Milwaukee Soldiers' Home

“Let us strive 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.” Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 1865

The Milwaukee Soldiers' Home is a campus of buildings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin which was built after the Civil War to house and treat injured and disabled soldiers. The architecture and landscape of the site represent the growing connection between the Disabled Veterans community and the federal government after the Civil War. This site is an existing sample of the values and actions of institutions that aimed to assist and care for our country's soldiers who suffered the trauma of war.

The Soldiers Home has developed and changed over time, but remains a site which is wholly dedicates its grounds to Veteran care. It can be found on the grounds of the Clement J. Zablocki Medical Center on N. Mitchell Boulevard.

A group of charitable women organizations formed the Soldiers’ Home Association, which fought to provide more permanent care for veterans of all wars. The active members of this group were women who had served sick and disabled soldiers in storefronts during the war, in affiliation with The United States Sanitary Commission. (1)

In 1865, they organized The Soldier’s Home Fair, where they raised over $100,000. The proceeds led to the purchase of a ninety-acre plot of land and hire architects to begin the plan for the construction of a permanent soldiers' home. The women's goal was to provide veterans of all wars with housing, treatment, vocational training, a rich lifestyle, and a supportive community. (1) The Milwaukee site was chosen as the Northwestern Branch of the national system of soldiers homes that Abraham Lincoln introduced in his Second Inaugural Address.

"It is to establish a home where helpless men, yet in their youth, may grow gray, and in their second childhood recount to a generation yet unborn, the glories of that triumph which saved a nation, and preserved to us and them a home" (16)

Initially, the Home only provided services to Union Army volunteer veterans with war related disabilities. In the mid 1880's, admittance was extended to consider former Union soldiers with any disability for membership in the National Home. Further expansion of membership regulations allowed eligibility to disabled veterans of all U. S. wars and military involvement. (14)

Once recognized as the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, the name was changed in the 1880s to the National Home which would aim to serve "beneficiaries, soldiers, men, and members" rather than "inmates." (14)

The Milwaukee Soldier’s Home began construction in 1867 and continued developing into 1933. The campus featured landscape design by Chaplain Thomas Budd Van Horne, who sculpted the land into Milwaukee’s first public park. The grounds had a picturesque charm that provided the Veterans and visitors with well-maintained grounds, fountains, lakes with bridges and rowboats, and other sources of beauty and amusement. (14)

Architects Edward Townsend Mix and Henry C. Koch designed the buildings throughout the campus, including a post office, library, recreation hall, theater, chapel, barracks, and a hospital (14). The land also includes the Wood National Cemetery, which was established in 1871 and currently provides a resting place for over 37,000 soldiers (13).

The Old Main Building is one of the site's oldest and most recognizable structures and is designed in the Victorian Gothic Style. The five-story building holds administrative offices, barracks, medical services, kitchen and dining room, chapel and meeting rooms, and laundry and bath rooms. The building anchors the site and serves as a grand statement which dominates the landscape (13).

By 1930, the Northwestern Branch had grown to 382 acres in size and included 71 buildings. The home housed 7,313 veterans in its last year as a part of the NHDVS, when it was transitioned to the Veterans Administration (4).

The Milwaukee Soldiers' Home remains as one of only three existing soldiers homes in the United States. The site houses Ward Memorial Hall which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The entire Northwestern Branch was listed on the National Register at the national level of significance in 2005. The Soldiers’ Home Reef was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992 (14).

Thirty of the site's original buildings remain, but suffered damage over time (14). After being recognized as an endangered historic place by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2011, The Milwaukee Soldier’s Home Community Advisory Council was formed to consider possible redevelopments of the site (17).

The Alexander Company worked with The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee to preserve and restore six buildings on the historic campus, which would provide homeless or at-risk veterans and their families with housing. The 44 million dollar project was finished in June 2021 and includes 101 apartments, which restored aspects of the buildings to match the original design (17).

"It is not two years since the sight of a person who had lost one of his lower limbs was an infrequent occurrence. Now, alas! there are few of us who have not a cripple among our friends, if not in our own families." Physician Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1863 (2)

The Civil War was an extremely violent war, which traumatized soldiers physically and mentally. New technology had made more accurate musket rifles and improved cannons, which led to more casualties and bloodshed. Wounded soldiers who survived combat were treated with pre-modern medicine, including the practice of amputation with un-sterilized instruments. Many injuries were wrongly treated or left completely untreated, and some doctors were accused of experimenting on injured soldiers (2).

The invention of the hypodermic syringe and increased farming and availability of opium, popularized its use among injured Veterans of the war. Its addictive properties were not well understood and it was used excessively to treat the pain and illnesses found among survivors of the war. The popularization of opium caused a massive addiction problem among Veterans of the Civil War (10).

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was also a huge problem among Veterans, although it was not understood the same way we understand it today. Accounts of Civil War survivors show pattern of flashbacks, panic attacks, insomnia and suicidal thoughts. Doctors were unable to do much for the veterans in their care, and treatment often leaned more towards “moral therapy,” and a regime of outdoor activity. Doctors made “tonics,” such as a punch made of milk, eggs, sugar and whiskey to treat certain illnesses. Temporary relief may have been provided to patients, but a lack of medical comprehension limited the recovery of veterans. Those who sought treatment at asylums often never left, and suffered from chronic illnesses and pain for the remainder of their lives (11).

Disabled Veterans at The Milwaukee Soldiers' Home were prone to alcoholism which severely affected their health and recovery. "Hospital records from the 1880s suggest that at least 14 percent of all cases of disease or injury were related to drinking. Attending physicians sometimes merely wrote 'alcoholism' to describe a patient’s condition" (6). In his book, Disabled Veterans in History, David Gerber describes the issues regarding alcoholism specifically at the Milwaukee Soldiers Home.

“Drinking exasperated existing conditions such as heart disease, asthma, insomnia, and digestive problems; resulted in falls down stairways, on sidewalks, and in quarters; caused sudden, outdoor blackouts that led to frostbite during bitter Milwaukee winters; and caused psychological problems so severe that some men—suffering, perhaps, from ‘softening of the brain,’ as the home surgeon liked to put it—had to be put in restraints, placed in the ‘insane ward,’ or transferred to the asylum for insane veterans in Washington” (6).

Amputees received larger pension payments and faced less opposition when they requested patronage or charity. The image of amputee became symbolic of the sacrifices of the war years and amputation carried a cultural status after the war that was not associated with other disabilities. The public used the bodies of disabled veterans as a kind of symbol of the suffering of the Civil War, but that body is limited to that of the amputee (9).

Men who had suffered less visible injuries with no apparent sign of physical or mental trauma, were not given the same visibility or financial support. Furthermore, they were required to disclose about their disability in order to gain some kind of recognition, which was often humiliating and emasculating (9).

While war injuries were associated with heroism, this did not promise social acceptance or financial security for disabled veterans. The acceptance of their war injuries as patriotic did not help them cope with pain and illness, find jobs, have happy home lives, or become integrated in "able-bodied" society (9).

Societal interpretations of disabled veterans were that of "the insatiable glutton" who were dependent and exploitative of government support (2).

In addition to the pain and trauma stemming from the Civil War, Disabled Veterans and their bodies were constantly politicized, invaded, compared, and evaluated.

“Disabled veterans and their allies have attempted to establish a permanent sense of public obligation toward disabled veterans—an obligation that demands a never-ending recognition of disabled veterans’ bodily sacrifices. In the process, disabled veterans’ memorial practices have affirmed a deeply problematic model of disability, one that both fetishizes veterans’ war injuries as markers of manly courage and identifies them as the primary obstacles to social reintegration. Consequently, although a number of former soldiers have played an active role in disability rights movements, their remembrance work has contributed to a widening rift between disabled veterans and other disability groups by suggesting, either explicitly or implicitly, that dis­abled veterans’ impairments are the only ones worth remembering.” (5)

"The NHDVS branches were not homes or communities. They were institutions that acknowledged the service of disabled veterans, gave them pleasing environments in which to live, and provided for their basic needs," (14).

Despite this site's objective as a place dedicated to building communities and its purposeful separation from the label of asylum, The Milwaukee Soldiers' Home still exists as an institution which concerns a specific community, one which was not completely understood or respected at the time. The role of institutions is an important subject to study in relation to this site which is dedicated specifically to the Disabled community. During the Civil War, medical and societal understanding of Disability was undeveloped, and this site serves as a direct lens into how higher levels of authority interacted with those they claimed to be helping.

"Though institutionalization was often justified on charitable grounds, many of the residential facilities that were built upon the hopes of improving the lives of people with disabilities became custodial warehouses, sites of oppression and abuse, and resulted in further marginalization and exclusion" (12)

One resident, George M. Hare, writes about his experience spending 3 years in the Soldiers' Home. He claims that the institution was guilty of creating an unfair and miserable environment. Through his writing he exposes unkind treatment, a lack of financial support, heavy fines for petty offenses, overcrowding, unfair discharge from the home, labor as punishment, inedible food, censorship, and stealing money from the residents at the home (3). He attacks the institution's label as a home.

“I can truthfully say that the homes near Dayton and Milwaukee have been run by tyrants- so much so as to make them a perfect Hell instead of a home.” (3)

In 1883, The Board of Managers of the NHDVS closed the schools it provided to its members because so few men were taking advantage of it. By 1886, the Board noted that all of the system’s hospitals were overcrowded. In 1918, an inspector of the home noted that the NHDVS provided no vocational training for its members. By the 1900s, the Board of Managers had to hire outside civilians to do much of the essential work of the NHDVS and at higher wages than the members had earned (14). With further investigation, the Soldiers' Home and similar institutions throughout the country, are exposed for their role as abusive and carceral spaces. The aim of the site to provide a pleasant environment, exceptional treatment, and vocational training is not translated through these sources, as Hare continues to describe his experience,

“Please imagine yourself in our place for the time being, and suppose you threw down your tools and $100 per month and joined the army to help your country out when she was in need of such men and you were disabled in the service so that you could not work at your trade any more and the government was so slow about granting you a pension that you were compelled to break up your family and come to this (so-called), Home and live separated from you wife and family, and then have a lot of officers placed over you that you would be ashamed to be seen walking in the streets for fear of disgrace! Would you not think it an outrage? I think I hear you say yes. And there are some just cases here” (3).

“The struggle for memory is the struggle for political identity.” (5)

The Milwaukee Soldiers' Home has been recently involved in a Restoration project which aims to preserve the grounds and the architecture which is a landmark in Disability history. The Soldier’s Home and the NHDVS is considered the birthplace of veteran healthcare and an indication of the support for veteran benefits that would reach national and federal levels as well as local community action and involvement.

The restoration that has been done on the site is one that values the architecture and the space which has remained there since its construction. It is a project of adaptive reuse, aiming to preserve the historical architecture while also adapting the space as housing for Veterans in need.

The work that has been to restore this site proves how powerful our communities are, and that we have a responsibility to ensure that veterans, disabled, and homeless folks are visible and worthy. By maintaining this site, we preserve the history, benefit the community, and pay tribute to those who have served. This is a place that has helped people heal and been a home for communities who do not have any other.

It is important to recognize the history of ableism, violence, and mistreatment that has occurred in this space and at many other similar institutions. The solution to convert the architecture to housing continues to honor and provide for the communities it was originally meant to help. The site’s current development is notable for its insistence on providing a home to those in need, which is something that this site previously denied its residents, or fraudulently advertised.

As a site so interwoven with Disability history, I hope our community continues to support and develop this site to memorialize and treat Disabled Veterans. Memorialization of Veterans and disabled members of society is something that involves an insistence on activity. Memory is valuable and necessary in gaining justice. How will this site continue to bring visibility to Disabled Veterans and their experiences?

“Veterans with PTSD—and, to some degree, all disabled veterans—pose a fundamental challenge to the linear models of memory, temporal­ity, and history upon which traditional modes of memorialization depend. As one severely disabled veteran recently remarked, wars do not end when 'the last bullet is shot. War, for a lot of us, continues for the rest of our lives'" (5).

Although the developments to preserving the site are noteworthy, the site has potential to do more than just preserve and display. It demands active community involvement which will engage communities with memories, narratives, histories and communities that deserve further recognition.

1. Rochi, Julia. “Women in Preservation: How the West Side Soldiers' Aid Society Paved the Way for the Milwaukee VA Soldiers Home: National Trust for Historic Preservation.” Women in Preservation: How the West Side Soldiers' Aid Society Paved the Way for the Milwaukee VA Soldiers Home | National Trust for Historic Preservation, March 15, 2013. https://savingplaces.org/stories/women-in-preservation-how-the-west-side-soldiers-aid-society-paved-the-way-for-the-milwaukee-va-soldiers-home#.YcE9vllMFPY.
2. “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War Home.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health, February 5, 2015. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/lifeandlimb/index.html
3. Hare, G. M. (1885). Mysteries and miseries of the soldiers' home. Woonsocket: Patriot Printing House.  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044088959655&view=1up&seq=6&skin=2021 
4. Julin, Suzanne. “National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers Assessment of Significance And National Historic Landmark Recommendations,” n.d. http://npshistory.com/publications/nhl/special-studies/national-home-disabled-vol-soldiers.pdf
5. KINDER, JOHN M. “‘Lest We Forget’: Disabled Veterans and the Politics of War Remembrance in the United States.” In Disability Histories, edited by SUSAN BURCH and MICHAEL REMBIS, 163–82. University of Illinois Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt6wr5rt.13.
6. Gerber, David A., and Jonathan Shay. Disabled Veterans in History. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 2015.
7. Jordan, Brian Matthew. "'Living monuments': union veteran amputees and the embodied memory of the Civil War." Civil War History 57, no. 2 (2011): 121+. Gale Academic OneFile (accessed December 20, 2021). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A258051933/AONE?u=milwaukee&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=44a75e63.
8. Snyder, Van Vechten & Co. National Soldiers Home, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. (Compiled and published by Snyder, Van Vechten & Co., Milwaukee. 1878),Historical atlas of Wisconsin embracing complete state and county maps, city & village plats, together with separate state and county histories; also special articles on the geology, education, agriculture, and other important interests of the state. Illustrated. Compiled and published by Snyder, Van Vechten & Co., Milwaukee. 1878. (on verso of title page) Entered ... 1878, by Snyder, Van Vechten & Co. ... Washington.,National Soldiers Home, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.. 1878. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~4074~470031. (Accessed December 21, 2021.)
9. HANDLEY-COUSINS, SARAH. “‘Wrestling at the Gates of Death’: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Nonvisible Disability in the Post–Civil War North.” Journal of the Civil War Era 6, no. 2 (2016): 220–42. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26070404.
10. Lewy, Jonathan. “The Army Disease: Drug Addiction and the Civil War.” War in history 21, no. 1 (2014): 102–119.
11. Horwitz, Tony. “Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?” Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, January 1, 2015. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ptsd-civil-wars-hidden-legacy-180953652/.
12. Adams, Rachel, Benjamin Reiss, David Serlin, and Licia Carlson. “Institutions.” Essay. In Keywords for Disability Studies, 109–12. New York: New York University Press, 2015.
13. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” National Register of Historic Places, n.d.
14. Julin, Suzanne. “NATIONAL HOME FOR DISABLED VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK CONTEXT STUDY.” United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, August 2009. https://www.nps.gov/articles/upload/Final-Context-Study_508.pdf
15. Thompson, C. F., W. G. Cutler, and E. Boardman. Soldiers’ Home Fair, June 28th, 1865 : to the Wool-Growers of the State of Wisconsin / C.F. Thompson, W.G. Cutler, E. Boardman, Committee. Milwaukee, Wis: [Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home Fair, Committee on Wool], 1865.
16. Tallmadge, John J., and E. L. Buttrick. A Permanent Home for Wisconsin Soldiers. Milwaukee, Wis.?: [publisher not identified], 1865.
17. “Milwaukee Soldiers Home.” The Alexander Company, December 20, 2021. https://alexandercompany.com/projects/the-soldiers-home/.
18. Jones, Jonathon “Then and Now: How Civil War-Era Doctors Responded to Their Own Opiate Epidemic.” The Civil War Monitor. Accessed December 22, 2021. https://www.civilwarmonitor.com/blog/then-and-now-how-civil-war-era-doctors-responded-to-their-own-opiate-epidemic
19. Zank, Alex. “See Photos of Recently Completed Soldiers Home Redevelopment Project.” BizTimes, June 2, 2021. https://biztimes.com/see-photos-of-recently-completed-soldiers-home-redevelopment-project/.
20. Cole, Regina. “A Milwaukee Historic Restoration Makes Homes for Veterans.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, November 1, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/reginacole/2021/10/29/a-milwaukee-historic-restoration-makes-homes-for-veterans/?sh=587bbb7538e6.
21. National Soldiers’ Home. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, n.d. https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/UWRZGQTPBX5RC8N
22. Lagoon, Soldiers Home, Milwaukee, Wis. Jno. T. Faber--Wisconsin--Milwaukee;, 1909.
23. Fountain at Soldiers’ Home, Milwaukee, Wis., 1907.
24. Soldiers' Home Ward Theater interior. 1881. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://content.mpl.org/cdm/ref/collection/HstoricPho/id/912. (Accessed December 22, 2021.)
25. Soldiers' Home entrance to grounds. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://content.mpl.org/cdm/ref/collection/HstoricPho/id/884. (Accessed December 22, 2021.)
26. Cullen, S. (2021, June 1). Saving a national historic treasure: Milwaukee soldiers home. JP Cullen. Retrieved January 2, 2022, from https://www.jpcullen.com/mke-soldiers-home/