National Homes for Disabled Soldiers

&lt;United States Military Records

Soldiers' Home Records

Congress established national homes for disabled veterans in 1866. Veterans were eligible for admittance if they were honorably discharged; had served in the regular, volunteer, or militia forces mustered into federal service; were disabled and without support; and were unable to earn a living. In 1930 the homes were combined with other agencies to form the Veterans Administration (now the Department of Veteran Affairs).

The registers are divided into four sections: military, domestic, home, and general remarks. The military section includes information such as enlistment, rank, company, regiment, and discharge.

The domestic section includes the veteran’s birthplace, age, height, religion, occupation, residence, marital status, and name and address of nearest relative. The home section includes the veteran’s rate of pension, date of admission to the home, discharge, death date, and burial place.

Some reports published by the Board of Managers for the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers contain alphabetical rosters of soldiers. The rosters provide name, rank, company, organization, length of service, war, pension rate, birthplace, admission date, age when admitted, and status (including death date).

The national homes were in:


 * Bath, New York: Bath Branch
 * Biloxi, Mississippi: Biloxi Home
 * Danville, Illinois: Danville Branch
 * Dayton, Ohio: Central Branch
 * Hot Springs, South Dakota: Battle Mountain Sanitarium
 * Johnson City, Tennessee: Mountain Branch
 * Kecoughton, Virginia: Southern Branch
 * Leavenworth, Kansas: Western Branch
 * Marion, Indiana: Marion Branch
 * Roseburg, Oregon: Roseburg Branch
 * St. Petersburg, Florida: St. Petersburg Home
 * Sawtelle, California: Pacific Branch
 * Togus, Maine: Eastern Branch
 * Tuskegee, Mississippi: Tuskegee Home
 * Wood, Wisconsin: Northwestern Branch

The Family History Library has microfilms of the following:

Registers of Veterans at National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866–1937. The registers are indexed individually by the name of the veteran for each home. Upon admission each veteran was given a number. The registers are arranged numerically by these numbers.

To find specific microfilm numbers, look in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

UNITED STATES ‑ MILITARY RECORDS.

Many states also maintained soldier homes as well. The Family History Library also has records for some state homes, including:


 * Georgia
 * Louisiana
 * Michigan
 * Ohio
 * Missouri
 * Pennsylvania
 * Tennessee
 * Texas
 * Virginia