Evan: One soldier in the Invalid Corps refers to the corps as an “almshouse,” speaking to ideas about social welfare and labor. Can you speak briefly about the Invalid Corps and its connections to ideas about labor?
Sarah: Isn’t that quote fascinating? It was one of those times in research where I really had to step back and say, “Wow, what is this about!?” The Invalid Corps is where we first see, during the Civil War era, the federal government trying to decide what it actually means to be disabled. They discovered early in the war that by defining disability too broadly, they were not only losing manpower in the form of disability discharges, but the federal government was also continuing to pay those discharged soldiers in the form of pensions without getting any labor in return. So they created the Invalid Corps, which was designed to retain that labor by not giving disabled soldiers discharges but instead moving them to this new unit. Importantly, the Invalid Corps was also a way to keep disabled soldiers from becoming paupers — in other words, from becoming utterly dependent on the state. Pauperism was the worst in the eyes of many mid-nineteenth century Americans because it entailed white men refusing to behave like men by working to support themselves. The Invalid Corps kept soldiers working to earn their pay rather than just getting handouts — even though they had legally earned those “handouts” (pensions) for being wounded! But for many soldiers — like the one you quoted — service in the Invalid Corps was insulting. It labeled them as less-than-able, and they felt that if they were able enough to serve in the Invalid Corps, they should be allowed to stay in their own units on field duty. So even fairly early in the war, we see that ideas about ability, disability, and productivity are all tied up together. After the war, those connections become even more important during the pension debates.