not protect Northerners from the effects of war. The ordeal of sustaining so massive a struggle intruded upon people's lives in countless ways. The most obvious of these was of course the absence of friends and kinfolk in the service. Every town and hamlet watched its young men depart for the front, some to die and others to return home with maimed bodies or broken spirits.

Concern for the safety of loved ones permeated households throughout the North.

The slowness with which accuate details and casualty lists reached home after a major battle aggravated their distress. In this was distance from the seat of war bred anxiety as well as security. The pain of loss often found expression in popular culture. Two Civil War composers, George F. Root and Henry Clay Work, depicted it in their songs. One immensely popular turn by Root included the following lyrics (written by Henry Stevenson Washburn):

At our fireside sad and lonely

Often will the bosom swell

At remembrance of the story

How our noble Willie fell;

How he strove to bear our banner

Through the thickest of the fight,

And uphold our country's honor

In the strength of manhood's might.

(Chorus)

We shall meet, but we shall miss him,

There will be one vacant chair;

We will linger to caress him,

When we breathe our evening prayer.

The presence of men in uniform, whether home on leave or forming into newly organized units, served as constant reminders to civilians. Soldiers could be found on the streets of towns and villages everywhere. In a city like Washington they were essential for keeping order, one report declared that without them, "This District would have been simply uninhabitable." Returning wounded also brought home stark evidence of their ordeal in combat. Rare was the town that did not welcome home a veteran minus an arm or leg or worse.

Hospitals filled with wounded had a similar effect. As the city nearest the eastern theatre, Washington endured the greatest crush of incoming casualties. Sick and wounded soldiers overflowed the hospitals into converted rooms in churches, the insane asylum, government buildings like the Patent Office and even the hallways of the Capitol. At times their number exceeded 50,000, "a population," Walt Whitman observed, "more numerousin itself than the Washington of ten or fifteen years ago." Creaking carts lumbered through the streets every night bearing their cargoes of dead to the cemeteries.

Some towns alsow housed army camps or prisoner-of war compounds. Another agent of war, the conscription officer, began appearing after 1862 once the enlistment enthusiam had passed. These officers became objects of loathing and often violence in many places, as did officers searching for deserters. During 1863 draft riots plunged New York City into turmoil, and in the lower midwest resistance to the draft led to riots, the murdering of several draft officers,and a string of "outrages, robberies, incendiary fires."

The conflict had its psychological effects as well. In 1863 the superintendent of the Illinois State Hospital for the Insance argued tha the strain of war had brought a "vast invigoration of the American Mind...national athleticism on a grand scale." But the shocks and dislocations of wartiem did not find true reflection in mental instituions, partly because so few of their victims ended up there. A more perceptive judgment came from historian H.C. Hubbart, who conclued that "the West and the nation as a whole was torn by war-strain, indecision, party faction and demagogism,anxiety, sacrifice, devotion, suffering, insanity, and death. Democracy was in convulsion."

Apart from its advantage in men and guns, the northern war effort depened upon its superior industrial and agricultural might. In terms of productivity the war was fought as much at home as on the battlefield, and this struggle enlisted men, women, and children alike. The increased demand for goods, coupled with the drain of man power for military service, meant that there were fewer people to do more work. Farm and factory responded to thi need by increasing their use of machinery to replace human labor and by putting more women and children to work.

The North relied upon its staple crops both to feed its people and army and to produce surpluses which could be sold abroad for badly needed gold. As thousands of men left their farms to fight the war, women, children and older men took up the field work. As a popular song enjoined:

Just take your gun and go;

For Ruth can drive the oxen, John,

And I can use the hoe!

Revelation after revelation rocked the public, prompting the New York Herald in June 1864 to denounce the "gross corruption prevailin in nearly every department of the government." Large commissions went tomen whose only service was to obtain lucrative government contract for firms.

On the stock and gold exchanges, speculators thrived on the uncertainties of wartime. Gold and security prices, like public morale, fluctuated with ebb and flow of news from the front. Hordes of speculators, including some women braving ridicule in a traditonally male arena, plunged into the treacherous currents of Wall Street seeking a quick fortune. One crafty manipulator, Daniel Drew, recalled that "Along with ordinary happenings, we fellows in Wall Street had the fortunes of war to speculate about. ...It's good fishing in troubled waters." Another financier put the case more bluntly: "The battle of Bull Run makes the fortune of every man in Wall Street who is not a natural idiot."

Not all northern businessmen were dishonest, and not all made fortunes. But the war created a free-wheeling atmosphere that invited opportunism and abuse. It is important to remember that not all northerns bothered to fight the war or evern tender it active support. Some people lacked strong interest in the conflict and either ignored it as best they could or resented it as an intrusion into their private affairs.

Among this group were men who found the wartime situation a golden opportunity for self-advancement. These ambitious young entrepreneurs used the war years to establish themselves while their peers were absent at the front. Some made fortunes even before the war ended, while others planted the roots of what were to be long and prosperous careers.

Within this group could be found a surprising number of the business titans who were to dominate the economy, and therefore much of American life, during the next half century.

To most of these men wartime opportunities brought financial nest eggs from which huge fortunes later hatched. For them as for many others who advanced their prospects during these years, prosperity was anything but illusory.

Society reflected this mood of prosperity, especially in the cities. As the war dragged on through month after weary month of bloody battles that produced defeat or indecision, northerns grasped eagerly at diversions to dispel the gloom of uncertainty that clouded the future. So frenetic did the pursuit of gaiety and amusement become that public spirited citizens periodically denounced this apparent indifference to the suffering and hardships endured by soldiers at the front. Even a foreign observer, the correspondent for the London Times, expressed his disgust in 1863:

There is someting saddening, indeed revolting, in the high glee, real or affected, with which the people here look upon what ought to be...agrievous national calamity. The indulgence in every variety of pleasure, luxury, and extravagence is simply shocking. The jewelers' shops in all these cities have doubled or trebled their trade; the love of fine dresses and ornaments on the part of women amounts to madness. They have the money, well or ill gotten, and must enjoy it. Every fresh bulletin from the battlfield of Chickamauga during my three weeks stay in Cincinnati brought a long list of the dead and wounded...many of whom, of the officers, belonged to the best families in the place. Yet the signs of mourning were hardly anywhere perceptible; the noisy gayety of the town was not abated one jot.



National Soldiers Home continued

In the beginning veterans were supplied surplus Civil War uniforms when they entered the Home. They drew two pairs of blue pants, two pairs black shoes, four pairs of socks, three pairs of drawers, three shirts, a military dress blue coat, a pair of gloves, hat, cap, and suspenders. The barracks were organized essentially military in nature with "companies" of men supervised by Captains and Sergeants. The full time staff had military officer rank and also wore uniforms. The organizational style persisted until World War  II.

During the period 1919-1921, veterans were coming home from Europe and World War I with lung scarring from gas attacks, tuberculosis outbreaks, and a worldwide epidemic of influenza. Space had to be made to accommodate their medical needs. At the Mountain Branch Civil War veterans were encouraged to move into the community so the space could be utilized for these new veterans. Large porches were built into the barracks because of the belief that fresh mountain air would have a healing effect on these young men. this began the change from the original residential concept to a medically focused facility. At this same time the Branches underwent an official name change, now being called "National Sanitariums". As wars came and went, changes took place in the social fabric of this country and the need for domiciliary care changed too. Today we have community resources available that were not possible 100 years ago. We have assisted living facilities, community nursing homes, Social Security benefits, VA pensions and compensation, personal retirement programs, all of which were not available to our veterans when President Lincoln conceived the National Homes. The lessening demand and need for such facilities has greatly reduced the number of beds taxpayers are asked to support.

As health care changed, so has the domiciliary. We have come from the concept of a "Home" where veterans lived because there were no other community options, to a shortterm residential faciltiy supporting our hospital with its mission of providing health services. Veterans come to Johnson City preddominantly from Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina to reside while receiving treatment for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases. Many come to the "Mountain Home Branch because they live too far from medical care in their own communities and have nowher to live while seeking treatment. Veterans then return to their communities as soon as clinically approved by medical staff.

Today the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center is a full service hospital with 111 beds, nursing home with 120 beds and a domicillary with 348 beds. an annual operating budget of $137million includes 81 million in salaries. Over 1255 employees work 24 hours a day giving excellent care to veterans. New construction has been going on at the Medical Center since 1990 with a new domiciliary, clinical services building, and emergency room. In the fall of 2003, the Mountain Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers will celebrate 100th year of service to America's veterans.

National Soldiers Home

Over 1,000 workers were employed for the three-year initial construction period and a total of 3 million dollars in construction costs were spent in Johnson City during that time.  After the facilty was occupied in 1903, it was estimated that visitors to the Branch alone spent $30,000 annually in the village while the soldiers spent $40,000 in pensions. The grounds of the original Branches quickly became tourist attractions and the Mountain Branch was no exception. A hotel was built near the present post office to accommodate visitors. It had a barbershop and restaurant  to serve veterans and visitors alike. This Branch sported a zoo housing bear, elk, deer, and peacock. There were two large lakes, swans, a tennis court, and cultivated rose garden. A full time horticulturist was employed to constantly refresh the grounds. Veterans of the Home and traveling semi-professional baseball teams utilized the newly built baseball field complete with grandstands.  The gazebo was the site for weekly concerts by the Branch Band, which were very popular with Johnson City citizens on Sunday afternoon.

The originalo construction included 37 buildings. There were 8 barracks for 2500 men, a mess hall (the Clock Tower), a 4 ward infirmary, officers/surgeons quarters (homes), administrative building, power house, laundry, ice house, hotel, chapel, theatre, bandstand(gazebo), jail, and morgue. Other buildings were added until the project was completed in 1910.

Mr. Brownlow wrote Andrew Carnegie and asked for a contribution to assist in building a library, something not included in the original proposal. Mr. Carnegie responded with a note that said, I'm pleased to comply with your request" and sent a check for $25,000 which covered the cost of the complete building. Mr. Brownlow wrote the major publishers of the day and asked them to donate books. They complied with 16,000 volumes. He also wrote the leading music companies and secured all band instruments for the Home band. As an added bonus, Congressman Brownlow petitioned the Johnson City Commission to extend the trolley lines out to the Home. This was approved in November 1901. The trolley ran 10 hours per day and cost five cents each way.

The Branches were designed as domiciles rather than hospitals. Each had an infirmary to care for the members who became acutely ill, as the concept of veteran's hospitals had not been fully developed. Most of the labor to run the Branch was furnished by the veterans living there. This was common among all Branches including the Mountain Branch. The veterans admitted to all Soldiers Home were expected to work, within confines of their physical abilities. The Branch had a 250 acre farm with dairy cattle, a coal fired power plant, a dining hall feeding 2500 people per day and an infirmary watching over the sick. The residents grew produce in the garden, produced flowers in the greenhouse for the infirmary and cemetery, ran the fire department, laundry, steam plant, and security force. Those refusing to work were expelled from the Home. There was a "member-guard" force to enforce the rules and regulations as well as a jail for confinement. There was no shortage of work assignments for the residents of the Home. 

National Soldier's Home

Brownlow along with the Johnson City Board of Trade (similar to today's Chamber of Commerce) distributed 10,000 copies of the Board's report to Congress and Brownlow's comments, to members of the Grand Army of the Repbulic (early version of the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars). Brownlow was able to secure 7,000 signed petitions from members of the GAR, which were forwarded to Congress.  In 1900, Brownlow's bill passed Congress unanimously.

Initially Brownlow asked Greeneville which they would prefer: a federal courthouse or the recently approved Branch of the Soldiers Home. Greeneville, home of former President Andrew Johnson, was a larger more populated town than Johnson City and the Congressman felt their voters deserved first choice. They selected the courthouse because of its status and importance at the time.

In 1901, Johnson City was a village of 5,000 inhabitants. The total assessed value of all property in the village was $750,000 Mr. Brownlow's project was being estimated to cost over 2.1million dollars. In the three years it took to build the facility, Johnson City's property value and population doubled. 475 acres of farmland was purchased from four families (Lyle, Miller, Hale, Martin) at a price of $50.00 per acre. the Board of Governors chose the site for its view of the mountains and its access to fresh water. The property spanned an area from Tennessee Street, along the railroad line all the way to the National Guard Armory, a distance in excess of one mile. The site was just over one mile from the Johnson City Limits.

National Soliders Home - Johnson City, Tennessee/ Part 1

I was doing some ancestry research I found out that my Great Great Grandfather served in Co "B" 1st regiment Md. Infantry Volunteers. He died in the Mountain Branch of National Home for "Disabled Soldiers in Johnson City, TN.

I did some searching on the home and this is what I found and wanted to share.

Approved by an Act of Congress on January 28,1901, the Mountain Branch of the National Home for Disables Volunteer Soldiers was created through the work of Tennessee Congressman Walter P. Brownlow (1851-1901). Known locally as Mountain Home, the original site comprised 447 acres and opened in October 1903. Peak enrollement reached over 2,500 Civil War and Spanish-American

War veterans. In 1930, the National Soldiers' Home system became part of the Veterans Administration.

The early efforts to reward this country's war veterans were based on England's policy of giving land grants to the victors. During the first part of the Civil War, it was the concern of women in northern states that led to the first civilian sponsored "homes" for disabled veterans. Men were being discharged by the hundreds to the streets with physical problems that kept them from finding employment. Some were so severe; they later died from complications of their wounds. Such "homes" were created in Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago. These ladies raised funds to operate the "homes" and raised community interest in the plight of the disabled veteran. "With malice toward none; with charity toward all; with the firmness in the right, as God gives us the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." With these few words in the Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln established a benchmark and pointed this coountry in a new direction related to the federal government's responsiblity toward our veterans. His legislative agenda for this second term (1865) included a National Soldiers Home with several branches spread across the United States.

President Lincoln was assassinated before he could put this idea into law but a grateful nation did not forget. The National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established by Congress in 1865 with the first Branch built by 1867. Eleven board members, appointed by Congress governed the "Home" and eight original Branches were built (Togus,Maine: Hampton,Virginia; Dayton, Ohio; Marion, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Leavenworth, Kansas; West Los Angeles, California; and Danville, Illinois). After these Branches were built, Congress decided that individual states could finance their own Soldier's Homes if they wished but there would be no more Federal funding for new Branches.

Congressman Walter P. Brownlow represented the people of the First District of Tennessee (an early version of Jimmy Quillen). He had already secured federal funds to build bridges and roads in this area as well as the National Fish Hatchery in Erwin and the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in Greeneville. He was determined to have a branch of the National Soldiers Home built in this District. The Board of Governors mentioned earlier refused to give him an audience reminding Brownlow of the national policy (No New Branches!). He requested five minutes of their time and actually took only three. In those three minutes he reminded the Board of three things: (1) East Tennessee furnished the Union 30,000 volunteers, more than any other state in the South. There were currently 18,250 Union pensioners living in the First District. (2) The Board had already built a Branch in Hampton, Virginia, a state where there were no Union Volunteer soldiers of record and (3) The Congress had recently approved the construction of a million dollar federal prison in Atlanta. Weren't our volunteer Union soldiers deserving of as much as these convicts? The Board took an immediate vote and recommended to Congress that a Branch be built in the First District.