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In the Spring of 1867, the Lady Managers of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home relinquished their assets and the soldiers in their care to the Federal Government at the opening of the Northwestern Branch of the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Their misgivings are well documented, including a section in their Third Annual Report to the Wisconsin State Legislature:
We feel grateful that we have been enabled by the blessings of our Heavenly father to contribute to the comfort , and advance the happiness in some degree, of Wisconsin’s battle-scarred heroes, who so nobly periled their lives, and sacrificed their homes, to secure to us unimpaired the principles of truth justice and liberty.
The Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home respectfully represent to the Honorable State and Assembly of the State of Wisconsin, that they would, without doubt, have had their finished building for the Home erected and occupied by soldiers before this time, had it not been for the circumstances hereinafter mentioned; that they had gone so far as to purchase of a site, and to commence the delivery of materials for the building on the ground, when they were informed that the corporation created by Congress, called “The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers,” and endorsed by Congress with an ample fund to provide and to permanently maintain suitable Asylums or Homes for all the disabled volunteer soldiers of the country, including those of Wisconsin, had decided to erect and maintain three principle Asylums for that purpose ...
The only special reason for maintaining a separate Wisconsin Soldiers Home after a National provision for all was made, would be to enable our own men to remain within our State, and near their friends, but that object will be secured by the location of the National Asylum within our own borders. Besides, if the health of any Wisconsin soldier is such that the climate of Ohio or of the sea-board is thought to be better for him, he can be transferred, under the care of the national Board, to the place best adapted to secure his health and comfort.
The West Side Soldiers Aid Society will host two events in May to commemorate the men who lived and died in the care of the Lady Managers of the provisional Wisconsin Soldiers' Home in downtown Milwaukee and to call attention to the need to rescue and preserve the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
On Saturday, May 12, we will meet at the site of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home at the intersection of Wisconsin and Plankinton Avenues to mark the transfer of veterans to the federal government. Speeches by prominent citizens and soldier-citizens will be followed by a 4.6 mile walk to the National Home. Those in the procession will carry the names of the first 60 soldiers. The route is along one of Milwaukee's main thoroughfares and on a gradual incline. Those not able to walk this distance may join the procession at the entrance to the VA grounds on General Mitchell Boulevard at Bluemound Road. A reception will follow in front of Old Main, the original Domiciliary. We are seeking civilians and soldiers to join in this commemoration.
On Sunday, May 27, we will gather at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, final resting place of the residents of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home.
When friendless, the ladies have stood by them, until the last whisper had ceased, as by those to whom they owed a debt which no human tongue could tell. They were borne to honored graves in our beautiful "Forest Home"--followed to the last by some of the ladies. They rest in hallowed ground, belonging to the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home, which is forever set apart sacred to the ashes of the heroes. [First Annual Report, April 1865]
We invite the public to join us in a simple service at the Soldiers' Home Plot and a tour of related graves.
Among the magnificent mausoleums and tombs of Milwaukee's beer barons, military heroes, and political leaders is one notable marker(attached) : the shrine of Francis Collins, Company I, 134th Penn, who spent his remaining days tending his plot and entertaining visitors. The remaining soldiers are, for the most part, forgotten. It is our intention to revive their memory and to draw attention to their lives at the Wisconsin and National Homes.
For more information, visit our website: www.wssas.org or sent me a PM.
We feel grateful that we have been enabled by the blessings of our Heavenly father to contribute to the comfort , and advance the happiness in some degree, of Wisconsin’s battle-scarred heroes, who so nobly periled their lives, and sacrificed their homes, to secure to us unimpaired the principles of truth justice and liberty.
The Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Soldiers’ Home respectfully represent to the Honorable State and Assembly of the State of Wisconsin, that they would, without doubt, have had their finished building for the Home erected and occupied by soldiers before this time, had it not been for the circumstances hereinafter mentioned; that they had gone so far as to purchase of a site, and to commence the delivery of materials for the building on the ground, when they were informed that the corporation created by Congress, called “The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers,” and endorsed by Congress with an ample fund to provide and to permanently maintain suitable Asylums or Homes for all the disabled volunteer soldiers of the country, including those of Wisconsin, had decided to erect and maintain three principle Asylums for that purpose ...
The only special reason for maintaining a separate Wisconsin Soldiers Home after a National provision for all was made, would be to enable our own men to remain within our State, and near their friends, but that object will be secured by the location of the National Asylum within our own borders. Besides, if the health of any Wisconsin soldier is such that the climate of Ohio or of the sea-board is thought to be better for him, he can be transferred, under the care of the national Board, to the place best adapted to secure his health and comfort.
The West Side Soldiers Aid Society will host two events in May to commemorate the men who lived and died in the care of the Lady Managers of the provisional Wisconsin Soldiers' Home in downtown Milwaukee and to call attention to the need to rescue and preserve the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
On Saturday, May 12, we will meet at the site of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home at the intersection of Wisconsin and Plankinton Avenues to mark the transfer of veterans to the federal government. Speeches by prominent citizens and soldier-citizens will be followed by a 4.6 mile walk to the National Home. Those in the procession will carry the names of the first 60 soldiers. The route is along one of Milwaukee's main thoroughfares and on a gradual incline. Those not able to walk this distance may join the procession at the entrance to the VA grounds on General Mitchell Boulevard at Bluemound Road. A reception will follow in front of Old Main, the original Domiciliary. We are seeking civilians and soldiers to join in this commemoration.
On Sunday, May 27, we will gather at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, final resting place of the residents of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home.
When friendless, the ladies have stood by them, until the last whisper had ceased, as by those to whom they owed a debt which no human tongue could tell. They were borne to honored graves in our beautiful "Forest Home"--followed to the last by some of the ladies. They rest in hallowed ground, belonging to the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home, which is forever set apart sacred to the ashes of the heroes. [First Annual Report, April 1865]
We invite the public to join us in a simple service at the Soldiers' Home Plot and a tour of related graves.
Among the magnificent mausoleums and tombs of Milwaukee's beer barons, military heroes, and political leaders is one notable marker(attached) : the shrine of Francis Collins, Company I, 134th Penn, who spent his remaining days tending his plot and entertaining visitors. The remaining soldiers are, for the most part, forgotten. It is our intention to revive their memory and to draw attention to their lives at the Wisconsin and National Homes.
For more information, visit our website: www.wssas.org or sent me a PM.