Historian - July 2008

General Order No. 212 was issued from the U. S. War Department in Washington, DC on July 9, 1863. It detailed the requirements of the Invalid Corps of the United States Army.

The Invalid Corps was established in April 1863 and was comprised of worthy disabled officers and men who were, or had been in the army. You see, quite a few Union soldiers who were fighting in the Civil War became disabled in battle or through some sort of disease or accident. Initially, disabled men received medical discharges from the army; but because of resource shortages, the War Department decided to retain as many of these men as possible and assign them to non-combat duties. Doing so allowed able-bodied soldiers serving in administrative positions to be sent to combat.

The Invalid Corps was comprised of two Battalions. As the General Order required, “those men enlisted in, or transferred to, the Invalid Corps, who are most efficient and able-bodied, capable of using the musket, performing guard duty, making light marches, etc. will be assigned to Companies of the 1st Battalion.” These men served as provost guards, an early term for military police. All of the other men who were not quite as capable were assigned to the 2nd Battalion which provided services in hospitals.

Locally, members of the Invalid Corps were stationed at Camp Fry, a Civil War training camp in Portsmouth. In his book Ups and Downs of an Army Officer published in 1900, Colonel George A. Armes, USA, recorded his service in the Invalid Corps during the summer of 1863 while stationed at Camp Fry. He spoke of his duties which included guarding the “substitutes” who were brought forward by men drafted into service and paid $500 to $2,000 to serve in their place. Why were these men guarded you ask? Well, sometimes after being accepted as a replacement, a “substitute” would try to leave. Through the efforts of the guards though, they were encouraged to remain in camp, and ultimately they were dispatched to the battlefield.

Portsmouth’s Camp Fry was described as a “beautiful place in summer, terraced on three sides with large shade trees, and on the fourth by a lake or pond, full of fish and good row or sailboats.” Colonel Armes named a few of the officers in charge at the Camp at the time, all members of the 1st Battalion of the Invalid Corps; including, Major D. K. Wardwell, the Commanding Officer, and First Lieutenant H. W. Benton, Acting Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence.

The Invalid Corps was renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps in 1864 and was eventually abolished in 1866. While it was active though, some 60,000 men served in the organization. And the two officers mentioned above – David K. Wardwell and Harry W. Benton, they not only distinguished themselves as officers of the Invalid Corps and veterans of the Civil War, they also carried the title of Brother having both joined St. John’s Lodge No. 1 in the fall of 1863.

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