Civil War Issue Blanket from the National Home of Disabled Volunteer Soldiers

Civil War Issue Blanket from the National Home of Disabled Volunteer Soldiers - Inventory Number: PER 386

Scarce Civil War issue wool blanket made from woven, light brown wool yarn with a 3 3/8” woven blue stripe at each end. The center of the blanket has the letters “NHVDS” chain stitched with blue wool yarn. The blanket measures 76” by 65” with a few holes throughout and some areas of edge wear. The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865 by Congress and signed into law by Abraham Lincoln to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in the Union forces in the American Civil War. Initially, the Asylum, later called the Home, was planned to have three branches: in the Northeast, in the central area north of the Ohio River, and in what was then considered the Northwest, the present upper Midwest. The Board of Managers, charged with governance of the Home, added seven more branches between 1870 and 1907 as broader eligibility requirements allowed more veterans to apply for admission. The effects of World War I, which resulted in a new veteran population of over five million men and women, brought dramatic changes to the National Home and all other governmental agencies responsible for veterans' benefits. In 1930 the Veterans Administration was established, to consolidate all veterans' programs into a single Federal agency. A rare Civil War blanket from an important and historic veterans’ institution.  

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Inventory Number: PER 386