"Now I'm With the Invalids": The Veteran Reserve Corps in America’s Civil War

A history of the Veteran Reserve Corps, where wounded soldiers supported Union victory through essential service.“Now I’m With the Invalids” for the first time tells the full story of the organization in which sixty thousand wounded combat veterans continued contributing in their nation’s hour of need, going the extra mile to secure victory that preserved the Union and ended slavery in the United States. At the Civil War’s height, the North was facing major problems, with the public souring on the war and running short of fighting men, which forced President Lincoln to direct the nation’s first military draft. Lincoln tasked Union Colonel James Fry with implementing that process and managing the expected civil unrest it would cause, yet the nation’s situation prevented giving him the manpower needed for this herculean task. At the same time, tens of thousands of wounded soldiers lingered in limbo throughout the North, unable to return to the front and facing uncertain futures thanks to their new physical realities. These daunting problems and much more were solved by creation of the Invalid Corps—later renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps—which put these combat veterans to work in important military roles throughout the Union rear supporting the draft process, working in hospitals and government offices, guarding vulnerable locations, and in myriad other tasks. Expanded in size and function by the war’s progress and demands, the Corps took on an ever-increasing list of new missions which further contributed to Union victory by performing important rear-area duties and freeing able-bodied men to continue fighting at the front. In a few notable cases, the “invalids” themselves even returned to battle, including playing a vital role in defending Washington DC from enemy attack in 1864.The Corps not only helped enable Union victory, it also provided the sixty thousand men who served in its ranks a means to prove to the American public—and themselves—that their war wounds and injuries did not make them less than full men. In this way, those who served in its ranks carried on the Corps’ contribution long after the organization had ceased to be. Yet this story was largely lost when the nation moved on from the devastating Civil War era to a more hopeful time. “Now I’m With the Invalids” tells their story and brings to a new generation of Americans this important, forgotten history of service and dedication.Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: A Union of ProblemsChapter 2: 1863 and the Birth of the Union Invalid CorpsChapter 3: Growing and PainsChapter 4: Hitting Stride and Overcoming Stumbling BlocksChapter 5: “If we can be of any service here just now, I am willing to stay”: Experiences of the MenChapter 6: “Designed to Perform Duties…”: The Corps’ Intended RolesChapter 7: Expanding Roles and DutiesChapter 8: “In Case of Necessity”: The VRC in BattleChapter 9: The Highs and the Lows of Spring, 1865Chapter 10: Into the TwilightChapter 11: “It Has Accomplished All That Could Have Been Hoped Of It, And More”Appendix 1: First Battalion IC/VRC Postings and DeploymentsSecond Battalion Companies Postings and Deployments—April 1863–June 1865Appendix 2: The Confederate Invalid Corps: Falling Short of the Union’s MarkAppendix 3: The Invalid Corps in Poem and LyricsEndnotesBibliographyIndex Read more