Background & Rationale

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Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC) 1863-1869

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By 1863, the Civil War had become more costly in blood and destruction than anyone had ever expected. Casualties on both sides were horrendous. Washington, DC had, by that time, become one giant hospital. Battle casualties were being treated in the halls of Congress, the Patent Office and other government buildings. The demand on regular active-duty troops to render care to the ever-increasing number of wounded was competing with pleas for fresh troops for the front lines.

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In response, the Invalid Corps was commissioned by authority of General Order No. 105, U.S. War Department, on April 28, 1863. A similar corps had existed in the Revolutionary War. The Confederate government instituted a similar program, but it lacked the formal structure and organization of the Union effort.

The Invalid Corps was created to make suitable use, in a military or semi-military capacity, of soldiers who had been rendered unfit for active field service on account of wounds or disease contracted in line of duty, or older soldiers who were still fit for garrison or other light duty, and were, in the opinion of their commanding officers, meritorious and deserving. Its existence freed up otherwise healthy soldiers to join the front-line troops.

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In 1864, men who had had two years of honorable service in the Union Army, Navy, or Marine Corps might enlist in the Invalid Corps without regard to disability.

As a result, the title Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC) was established by General Order No. 111, dated March 18, 1864. 

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Veteran Reserve Corps troops were utilized for garrison duty, protection of forts and installations across the country, guarding Confederate prison camps, and taking an active part in the battle of Fort Stevens. In recognition of their role in that battle, VRC soldiers were selected to accompany the body of Abraham Lincoln on its journey from Washington City (DC) to Springfield, IL where they stood as honor guard at his funeral. 

The Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC) was memorialized by an Act of the 39th Congress of the United States (Session I, Chapter 299, Sec 4) in 1866 when it was designated a component of the Army of the United States.

By that statute, authority to appoint members to the VRC was delegated to Governors of the States that provided troops to the Union war effort.

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The Veteran Reserve Corps was mostly disbanded late in 1866 following the close of the Civil War and the lessening of a need for reserve troops. The reorganization of the regular Army in July 1866 provided for four (4) Veteran Reserve Corps regiments to become part of the regular Army. The remaining Veteran Reserve Corps soldiers were discharged. Its ranks were completely depleted by March 1869. However, thousands of VRC pensioners continued to receive support keeping the VRC on the military rolls. Pensioners and their widows continued to receive benefits well into the 20th century. As a result, due primarily to the passage of time, the VRC was never formally decommissioned.

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The U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps (US VRC) was formed as a Delaware 501(c)(3) charitable organization (2017). It honors the memory of those thousands of Civil War volunteer soldiers who served and sacrificed to preserve the Union. US VRC's mission is to plan, train and respond to manmade and natural disasters and crises as a structured, military-style organization with uniformed officers and soldiers. It seeks to provide a home for vigorous, as well as less able-bodied and older veterans and patriotic citizens wishing to serve their communities and country -- once again, or for the first time -- with proven military structures and processes.

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Summary

By volunteering, training and serving in disaster preparedness and response as well as supporting community events, the U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps embodies the spirit of duty, sacrifice, and commitment that defined the group that gave it its historical inspiration. 

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