US-VRC
VETERAN RESERVE CORPS
(1863-1869)
By 1863, the Civil War had become more costly in blood and destruction than anyone had every 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.
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 had a less formal structure and was less organized than 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.
As can be plainly understood, men who had been honorably wounded and/or disabled in battle took offense to being labeled as “invalids.” Making matters worse, Invalid Corps soldiers were issued distinctive powder blue uniforms (active duty soldiers wore dark blue blouses and lighter blue pants) and distinctive rank and unit insignia. Active duty troops often mocked Invalid Corps soldiers for their uniforms.
By 1864, the war had dragged on for nearly three long, bloody years and additions to the Invalid Corps had barely equaled the losses by discharge or otherwise. It was finally ordered that 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.
Finally someone in the War Department realized these soldiers had suffered, in some cases, life-long disabilities, fighting honorably in defense of their country. As a result, the title Veteran Reserve Corps was substituted for that of Invalid Corps by General Order No. 111, dated March 18, 1864.
Veteran Reserve Corps troops were utilized for garrison duty, protection of forts and installations all across the country, guarding Confederate prison camps, and taking an active part in one decisive battle.
By 1864, Confederate troops had been effectively bottled up in Petersburg, VA, a key defensive line protecting Richmond. In a daring move, General Robert E. Lee dispatched Lieutenant General Jubal Early with approximately 14,000 troops to move on Washington DC by way of the Shenandoah Valley. Most of Washington’s regular defensive troops had been pulled away to the Army of Potomac near Petersburg.
On July 11, 1864, General Early attacked Fort Stevens on the outskirts of Washington, DC. His attacks were repulsed mainly through the heroic efforts of Veteran Reserve Corps soldiers guarding the nation’s capital. These troops held off the Confederate assault until active duty units of the 6th Corps, Army of the Potomac arrived on the second day of battle. With the veterans of the 6th Corps on the scene, Confederate troops no longer posed a threat to Washington, DC. Retreating back up the Shenandoah Valley, General Early was eventually overtaken and defeated by Union troops under the command of Major General Phil Sheridan.
The Veteran Reserve Corps was formalized by an Act of the 39th Congress of the United States (Session I, Chapter 299, Sec 4) in 1866 and included as a component of the Army of the United States.
The Veteran Reserve Corps was mostly disbanded 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 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.