{"id":117742,"date":"2026-05-04T13:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/?p=117742"},"modified":"2026-05-04T16:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:57:17","slug":"issue-in-doubt-veteran-voting-rights-in-post-civil-war-national-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/issue-in-doubt-veteran-voting-rights-in-post-civil-war-national-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue in Doubt: Veteran Voting Rights in Post-Civil War National Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the post-Civil War era, ensuring that former members of our Nation\u2019s military had the opportunity to vote was not always a straightforward task. During the Civil War, many states had loosened voting restrictions and allowed soldiers to vote while away fighting. Commanders allowed sufficient time during marches for their troops to cast a ballot, which many mailed home in cracker or cigar boxes.[1]<\/a> Yet when the Civil War ended and Veterans began entering the newly established branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS), many found that their voting rights were called into question.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania soldiers voting during the Civil War. (Library of Congress)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Several issues impacted Veterans\u2019 right to vote at NHDVS locations. First, jurisdictional authority of NHDVS branches was typically relegated to the U.S. Congress. Opponents of Veterans voting in local elections argued that this meant NHDVS residents were not citizens of the township or state. Second, many states had \u201cpauper\u201d laws which prohibited \u201cwards of the state\u201d from voting. Some argued that Veterans living at NHDVS homes fell into this category. Political affiliation was another issue. After the Civil War, Veterans were such a reliable voting bloc for Republicans that Democratic lawmakers often attempted to restrict Veterans\u2019 ability to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These voting dilemmas confronted Veterans at National Homes across the country. The potential for Veterans to swing local elections in favor of one of the political parties was debated frequently as new National Homes opened. The Los Angeles Herald<\/em> reported in 1889 that the new Pacific Branch of the National Home would greatly support politicians on the Democratic ticket.[2]<\/a> An article in the Sun<\/em>, a Leavenworth, Kansas, newspaper, called legislation conferring voting rights on Veterans at the Western Branch a \u201cscheme,\u201d while a newspaper in Indiana called efforts to allow Veterans at the Marion Branch the right to vote a \u201cRepublican manipulating committee.\u201d[3]<\/a> But nowhere was the battle for Veterans\u2019 right to vote as heated as in Dayton, Ohio, home of the Central Branch of the NHDVS.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
A Veteran of the War of 1812 helping an injured Civil War Veteran to the polls. (Frank Leslie\u2019s Illustrated Newspaper<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In April 1867, bills introduced into the Ohio General Assembly counted inmates of Ohio\u2019s Soldiers\u2019 Home as citizens and entitled to vote in county and town elections. After control of the state home was transferred to the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (the original name given to the National Home) and opened in Dayton, Ohio, the law still counted them as Ohio residents. When polls for Ohio\u2019s state elections opened later in 1867, 75 Veterans from the Dayton National Home were driven to their polling place to cast their ballot for Rutherford B. Hayes, the former Union general running for Governor. (Hayes would later be elected President in 1876.) Democratic supporters harassed the Veterans as they voted, hurling insults like \u201cpity you had not lost both your arms. Sorry that other leg was left! Pity the rebels hadn\u2019t killed you!\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voting rights for the Central Branch\u2019s Veterans continued to be subjected to the shifting control of Ohio\u2019s General Assembly. During the 1868 legislative session, Democrats introduced bills restricting Veteran voting in Ohio. As Hayes, now governor, had no veto power, the bill became law. Republicans later repealed the 1868 disenfranchisement bill passed by Democrats. However, Democrats filed a lawsuit with Ohio\u2019s Supreme Court, who sided with Democratic arguments that Veterans at Dayton\u2019s Soldiers\u2019 Home were not citizens of Ohio and were unable to vote in state elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue came to a head in Ohio during the fall of 1870 when Republican congressional candidate Robert Schenck, a former Union general, appealed his U.S. Senate campaign loss to Lewis D. Campbell. Schenck contested the election on the grounds that Veterans at the Central Branch should have been allowed to vote in Ohio\u2019s Third District but were barred from doing so. Veterans at the Soldiers\u2019 Home supported Schenck\u2019s protest, and he based his argument on the fact that although Ohio ceded jurisdiction of the Soldiers\u2019 Home to the Federal Government, it ceded the site only if \u201cthe officers, inmates and employees\u201d of the Home were allowed to vote.[5]<\/a> However, Schenck ultimately left his post in 1871 to serve as ambassador to England, and the issue remained unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evolving argument centered on the ownership of NHDVS land. Were the Homes Federal property or did the land belong to the state? On January 9, 1871, H.R. 2680 was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by William Lawrence of Ohio. The bill was a declaration of the rights of Veterans residing at National Homes and stated that every soldier residing at these homes would have the right to vote and \u201cno act of Congress or any State\u201d could deny this right.[6]<\/a> Despite intense opposition from Democratic legislators, who argued that as \u201cinmates\u201d receiving charity from the Government, residents of the Soldiers\u2019 Home lost their right to vote, both chambers of the U.S. Congress passed legislation ceding the Central Branch\u2019s land back to Ohio.[7]<\/a> However, a corresponding bill in Ohio\u2019s General Assembly failed to pass. Veterans at Dayton\u2019s Central Branch could still not vote in Ohio\u2019s elections.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the impasse in Ohio\u2019s legislature, Francis Pond, Ohio\u2019s Attorney General, ruled in August 1871 that Veterans at the Central Branch could vote in Ohio if they had no other residence and had lived in Ohio for at least one year.[9]<\/a> During state elections held in October 1871, these Veterans at Dayton\u2019s Central Branch went to the Montgomery County polling place to cast their ballots for state elections. Because election judges were still unsure whether to count the Veterans\u2019 votes, Veterans placed their votes into a separate ballot box. However, the legality of their votes was debated by a panel of three judges, two Democrats and one Republican, who voted to reject the Veterans\u2019 ballots. This rejection swung an election for state senator to the Democratic candidate and was immediately challenged by the Republican candidate.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Ohio\u2019s Supreme Court again declared that Veterans at Dayton\u2019s Central Branch were not eligible to vote, the Ohio General Assembly unseated the Democratic winner and the Republican candidate was admitted as a state senator.[11]<\/a> Ultimately, the Ohio Supreme Court reversed its decision in June 1872 and declared Veterans residing at the Soldiers\u2019 Home were, in fact, eligible to vote.[12]<\/a> The decision was celebrated by Ohio Republicans but vilified by Democrats. Despite Democratic anger at the Ohio Supreme Court\u2019s ruling, no further attempts at disenfranchising Veterans at the Central Branch were taken up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversy over Veterans\u2019 voting rights at other National Homes did not lessen after Ohio\u2019s Supreme Court decision in 1872. There were more attempts to bar Veterans from voting, but all of them failed in legal courts and in the court of public opinion. When it was believed that Veterans at Milwaukee\u2019s National Home swung an 1896 county sheriff\u2019s election to the Republican candidate, Democratic politicians complained that the Veterans were not actually Milwaukee residents but refused to challenge the election for fear of upsetting Veteran voters as a voting bloc.[13]<\/a> In 1898, Indiana lawmakers attempted to redraw voting precincts and leave out the NHDVS\u2019s Marion Branch on the grounds that Veterans living there were not residents of Indiana, citing the Ohio Supreme Court\u2019s 1870 decision. A local judge ruled the attempt unlawful and, while the case eventually reached Indiana\u2019s Supreme Court, the U.S. Congress had already ceded control of the Marion Branch to Indiana, and the Court dismissed the lawsuit.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"1907
1907 map of Marion, Indiana. The NHDVS Marion Branch is in the lower right-hand corner. (Indiana University Library Digital Collections)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Despite risking their lives to preserve the Union, many Veterans residing at the new National Homes found their right to vote challenged. Buffeted back and forth by legislation, jurisdictional battles between state and Federal Governments, and court decisions, Veterans and their allies fought for decades to secure the ballot. By the turn of the century, they had largely won through multiple state-level victories that made disenfranchisement politically dangerous. Veterans at the National Home retained their right to vote from then on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Belt, Rabia. \u201cBallots for Bullets?: Disabled Veterans and the Right to Vote,\u201d Stanford Law Review<\/em>, Volume 69. February 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> \u201cThe Veteran In Our Midst,\u201d Los Angeles Herald, <\/em>July 6, 1889.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> \u201cSchemes Before the Legislature,\u201d Sun<\/em>, February 11, 1889.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Leader-Tribune, February 21, 1896)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a>Lancaster Gazette<\/em>, October 24, 1867.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> \u201cShall the Crippled Veterans at the Soldiers\u2019 Home Vote?,\u201d Bryan Press<\/em>, December 1, 1870.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> \u201cDeclaratory of the Rights of Citizens Residing at Any National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers,\u201d 41st Cong., 3rd Session, January 9, 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> \u201cThe United States and the Soldiers\u2019 Home at Dayton,\u201d Cincinnati Enquirer<\/em>, January 18, 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a> \u201cThe Ohio Legislature,\u201d Stark County Democrat<\/em>, May 4, 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/a> \u201cDisabled Soldiers Have a Right to Vote,\u201d Toledo Weekly Blade<\/em>, October 5, 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/a> \u201cThe Soldier\u2019s Vote Rejected \u2013 A Gross Outrage,\u201d News-Herald<\/em>, October 19, 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/a> Spirit of Democracy<\/em>, February 27, 1872.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/a> Cincinnati Enquirer<\/em>, June 6, 1872.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/a> \u201cThe Soldier\u2019s Home Vote \u2013 Proposition to Contest That Vote on the County Ticket is Again Revived,\u201d Milwaukee Daily News, <\/em>November 6, 1896.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14]<\/a> \u201cJurisdiction Over the House Ceded to the State, Knocking the Props from Under the Democratic Complaint,\u201d Marion Chronicle, July 8, 1898.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the post-Civil War era, ensuring that former members of our Nation\u2019s military had the opportunity to vote was not always a straightforward task. During the Civil War, many states had loosened voting restrictions and allowed soldiers to vote while away fighting. Commanders allowed sufficient time during marches for their troops to cast a ballot, which many mailed home in cracker or cigar boxes.[1] Yet when the Civil War ended and Veterans began entering the newly established branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS), many found that their voting rights were called into question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":117743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/issue-in-doubt-veteran-voting-rights-in-post-civil-war-national-homes\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Issue in Doubt: Veteran Voting Rights in Post-Civil War National Homes","url":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/issue-in-doubt-veteran-voting-rights-in-post-civil-war-national-homes\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/issue-in-doubt-veteran-voting-rights-in-post-civil-war-national-homes\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/Picture3.webp?w=300","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/Picture3.webp"},"articleSection":"Featured Stories","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"jasminebrown12"}],"creator":["jasminebrown12"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VA History","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-05-04T17:10:24Z","datePublished":"2026-05-04T17:10:24Z","dateModified":"2026-05-04T20:57:17Z"},"rendered":"